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Vacation from the Vacation

Southern Italy

By Time2Geaux Unplugged

June 13^th, 2019

“If you can’t live longer, live deeper.” — Italian proverb

When you RV full-time, what do you call a vacation? We are still debating…but we took off two weeks and headed to Italy, spending a week in Sorrento which is below Naples and a week in Tropea, in southern Italy almost to Sicily. The first week we stayed in Sorrento and made a quick trip to Naples focusing on the Archeological Museum before a day trip to Pompeii the following day. We also made a day trip to the Amalfi Coast and Positano enjoying the historic cliff hugging cities and a boat ride back. The following week we joined my newly found brother and his wife for a week in Tropea, where we explored the tip of Italy and Sicily and the Italian culture with a cooking class.

Wait… brother? I’m an only child… but now you have a brother by a different mother, really! Actually there are five others from my biological fathers side. I am adopted and not that I was looking for my birth parents, I found them both and they are still with us. My goal for beginning the search was to let someone who made a tough decision in their youth and wondered if it was the right decision, know that I had a wonderful life and was blessed by their choice. What I didn’t plan on was that there may be siblings that wanted to have a relationship with me! Quite a concept for an only child to get their head around…but it turned out to be so much fun!

Monica, Doug, Jeff and JoAnn

Sorrento

After a long flight to Rome and a long layover we took a short flight to Naples. We hired a driver to bring us to Sorrento and settled in for a week of R&R. We arrived on Mothers Day and our children sent a bouquet and letter to the hotel for JoAnn to see when she arrived. She loved it and shed a few tears reading the sweet and thoughtful letters.

Sorrento is a nice size city with all a tourist would want to get settled into the southern Italian culture, gelato, food, wine and good coffee. The narrow streets are so characteristic of Italy with shops lining the street of ancient cobblestone. We were able to find plenty of places to indulge in Italian seafood with plenty of English speaking staff to address any of our request.

One standout restaurant was the Parrucchiano Garden which happened to be next door to our hotel. It was a well hidden gem of Sorrento, being run for multiple generations by the same family it wasn’t well advertised, and why should it be, it is a local favorite! From our breakfast area we noticed the tables that were set below in a lemon grove and we spent the next few days trying to understand what it was and how to get there…Our last night in Sorrento we ate in the Ristorante and had a fabulous meal and enjoyed the gardens.

Sorrento church

Sorrento shops

Sorrento coast, Sofia Loren was from here.

Sorrento coast

Mothers Day flowers for JoAnn

Restaurant with seating under an orange grove.

We stopped at a photography exhibit and found this swing.

Pompeii & Naples Archaeological Museum

We took the ferry from Sorrento back to Naples or Napoli as the Italians call it, with the goal of visiting the Archaeological Museum and having a pizza. While that may seem like a strange mixture of plans, pizza originated in Naples and we wanted to sample an American staple back at its roots!

Naples also is the port that my father landed in after North Africa was secured in WWII and his unit was moved to Italy. Ralph loved his time in Italy and told many stories about it, one being that Mt Vesuvius erupting when he arrived and he purchased souvenirs with Vesuvius playing the center roll.

After a taxi ride to be remembered (they drive so crazy), we arrived at the Archaeological museum where we got to view many of the artifacts from Pompeii. We were amazed at the sophistication of the Romans that lived there before it was buried by Mt Vesuvius. The glass work and works in silver were hard to believe that they were from 79 AD. The details in the mosaics were unequaled by any I have ever seen. Visiting just the ancient ruins you just don't get a sense of the sophistication of the people who lived there and the level of craftsmanship they were able to achieve but seeing the artifacts at the museum has given me a new appreication. Since Pompeii was buried and other than a few items salvaged soon afterwards, most was left beneath the 30 to 60 feet of ash.

We learned that most people evacuated Pompeii, but around 2000 elected to stay for whatever reason, sorta of like those that decide to ‘ride out the hurricane’ back home. Sure, some were slaves and didn’t have a choice or they were new Roman citizens and wanted to stay and protect what they had worked hard to achieve, but most people left before the eruption. Pompeii stayed buried for almost 2000 years and was rediscovered quite by accident. Vineyards were growing in the fertile soil over Pompeii but in the mid-1700, some digging found Roman coins which lead to the discovery of the city and a windfall for archaeology.

Pompeii is still being excavated, with most of the city now uncovered and open to visit. The city was a major port city and hub of trade for over 600 years. The streets show signs of wagon and chariot wear so you really get the sense of being in a place where history happened! The city had an estimate of 20,000 residents with 130 bars, 40 bakeries and even fast food with pots that were heated on serving counters and included a place to eat. In this Roman city rich and poor mixed on the same street, with villas and brothels on the same corner. The brothels had pictures on the walls where customers would pick what they wanted like ordering at a McDonalds.

There were theaters that hosted plays and music events and in modern times rock concerts like Pink Floyd. Also courtyards where gladiators lived and trained, Pompeii was a modern Roman city locked in a time capsule.

Napoli Archeology Museum

Jeff viewing statue at museum

Napoli Archeology Musuem

Model of Pompeii City

Art from Pompeii

Theatre at Pompeii, white seats are for elected officials and dignitaries

Fast food counter, hot pots would cook food for you to pick up quickly.

Pompeii brothels

Mosaics from Pompeii, they were such tiny pieces, AMAZING

Beds in brothels, they would cover them with a straw padding like a mattress.

This is the ordering menu at the brothel, probably about 8 different scenes one would pick.

Artifacts from Pompeii, and cast of dog.

Ruins Pompeii with Vesuvius in the background

Jeff walking the streets of Pompeii

Grooves from the wagons and chariots in Pompeii, with a stepping stone to cross. this was a one way street since there was a single stone.

The Amalfi Coast and Positano

After doing some research I figured it was out of the question to attempt to drive in the Amalfi Coast. This is a group of towns on the southern coast of the peninsula that is below Naples with Sorrento and Capri on the end. Crossing the Monte Lattari Vietri range you enter a different world. The Amalfi Coast is cities that hug the steep coastline with architecture that will bring a new respect to the Italians who built these cities. They are so picturesque with the small streets that are so steep you wonder how any wheeled cart can make its way back up. Shops line the narrow cobblestone that meander down to the natural port with apartments built several stories above everything at street level and laundry drying in the Mediterranean sun.

We took a bus from our home base, stopping first in Positano where we explored the city. We walked down to the waterfront restaurant, Chez Black where we enjoyed a fresh meal right out of the Mediterranean. We arrived just as the restaurant opened, the wait staff was finishing up their meal and seemed to be in no hurry of finishing joking with each other. This daily event couldn’t help but build a staff that worked together and delivered world class service we experienced. On our walk back up JoAnn got to explore some of the linening shops that once made Positano famous.

Our next stop was the city of Amalfi where we visited the town center and the Cathedral where St. Andrew’s remains are in the crypt. The Cathedral is the dominate building in the Piazza where it has stood for over a thousand years! The Byzantine façade with the wide stairs leading up almost 200 feet, it is quite a site. So grand the view that we saw a bride taking her pre-wedding photos here. After our visit, we booked the ferry back to Sorrento where we got to view the coast from the water. Since these cities were build on sea trade, it gave us a better appreciation of the coast and how it was designed to be defended from the sea.

Amalfi coast return boat ride. sunset

Super large lemons everywhere.

Amalfi coast, Positano, home of linen

Positano beach

Beautiful vines growing everywhere.

Church at Positano

Crypt of St. Andrew below church in Positano

Skull piece of St. Andrew

Italian woman who was taking wedding photos

Amalfi coast return trip with the guard towns used for defense from the sea

Take a drive down the Amalfi Coast with us!

Tropea, Calabria

We took the train from Sorrento to Lamezia Terme where we picked up a rental car and met Doug and Monica for our Southern Italy adventure. We stayed at Villaggio L'olivara which gave us a breathtaking overlook of Tropea from above. We had a nice apartment with a balcony that overlooked the Mediterranean Sea.

Besides spending time in the charming town of Tropea, which had a nice old world town center with nice restaurants all serving selections from the sea with local wines and red onions that Tropea is known for and were in season.

Each evening we completed the day with Limoncello watching Stromboli, an active volcano garnish our sunset with puffs of smoke. Stromboli is in the Aeolian Islands which are part of Sicily.

View of Tropea from Villaggio L'olivara

Doug and Monica

Santuario Santa Maria dell' Isola (1000 year old church in Tropea)

Fisherman mending his nets in a workshop built in the rock face below the church

Monica in Santuario Santa Maria dell' Isola

Tropea's coastline

Vendor selling fresh produce on the streets of Tropea

What a ham! Language doesn't stop kids from putting on a show!

Brothers from a different mother (really)! Doug and Jeff

Sicily Day Trip

We took a day trip to Sicily where we visited Catania, which was not the best place for our one main stop because the fish market was closed by the time we arrived. We did enjoy the drive and views of Mount Edna, which is the highest mountain in Europe south of the Alps. Monica did all the driving and was amazing at navigating the crazy streets and traffic. Not an easy task since they apparently do not have rules of the road in Italy.

We crossed a ferry at Messina where we were able to enjoy the views across the straights.

Downtown Catania, Sicily

Streets of Catania, Sicily

Fishing boat in the Straits of Messina

Doug @ Douglas

Banyan tree in Catania

Catania, Sicily with Mt Edna in the background

Catania, Sicily

Taormina, Sicily

Mount Edna

Aerial Islands by boat

We boarded a boat at the harbor early in the morning in Tropea and headed for the Aeolian Islands for a day cruise, stopping at Vulcano first followed by Lipari and then finishing up at Stromboli. Each stop allowed an hour or two to enjoy the island.

Vulcano is famous for the mud baths that are heated by the active volcano on the island. Since the mud is slightly radioactive and we were warned that the clothes you wear will have the sulfur smell (rotten eggs) for as long as you own them, we skipped the bath and instead enjoyed a gelato.

We boarded and then headed for Lipari which is the largest and busiest town in the archipelago. We had decided to explore the city and eat lunch in Lipari. We walked around all the shops, finding lots of unusual things, tons of Linens produced in the area and found it to be very charming.

Our third stop was Stromboli, the active volcano we had been gracing our sunsets for the past few days. Stromboli fits that childhood image of a volcano island, rising sharply from the sea with a smoking crater in the middle. We decided to explore the city. When we disembarked, we passed hotel shuttles that were the small three-wheel motorized carts you see in Italy. The taxis were golf carts so you get the idea that getting around this small is fairly easy if not for the fact it is uphill.

Vulcano, Aeolian Island, Sicily

Vulcano mud bath, Aeolian Island, Sicily

Aeolian Island, Sicily

Monica on the volcanic black beach, Vulcano, Aeolian Island, Sicily

Lipari, Aeolian Island, Sicily

Aeolian Island, Sicily

Aeolian Island, Sicily

Stromboli, Aeolian Island, Sicily

Stromboli beach, Aeolian Island, Sicily

Chiesa di San Vinzenco (church) Stromboli, Aeolian Island, Sicily

Aeolian Island, Sicily

Cooking Class

While in Tropea we signed up for a cooking class that was hosted at a local restaurant where the four of us and a another couple from Australia cooked farm fresh dishes. The menu is flexible, depending on what is in season and fresh. The class started with coffee and samples of starters while our host/translator, Terry outlined the day for us. She was always available to help with the instructions and supply us with recipes after the class.

We started to prep some of the dishes that would take time in the oven. There was plenty of wine to keep the class flowing and snacks that would be appropriate for a party, which kept the class fun and relaxing. We help cook about 8 dishes and help eat them all. This was tons of fun and recommend you do this if you are in Italy.

Vacation from the Vacation

Peas and Potatoes dish

Jeff, Doug, Monica prepping food for dishes.

Dish number 4 almost ready

Breaded shrimp in lemon leaves

Pasta making lessons.

Jeff picking fresh strawberries

Wine makes cooking so much fun!

Us trying to be serious! Graduating class

JoAnn new friend

Such a beautiful table was set under the tree. Tania our host.

Alexander our chef.

Sunset from Tropea off our balcony

What we Learned:

We don’t speak enough Italian. We didn’t find anything other than Italian food, two weeks of Italian 3 meals a day gets old. Pizza might have been invented in Naples but the Americans improved it in our opinion. We love Italy and can’t wait to go back. Food is very different in the Northern Italy than in the Southern part, bread is different too. We had a blast with Monica and Doug thank you for inviting us!

Next Stop:

When we arrive back in Detroit, we plan to recover from the jet lag and help out with some projects around Doug and Monica's house before heading north through Michigan into the Upper Peninsula and then westward towards International Falls and into Canada.

© 2026 Time2Geaux Unplugged

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