Check out the team shot in front of St. Peter’s Basilica, and the shot of Gloria, our tour Director. I did a little background checking and turns out she is listed as having the “Blue Badge” UK’s highest guiding qualification and is listed on Britain’s Best Guides. How lucky can we get? And yet, Gloria has to be on her toes with this rambunctious group, as you will see in the next few pics.
Gloria says that she is in charge of TLC for the group. That is an acronym for Toilets (""where are they"," have you gone,we don't have another stop for 2 hours", etc.), Luggage (make sure it is outside your door at 0700!), and Counting (as in counting us to make sure that we are all there)!
Here is a map of what our tour will cover over the next two weeks. Carlos is going to be busy indeed.
As you can see, she is very expressive - so Italian!
Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD (and several times after), and released 100,000 times the amount of thermal energy compared to the Hiroshima atomic bomb! Pompeii was completely covered in volcanic ash and pumice. Contrary tor popular belief Pompeii was not covered in lava ("Fake News", says Paola). The ash and pumice fell like rain for about 6 hours, and Pompeii was covered with up to 25 metres of ash and pumice, which preserved the the entire city like a time capsule.
Volcanic experts expect that it will blow again, potentially affecting 3 Million people in the area.
These well preserved ruins provide great perspective about daily life during this period of time.
This is also where the term “ red light district” may have originated. Back in those days they used red terracotta lanterns to light the way in the area.
Arriving in the area, with land all around the town, it is surprising to learn that Pompeii was a fishing town and a port city. Why - because after the eruptions of Vesuvius, the lava moved the coastline several kilometers further out.
Grandma and Grandpa are the main cooks with the son and his wife running the restaurant. Great food and great music!
Priscilla, a Nun of the Order Sisters of the Living Word (Archdiocese of Chicago) was celebrating her 77th birthday. Giovanni (John) invited her to come up to sing, and a fine job she did!
Now, we also had one Australian team member, Jeanie, dancing up a storm!
After copious amounts of food (multiple courses in traditional Italian style) we were off back to the hotel for an early start to the Isle of Capri (pronounced KA-pri here).
The name Capri refers to goats (think of the Zodiac sign Capricorn), as the island is so hilly that in the past, prior to its history as a get away for the rich and famous, it was only good for raising goats!
Capri is called the “Pearl of the Mediterranean”, in part because of its white limestone cliffs that are seen from miles away. It is a mere 4 square miles in size, but the rich and famous stars, (as well as everyone else nowadays), come from all over to visit this beautiful little Isle.
From our boat tour of Capri we caught a glimpse of the White Grotto. If you look closely you will see what appears to be a statue of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus. It is actually a stalagmite. Okay, it takes a bit of imagination, so use yours and look closely. You can click on any picture on the blog to see a bigger version. (You need to hit escape to return to the blog.)
Not the “Blue Grotto” in the tour book that everyone wants to see - but impressive none the less.
Here, I am trying to get a sense of the water temperature.It was quite temperate actually, but this was not necessarily one of my better moves, as I could feel my hat starting to come off. Fortunately, I kept it on!
Check out the size of those lemons, particularly the one behind the sign! Speaking of lemons, it is said that it is in southern Italy where the mafia got their start, shipping citrus fruits all over the world.
After our boat tour, we took the funicular up to the top of the hill.
Remember the song “Funiculi Funicula”? You can play the tune by clicking above.
The tune was actually written in the Naples area -where we are!
This is purportedly one of the first stills used for the creation of the Carthusian perfumes. Legend has it that in 1380 the father prior of the Carthusian Monastery of St. Giacomo was taken unaware by the news of the arrival in Capri of Queen Giovanna d’Angiò and so made a flower arrangement with the most beautiful flowers of the island. The water was not changed for three days and presto perfume was invented!
This is our “private Limousine” ride back to the harbour.
There were six passengers per vehicle and I was quick enough to grab the front seat. This was fortuitous, as Mike (a fellow traveler), got the back seat and declared “Well, I use to have knees”. When we got to the harbour, as we jumped out of the limo, Jessie, got wrapped up in a Dolce and Gabana photo shoot, and ended up being part of the final shoot. Some of the D&G representatives kept her from leaving, as they required her to sign a release for the use of a photo with her in it. Needless to say we all teased her “A Star is Born” this day. Now we have our own Isle of Capri star!
Next we were off to a small local farm of 44 acres that produces among other things, their own Mozzarella. Their seven cows provide 66 litres of milk per day which Maria turns into Mozzarella and Ricotta EVERY DAY of the week. Talk about a “milk cow business”!
They also have olive trees and press olive oil. Interestingly, olives provide only 5 – 20% olive oil, with the remaining being water and pulp. The water is used to irrigate the garden and return the nutrients to the earth. In the past they dried the pulp and used it for heating the house.
We watched as Mama Maria turned the milk to curds and whey, and, then from curds to Mozzarella. We had a veritable feast after this, with many of the products coming directly from this farm!
Mama picked out two gentlemen to learn the art of Italian pizza making!
Here they are with their finished product - a Margherita pizza, made for and named in honour of Queen Margherita when she visited the area. Now, as you may know, Italians, including Maria, are aghast at all manner of things North Americans put on their pizza, but the mother of all sins in terms of pizza toppings is PINEAPPLE! Can you imagine?
Well, lo and behold, Warren on the left, was the VP of Product Development for a large pizza chain, and it was he who introduced pineapple on their pizza menu! Fortunately for him, Mama did not find out about that or she may have taken him by the ear to the back shed for a lesson!
The next morning, we were off to the beautiful Amalfi Coast, with Positano our first stop. Now the whole area of the Amalfi coast is a very popular tourist destination, and the area is always congested. The parking garage in Positano charged 50 Euros per hour for each of our two minibuses, for a grand total of 200 Euros for a two hour stop. Yikes, even Manhattan isn't that bad!
There were six passengers per vehicle and I was quick enough to grab the front seat. This was fortuitous, as Mike (a fellow traveler), got the back seat and declared “Well, I use to have knees”. When we got to the harbour, as we jumped out of the limo, Jessie, got wrapped up in a Dolce and Gabana photo shoot, and ended up being part of the final shoot. Some of the D&G representatives kept her from leaving, as they required her to sign a release for the use of a photo with her in it. Needless to say we all teased her “A Star is Born” this day. Now we have our own Isle of Capri star!
Next we were off to a small local farm of 44 acres that produces among other things, their own Mozzarella. Their seven cows provide 66 litres of milk per day which Maria turns into Mozzarella and Ricotta EVERY DAY of the week. Talk about a “milk cow business”!
They also have olive trees and press olive oil. Interestingly, olives provide only 5 – 20% olive oil, with the remaining being water and pulp. The water is used to irrigate the garden and return the nutrients to the earth. In the past they dried the pulp and used it for heating the house.
Mama picked out two gentlemen to learn the art of Italian pizza making!
Well, lo and behold, Warren on the left, was the VP of Product Development for a large pizza chain, and it was he who introduced pineapple on their pizza menu! Fortunately for him, Mama did not find out about that or she may have taken him by the ear to the back shed for a lesson!
The next morning, we were off to the beautiful Amalfi Coast, with Positano our first stop. Now the whole area of the Amalfi coast is a very popular tourist destination, and the area is always congested. The parking garage in Positano charged 50 Euros per hour for each of our two minibuses, for a grand total of 200 Euros for a two hour stop. Yikes, even Manhattan isn't that bad!
Ah the sea - ladies do you remember the movie "Shirley Valentine"!
We had a quick photo stop along the coast and Sonya, in true form, caught this gentleman preparing his wares for sale. He actually spotted her taking his photo and came straight over to her – but only to offer her a free sample of his lemon ice! What a gentleman indeed!
Now, when you look at this picture, you may be forgiven for thinking that we are in Sardinia, as these houses are packed together like sardine in a can! But we are in fact in Amalfi. So popular is this destination, that our bus had a parking spot for only two hours, and in fact parking had to be pre-booked. Our time slot was from 1 pm to 3 pm. We arrived around 1:15 due to traffic delays, but our stop dead time was 3 p.m., no matter what time we arrived.
Well, if you live here, you will have a great cardiovascular system, and your buns will be like steel! Paola says that the roads and streets are flat, but only on a map!
Amalfi is home to the Cathedral of St. Andrew, and his relics are buried here.
This is the tower of St. Andrew, where again you see the Arabic influence in the geometric shapes and strong colours of the tiles that adorn the tower. The tiles shimmer in the sunlight, allowing sailors to recognize the port from sea.
Back at the hotel in Sorrento, we say Arrivaderci to our guide Paolo. Onto to Umbria, where we will see Orvieto and Assisi.
Ciao for now!
P&S
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