Isle of Capri and Tiberius' Villa

We took the bus back to Anacapri and then Capri Town, from which Vicki was determined to do the hike up to the Emperor Tiberius' Villa Ruins (1st century). This was pretty up-hill, but beautifully scenic.

Old Capri Town is largely a maze of six foot- wide alleys; 
in the central square, this was the only signage pointing to 
Tiberius' place



Thus

A bit further, there's this; thanks, Rotarians

But hey, it's Capri and the Mediterranean, and getting lost 
is not really very unpleasant

Love the Mediterranean...

Still up ahead, Tiberius' Villa

The main road on up-town Capri Town, all of six feet wide

More Mediterranean

Finally, Tiberius' place; he ruled the empire from here for the last ten years of his 
life

More

More ditto

Looking down, 1,000 feet, to the beautiful blue beneath the Villa



More of the Villa and Capri beyond

Tiberius' Leap; the Emperor so loved having those who displeased him thrown 
from the cliffs

Looking back to the tip of the Sorrentine peninsula

Isle of Capri and Blue Grotto

We have always wanted to see the Isle of Capri, so Thursday, the 17th, we took the Circumvesuviana to Sorrento, found our way to the marina, and just made it onto the 10AM ferry. We had hoped for calmer waters and tides just right for seeing the interior of the Blue Grotto, but the swell between Sorrento and Capri was ominous. We landed at the grand marina beneath Capri Town and learned that not only were the boats not doing the Blue Grotto, they were not even doing the cruise around the island. (The sea didn't look that bad to me; it was a national holiday, however, Italy's 150th anniversary of unification; everything else was open and going strong....oh well.) Undaunted, we took the bus up to Capri Town and then around the island to Anacapri, then transferring to the bus that goes down to the Blue Grotto. While the bus rides on Capri are much shorter than the Amalfi coast, they are not a bit less thrilling, exposed, and scenic.

One of the deep gorges running through Sorrento

Sorrento's tourist marina

Our ship, the Good Ferry Isle di Pescida, or somesuch, in Capri's Grand Marina; 
note the danger I incurred to take this picture

OK, so after two harrowing bus rides, with some canoli and cafe expresso in between, 
we arrive at the Blue Grotto stopon the bus line; to see the entrance to the Grotto, you
walk down these stairs, a hundred feet or so, and peer around the corner

And there it is, the entrance to the Blue Grotto

On calm days I doubt that anyone pays the slightest attention to such injunctions; 
but we did



OK, it's blue



Bigger Picture

Interludium, Updatum; Secundum

I awoke this morning to Paul McCartney's singing "When I'm 64," thanks to Vicki. A week has passed since my last post, and we are now in Rome, beginning a week here before returning to the States for three weeks. Anyhow, I hope we'll have a slower pace in the coming week and I'll be able to post some more. There is ever more to report...Capodimonte, Vesuvius, the Amalfi Coast again and Ravello, the Caserta Palace and Garden. Stay tuned. And thanks to all who sent birthday greetings, in one medium or another.

The veal and pasta dish from Il Tari Vicki fixed for my birthday

Interludium; Updatum

We are, since Monday, back in Pompei, at our home, #11, Camping Spartacus. Tuesday we spent 7 hours in the Pompei archaeological site (500 pix). Wednesday, it rained all day. Thursday we spent all day in Capri, via train to Sorrento and ferry, seeing the Blue Grotto (sort of) and Tiberias' Villa (300 pix). Friday we were all day in Naples again, mostly at the Archaeological Museum (400 pix). Today, Saturday, we were on the Circumvesuviana again (the train that runs between Naples and Sorrento, Pompei in the middle), spending the afternoon at Herculaneum (300 pix). Tomorrow in Pompei again we see, by reservation, the Villa of the Mysteries, the House of the Prince of Naples, the Suburban Baths, and others, including House of the Tragic Poet, Garden of the Fugitives, and more. Another several hundred pix. It may take some some time to process, edit, and post all this. Or just a tiny bit of it. Perhaps I should explain that our interest in the region, its history and archaeology and so on, is longstanding (we have six years of high school Latin between us), and has been augmented considerably by watching Miami U professor Stephen Tuck's lectures on everyday life in Pompei, from the Teaching Company. Superb stuff. We have never been so well prepared for a site or complex of sites. And the classical world is on display at Pompei like nowhere else.

"That's more than 3 gigs of pix!"

Arrivaderci, Sicily

We spent the night at a rest area on the north coast (starts with a T; where the Black Madonna is located (which we decided to skip)) and then drove on into Messina to catch the ferry back to the mainland.


We had thought about taking one of the excursions out to

Stromboli and the other volcanic islands north of Sicily; but

they don't begin running until April; we think this may be

Stromboli pictured above; if not, some other island in the

Tyrrhenian Sea



Sicily's northern coast: more hill-top villages, more tunnels

and bridges



Have you ever been in a traffic jam, creeping along, on an

interstate, and every now and then some jerk comes whizzing

by, passing everybody, in the emergency lane? And you

wonder, where are the cops? Well, in this case, the cops were

waiting for the jerks, and nailed them. The traffic jam, a couple

miles in length just outside Messina, was caused by the

need to merge two lanes into one. In Sicily, and southern Italy

generally, this requires encounter and confrontation by each

and every pair of merging vehicles. If you let one in, then you

will have let in the next five or so until someone else finally

loses his [sic] nerve or pauses to light another cigarette.

Romanians are generally said to be the worst drivers in
Europe. Italians drive like Romanians on steroids (as Vicki
says).



And so we are back on the ferry, crossing the Straits of

Messina; alas, I did not even get the name of the vessel



That's because I was lashed to the mast, so

as not to be influenced by the Sirens, the

Whirlpool, Charybdis and Scylla, and other
local perils



Farewell, Sicily, tunnels and bridges, and crazy drivers



We much enjoyed our time with you



Cefalu

Having done Palermo--especially enjoying the little village Sferrocavallo we lived in for 4 days, the seafood, produce, houseplants sold from tuk-tuks with megaphones, the usual Sicilian "business" hours, etc.--we pressed on, taking the very interesting expressway across Palermo. It featured a 35 mph speed limit, limited access, but traffic lights at intersections here and there. Our goal for the day was Cefalu and its duomo, supposedly the third jewel in the crown of Sicily's Norman churches. We got there just as the 11:30 mass was getting over.

On main street, Cefalu, which sits under a

giant cliff, imaginatively called La Rocca; yes

that's an old Norman castle up there



Entry doors to the Duomo

Cefalu Duomo



Interior; alas, the only mosaic work was up

front around the altar

Thus

Another day, another Pantokrator

But there was this interesting feather-dancing figure, which

I remember from Hagia Sofia; must brush up on my

iconography

The beach at Cefalu; another month and it will be packed

Norman Palace Chapel

For mere tourists, the main reason to visit the Norman Palace is its 12th century chapel, every square millimeter of which is adorned in incredible mosaic. The style and stories are quite similar to the somewhat younger Monreale, but, since it's a royal chapel and not an abbey church, thus smaller, the mosaics are much closer. And they are better lit and were cleaned relatively recently.

Thus; altar, dome...

Pantokrator pose again; turns out, upon further "research," that 
this term is best associated with the Almighty him/herself, and 
not with JHC; the authority for this is the the good old Book of 
Revelation, wherein God and Christ are generally used 
interchangeably, but Pantokrator used strictly with God; just 
another useful item of information, from the all-knowing and
self-correcting Wikipedia

Panning around the incredible walls

Familiar Old Testament scenes

Ditto

Ditto again

Plus some more New Testament scenes, here, the Baptism of St. Paul

The meeting of Saints Paul and Peter

And, the show-stealer for me, Peter and Paul disputing with Simon Magi, before 
Nero; if you want to catch a bit of the flavor of early Church "history,"  look up 
Simon  Magi; BONUS QUESTION: what is the important (if somewhat obscure)

connection between this scene and City Slickers?

Palermo's Norman Palace

One of Palermo's other major sights is its Norman Palace, dating from the 11th or 12th centuries...

Palaces are almost always slapped-together affairs of different

era, but this one deserves an award...

There are seven or eight different buildings/styles, just on

this western facade

In the interior large courtyard...just the beginning of the

mosaics (next post)

Cats love containers, episode #463,867

One of the main reasons to see the Norman Palace,

especially if you're a Sicilian, is that it houses the highest

levels of Sicilian government; this, I think, is in the cabinet

meeting room, a depiction of Sicily's ancient and current

symbol, the triskelion

As seen on the Sicilian flag; "and now for something
completely different..."

In the Chinese Room, an 18th century

depiction  of a Chinois personne, with very

interesting head-gear, possibly demonstrating

use of a small satellite dish



 

And, in other state rooms, much original furniture, decor,

more incredible mosaic...and this is only the beginning