Trip to Sorrento, Italy (June/July 2017)

O Sole Mio is one of the best known songs to all who love Italy and Italian classical music. O Sole Mio is a Neapolitan song, meaning O my sunshine. Many artists have performed and sung this song, but Luciano Pavarotti is most famous for this song. He won the 1980 Grammy Award for singing this song. The English lyrics are as follows:

What a beautiful thing is a sunny day!

The air is serene after a storm,

The air is so fresh that it already feels like a celebration.

What a beautiful thing is a sunny day!

But another sun that's more beautiful, there is not,

It's my own sun that's upon your face!

The sun, my own sun,

It's upon your face; it's upon your face!

The glasses of your window shine;

A laundress is singing and she's boasting it;

And while she's wringing and spreading the clothes, and singing,

The glasses of your window shine.

When night comes and the sun has gone down,

I almost start feeling melancholy;

I'd stay below your window

When night comes and the sun has gone down.

"O Sole Mio" praises the sunshine that is so common to southern Italy, particularly in the Bay of Naples including Sorrento. But, the song "Come Back to Sorrento" or "Torna a Surriento" in Neapolitan is far better remembered as far as Sorrento is concerned. Its lyrics go like this in English.

See the sea how beautiful it is,

it inspires all kinds of emotions,

like you with people who care

you make them daydream.

Behold, look at this garden;

sense, smell these orange buds,

there isn’t a perfume so fine,

going straight in your heart

And you say: "I’m leaving, goodbye!"

you’re walking away from this heart,

from this land of love:

do you have the heart not to return?

But don’t leave me,

don’t give me this torment,

come back to Sorrento,

make me live!

See the sea of Surriento,

the buried treasure it has!

Those who traveled all over the world,

haven’t seen anything like it.

Behold these Sirens all around

that look at you enchanted,

and love you so much;

they’d love to kiss you,

And you say: "I’m leaving, goodbye!"

you’re walking away from this heart,

from this land of love:

do you have the heart not to return?

But don’t leave me,

don’t give me this torment,

come back to Sorrento,

make me live!

Come back to Sorrento... It was that Sorrento where we stayed. It is a city overlooking the Bay of Naples, close to Pompei, and the starting point for the famous Amalfi Coasts. We stayed for two nights at a hotel in Meta and also for a few days at a guest house called Casa Elena.

While we stayed in Meta, the hotel had a fantastic view of the sea with the backdrop of a cliff. Many young people came to swim and sunbathe.

I found a house that was built into a cliff. I wish I could take a look at the inside.

The journey from the port where we disembarked from the overnight ferry to Casa Elena was a bit of challenge. From the port, we walked to the station to take a train to Sorrento Station. First, a wrong instruction from a ticket counter lady made us detour through the upstairs and downstairs unnecessarily, causing us to sweat. We got on a wrong train and had to get off at the next station to get on a right one. There was not enough space to ride with our luggage so we had to hold it while being seated. From the Sorrento station, we had to take a bus and since we were not able to communicate the exact stop and did not speak Italian, we got off the bus relaying on Kristin's GPS on her iPhone. But we got off the best at an accurate station. Whew...

Casa Elena was located on a hill side of Sorrento overlooking the southern side of the peninsula, opposite to the city with a limited view. The room was tiny, but cozy with a taste. We enjoyed our stay. We explored the Amalfi coasts from this base. See separate blogs.

The City of Sorrento was very cozy and cute in many aspects. The view from the city on the cliffs was breath-taking and absolutely phenomenal. We took a train-looking tram to see the city.

A statue of a fat samurai was located in a small city garden, but I could not figure out why he was there.

We had lunch at a restaurant right in the heart of the City of Sorrento. Linguini Vongole was just delicious!

In the evening prior to our departure, we had dinner at the restaurant of a hotel nearby Casa Elena. The restaurant had a panoramic view of the city and our dinner was delicious! It was an unforgettable dinner.

The husband of Elena was kind enough to give us a ride to the train station when we left. I did not get to know his name, but it was so nice and kind of him to give us the ride on our departure day.

I did not leave anyone in Sorrento so I do not need to come back to the city. But, my hearts were stolen in Sorrento and I would definitely like to come back to Sorrento someday and somehow.Otherwise, I might break my own heart. - Jeffrey