Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - RuthMc's trip report--Sorrento, Puglia & Rome--wish we were still there.

Hi all. Back from our 2-week trip to southern Italy & Rome and, as always, have benefitted from information gleaned on this forum. So I want to share some of our experiences in the hopes they'll benefit others. I won't do a day-by-day report (can't be nearly as interesting as some others I've read) but will try to hit the high (and low) points.

We arrived in Rome and were picked up by Vincenzo from Sorrento Limo, Renato Coumo's service. All went fine. We stayed at the BW La Solara outside Sorrento for 3 nights (using points) and it was quite nice. Only drawbacks were the distance from town and the limited dinner service in the restaurant--you know, one of those one price, tourist hotel menus. Their shuttle service worked well to get us to town most of the time and when we had to take cabs, it was about 15 euro.

Our first full day, my brilliant idea was to take the SITA bus to Amalfi, and then ferry back to Positano and ferry from Positano to Sorrento. Well, you know what happens to best-laid plans. After waiting for the bus in Sorrento and finally getting on, we enjoyed the ride to the point above Positano where the driver said, "change bus." Despite all the homework I had done, I had not figured out that the SITA bus does not go directly to Amalfi, but that you have to get off in Positano, and then either wait for the small Positano bus or walk down the road to where the SITA bus to Amalfi picks up. We didn't figure that our soon enough either and ended up walking all the way down to the harbor, where we had a nice lunch before gathring the strength to try to find the Amalfi bus again.

So we walked about halfway back up through Positano to where the Amalfi bus begins, although at this time we still thought we had just got on the wrong bus back at Sorrento and had missed the direct bus to Amalfi. We had also learned that the ferry service from Positano to Sorrento had not started yet, so at least we knew we would be busing back to Sorrento.

Strolled through Amalfi but were soon ready to hit the road back. Asked a SITA person about the bus to Sorrento and he told us where to get it. Off we go on a packed bus with lots of other tourists, a lot German and a couple (as we later learned) Brazilian. Halfway to Positano, it began to dawn on us that this bus was going to leave us in Positano, where we would once again "change bus!" This time, however, we knew enough to get the Positano bus to take us up to the high road. The other foreign tourists from the SITA bus were ging to wait where they had been left for the Sorrento bus, but the Positano bus driver and I managed to convey to them they had to take his bus to make the connection. There was already a crowd waiting for the Sorrento bus and everyone rushed it when it arrived. Stood almost all the way back, while our driver had 2 separate 5-minute cell phone calls while driving that road. Yikes!

The next day was Pompeii by means of the circumvesuviana, which worked great. Had a private guide, who spoke 5 or 6 languages and told the teenagers to behave in the different languages. Pompeii is an amazing place. On the train trip back, we pulled into one station and a whole horde of people kept crossing the overpass from the other side to get on our train. Many were middle-aged or older tourists lugging suitcases. All we could figure was that their train broke down and they all had to transfer to the next one. Glad I didn't have to cart luggage up one flight of stairs, across and down another.

Got our rental car (reserved through AutoEurope and it was from Europcar--no problems) and headed for Lecce in Puglia. We went by way of the Amalfi Coast, through Potenza and Taranto. Rained pretty much from the time we left the coast. We got very lost in Potenza--the road was sign-posted to the small town at the end of it a long ways away on the coast and I as navigator didn't recognize the name). By the time we were on the leg from Taranto to Lecce, the streets in the small towns were flooding, as were those in Lecce. We didn't get to Lecce until almost 7, it was dark and we didn't have good directions to the hotel. But eventually, thanks to those helpful hotel signs, a kind gentleman, and a big neon sign on the top of the hotel, we finally found it. Thank heaven it had a garage and a restaurant so we didn't have to deal with the rain any more!

We only spent the next morning in Lecce, taking in some of the sights. Really interesting baroque architecture. Then we hit the road for Martina Franca, a town I had picked due to its location and the description of it in Fred Plotkin's Gourmet Guide to Italy. Some beautiful drives along the way. Of course, we got lost once we got into the town, drove around for a while and finally found the hotel when I recognized the front of it across a park from a picture in the Fodors Rivage guide.

The hotel was the Villa Ducale and it sits right across the main piazza in MF and an entrance to the historic center. The hotel is a little shabby, but everything worked just fine (including the shower stall) and the bed was comfortable. The location can't be beat. We fell in love with the historic center. Narrow, white-stone paved streets, two beautiful piazzas and clean, clean, clean! Also mostly flat, for those not wanting to consistently challenge their legs.

We arrived on Saturday and for the first time, saw a passagiata. It seemed like the entire town strolled through that evening. We were only booked for 2 nights but decided to extend for another. MF made a good base to tour the trulli area of Puglia. We went to Locorontondo, Alberobello, Castellana, Ostuni, Torre Canne, all around. The ancient olive treess and the bright red poppies growing all over made for very scenic rides.

On Sunday night, as we sipped drinks in an outdoor cafe, we witnessed a procession in honor of a religious feast day. The hotel desk clerk had told us the day was an important religious feast for MF. So along came the procession, first the little girls, then the little boys, then women, then men, then more women, more men, the altar boys, the people carrying the figure of the saint on a litter, the clergy, and more and more people, including the Italian Red Cross pushing about 2 dozen folks in wheelchairs. There must have been 500-600 people in the procession. An amazing experience!

On Tuesday, we hit the road for Rome. Got to the city, found the car rental return at the Villa Borghese and got a cab to our hotel, the Palazzo al Velabro near the Piazza della Boca della Verita. The driver drops us off, we bring the luggage and the desk clerk doesn't have our reservation. When I pull out my email confirmation, he points out the dates to me--I had reserved for the prior week and forgotten to change them! Talking about feeling stupid and embarassed but the hotel gentleman was very gracious about it. They found us a room and only asked that we give them about an hour to finish cleaning it. Gladly!

(I've posted reviews of all the hotels on Tripadvisor, so I won't go into detail here, but if anyone wants more info, just ask.)

This was our second trip to Rome and we still loved it. Had good food, for the most part, and great weather. Arrived at St. Peter's square just at the end of the Pope's Wednesday audience, so we managed to get a papal blessing without even trying. Discovered the Insalata Ricca chain for nice, not necessarily heavy lunches, for a reasonable price. Took the Scavi tour, which is not to be missed if at all possible.

We went to a well-known food store in Testaccio, Volpetti's, and bought cheese and olive oil. Visited the Testaccio market--amazing fresh fish, fresh and cured meats, cheeses, vegetables. Would that we had something that nice at home--there was one stall selling only tomatoes--all different sizes and shapes.

We walked everywhere, except the Borghese, which is another story. This is when I officially lost my premier travel agent status (which had been weakened by the ferry unavailability and severely damaged by the hotel reservation mix-up). I mistakenly thought our reservations were for Saturday instead of Sunday, which, of course I didn't discover until Saturday. But we went over there anyway and even though the sign said "sold out all day" we were able to get 2 tickets for the 11 am time. What amazing sculpture and ceiling paintings! It's definitely worth every effort to get in.

We had dinner at a tratorria near the Pantheon, where are things crowded up, they began seating other people at your table. I wasn't thrilled when they put another couple at our table, but it turned out to be a wonderful. They were Sicilian and the husband was a member of Parliament. Despite the language barrier, we managed to have an interesting discussion, some even political!

On Saturday, we were headed for a restaurant in the Jewish Ghetto and I wanted to see a fountain along the way, the Turtle Fountain (mentioned in City Secrets Rome). We came into the little piazza and saw an establishment behind it called "Bartaruga Bar." Even though we know a bar in Italy is not what we in America think of as a bar, we went over and peeked in. It was indeed a LIQUOR bar, so we stopped for a cocktail. Fell in love with its funky, colorful decor and laid-back atmosphere, the Italian-Irish bartender who spoke English with an Irish accent but sang along with Frank Sinatra on the sound system in an American accent.

With great regret, we left on Monday but have some great memories and impressions. The smoking ban is really working--"vietato fumare" signs all over and if you really want to avoid smoke, sit inside instead of outside.

We don't think driving or walking in Rome is as bad as many people claim it to be. Most of the traffic stopped for pedestrians in crosswalks and obeyed the traffic signals, even the scooters. Of course, we're used to big-city traffic, so that probably mades a difference.

We were in 3 separate cabs with GPS systems!

There seemed to be more graffiti in Rome than I remember from our 1998 visit, but maybe I just didn't see it.

The Palatine Hill is worth it, if you have the time, for the views of the Forum and the Colosseum.

We saw more classic Italian beauties than we could count--gorgeous!

That's it for now. I'd be happy to answer any questions and may add additional thoughts as they occur to me. But for now--ciao!