Southern Italy May 2023
Rome
We planned to arrive in Rome a couple of days prior to joining our tour group so that we could aclimate to the time change. The first night there we had tickets to an opera concert. We were lucky to make it since our flight from Utah to Paris was delayed two hours and we missed our flight from Paris to Rome. We enjoyed the concert so much, that we bought tickets to hear the first violinist become the soloist for Vivaldi's Four Seasons. He was fabulous.
Roy took a picture of these paving stones because he'd never realized that the stone is actually a wedge that fits down into the pavement. He always thought they were just square stones placed together.
Our first dinner in Rome. It was fun to eat true Italian pizza again.
Rome: Food Tour
 |
| Catharine with our guide (Sara) in a restaurant where we tried true Roman pizza. Roy was surprised that the crust was thin. He thought that pizza in the south was thick crust. They did have a panini that we discovered later that had thick bread with cherry tomatoes and a little bit of cheese. It was called Pane e Pomedoro |
On left: Porchetta; On right: fried rice balls, fried artichokes and fried potatoes
This food was a surprise to Roy. He didn't realize that these were Italian. They definitely belonged
in Southern Italy because we saw similar foods throughout our tour.
In Rome there are these water fountains everywhere. The guide assured us that the water in Italy is safe to drink. We trusted her and found that we were totally fine drinking any of the water on our trip. The first picture above shows how you can fill a container; the 2nd picture shows that if you put your thumb or finger over the spigot, it creates a fountain so you can drink without a container.
 |
| They can grow anything and everything in Southern Italy with a year-long growing season. The tomatoes were so delicious! |
 |
| Roy was also unaware that there were trolleys in Rome. |
The Tour
We joined our tour group Sunday night and were served a mediocre welcome dinner.
It was the beginning of many pasta dinners.
On Monday we began our tour. We started at the Reggia di Caserta palace built in 1742, completed in 1845. Apparently there were 1200 rooms. I think we were supposed to see something other than this, but due to an Italian holiday, our route was altered slightly. On the right, Roy is on the grounds. The palace was a little bit like I remember the Palace of Versaille, but the grounds were not as well kept up.
We ate dinner with the group at a traditional farm
  |
| This was the waiter/owner of the farm. Here he is making fresh mozzarella cheese for us. |
 |
| These very nice people were the oldest people on our tour. The first four on the left were from San Diego. Larry, Don, Sally and Rosalie. Sally and Rosalie have been friends since their youth. Rosalie is married to Larry (I think), but Don and Sally are just "together." The other couple were more aloof than most of the people on the tour. Her name was Fern. This was definitely an interesting relationship. Some of the younger tour members (our age) gossiped that it could be a mail order bride situation. |
Island of Capri
The next morning we took a boat to the island of Capri. It's an island in Italy's Bay of Naples, known for the rugged landscape, upscale hotels, and designer fashions. The guide told us we could buy everything there much cheaper in America! We rode a tram that took us up to the town where we visited some gardens. Later we boarded the boat again and traveled to Sorrento, a coastal town in southern western Italy facing the Bay of Naples. It's a beautiful town where cliffs separate the town from the busy marinas.
As you can see, it was a very wet and rainy day in Capri, but still very pretty. I would say it's a tourist town for the rich. Food and other things were more expensive. In these pictures we are in a garden built by a family (Cook if I remember the name correctly). All of the plants in Southern Italy were beautiful and seemed to grow many times larger than similar plants in Utah.
 |
| Part of the garden in Capri |
More pictures of Capri and Sorrento:
 |
| Catharine in front of the hotel |
The city of Castellammare
This was our impeded view of Mt. Vesuvious. It was pretty, even though we couldn't see the top.
 |
| It finally cleared up enough to see the top of Mt. Vesuvious |
Pompeii
Pompeii is a city in Italy I had been curious and excited to see. It is a city in ruins that was completely destroyed by the volcano Mount Vesuvious. The people in this city were apparently quite wicked. There were obvious brothels and other things that depicted what the people worshipped. They believed in many Gods and there were pillars remaining where their temples to these Gods had been.Pompeii was destroyed in the eruption of 79 AD of the volcano Mount Vesuvius. It was a resort area in the 12th century. 2,000 died in the city, but the eruption killed up to 16,000 people. Pompeii was a thriving city, with bustling streets and spectacular buildings before it's demise. There were 3 amphitheater's, 14,000 citizens, 90 restaurants, 4 public baths and 50 houses of prostitution.
We also toured Naples on the same day. It was very beautiful along the west coast of the Italian peninsula. It was founded by the Greeks and is 3rd largest city in Italy. There are 1 million people. It's famous for pizza and music. Naples means "new city". Roy and I would have liked to visit the archaelogical museum in Naples with a lot more about Pompeii; instead we toured around the city on a bus. Sara said it's because Naples is a dangerous city for tourists. While we were there the people were excited about the futbol (soccer) games that were being played that week. There were flags and banners everywhere. Apparently Naples won the series of games. It was good we were gone before the celebrating began.
Poppies were plentiful in Italy. Roy with the poppies in the background.
The picture on the right is overlooking Pompeii. I thought it very interesting that immediately at the edge of the destroyed city was another city, fully inhabited.
 |
| The pillars were from one of their temples. None of the statues are original to the city. |
  |
| There is still a lot of paintings still existing. Roofs have been added to protect existing structures and artwork. All of the original roofs were burned. |
The home of a rich family
These three pictures are depicting one of the many brothels.
This is sort of the "main street" of Pompeii. I put the picture at the right in because you can see
Mt. Vesuvious and many of the people in our group behind Roy.
A small museum in Pompeii. Archaeologists have developed a method
with plaster to recreate the forms of some of those who died there.
 |
| In Naples Roy wanted to try the fried pizza. You'd think pizza was fattening enough without frying it. It was really just like a scone with pizza filling. |
In Naples we also had a slice of Napolean pizza with the group
On the left: a mall in Naples. It was very similar to one we saw in Milan, but not as new and nice. On the right is a very large public square.
Postitano
One morning we traveled to Positano, a cliffside village on southern Italy's Amalfi coast. It has been featured in several films, "Only You 1994 and "Under the Tuscan Sun" 2003 (the most boring movie I've ever seen!) Once a small fishing village it has now become an international destination due to tourism, beaches, cliffs, historical sites, clothing, and restaurants. Natural lemon, orange, and olive groves grow across the cliffside town. Later in the day we traveled to Bari which is a port on Adriatic sea, and capital of southern Italy's Puglia region. It's the 2nd most important economic center of mainland after Naples.
we had dinner by the scenic Polignano on cliffs of Adriatic sea. It was birth place of singer Domenico Modugno famous for song "Volare." Unfortunately we weren't left much time to explore here.
The morning following our dinner by the cliffs, we had a great tour of Bari. We enjoyed this tour a lot as it was less touristy and showed how the people in the area live. Many women were sitting near their doorways making pasta. They make it with semolina flour and they don't use eggs. It's still tasty, but a lot more dense than the pasta we're used to.
Bari is in the "boot part" of Italy
Bari and the Polignano on cliffs of Adriatic sea.
 |
| This is me with Ina, a very small woman from Australia. She was with the group, but was touring alone. Her husband had passed away from cancer a few years ago. |
In the morning, in Bari, we enjoyed a tour in Bari Vecchia, the city's oldest district. We really enjoyed this tour because we were seeing how the people in this part of Italy, lived. There were women sitting in their open doorways making pasta. This is where orrechio pasta became popular--orrechio meaning "ear." Each piece of pasta resembles an ear. The pasta is different from ours, made from semolina flour and water. They do not use eggs in their pasta. This makes for a bite that is more dense than the pasta we generally eat.
Note the very narrow streets. The flags and banner are because of the futbol (soccer) games that were being played in Naples during the week. Everyone was celebrating.
Orrechio Pasta
Roy liked the scooters and small cars. The cacti were everywhere and grew massive.
In the afternoon we toured the Duomo in Lecce. Several women in our group paid for and lit candles, which I found interesting since they were all members of protestant faiths.
The churches were quite plain on the outside, but ornate inside.
The day we were there, there were celebrations going on in honor of St. Nicholas--the patron saint of this area. I learned a little bit more of where Santa Claus came from and it made me wonder why we even use him in our celebrations. He was a good man who liked to give little gifts, so I guess it's okay. However, all the more reason to give more emphasis on our Savior at Christmastime.
The crypt containing St. Nicholas' bones--and St. Nicholas, who they have depicted as a dark skinned man as the people in Southern Italy are quite dark-skinned.
The people were celebrating with a very Catholic procession
Samples of the baroque architecture in the area:
 |
| We found their doorways interesting in these old cities. The doors were huge with small doors inset into them. The idea was that when they opened the small door for guests, they would have to bow as they entered, showing their respect. |
Alberolbello
On the 6th day we traveled to Alberobello (means "beautiful trees") an area still in the boot of Italy. This area is in the Apulia region meaning "no water" and is known for its trulli style of homes. Trulli homes are white-washed homes with conical roofs. Some of these homes date back to the 14th century. The area is a UNESCO Heritage Site since 1996. The roofs were embellished with decorative pinnacles representing the architect and sometimes the owners.
 |
| Inside looking up |
Our next stop was Matera to see the sassi homes (cave houses). Sassi houses date back to the Paleolithic era. This age is characterized by use of knapped stone tools.
 |
| Drain pipe in Sassi |
 |
| Sassi houses (cave dwellings) |
Sunday was a long day of bus travel. After being on the bus for several hours, we drove along the coast of Taranto to Pizzo Calabro for some some very rich, delicious ice cream--Tartufo. Later we had a tour of the Bronzidi Riace Museum which houses two bronze Greek statues from 450 BC. The museum was located in Reggio Calabria where we spent our last night (in a beautiful hotel) before taking the ferry to Sicily!
Roy, Dennis, Valerie and Catharine eating the Tartufo ice cream concoction.
 It was a hike down quite a few stairs to this little town. |
| Some of the group didn't want to hike back up the stairs after eating ice cream. Luckily for them there was a cab option. Roy and I walked, but I think he wished he took the cab for the experience. |
 |
| At the top of the stairs |
These statues were found by scuba divers not too many years ago and are great condition
Taormina
On the 8th day we made landfall in Sicily by boarding a ferry crossing the strait of Messina. We traveled to Taormina, which overlooks the Ionian Sea founded by Greeks and Romans. Historians confirm the Greeks were the first to establish presence in 734 BC. Taormina is famous for a huge amphitheater built into the side of Mt Tauro in the 3rd century BC. It's the second largest in Sicily and was used to stage gladiator events with up to 10,000 spectators. In the evening we had a gourmet Taste of Sicily dinner.
This is overlooking Taormina. Below: the pink home looks to be a private residence.
The ampitheater
Roy celebrated his birthday at our Taste of Sicily dinner. He is eating a canoli, which Sicily is known for, but Roy and I decided we didn't love them.
  |
| The waiter is very skilled at carrying the empty wine glasses. |
Continuing our journey in Sicily (which means island of figs and olives) we traveled to Syracuse, a major area of the Mediterranean world. We saw sights depicting Greek and Roman times. Archimedes the mathematician was born here. Plato and the apostle Paul came here as well. We saw the Roman amphitheater used by gladiators and horse racing. The amphitheater seats 16K. The problem was that they had constructed wooden seating over the natural stone seating for some event that was coming up. It kind of ruined the view of the ampitheater. We saw a smaller one later that was a lot more interesting as it wasn't covered up.
We also viewed Latonia del Paradise which was a vast stone quarry where slaves and inmates worked their entire lives harvesting limestone blocks. The quarry resulted in a formation called the Ear Dionysius and a limestone cave. Next we visited the island of Ortigia which has some of the oldest buildings in Sicily.
 |
| This picture is out of order, but one night we ate dinner with Valerie and Dennis. We had to walk quite a long way, only to find that no restaurant opens before 7:30 or 8:00 in Sicily. The Italians must like eating late. |
 |
| Bernie and Leo from Connecticut. They were a fun couple, I know Leo was 80, but I don't know how old Bernie was. They didn't act 80. This is a 2nd marriage for them (or 2nd relationship, I'm not sure which as they had different last names). |
 |
| George and Eva, a lovely couple living in Florida, but originally from Poland. They were both vets until they immigrated, and then had to find different work as all their schooling in Poland was not recognized here. They met as teenagers while testing to be accepted to veterinary school. They've been married many years. |
 |
| These two pictures were taken outside of our hotel where we stayed just before touring Mt. Etna. It was the least favorite of our hotels and we stayed 3 nights. We were on the third floor and the elevator was broken. At least we got some good exercise. |
Mt. Etna is Europes' tallest volcano. The topography looked like the surface of the moon. We reached 6500 ft. by motor coach although the volcano is 10,992 ft. There have been multiple eruptions even in recent years, the last in Feb 2021. We visited the end of the lava flow from 1991 that took a year to reach its final spot down the mountain. Unfortunately, the top was covered in clouds all the way down to 6500 ft. The volcano has 4 active craters and 350 former craters that have been filled in by other eruptions. We watched clouds that were completely covering a restaurant and distorting the view of parked cars, move until all was completely revealed--at least for a few minutes.
Mt. Etna from the bus
 |
| Valley of the Temples |
More beautiful cacti:
Palermo
Our final day in Italy was spent in Palermo which is the capital of Sicily. It's noted for its history, culture, architecture and food. It's over 2700 years old and is located by the gulf of Palermo in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It was founded in 734 by Phoenicians. Following the Norman conquest it became the capital of the new kingdom from 1130 to 1816. Ancient Palermo was called Zyz by Phoenicians from Lebanon. Roman Catholicism became more important over the years. The patron saint Santa Rosalia is celebrated on July 15 as a feast day. Tourists enjoy fruit, vegetables and the fish markets. We had lunch in the old market and it was very good. We also visited a beautiful cathedral--Duomo di Monreale. They finished the cathedral in 20 years. The entire old testament is depicted with paintings inside.
This building had interesting architecture with each section being built in very different time periods.
| The Duomo de Monrale was very pretty. The walls had paintings with depictions of many bible stories, both in the Old and New Testament. The tour guide seemed to be a man of faith and was very passionate in telling us all the different stories of the paintings on the wall, He explained that the image of God, in the front, is just a symbol, since, he said, he is just a spirit and doesn't really look like a person. I didn't have the opportunity to set him straight. 😉 |
After viewing the church, Roy and I had pizza, salad and some fried rice balls. A few others from our tour also ate by us and we shared some of our rice balls as we had quite a lot of food. We wore it off when I realized (just before we reached the bus) that I'd left my sunglasses on the table. We had to quickly hike back up and retrieve them. Luckily they had them waiting for me. I wrote a review for this restaurant and had more than 1,000 views after just a day or two.
Comments
Post a Comment