Blue Grotto

So finally you round a bend and see a sort of cove and 20-30 dozen boats there and you know you have arrived at the One True Blue Grotto. In our boat, the cap'n asked who wanted to go and who didn't--incredibly, about half did not. They were transferred to another boat and sent back to the Grand Marina. In shame, I presume. We, the faithful, remained. And remained. The way this works is, in order to get into the Grotto, you have to be transferred to a little rowboat, 4 passengers, one mariner, who takes you to the ticket office and then tells you watch your head and then sings "O Solo Mio," or maybe "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...", badly [see video], and then demands a tip, ideally as you are midway between his little boat and the big motor-boat. Anyway, we continued remaining. And waiting. And waiting. Wondering why our boat was sort of standing off, aloof...although if there was a queue of any conceivable Mediterranean sort, we could not discern it. Other boats arrived. Their parties got in the little rowboats and went into the Grotto. We observed this and apprised our captain. He then was on his cellphone, talking, gesturing wildly, in the Italian manner. Crew members of the little rowboats were on their cell phones, also gesturing wildly, sometimes apparently approaching violence toward each other. Or perhaps it was all just part of the act. Anyhow, after 45 minutes or an hour of this, two of the wildly gesturing ones approached, gingerly off-loaded us, and we were on our way. Someone in this operation should visit Disney. The mercifully short video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCmMUgDmG7k.

We were on a boat pretty much like this

And now we are in the little row boat, headed for

The ticket office; 8.50 euro admission fee plus 4 euro "tax"

And here is the entrance...you have to lay down flat in the
boat while the guide/mariner does the same while pulling
you through via a chain; the entrance, in calm seas and low
tide, is about a meter high, maybe two wide

And then, voila and shazzam, you are there, in the Blue
Grotto

Thus

And thus

And thus

And you are so busy doing stills and adjusting the camera
and then trying to provide video-documentation of the whole
incredible thing, while not being overcome by the silliness of
the situation, the singing (wait for the video), that you forgot
to notice any of it at all...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCmMUgDmG7k

And then, no sooner than you can say, "Avast!" you are out
again, boarding your open motor-craft, and headed back to
the Grand Marina: fulfilled: another once-in-a-lifetime experience
experienced

Cruising Capri

We had visited Capri in 2011, accomplished much, and had a good time. But the small boats weren't running that day, there were no boat cruises around the island, and, most important, none out to the Blue Grotto. So we had to go back and fill in the big gaps. We were on the Circumvesuviana at 8:17, boarding the 9:30 ferry in Sorrento an hour later, and onto our around-the-island/Blue Grotto combo boat trip at 10:30. The Blue Grotto, next post, is of course something you have to do. But I thought the around-the-island cruise was one of our better scenic adventures ever. The island is entirely limestone, so it is covered all over with caves, grottos, arches, spires, sea stacks, and on and on. Our three 2011 posts on Capri are: http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/03/isle-of-capri-and-tiberius-villa.html, http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/03/isle-of-capri-and-blue-grotto.html, and http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/03/capri-out-takes.html.

Sorrento's little marina

Unusually tall Tall Ship in Sorrento harbor; we saw it pulling
up in Capri that afternoon, then at Amalfi the next day; it's
the Royal Clipper; 227 passengers having their 19th century
maritime Roots experience; who knows, maybe even catch
a white whale

So we are off on our "short boat" trip...20 some passengers in
an open power boat and a captain who gives us a running
narration, both Italian and English, as we cruise around...
here, just out of Capri's grande marina, beginning to grasp
that the Blue Grotto is not Capri's only grotto

Ditto; Tiberias' place is up high somewhere
there

The Mediterraean is always an interesting color; here, the
shallow sand bottom gives it that Blue Grotto look; I tried to
explain to Vicki that this is the same color as most in-ground
swimming pools, but she was not having it

Really high up cave

Another grotto

In many cases the boat noses right up into them

Typical scenery

A natural arch, middle top

Sea stacks

It is obligatory to cruise through the arch; we did; later I'll
post my video of it to YouTube

Another grotto

More caves, more grottoes, etc.

Another huge cave, way high up

More typical scenery

Another grotto

And another

And another

Stalactites in the high up caves

And still more caves and grottoes

Ditto again; so, basic point: from an investment point of
view, Capri is still a good bet, even if the oceans rise a good
bit more...they have numerous back-up grottoes and grottoes
in the making, and they're all some shade of blue

Under The Stratovolcano

After our stay at Lido Latina, we drove mostly the coast roads south, through interesting beach towns such as Terracina, Gaeta, and Formia, then bypassed most of Naples, and eventually made our way to our basecamp in Pompeii. Some of the scenery along the way, broad, long, sandy beaches, cliffs overlooking coves and bays, could rival Amalfi or the Italian Riviera. Not so much conspicuous wealth as the Riviera and not quite as spectacular as the Amalfi coast, but great beaches and a more affordable-appearing lifestyle.

Anyhow, we are back in Pompeii, just outside the entrance to the world's greatest archeological park, at site #10, Camping Spartacus, our old friend; thus showing our solidarity with the world's enslaved masses while also benefiting from the reduced off-season rate we get with our ACSI cards. We like Pompeii not merely for the archaeology, but because of its location in the middle of the Circumvesuviana railroad, which runs regularly from Naples to Sorrento, serving most all the the sights on the Bay of Naples. In Naples we'll visit the museums; in Pompeii, we'll visit the ruins; and in Sorrento we'll catch the bus to Amalfi and the boat to Capri; and just walk about Sorrento, which we like. Maybe even do something new while enjoying some perfect weather and some of the best food in Italy.

On The Beach

Lido Latina...south of Latina, on the coast west of Rome,
are miles of undeveloped beach, a strip of dunes and
beach between the lagoon and the Mediterranean; we
spent the day here, resting, reading, relaxing, and blogging,
walking the beach, picking up beach glass; there was one
other camper; every now and then, a jogger or cyclist;
every few hundred yards along the beautiful sand
beach, a fisherman...we're enjoying a day off

Orvieto Cathedral, 2013

The only destination we really wanted to see again before Rome and south was Orvieto and its great cathedral, with which we were very impressed in 2011. I did four posts on Orvieto and the cathedral then, starting with http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/05/orvieto-1.html. Very impressed.

On the blue roads out of Tuscany and into
Umbria, a procession of these little hill towns

We parked at the sosta, then took the funicular up the hill
and the bus to the cathedral

Another Italian Gothic; Zebraesque; a later vintage of Gothic, as France and
elsewhere were well into Flamboyant when this was done; not fully completed
until early 1600s; both the transepts issue in sizable chapels; and the apse is
squared-off, like an English cathedral

Orvieto's facade is said to be the best of the Italian Gothics;
I'd put it into the running for best Gothic facade, period; the
carving is incredible as are the mosaics; and there is none of
the usual damage from national or religious wars, revolutions,
etc.

Looking from one of the great panels up to the spires

Columns by the central door

Across the facade, bronze attributes of the Evangelists

Mosaic detail: after giving birth, Mary is having roast chicken; Vicki, with her
binoculars, sees so much more than I do

From the Baptism mosaic: most people don't know it, but the river Jordan was at
one time a Blue Ribbon trout stream

Interestingly, the nave has (beautifully-painted) timber vaulting; the transepts
and chancel have the more traditional four-part Gothic stone vaulting

The windows are half alabaster and half stained-glass

The Chapel of the Corporal, in which are housed relics, etc., related to the Miracle
of Bolsena (1263), in which drops of blood appeared on the altar cloth during
Eucharist, thus "proving" the relatively new doctrine of Transubstantiation; "two,
four, six, eight: time to transubstantiate!" (in the immortal words of Tom Lehrer)

Frescoes in the Chapel by Ugolino di Prete Ilario, 14th

This detail shows how, when cooked, the wafer bleeds

Moving right along to the starboard transept and the Chapel of San Brizo there,
here is the ceiling painted by Fra Angelica

The chapel has quite a bit of interest, hells and judgments and such, and portraits
of great writers, some of which I posted in 2011; but here simply (the blond in
black) is the artist, Luca Signorelli, who finished all this about 1499, and of whom
I think highly, despite the fact he was from Cortona, a town which to this day has
inadequate parking for visitors

Valley view from Orvieto, near the cathedral; a beautiful place