We arrived in Sorrento, Italy, and returned our rental car before walking with our backpacks to our adorable (but tiny) apartment on the top floor of a building in the old part of town.
Sorrento is full of charm — and tourists. I always say that I don’t mind touristy places because I’m a tourist. But suddenly we started to hear a lot more English, which honestly was a little disappointing while a big fat relief at the same time. We don’t speak Italian — just essentials like caffé con ghiaccio 😆 — but I definitely have some American guilt going on when I’m surrounded by people who speak seven languages. I wish our schools taught foreign languages at an early age — and for more than the two years required in high school. Tangent over.
Dropping off our backpacks is the top priority when we get to any new town, as well as a rest after a travel day.
The Path of the Gods Outside of Sorrento, Italy
Our time in Sorrento was nice, but the highlight was taking a bus outside of town to a famous hike called Path of the Gods. Our route took us from the town of Bomerano to Positano.
I was a little nervous before we got started because the incredible views have to be earned — with 5 miles of hiking at high elevation along potential dropoffs — and y’know — KIDS.
But as is often the case, my worry was a waste of time. Our kids were total troopers and when a little whining started to spike, I had Oreos in the backpack to keep motivation high.
The Path of the Gods hike is kid-friendly (at least when you start at the top and go DOWN as opposed to the other way around) with no sheer dropoffs and it’s really not too difficult. The most challenging part is arriving in the town of Nocelle and realizing you still had 1700 steps to take down to Positano.
It was well worth it for the views and the experience, and I highly recommend the hike.
As a reward for our achievements (hiking with kiddos is not my strong suit), we rented a spot on the beach in Positano. We had two umbrellas, a few chairs, and access to the Mediterranean!
Scott cleverly planned the whole outing, so we had swimming suits in our backpack and you can rent towels at the beach, too — so we quickly changed and took a dip in the refreshing water.
Medusa in Italian Means. . .
At one point during our swim, Scott heard some young kids hollering, “medusa — medusa!” Then I noticed that most people were slowly getting out of the water. Body language told us that no one was truly concerned, but something appeared to be happening in the water and I thought it might be snakes based on what the boys were saying near Scott. We didn’t want to alert our kids because they’d likely never go swimming again, so we just casually said it was time to relax in the shade and get some drinks.
Soon, Scott grabbed his snorkel and goggles (because when you’re traveling lightly to Italy with only a backpack, a snorkel and goggles is a MUST) and went out exploring on his own.
It didn’t take long for him to come back to us and quietly tell me under his breath that he thought he got bitten or stung by something on his arm. He showed me a few bumps and red marks while the kids had their backs turned.
That’s when we looked up the translation for medusa and learned it meant jellyfish. 🎐🤦♀️
By then, we were about done with swimming anyhow, so we took a ferry back to Sorrento and slept incredibly well that night.
Next Stop: The city of Napoli (aka Naples) — famous for pizza and rich Italian history, but not my favorite place in the world.
This is part of a series about our family travels this summer through Italy — and beyond. You can start from the beginning of the blog series here or follow along on Instagram.
