Shopping in Sorrento

The first weekend I arrived in Naples I had a friend also arriving for a conference. Her adventures that day lead her to Sorrento, but my plan of meeting up with her was aborted when my body decided that sleep was way more important. (Funny how a major move and jet lag can do that.) Since I'm here for 3+ years I tease that I'm pacing myself with all things Italian- food, wine, cities, shopping but yet when I was offered to go to Sorrento with some folks from work, I jumped right on board. I just couldn't miss out a second time! 
So 9 weeks later (no longer jet lagged) we departed for Sorrento on a beautiful late July day- 80 degrees, sunshine, slight breeze, and very little humidity. Emerita (my coworker) was a fabulous tour guide as she took us to her normal roadside stops for breathtaking views of the bay's sparkling blue water. My internal compass got further confused when I realized that Mt. Vesuvius was not where I thought it should be, because we were now on the other side of it. I keep thinking that we were headed south, but really it's east. Well, I think....I still haven't looked at a map. Clearly I'm not too concerned and why would I be? Seriously. With a coast line like that I just need to be able to find the signs to get me back there.

I guess we beat all the beach traffic because we made it in a much shorter time than I had expected. We hit the streets looking for deals. Oh, didn't I mention the goal of this trip was to go purse shopping? Within the first 2 blocks we knew we were close since the smell of leather filled the air. I of course was torn to go into the purse store or the cafe across from it but we divided and conquered.

After the first few leather stores we took a break to sample limoncello. (Hey, it was 5 o'clock somewhere.) Total yum-ness with the creme flavors in both lemon and melon. I did invest in a bottle of the chocolate kind but it's not being opened until I have my first stateside visitor. (So hurry up and visit!) More strolling through the streets we came across even more purse shops, saw more sparking water, and even avoided being hit by scooters flying down the street.

We head to the Foreigner's Bar for lunch because their view was amazing from the patio. My pizza taste tests continued but it definitely wasn't true Neapolitan pizza- the crust was too thick! It was still yummy though (I don't think you can find icky pizza in all of Italy).  Once rested and refueled, the search for purses continued. Mind you, several had already been purchased at this point in our group. No, I wasn't among that group- I was holding strong- same with the shoes shops we were passing! Near the end of the day I was no longer able to be strong and the bag I saw in the first store called my name and oh no, it's now in my closet. Oops. In my defense- I got rid of a ton of them before moving out here AND it's something I couldn't get back in the states. Yes, I'll post a picture of it before too long.

Over all it was a fabulous day. A long day- the kind requiring a serious nap and early bedtime. Totally worth it though knowing I have some more Italian treasures in my collection and some scrapbook stuff being sent my way by one of the ladies we were with. Double score!