Naples

I wanted to go to the Archeological Museum because that's where the original artifacts from Pompeii were on display.  It is considered one of the most important archeological museums in the world.  The first floor was filled with marble statues.  They included Julius Caesar, Marcus Aurelius, Aphrodite, Venus, Hercules and Atlas to name just a few. The 2nd floor is where the Pompeii artifacts were and it was basically just two or three large rooms.  They had the mosaics and frescoes we had seen; The Battle of Alexander, the Faun statue, and the 'beware of dog' tile art.  One room of interest was called the secret room, the name the Bourbon Monarchy gave the private rooms which held their fairly extensive collection of erotic or sexual items, mostly deriving from excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum.  After the revolution of 1848, the government of the monarchy proposed the destruction of objects, fearful of the implications of their ownership, which would tarnish the monarchy with lasciviousness. Instead, the director of the Royal Bourbon Museum had access to the collection terminated, and the entrance door was provided with three different locks, whose keys were held respectively by the Director of the Museum, the Museum Controller, and the Palace Butler. The highlight of the censorship occurred in 1851 when even nude Venus statues were locked up, and the entrance walled up in the hope that the collection would vanish from memory.  In September 1860 there was a new ruler and limited access was granted to the collection.  In 2000 full access was allowed, the only current stipulation being that visitors under 14 need to be accompanied by an adult.  My favorite piece in the museum was a massive marble sculpture called the Farnese Bull.  It is the largest single sculpture ever recovered. It was commissioned at the end of the 2nd century BC and carved from just one block of marble.  It represents the myth of Dirce, first wife of Lykos, King of Thebes. She was tied to a wild bull by sons Antiope, Amphion and Zethus, who wanted to punish her for the ill-treatment inflicted on their mother.  In looking at the sculpture, I was amazed at the amount of detail given to each and every object.  It must have taken years to complete. 

After the museum I basically just walked around.  I stumbled on a huge Christmas Village market that was several blocks long.  It was unbelievable, I had never seen such a crowded street. I waded in just to see what everyone was looking at.  I couldn't believe that's all it was, just row after row of elaborate Christmas villages.  There were hundreds of stores, quite frankly, all selling the exact same thing.  They had all the tiny pieces to go into the villages; people, trees, furniture, animals, a bakery shop that even had miniscule loaves of bread, fruit stands complete with oranges and tomatoes.  It was unbelievable.  And a pick pockets dream, I kept my bag clutched to my chest as I fought my way out. 

 

One reason I wanted to stay in Naples was to go to the Navy base.  Some things are really expensive in Malta, such is life on an island I guess. For example, a simple set of sheets, the kind you get at Wal-mart for $15 cost close to $35.  A hand mixer is close to $40.  I wanted to see if I could get it cheaper, plus I just wanted some good ole fashioned American comfort foods.  I had a fine time shopping; I got all the household items I wanted as well as some foods that I couldn't get in Malta.  Now how to get it all home.  Lucky for me there was a military post office nearby. When the Navy clerks saw I didn't have a Naples return address, they asked if I was stationed there.  I said no, I live in Malta.  They said sorry, we're only supposed to ship for those stationed or working here.  They looked at each other and told me to put a US return address and they would sneak it through.  While I was filling out the customs form they were grilling me about Malta. There were 3-4 clerks, none of them over 25 I'm sure.  One kid asked me what did the people look like and his co-workers jumped all over the poor guy.   I told them to give him a break, it was a fair question.  A girl in the back suddenly piped up, OK what do they look like, LOL.  We're near enough to northern Africa that Maltese people could be black or Arabic, but also close to Italy and a former British colony.  I said most people I've seen are white, and look like Europeans.  Be honest though, how many of you reading this wondered the same thing?   

I still had 2 hours to kill before the shuttle back to Naples.  I decided I had room in my backpack for a few more items and headed back to the commissary.  For those of you who know me well, what do you think would be the one item I'm suffering the most withdrawal from? If you guessed Diet Mt Dew, you are right!  Yes, I actually bought a case of Dew.  And I so enjoyed a cold one every evening after touring the city. Remember I still had a week in the Naples.  

On Tuesday I decided to go check out Mt Vesuvius.  I hopped on the train to Ercolano Scavi, then found the tour company (right outside the train station) that takes you to the volcano.  After a ride around hairpin turns and a very steep climb, we made it to the drop off point.  From there, you have to climb the rest of the way on foot.  Its a very steep trail with switch backs and deep sand.  It was hard going but the exertion helped keep me warm; it was very cold and windy at that elevation and all I had was a sweatshirt.  I finally made it to the top, huffing and puffing.  The view of Naples and the sea was spectacular.  It seemed like I could see forever.  The crater however, looked like a big hole in the ground.  You could see steam rising from one side, but other than that, it was just a lot of sand and rock.  The area around the crater was very desolate with no vegetation.  On the trail in front of me I saw a dog of all things, just laying on the ground.  At first I thought it was dead, but as I got closer I could see her breathing.  She was skin and bones.  There were some people around and one little girl was approaching her.  I had stopped to dig in my bag for my lunch.  All I had was bread and cheese, but I gave it to the little girl to feed her.  She seemed very friendly.  It was so very odd to see her there, I couldn't see any reason for a dog to have wondered up here since there were no people or houses for miles.  After I gave her all my food, I tried to get her to follow me down.  I figured if I could just get her to the parking lot, she might keep going down toward civilization.  All over Ischia and Naples you would see stray dogs.  I don't even know if they were strays, they may well have been pets that were allowed to roam. You didn't see many just sitting around, most looked like they were going somewhere.  They reminded me of people hurrying down the street on the way to an important meeting or lunch.  Many had collars and almost all of them looked well cared for.  There were very street savvy; I didn't see a single dead animal on any of the roads.  Drivers seemed to be as aware of the dogs and the dogs were of the cars.  Anyway back to the starving dog.  I could not get her to follow me, she seemed determined to stay where she was.  There were enough other people around, some also feeding her, I hope someone was eventually able to rescue her.   As a practical matter, I'm not sure what I would have done with her even if I did get to the parking lot.  I did think about her the rest of the day, I wish there was some way to know what happened and how she got there. 

Anyway, once back in town, I walked to the Herculaneum ruins.  This was the other Roman city destroyed by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79 AD.  According to Wikipedia:  At around 1 pm on 24 August, Vesuvius began spewing volcanic ash and stone thousands of feet into the sky. The prevailing winds at the time blew toward the southeast, causing the volcanic material to fall primarily on the city of Pompeii and the surrounding area. Since Herculaneum lay to the west of Vesuvius, it was only mildly affected by the first phase of the eruption. While roofs in Pompeii collapsed under the weight of falling debris, only a few inches of ash fell on Herculaneum, causing little damage.  Because initial excavations revealed only a few skeletons, it was long thought that nearly all of the inhabitants had managed to escape.  It wasn't until 1981, when excavations reached the arches (perhaps boat houses) on the beach area, that this view changed. Archaeologists discovered several hundred skeletons huddled close together on the beach and in 12 arches facing the sea. Further excavations in the 1990s confirmed that at least 300 people had taken refuge in those chambers, while the town was almost completely evacuated.

During the night, the eruptive column which had risen into the stratosphere collapsed onto Vesuvius and its flanks. The first pyroclastic surge, formed by a mixture of ash and hot gases, billowed through the evacuated town of Herculaneum at 100 mph. At about 1 am it reached the beach and the boat houses, where those waiting for rescue were killed instantly by the intense heat, despite being sheltered from direct impact. The study of the victims' postures and the effects on their skeletons indicate that the first surge caused instant death as a result of temperatures of about 932 °F.  A succession of six flows and surges buried the city's buildings from the bottom up, causing little damage and preserving structures, objects and victims almost intact.  The kind of objects that have been preserved included roof tops, building beams, beds, doors, and even food. 

These ruins were much smaller than Pompeii; 75% of the city is still buried.   The exposure to the elements as well as damage from tourists and vandals have taken a toll on the areas open to the public.  In addition, water damage from the nearby town of Ercolano is undermining the foundations of some of the buildings.  Further excavations have been halted and the limited funding is being used to save the parts of the ruins already exposed.  Everywhere I walked you could see roped off areas and signs cautioning against unstable ground.  It seemed to me that even the buildings I did go into were not nearly as interesting as the ones in Pompeii.  There were very few frescoes evident, and very little tile work could be seen.  You could see the remains of wooden beams here and there.  The arches where they found the 300 skeletons were rope off, but they did have one set of remains, likely not the real thing.   It was a bit eerie to think of the people huddled there for safety, all being wiped out in an instant. 

While walking around the city, I met an American father and son.  The dad was a rancher from Texas and the son was a PhD candidate, studying in Germany.  After running into them a couple of times, I struck up a conversation with the dad, Mike.  We walked around the ruin listening to the audiotape.  It wasn't nearly as interesting or informative as Rick Steves tour of Pompeii was.  I was telling Mike about some of the things I had learned previously.   This was only their 2nd day in Naples and we were discussing some of the other things to do.  I mentioned I was thinking of touring the Amalfi coast on Christmas day and after he expressed an interest, I invited them along.  I was done with the tour much sooner then they were, so we parted ways and I headed back to the train station.  They arrived just before the train came, so we decided to go for dinner.  They had yet to try the pizza and we were all hungry.  It was still a bit early, by Naples standards, so we had a hard time finding a restaurant open.  I knew the place near my hotel was open because I had eaten there a few times already.  It was mainly a seafood restaurant, put they did have some awesome pizza. 

 As soon as we sat down the trouble started.  The waiter came over and my new friends started talking to him in broken Spanish.  They had previously explained to me that Italian was very similar to Spanish, but I didn't realize they thought it was the same language!  He didn't speak much English, but I had not had a problem making myself understood previously, and I had a translator app on my phone.  I asked for my usual, still water.  The other option being carbonated water, which I hate.  They say still water or water with gas.  Both Mike and his son Michael Anthony cut me off and started babbling in Spanish and a bit of German, which I speak a little of myself.   Eventually the waiter left and returned with a bottle of water and 3 glasses.  One sip of the carbonated water was all I needed to signal the waiter back.  I again asked for still water and he said OH and returned with what I wanted.  Ordering the pizza was again difficult because they kept talking in Spanish, which I don't think they spoke very well either.  Mike ordered a seafood pizza, the son had the standard Margherita, my favorite, with just a little tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella.  I decided to try something different and ordered the 4 cheese pizza.  While waiting for our food, I mentioned I was really hungry because I had encountered a starving dog and had given her my lunch.  Mike said it wasn't starving, it had worms, right Michael Anthony?  It seemed like much of what Mike said had to be confirmed by Michael Anthony.  They quickly concluded that, although they hadn't seen the dog, they knew she wasn't starving, she just had worms.  Much of the rest of the dinner went the same way.  I would talk about some random thing and Mike would correct me then look to his son to back him up.  Michael Anthony didn't seem to have much of anything to say on his own.  I think I pissed him off much earlier in the day.  He said he was in college and I jokingly asked him what did he want to be when he grew up.  Apparently he took great offense to that and snapped "I am grown up!"  I said something like "well, I'm not, I still don't know what I want to be" and moved on.  When dinner came, the seafood pizza was a great conversation topic.  Although individually, I would have eaten all the toppings but the octopus, seeing it together on a pizza looked totally unappetizing.   He said it was great and ate the whole thing.  My pizza was good, but much too rich.  There was no tomato sauce, just cheese and it was just too much.   It was certainly not the worst evening I've spent, some of the conversation was actually very interesting.  Both were well traveled and that was about the only topic of conversation Michael Anthony seemed to enjoy. 

The next day was Wednesday and the only place still on my list was the catacombs.  The largest catacomb complex in southern Italy, the Catacombs of San Gennaro, is an extensive network of tunnels, ambulatories, cubicles, and large chapels.  Built on three underground levels (the lowest floor was recently discovered and is under study), this cavernous burial chamber was burrowed into the volcanic rock of Capodimonte Hill in Naples.  Its an underground paleo-Christian burial site dating back to the 3-4 century.  It was underneath a magnificent white church called Basilica San Gennaro Extra Moenia.  I had some time before the tour started, so I visited the church first.  It was as beautiful on the inside as the outside.  When ever I see a Catholic church I immediately think of my best friend Sylvia.  I'm not sure why, I have many Catholic friends, but I always imagine she's with me.  I've started a picture folder just for her, I'm going to take pictures of all the churches I come across and drop them in her folder.  It will be a cool way for her to see where I've been and also kind of a treasure hunt for me too. 

The tour operator gathered us all up and started off.  I quickly fell behind because we went down many, many flights of stairs.  I lost sight of the person in front of me, then I heard a door slam shut.  I got to the bottom and found absolutely no one around.  Now what!  I picked the most likely door out of the several options before me and banged on it.  There was a small opening with bars on it and I peaked through, but all I could see was darkness.  I banged again and yelled hello, but all I heard was my echo.  I was about to give up and begin the long climb back to the top when I heard footsteps and the guide suddenly opened the door.  Whew!  There was a fairly large group of us and only half spoke English, so she had to speak in both Italian and English. Funny, but the Italian version seemed a whole lot longer.  Basically there are 3 types of resting places in the catacombs.  The poor were buried in the floor.  The middle class rested in narrow shelves dug into the wall.  These shelves were stacked one on top of the other, like bunk beds almost.  The wealthy rested in more elaborate crypts.  They had larger burial holes, often with beautiful paintings under a built in arch.  The bigger tombs also housed several different bodies; family members were placed on top of their previously departed ancestors.  What struck me about the tombs were how small they were.  The shelves especially were so narrow I didn't see how a person could possibly have fit.  I asked if maybe the bodies had decomposed first, but our guide said no, they were wrapped and placed there within days of their passing.  Obviously people were much, much smaller then.  The catacombs themselves were quite large, with multiple rooms all interconnected. We were told that much like modern day cemeteries, family came to visit their loved ones.  There were beautiful murals painted on the ceilings and walls in addition to the ones in the individual alcoves.  The paintings depicted scenes from the bible; there was one very clear image of Adam and Eve for example. 

There was a 2nd site called Catacomb Di San Gaudioso at the Basilica Santa Maria Della Sanita.  It was just a few blocks away so I headed over.  This church was beautiful as well, but not as elaborate.  As I was waiting for the tour to begin I was joined by Megan and Patrick and their 3 kids, some Americans from the previous tour.  We were soon joined by another American couple.  We were having a very nice chat about Naples and traveling over Christmas.  Both groups expressed an interest in the Amalfi coast, so I invited them along on my trip the next day.  This time, the group was all American, so the tour went much faster and we were able to ask more questions. This site differed from the first one in some regards.   For one, I was able to find a better description on line...

Tucked beneath the altar of the Santa Maria della Sanità church is a large gate that guards the entrance to an ancient chapel. Hidden behind the chapel’s altar is the tomb of the 5th century North African Bishop who gave these catacombs their name, Settimio Celio Gaudioso. Above it, a large mosaic depicting his life, his name in the Latin inscription. Nearby, a fresco of a large jeweled cross sits above the presumed tomb of San Nostriano, the 5th century Bishop of Naples who gave refuge to Gaudioso and his compatriots after the fall of Carthage to the Vandals.  The burial sites were still the 3 types, in the ground, in the wall or in an alcove, but the manner of burial was a bit different.  Remember in San Gennaro the bodies were wrapped and placed in the tomb to decompose.  That was a co-ed burial site. In San Gaudioso the remains were organized by gender; females on one side, males on the other. The entrance to each tomb was marked by a skull of one of the family members placed high on the wall.  The skulls were buried face first, so only the back was showing.  There was a frescoed painting below it, depicting their status or occupation in life.  A funny story; the women had skirts (for modesty) painted on their lower bodied.   The top half was a skeleton. Also interesting; the holes for the woman’s skulls was dug deeper into the wall.  This gave the appearance of the women having smaller brains then the men.  Beyond the burial chambers are the cantarelle, the seats upon which the bodies were placed to drain off all liquids and decompose completely.  A purification process that could take several years, it gave way to the Neapolitan expression of wishing death upon someone, puozza scula, meaning literally, may your body drain away.  If you recall from my previous post, this is the same method used by the nuns in the Aragonese Castle.  Just before we reached the end of the tour, we came to a small chapel underground.  This chapel was probably built in the 5th century as well, and is still in use today.  The stone alter and the walls are original, but the seating consists of plain wooden benches.  The tour guide informed us that many weddings and baptisms take place here.  When asked about the skeletal remains, we were directed to the Cimitero Delle Fontanelle.  The family and I decided to go together so we wandered over there, expecting to find a regular cemetery.  This is what Naples Unplugged had to say:

The 1600's were probably the most disastrous 100 years in Neapolitan history:
Three civil uprisings; three famines; three earthquakes; five eruptions of Vesuvius; and three epidemics including the great plague of 1656 which is purported to have claimed the lives of at least half of Naples citizens. Lack of burial space in the city and fear of contamination led the government to seek an isolated burial location outside of the city walls.  Centuries of excavations for tufo, the volcanic material used to build the city, left behind deep, rocky cavities, including the cave in Capodimonte hill that would become the Fontanelle Cemetery.

The cave, which according to current estimates is an area of approximately 98,425 square feet, had been used by the Spanish since the 1500s as a place to “offload” remains. According to custom, Neapolitans were buried in their churches, at least those who could afford it, but the churches soon became severely overcrowded. For a price, undertakers either pretended to bury the dead in their churches or would dig up old remains, put them in a sack and throw them into Fontanelle or other caves in the area, making space for new remains. The same fate befell the victims of the plague of 1656, whose bodies were thrown into the cave, usually without identification or a grave marker and often without last rites.  The cave served as the city’s cemetery, or more accurately, its ossuary or charnel house for the next two centuries, up until the cholera epidemic of 1836. The Fontanelle Cemetery was used for all of the major epidemics during that time and became a paupers cemetery.  In all, an untold number of anonymous souls ended up in Fontanelle. One report claims that a student counted 8 million bones at the end of the 19th century. Today there are a reported 40,000 remains, but it is believed that thousands more are buried below the cemetery to a depth of over 13 feet.

It was a most somber place, just piles and piles and piles of bones.  There were small boxes with crosses on top scattered around the cave.  Each box held one or more skulls.  These memorials held little trinkets people had left.  It might be coins, rosary beads, figurines or prayer cards.  There were two glass cases with mummified remains and indeed the people were so much smaller then we are today, even allowing for the shrinkage that happened over the centuries.  They were basically the size of children.  There were thousand and thousands of rib, arm and leg bones, just stacked in huge piles.  Although there were signs saying no pictures, of course we all took some.  We were trying to be discreet, so they aren't great.  I'm going to use some I got from Google though, because they show a much better picture of what it was really like. 

After the cemetery we were hungry, so we stopped in a small market.  Another customer was eating something, so we just pointed to that.  When I say eating, that may be too kind a word.  He actually was trying to stuff the entire thing in his mouth at once.   It looked like a meat filled bread pocket kind of thing.  Again, neither the customer or shop keeper spoke English and we spoke no Italian, but after a lot of pointing we determined that he only had enough for 2.  There were 6 of us, so we turned to go when he called us back.   He also had half of quiche.  He wrapped everything up and we were all set.  I don't like quiche, so I opted for the bread.  It was basically a very thick chunk of bread that had been rolled and baked around an entire hard boiled egg and some kind of meat and a little cheese.  I tasted it but didn't care for it, too dry.  I did eat the egg though, I was really hungry.  I asked the kids what they thought of the cemetery and catacombs, expecting the typical teen response of OK.  Turns out they really liked both sites.  Too bad I didn't get to talk to them more, all three seemed like very nice kids.  I very much enjoyed hanging out with the whole family and hoped they could join me on the Amalfi trip the following day.

On the way home I passed a fruit stand a tried to buy a single orange.  The guy wouldn't take my money, he just smiled and waved me on my way.   Guess he was in the holiday spirit, but then again, a kilo of oranges was only about 2 euro.  I stopped by for my now regular pizza and settled in my room for dinner and some research for the trip tomorrow.  I knew there was a train to Salerno and I thought we could take a bus around to Amalfi and Sorrento then back to Naples.  Turns out we couldn't do that, but we could go in the other directions  A train to Sorrento then a bus to Amalfi and back.  We would even have time for a quick stop in Positano.  Mind you this took a few hours to figure out; going between maps, different web sites and trying to figure out all the time tables.  On the train to Sorrento, I specifically requested the time tables for Christmas day.  They had a plan your trip feature.  The bus schedules had a column just for holidays.  Finally I had it all figured out and written down; I was set. The next morning, I packed my lunch and headed off to the meeting point.  I wasn't sure who, if anyone would show, so I got there early to find out where to buy the tickets.  The information desk said the trains were only running to and from Sorrento until noon.  I said that can't be right, their web site showed all day.  He said no, but I was convinced he was misinformed.  Now who's the know it all?? LOL.  I went back outside to see if anyone had showed up and it was only Michael Anthony.  His dad had heard the Archeological museum was open and he wanted to go there.  The family had looked at the train web site and didn't see anything from Naples to Salerno so figured it was a no go.  I really couldn't imagine spending the day just me and him but I really wanted to do the trip.  I figured maybe we would have a good time, we just got off on the wrong foot the previous day.  He obviously liked me well enough to want to spend the day with me, so off we went to the ticket window.  Much to my surprise, they also said the trains were only running till noon.  Well, there went that idea down the drain.

On my way back to the hotel I noticed several cafes open as well as street vendors selling their wares.   I thought, oh good, there will be something open for lunch.  I spent the rest of the morning until mid afternoon watching True Detective, another little something I picked up on base.  I also munched my way through the last of the bread, cheese, chips, tomatoes and oranges I had accumulated over the week.  By late afternoon, I decided I needed a real meal and headed outside.  It was like a ghost town, there was absolutely NOTHING open and no people around.  By now of course, I was really hungry.  I headed back to the hotel, hoping the snack bar was open.  They had a sandwich menu which by now was looking pretty darn good.  When I asked about it though, I was told 'we have a very special Christmas dinner, a five course meal for only 35 euro'.  OK 1st, I ate in the restaurant one time and it was not good. 2nd, dinner was not for 3 more hours.  3rd that's over $40 and I didn't like half of what he described.  And finally, I could not see sitting by myself eating a five course meal!  Mind you I have no problem eating in a restaurant alone, but they envisioned this special dinner lasting all evening.  I had seen most of the guests around the hotel and at breakfast and as far as I could tell, I was the only single person around.   No thanks, I headed back up to my room to dig around in my food stash to see what was left.  A bowl of cereal it is!  And a Diet Mt Dew for dessert. 

It was finally time to head home and I must say, I was ready to leave.  I decided to take a cab to the train station rather then drag my suitcase over all the cobblestone sidewalks, not to mention, run the gauntlet of thieves when I couldn't see my bag.  My friends from Ischia had emailed me after they left and said the cab driver totally ripped them off by charging almost double what it should have cost, so I asked the hotel clerk.  He said about 12 euro.  Of course the cab driver told me 25.  After an argument, we settled on 15, but only because that's all I gave him.  Once inside the station I was making my way to my train.  These men kept talking to me, asking to carry my bag.  I said no and pushed on past them.  Just before I got to the train this one determined fellow just wouldn't let up.  He looked at the ticket in my hand actually grabbed my bag and headed toward my train.   I tried to take it back, but he kept showing me his train Italia patch, like he was an official porter or something.  We got to the right car and I said thank you and attempted to take my bag back but he was having none of it.  He insisted on taking me right to my seat.  I dug in my pocket and came up with 2 euro.   I figured it was worth it, I wasn't sure  how to read the assigned seating.  I could certainly have figured it out, but this was easier.  He put my bag up on the rack and turned around with his hand out.  I gave him the the coin and he got really mad.  After a bit of back and forth, him in Italian and me in English, I realized he was DEMANDING 10 euro.  And he was furious that I wouldn't give it to him.  Well, that was the last straw, I let him have it.  So there we stood, yelling at each other in different languages.  By now we certainly had the attention of people in several compartments around us.  I honestly was mad enough by now that I was on the verge of shoving him out of my compartment.   I was so pissed that he all but stole my bag right out of my hand and then had the nerve to demand money for doing it.  I think he realized how far he pushed me and backed out, bitching at me the whole way.  There was one other women in the compartment and she just looked at me.  It wasn't a friendly look either so I glared back at her.  Lady you do not want to mess with me right now! I had no idea what her problem was but as I get settled in she kept giving me these loud sighs.  The guy had put my suitcase up on the rack but my nook was in it, so I had to drag it down.  Sigh from her / glare from me.  I put the suitcase back, sigh/glare.  I put my backpack under my seat, sigh/glare.  I put my purse under the seat, sigh/glare.  At the last big sigh from her, for some reason I just burst out laughing.  To my knowledge I've never annoyed a person that much just by my very presence, but apparently I did just that.  Some other people came in as well and I'm sure wondered what was going on.  They gave us both a curious look.  Finally we were all settled in and my friend had finally stopped hyperventilating.  Otherwise, it would have been a very long 8 hours!  About 2 hours into the trip another couple came to our compartment.  They kindly informed her she was in the wrong seat. I pointed to the seat assignments with, I admit, an obvious smirk on my face. The rest of the trip was uneventful.

I decided to go home a different way, instead of catching the ferry in Pozzallo, I realized I could go to the bigger city of Catania (2 hours north) and take a charter bus straight to the ferry.  The times didn't match up though, so I had to spend the night and part of the next day in Catania.  After making sure I could change my ticket first thing in the morning, I spent the rest of the day just wandering around.  Though TripAdvisor said there were 147 things to do in the city, I only had a few hours.   I found another church for Sylvia and visited Parco Archeologico Greco Romano di Catania.  Basically its the ruin of a former Greek then Roman amphitheater.   I couldn't find much online that describes it, but it was interesting and right in the center of town.  You would walk right by it if not looking for it.  The entrance is just a nondescript door but once inside it opens up to a very well preserved amphitheater. There are some renovations going on and its hard to get a picture of the entire amphitheater without the bright orange mesh fence.  I also came across a really cool market, selling all fresh foods.  They had meat, cheese, seafood (some of it still alive) plants, fruit & vegetables, olives and spices.  I found a cafe overlooking the market and had a great time just watching the people.  After lunch, it was finally time to go back to the hotel, collect my bags and catch the bus.  This was a much easier trip and the way I'll go from here on out.  By 9 PM I was home sweet home.

Link to pictures



 https://plus.google.com/photos/118205599704530902363/albums/6096439630453856113?authkey=COD56oDn_OX9DA