Sorrento is a very different place compared to the places we have stayed previously. It has a lot of more modern places, and a big residential area quite close to the main square (loads and loads of medium size high rise blocks of flats). It rises steeply from the sea, up a cliff, then slowly up towards hills, then there is a massive rock face.

The apartment is quite disappointing - it is on the top floor (5th) of a block of flats in a residential area 10 minutes walk from the centre, and it has a balcony on 3 sides of the building (270 degrees) . The views are fabulous, through to Mount Vesuvius, Naples, the hills beyond Sorrento, and other apartments around this area. However, the furniture inside the apartment is pretty old, and it has a bit of an air of neglect - the bed is an old steel framed bed with very soft springs (Garth said he hasn't seen one like this since the Townsville hospital got rid of theirs in the 1970s) and if you lie on it, the springs nearly touch the floor! We half expected a horsehair mattress of the same vintage as the bed. When we told the agency it was unusable, she said 'it is a matter of taste'. So if you have reasonable taste, and like to get some sleep, don't book the Apartment Sun! But if you want a hammock for a bed, then this is the bed for you! I probably should mention that the bed in the second bedroom is better, so it's lucky we have no guests staying with us.

Like other towns and villages around here, the tourists troop in during the day, but largely disappear in the evenings . The shops are pitched heavily towards the poms, with burgers and chips, chip pizzas, English and Irish pubs, and there is a small road-train that goes up and down the streets to save people's poor feet..... Not quite the Italian culture we have come to love. The residents seem to have been swayed by the tourists, with many having a very good command of the English language, their mannerisms, and their size (far fewer svelte figures here). But the town does tend to grow on you as you wander around off the beaten track. We have found a couple of little streets which have great lookouts over the bay, as well as some quieter areas with restaurants. There are quite a few beautiful little churches, and some very grand hotels. So I expect we will enjoy our stay here (as I write this my slave has just brought out prosecco, peanuts and chips to the apartment's terrace, and the sun is setting over the mountains, and the clouds are lifting from the top of Mount Vesuvius - at least we think they are clouds, even though they are spiralling like smoke from an eruption - yikes!!!).

Tomorrow we will head to Pompeii while the weather is still good (and Vesuvius is behaving itself).