We're arriving in Rome on May 24, heading to Sorrento on the 25th, perhaps visiting Pompeii on the 26th, then the Amalfi Coast (perhaps boat to Amalfi and then on to Positano) on the 27th, with a bus ride back to Sorrento at night, maybe Capri on the 28th, then back to Rome that night. We head to the airport late in the afternoon on the 29th.
The 24th is our 27th wedding anniversary, and we're finally celebrating our 25th anniversary (and 26th and 27th) as we didn't do much at the time. We realized that we're at the bucket list stage of life, and my husband has long wanted to visit Pompeii. I was happy when my husband said what I'd been thinking about Rome: we don't care about seeing the "sights" per se, as we've done that before (we last visited 11 years ago, with our kids). What we really want to do is enjoy Rome, which we both love, to soak in its vibrancy. We're staying in the Piazza Navona neighborhood (at a hotel recommended by a poster in answer to an earlier question). So, first off, any special things that you would recommend would be appreciated. I found a church crawl in Rome on this forum, which we may do, but we're open to other ideas as well.
Second, when we last visited Rome, we ate at L'Orso 80 (more than once), and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The service was warm and the food good. We'd love some restaurant recommendations. I guess warm service, good food, and nice glass or two of wine sum up our criteria. I remember also loving my morning coffee at a little hole in the wall place near Piazza Navona, both because the coffee was excellent and the guy behind the counter friendly. (I used to know some Italian, and as I speak Spanish, I was able to communicate.... it's been a while, but I'm always up for trying.) Of course, those kinds of off-the-beaten track recommendations are always appreciated too.
I have already received a couple of restaurant recommendations for Sorrento, but of course, any additional ones would be great, and any other suggestions of places to explore there would be welcome. One poster recommended a lunch place in Positano with great views, so we hope to get there as well. Any other suggestions for Sorrento, Amalfi, and/or Positano would be great.
Anyone know if it's fine to get tickets for the train to Sorrento and then back to Rome when we return on the day of travel? And for travel from Sorrento to Pompeii, same question about travel arrangements.
Some posters recommended Mondo Tours for seeing Pompeii. Waiting to see if that will work. If you have other tour recommendations for Pompeii, I'd love to hear them.
And then Capri. I thought it might be fun to take a day trip there from Sorrento before we had back to Rome and then the U.S. Any suggestions for how to spend the day? Again, food and/or coffee places would be helpful too.
The responses that I've previously received have been just wonderful! And much of what we've planned thus far has been done with the help of generous posters. So, thank you in advance for your ideas!