This is our last morning in Firenze. After the usual breakfast we prepared to leave the Hotel Boccaccio. It has been a pleasant stay, but the locale around the hotel is not the best. But I said to Nancy, "Is there many streets in Florence that are better?". Most streets have their good and bad parts. Our was close to the city centre and the railway station. A very busy locale.

We got our car back from the garage at 10 am and we were off, "mother" accepted the new destination. I have written out the latest notes on how to get to Casale Russo - the red Castle.

The drive to Piano di Sorrento took close to 7 hours. We stopped 3 times the first for gas and sandwiches and the second to eat and the third time near Naples to get some coffee and stretch. The A3 highway from Naples is in dreadful shape and is being fixed up. The two lanes are very close and the speed limit is 60 km/h. Most locals go much faster.
Once we get onto the road to Sorrento things change. I could only watch the road and not where we were... cliff side or other. Fortunately, the tunnel keep most scary things out of sight. However, when we came out of the tunnel, we had to deal with a cliff side road and motor scooters that weave in and out defying the cars and trucks. I wonder how many motor scooter deaths there are each year.

We finally reach Piano di Sorrento, although it is hard to tell since there does not seem to be a sign. We stopped near a bar and across the road is the tourist information centre. The girl behind the desk is both informative and nosey. She wanted to know how much our room was going to cost. While we were there and had a quick drink, a cop (whom we did not see) put a ticket on our vehicle. When we arrived at the hotel we see it and it says 38.00 Euros. I brought it to the clerks attention. However, she knows little English but seems to understand the problem. I also noticed a police car in front of the tourist information office and a policeman talking with her. Hmmmm I wonder who called the police ?

The hotel or Casale Russo is painted Red like the Italian red. It is something out of a fairy tale. To say it is wonderful is an understatement. Everything has been renovated to a very high degree. The only problem is in communication. Our Italian is terrible but we are learning more words, right Nancy ? We know some words but our grammar is poor. However, Italian is not that bad if you took 5 years of Latin... well that was 45 years ago.
Our room is super. Marble everywhere, a king-sized bed and a wonderful bathroom and view. We have a view over the bay.
Sorrento : view from our window

The hotel recommends a ristorante close by. Sometimes this is a scam... it is not one here. A beautiful restaurant overlooking the bay with an open terrace. Flowers grow up to your table. The prices seem very good, but we are always leery. We order a pizza for Nancy and I get the recommended seafood pasta. They have a real wood fire in the pizza oven. They have Peroni beer on tap, we like Perroni. The two things we ordered were seafood dishes. The pizza is covered with mussels and smaller shelled clams. The pasta comes in a huge aluminum wrap that looks like a swan. The pasta is absolutely wonderful; best I have ever eaten. There was a prawn on top and mussels and other shell fish in it. The prawn was like a small lobster and just as tasty. We had a wonderful meal and topped it off with a cappuccino.

As we dined, the restaurant filled up with families from all over. The price was definitely very reasonable. We will be back tomorrow for supper for sure.

Our walk back from the restaurant was only 3 minutes from the hotel which by now was brightly lit.

Nancy loves the king sized bed.