Santa Severina, Salerno, Tarquinia. and Panicale. Good bye Italy

 25 April 

Santa Severina, Italy

Today we found ourselves along the East Coast of Italy in Crotone.  This is an industrial town that I have been to before. We opted for an excursion in a different town.  This time we ended up in Santa Severina where we explored a cathedral cum museum and a castle which had also been turned into a museuml.  

The ride up the mountain was pleasant. The views were spectacularly Italy.  Castles and monasteries and convents all around.  Hillsides filled with oranges and lemons and olives.  Filled in with a sprinkling of abandoned buildings just to remind you where you are.  I’ve been to Italy well over 50 times in my life and it never stops filling me with wonder. The beauty of the countryside is not to be missed.  

We first arrived at the Museo Diocesano de Arte Sacra in Santa Servina and entered the palace. You see, this was a residence for the archbishops who were in the area.  I believe the guide told us that there were 8 different people who lived there over time.  He told us each one left their mark on the building in one way or another.  Some were just through painting a new mural others were leaving behind religious artifacts or vestments.  One particular bishop wanted everyone to know he took over from another and simply carved his name over the door to the main altar without erasing the previous bishop's name. 

As we walked through the church, we saw many paintings and other religious items. 

The baptistry was interesting. In this room, there were a number of columns that had been taken from other ancient buildings in the area to support the ceiling.

In one of the rooms that we entered, we found a puzzle!  There was a hidden door in the wall and I went to investigate.  As it turned out, it is one of those that has a key to hide and you need to discover the key hole.  I did the first move, but was rushed along.  Should we ever come back here, I’d like to spend a bit more time with it.  

From here we went on to visit the castle further up the hill.  We had a great tour of it that lasted well over an hour.  

We ran from room to room looking at different exhibits that were on display. While everyone else was looking at the cistern system (I’ve seen this type of thing before) I ran to look at the torture chamber.  

It was a bit cheesy with the display, but I did find a game of Nine-mens-morris. I suppose for some, that is torture.

From here we went to a local restaurant for lunch.  We had a buffet style deal with some very good pasta and the ever-present bread, sausage, and cheese.  We sat with our tour guide, who turned out to be a web designer.  Just what we need for the museum!  I took his information and will be contacting him for an estimate when we return home.

We returned to the ship and did the usual.

26 April 

Messina, Italy

Today we chose to take a tour to Mount Etna.  How stupid am I?  I didn’t dress for being on a mountain. Nor did I realize that we would be going up a hill.  

The ride to Mount Etna took around 2 hours. The guide talked quite a bit and to avoid the hysteria of driving along the mountain side, I spent my time playing a silly game on my phone.  

When we arrived near the area, the guide pointed out Mt. Etna.  It was still over 1/2 an hour away.  Yep.  It’s high all right.  When we got there, we were surprised to see the area is fully developed.  There are tourist hotels and souvenir shops and restaurants all around.  It is absolutely not what I expected to see.  

I was bouncing around cold and one of the other passengers was nice enough to loan me a sweatshirt!  The guide told us for 5 Euros we could rent a jacket at the top of the cable car.  I opted to do so and was later very glad I did.  I am not used to cold weather.  

The cable car ride up wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it wasn’t great either.  I’m still iffy about the heights, and stayed with my back to the view and just looked up. We made it without incident and George and I went through and rented those jackets.

From here we boarded a 4 wheel drive bus that took us another 2000 feet or so up to an area as close as we could get to the top of the volcano on this day. The tour read that we would go higher, but the vulcanist that day told us they had been monitoring the volcano and although it was still safe for tourists, it was not safe to go higher. Should we worry?

We wandered over to an extinct crater and were given a nice talk on the events that lead up to an explosion.  We were told more about the volcano than I realized existed.  All in all, it was a great day.

We returned down the mountain on the cable car after handing back the rented jackets.  This time I was convinced to turn around and look at the view.  I did so rather cautiously, but once I saw it, I was fine. It was simply stunning.

We boarded the bus again when we reached the bottom and returned to the ship with a head full of stories. 

27 April

Salerno, Italy

Today we chose a walking tour of Naples and a tour of the Bourbon tunnels.  We had no idea what we were in for but it sounded good.  The hardest part of course was to get out of Salerno and onto the Amaifi Highway towards Naples.  If you haven’t been here before, you’ve no idea how high up the mountainside the road is. I bounced from one side of the bus to the other trying to stay away from the edge. In the end George said to pick a spot and stay there.  

We arrived in Naples about an hour later. Our guide talked non-stop all the way there.  The first thing we did was to walk through a shopping center and look at the building.  Then we walked down a street to the central square.  The guide told us to meet here back here in 1 hour and we were let loose to go shopping.  Ugh!  I hate these kinds of tours. Especially since I have been in Naples before and really didn’t care to shop, nor did we have time to go further afield in our looking.  George and I wandered for a while, but then I said to just go to the square and wait.  

When the guide arrived again we headed for the tunnels.  This was cool.  We dropped down 20 meters below ground and began the tour.  This was astounding!  The tunnels were used by the locals during the world wars as air raid shelters.  But even sadder still was the fact that many of the city's poor used the tunnels as a permanent home.  

At the end of the tour we saw an area where old cars went to die. They had been confiscated for one reason or another and left to rust in the tunnels. 

There was also a statue of a fascist leader from WWII and a small gift shop where you could purchase items found in the tunnels.  

From here we walked to go get some pizza and wine.  The pizza was ok, the wine was not.  For the first time in Italy ever I think, I left the wine on the table and ordered a beer.  

Of course after this, they took us to a cameo shop where we all were pressed to buy things.  No deal but I did get my wedding band shined up.

We returned to the ship for a nap and a simple dinner.

28 April

Today we opted for a tour that took us to an Etruscan necropolis in Tarquinia.  Neither of us had been here and all I can say is it is well worth the visit.  Little did we know this tour would change our lives forever.  

We boarded the bus and drove for about 1/2 an hour with an excellent guide telling us of all things local.  When we arrived, we were ushered into the necropolis and the guide talked a bit about the burial practices of people before showing us where the old village was located. It is on a hill opposite the necropolis.  I had forgotten that a necropolis is a city for the dead while the villages are for the living.  We also saw a WWII German bunker on an adjacent hilltop.  Strangely enough, it was facing the necropolis.  

In the 1960’s the Italian government bought the necropolis from the local farmer who owned it and began to preserve the tombs. 

We were told that an entire area survey has been done on these hills and that there were not any tombs they did not already know about.  The tombs themselves are highly decorated and are for more important people of the villages. The common folk are placed in shallow tombs in-between those of the nobility and leaders.  

Once we saw all of the tombs that were opened, we headed to the Etruscan museum.  This place was amazing!  Not from the relics, but from the sheer size of the museum. They had converted an old castle into a museum.  I loved it and in a whimsical moment told George I want to buy a castle.  

We left the exhibition when the students came in and took over.  The noise of their excitement to see such history was deafening. Our next stop was a small coffee shop across the way where we googled "castles for sale in Italy".  I might as well play the game right?

From here we went to a local agriturismo place to have lunch.  It was a simple lunch of bread and cheese and wine.  For me this was just perfection. I was lamenting the lack of good salami and cheese in Florida and wished that we could move to Italy just for the food.  Of course I was told I was nuts. 

We returned to the ship to get a pedicure and manicure for George and I.  And then it was on to dinner.  

29 April

Livorno, Italy

Today we woke up at 7 when the ship docked. Neither of us had gotten much sleep last night for some odd reason.  We dressed and headed out to find a taxi.  I had this itch to see a small town in Umbria and so we hired a driver and off we went.  This all started because of the castle yesterday.  I saw the town on an advertisement and we decided to go.  

We arrived there around 11:30 and had a short walk around the small idillic town.  This is a quintessential medieval town resting on a hilltop in Italy. It overlooks Lake Trasimeno which is said to be the lake in which Hannibal drown over 25000 Roman soldiers.  

Our next stop was a tour of Castillo di Panicale.  This castle was built in 1419 and is a part of the town wall. This city is super neat because it doesn’t have a stand alone wall, but rather the castle and other buildings make up the city walls.

The outer walls of the castle are 13 feet thick!  We even managed to find a puzzle here. 

We stopped by a local taverna for a wonderful lunch then returned to our ship.  We even had time to spend buying a bottle of milk for my poor nervous stomach.  Our trip was very short lived as it took 3 hours to get there from the pier. I had a wild idea and we went for it.  I’d love to live in a place like this, but then I’d have to learn better Italian.  Ah well, one can dream…

Our days in Italy for this trip are now over.  On to the rest of Europe.  We had some great wine, strong coffee, and plenty of good food while we were here.  Until next time Arrivederci, Happy Puzzling and Smooth Sailing.