June 1, 2023

June 1, 2023

We rise early and return to the Napoli airport for our flight to London Heathrow. Aimee has breakfast in the Lounge and a second one on the airplane. She is turning into a hobbit. Italy is mostly mountainous, with the Appenines running right down the spine. We cross into Switzerland and the Alps in full view of the Matterhorn. We enter France over Lake Geneva. The Rhone River is full of glacial till as it enters this border lake.

After a two-hour layover at Heathrow, we board our long trans-Atlantic flight to Dallas. Aimee and I share opposing seats facing each other. Aimee is able to keep an eye on me for the whole flight. It is the first time I have flown in an airplane facing backwards. Very weird.

During our layover in Dallas, I have some tasty beef brisket sandwich. I love Texas BBQ. We get to Tucson just after 8pm.

We ran into more than our fair share of bad luck on this trip; rain, thunderstorms, a Red Alert, Sirocco winds, volcano eruption, train strikes, near-miss landing, missing artifacts, and scaffolding-obscured sites. More than enough to discourage the most ardent travelers. Despite the setbacks, Aimee and I both liked the trip. We still managed to see the most important monuments and had good weather when it really counted. What we missed was minor. But I would have loved to see a cloud-free Mt. Etna actually erupting.... from a safe distance!

One of the things that probably made up for the bad luck was the good food. Despite our extensive travels, we surprisingly had many tasty items, we either haven't had or have only had infrequently. The list included Pistachio-flavored everything, Red Pesto, Caponata, Eggplant Parmigiana, Swordfish, Meloncello, and huge Ricotta-filled Cannoli. And who can't like the Sicilian penchant for eating desserts for breakfast! Thanks to my sister for ensuring we ate well.

May 31, 2023

May 31, 2023

Getting to and from the Amalfi coast is tedious, so I had left the afternoon open for travel back to the Napoli airport. Surprisingly Aimee thought we should do something. She nixed the Greek temples at Paestum, but she agreed to visiting another World Heritage site in nearby Caserta. So we checked out of our Positano hotel early and took the first ferry east to Salerno.

It is a nice relaxing scenic boat ride. The whole seacoast is rugged with nearly sheer cliffs filled with houses and villages and terraced gardens. Whoever built the Amalfi coast road deserves a civil engineering award. There are also medieval stone watchtowers at frequent intervals. This was to keep alert for Saracens or Barbary Pirates seeking to kidnap and enslave the unwary Christian.

A few blocks inland from the port of Salerno we found the train station. Instead of taking it to Naples, we skirted north of Vesuvius, ending in Caserta, just twenty miles north of Naples. The Royal Palace is across the street. It is immense, and we cannot believe how long the entry promenade is. We are even more impressed by the four interior courtyards connected by towering corridors.

We ditch our luggage in the coat check and then stop at the cafeteria for a ham and cheese Panini.

We bought a ticket to visit the Royal Apartments. As we walk up the monumental stairway, we are gobsmacked. It is over the top Baroque constructed of rich marble and granite and adorned with statuary. The scale is gigantic. I can’t believe this place is not on the tourist radar. To top it off there is classical music playing in the background.

We walk from one grand hall to another. Each seems to top the last. These monumental rooms are clearly meant to impress. Caserta is considered the Swan Song of Baroque. With the rediscovery of Pompeii, Neoclassical became the new fashion.

The palace tour eventually gives way to the actual rooms where people lived and slept. This palace is one of the largest in the world. Only a small fraction is open to tour, but even that small part takes time walking down long hallways. Most of the rooms are lit with beautiful Murano glass chandeliers.

This palace was built in the 18th century by the Spanish Bourbon kings who ruled the Kingdom of the Two Sicilys. They apparently taxed their serfs heavily. No wonder the local peasants turned to the Mafia to look after their interests. This is also why Southern Italy got left behind the North during the Renaissance and Industrial Revolution.

After our tour we tried to visit the Palace backyard, but it is some two miles long. We can barely see to the end. We walk about ¾ of a mile to the first section of decorative ponds and decide to turn around. It is a good thing we did. It starts to rain, and when we get back to the palace, the sky lets loose. The rain is coming down in buckets, and the thunder is reverberating through the cavernous courtyards. We wait and wait but it just gets worse. After almost an hour, it starts to lessen, so we pull out our raincoats and make a run for it. We are stymied when we make it across the entry garden and find the road flooded. So close, yet so far. We try every direction and decide our feet are just going to get wet. How could the sky hold that much water!

Back at the Naples train station, we are met with dry sunny weather. It never rained here even though we are so close to Caserta. Go figure. We took the shuttle to the airport and found our airport hotel accommodation. For dinner we ordered appetizers of Bruschetta and Eggplant Parmigiana. Both were excellent. We should have stopped there. The huge serving of dessert put us over the edge.