Travel to Italy
We started our journey by taking the Blue line from our apartment to O’Hare.
We took a round about way to Italy. We did a direct flight to Lisbon as the airfare was less expensive, then we got a connection to Rome. This pretty much took us all day Monday, so we stayed at the Hilton Gardens - Airport so we could get a fresh start the next day. To prepare for this trip I got an eSIM card from Saily. It was much cheaper than using our AT&T International plan. ($12/day). I got a 30 day phone & unlimited data plan for $49. It took us awhile to figure out how to activate it, but we got it working.
The next morning we took a shuttle to back to the airport to pick up our rental car. We used Sixt to rent the car as they got good reviews. They required an international drivers license to rent. I was able to get one at AAA for $20 before we left. We rented a Fiat Panda. This is a smaller car, but we wanted it small as it was just the two of us and we knew the roads would be smaller and parking can be an issue. It was interesting that the car rental agent asked us how many people would be in the car and wanted the know the size and number of pieces of luggage we had. Apparently people often underestimate how small these cars can be. We only had carry-on size luggage and our backpacks, so we had no issues.
Our Fiat Panda!
The car had a 5-speed manual transmission, but so does my Jeep at home, so I had no issues driving it. It actually drove smoother than my Jeep!
We decided to take the seanic route along the coast to do our drive to Sorrento. Typically the drive to Sorrento is a 2-3 hour drive, but we had all day and wanted to see more of the countryside. It ended up taking us 4 and a half hours. The drive from Gaeta to Naples was supposed to be beautiful. It was ok. But there were a lot of places to buy fresh mozzarella.
One thing that took my surprise is that there are a lot of tunnels in Italy. Especially near Sorrento. One of the tunnels was over 3 miles long! But you still have the crazy motorcycles passing you between oncoming traffic and only inches from your car. I can see now why I have seen so many ambulances during our drive. (I saw seven with their lights on).
We are staying at the Villa Veronica, an Airbnb rental. It is located in the hillside between Sorrento and Positano. It has a great view of the Gulf of Salerno and Positano. It also has hot tub jacuzzis on the veranda overlooking the water. It is gated and has parking for our car. The room is a good size and is very clean.
Our view from the Airbnb
We had time for a nap and a quick soak in the hot tub before we went out to dinner.
Hot tub with a view. Positano can be seen behind us.
We drove into Sorrento for dinner. Sandy got us a reservation at Il Boco. This is a Michelin star restaurant in the historic part of Sorrento. The restaraunt is housed in vaulted cellar of a 16th century monastery. It has three dinning areas; the old cellar, a modern open area overlooking the wine cellar and terrace seating outside. We had a table in the modern open area.
Il Boco Restaurant
Cocktails
They had two tasting options availalbe tonight. The Scent of the Land or the Taste of the Sea. We both ordered the Scent of the Land tasting dinner. It included a wine pairing for each course.
Buffalo mozzarella with local vegetables
Tacos filled with Neapolitan style braised greens and chicken with tomato ice cream
Risotto carnaroli with escargot cream, capers, olives and ginger mayonnaise.
Beef and onions genovese style ravioli, apple and ricotta cheese.
Beef cheek in Barolo wine on cream potatoes, cheese mozzarella reduction and chili jam
Wild Strawberry tart with foam of wam meringue, and blueberry sauce. and Creamy lemon dessert on berry sauce with a froth of lemoncello.
The chef sent an amuse bouche with our cocktails. We also got the wine pairing to go with each course.
Beef Cheek in Barolo wine
The beef cheeks were plated at the table from a piping hot dutch oven.
I listed two desserts as I ordered a different one from Sandy. I had wanted to try the dessert on the Taste of the Sea tasting menu.They also included a dessert amuse bouche. The portions were small, but I was very filled up by the end. And as is the tradition here, the dinner was completed with a shot of Limoncello. Below shows each course and the wine paired with it.
Limoncello
After dinner, we got the traditional complimentary shot of Limoncello. Yum!
After dinner we wandered the street and found a bar, Star Pub, where there was live music playing. I tried a gin and tonic with Sorrento gin. It was very citrusy but I enjoyed it.
The music was lively and appeared to be an open mic night. Random people from the bar would walk up and start singing. It was very fun.
