Amalfi & Sicily

Part 3 of the Great Southern Italy Tour:

After Naples and Pompeii, the four wanderers (Bert, Charley, and we) spent a few days in Praiano on the Amalfi Coast.  I have to admit that I had no idea what the nature of the scenic attractions were here, and so it was a discovery to find that staying here is an exercise in cliff-hanging.  Here are a few pictures to give you the idea.

From Amalfi to Lake Como to Cinque Terre, the Italians have had a knack for building in impossibly steep locations.  It is even more amazing to think that they have been doing this since medieval and renaissance times when building supplies were moved on the backs of animals.  A reminder of this: at one point on the road we saw a man leading a donkey that had saddlebags full of lumber.  And for excitement, nothing beats the adrenaline rush of driving a car on a narrow twisting road on the side of a cliff where you have to slow down and get close to the edge to squeeze by oncoming cars, while being tailgated by three cars that are just itching to pass you.  Then you hear a booming honk from around a blind turn and a huge tour bus confronts you.

We had a nice view from our balcony at the Hotel Open Gate

An unusual and photogenic church steeple in the town of Amalfi

After Amalfi, the four wanderers split up, Bert and Charley heading for Matera at the south end of Italy, while we hopped a plane for Catania, Sicily.  We intended to check out the Greek ruins at Taormina on our first full day there, but we were greeted by heavy rains, so we decided to just make the drive to Palermo instead.  

Those who know me well have heard me repeat, in appropriate situations, my favorite quote, "they're more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules."  This perfectly captures how Italians regard traffic laws.  But even within Italy, there is a wide variation.  In our locale of Tuscany, everyone is looking out for others while bending the rules.  In Sicily, it is every person for him/herself.  My best example of this was when we were leaving Catania, driving down a wide boulevard.  Approaching a somewhat crazy intersection, the light turned red but cars on both sides of me did not stop.  In the type of instantaneous decision one makes in a case like that, I ran the red like everyone else to avoid getting rear-ended or at least honked at.

We drove the autostrada through the middle of Sicily through a deluge, but eventually the skies began to clear and we got a view of Mt. Etna.

We were starving when we reached the north coast, so we got off the autostrada and followed the coast road looking for a place to eat.  We stopped at three places that were closed and were starting to wonder if we would have to drive the remaining 30 kilometers into Palermo to find an open restaurant.  We entered a small town (didn't catch the name) and decided to try one more time with a little storefront trattoria.  They were open.  We were so relieved.  And as often happens in Italy, this little place had a wonderful ambiance and fantastic food.  Here are a few photos:

wine rack, harnessing gravity

wall with decorative plates

A garden patio in the back of the trattoria.  Small storefront restaurants often surprise you in magical ways in Italy.

After lunch we stopped at a view point where, with the weather clearing, we could see east to Mt. Etna and west to our destination, Palermo.

 Mt. Etna in the distance

Palermo ahead

Travels are brief summaries of life lessons.  We were planning and looking forward to seeing the remains of an ancient civilization, but the weather did not cooperate.  We had modest expectations for Palermo, but what we found was...well, that is the story for the next blog.

Pompeii

In the Pompeii Forum looking north to the temple of Jupiter, with Vesuvius in the background.  Hard to believe that the volcano 10 km distant could threaten this town.

After Naples we headed south to the the ruins of Pompeii.  To refresh what you learned in World History, Mt. Vesuvius violently erupted in 79 C.E., completely burying this Roman beach resort town in ash and pumice, killing those inhabitants who were too slow in evacuating.  The existence of the town was forgotten until the mid 18th century.  Careful excavations since then have revealed artifacts that are well-preserved due to the lack of oxygen and moisture while buried.  It is truly an amazing place.

The city wall (left), entrance through the Quadriportico (right)

In the Teatro Grande.  White marble seats for the rich folks.

               Beauty among the ruins

Housing ranged from hovels (such as at right) to grand mansions (below) 

The villa of Menandro courtyard (left) and bath off the courtyard (right)

The walls of rich villas and public baths of Pompeii were decorated with frescoes that were well preserved.  Below is a montage of frescoes from the villa of Menandro:

The montage below is from the Terme Stabiane, one of the large public baths:

(top left) entrance; (top right) view across the central courtyard; (bottom left) please leave your toga in a cubby before entering bath; (bottom right) a decorated arched ceiling.

Now where the heck are those erotic frescoes?

The center of town was the Forum, surrounded by temples to Apollo, Jupiter, and Venus, public administration offices, and statuary of emperors.

The temple to Apollo

Homage to Augustus Caesar

The most amazing aspect of Pompeii are the plaster mummies.  Residents who died in the eruption from extreme heat and poison gasses were encased in ash which solidified and formed perfect casts of the deceased.  When the site was excavated 17 centuries later, hollow spots were found where the bodies had lain.  Realizing what the hollows were, the excavators filled each hollow they found with plaster.  

From the darkness into the light.

Bert and Charley Visit (part 1) - Volterra, Greve, Napoli

Our friends Bert and Charley arrived on March 9.  We spent a few days locally with day trips before embarking on the the "great southern tour."  Our first day trip was to Volterra, a town we had not previously visited.  Volterra is famous as the site of extensive Etruscan archeological discoveries.  The Etruscans were a mysterious pre-Roman people that dominated Italy from about 900 to 400 B.C.E.  Volterra is encircled by remnants of the Etruscan city walls, and many tombs have been excavated in the vicinity.  We visited the Guarnacci Etruscan Museum where a wealth of artifacts are on display.  Etruscans cremated their dead and buried the ashes in an inner urn together with personal possessions in an outer urn.

Burial urns and iron artifacts

The Etruscans were eventually displaced by the Romans, and the museum has a large collection of statuary and pottery from the Roman period.

A large Roman vase >>

To make our day complete, we wanted to stop in at a winery, but after stopping at several beside the road that were closed, we were beginning to fear that none would be open on a Tuesday evening in March.  As a final try, we turned off at a sign and followed a dirt road for several hundred meters and were amazed that Fattoria il Palagio was open!  Interestingly, part of the dirt road to the winery was the old Roman road to Volterra.  The winery was a welcome setting for Bert and Charley to do some serious sampling, and for Carmen to make a new acquaintance.

On Wednesday we went over to Greve, our favorite little town nearby.  We had to have Bert and Charley pose by the statue of il Gallo Nero, the symbol of Chianti Classico.  And wherever you go in Italy, there are photogenic churches.

Then on Thursday we set off on the grand tour South, taking the high-speed train to Napoli.  The first night there, in the ristorante, I made my now-famous ordering of one dessert with four onions (ref. last post).  The next day we set out for the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli.  Walking through the Piazza Dante Alighieri, some boys had a pick-up soccer match going.

The museum is rich in statuary: here are a few highlights.  

Apollo with Lyre.  The dark material is porphyry

In the hall of emperors and other famous Romans, Julius Caesar (left) and Brutus (right) reunited.

The Museum also has a fantastic display of frescoes taken from the walls of Pompeii.  Pompeii was our next stop, which will be the subject of the next posting.

On the road

First I need to thank Tom Walters for pointing out that we have not posted for a while, adding that he assumes (correctly) that we are off having a good time.  Yes, we have been traveling with our good friends and first guests of the year, Charley and Bert.  We had two great days in Naploli and are now on the Amalfi coast.  And, as with our last travels, we neglected to bring the USB cable for downloading pictures from camera to computer, so our beautiful shots of the spectacular sea and cliffs here, and of a day in the ruins of Pompeii, will have to wait until next week.

In lieu of pictures, I will share a short anecdote.  By now we know just enough Italian to get into trouble.  As a case in point, the four of us were having dinner on our first night in Napoli.  At the end of the meal we decided to share a single dessert.  I told the server we would like "una dolce con quattro cipole."  She looked at me strangely, as I had asked for one dessert with four onions (cipola = onion, cucchiaino = teaspoon).  I know, they are not even close--all I can say in my defense is they both start with a "c".