May 26, 2023

May 26, 2023

After seeing all the Pompeii artifacts yesterday, we wanted to visit the site, but the Italians scheduled a nationwide general strike today. So we have to punt and stick local. Strikes in Italy are as common as Mt Etna erupting and both play havoc with life.

From our hotel on the main drag of Corso Umberto, we walk southwest toward the port and Historic Center of Naples, a World Heritage Site. Once there we see two cruise ships anchored, one of which, owned by Royal Caribbean, was the largest in the world until eclipsed this year.

Also at the port is Castel Nuovo, a squat medieval stone fortress. When Alfonso of Aragon added Naples and Southern Italy in 1443 to his dominions he had a marble triumphal arch added to the otherwise ugly castle.

A block away we visit the Galleria Umberto I. This beautiful old Victorian-era shopping mall is almost an identical twin to the Vittorio Emanuele Galleria we visited in Milan a few years ago. Except this one has Zodiac signs in the central floor. Aimee is not too enthused as it has none of the upscale stores Milan did.

Instead we walked to Piazza del Plebescito. This large public space is dedicated to the 1860 vote that added Naples and Sicily to the new united Italian Kingdom. Unfortunately most of the plaza is set up for a temporary open-air concert. The piazza is flanked on the west side by a Pantheon-like church. On the opposite is the Royal Palace. The palace facade has a series of eight statues representing Naples' royal dynasties starting with Roger of Normandy and ending with Victor Emmanuel, the first Italian king.

We walked north along Via Toledo window-shopping, but there is a throng of humanity; probably from the two big cruise ships. We were very lucky there were no ships in port the day we toured tiny Valletta. Also Naples is a dirty city. While Neapolitans, like Indians, are clean and well-dressed, they care less about their living environment. Almost every surface is filled with graffiti.

We ran into one of the funiculars. Despite the strike, it is running, so we take it to the top of Vomero Hill. We walked with some Australians who, seeing a sign for Floridiana, mentioned Ron DeSantis. I am always amazed that foreigners know far more about the US than we do about them.

We buy tickets to walk the ramparts of Castel Sant’Elmo on the hilltop. It is a huge, very tall castle with many long ramps to finally reach the top. From this lofty perch we get great views of Naples and its harbor, with Vesuvius looming in the background.

Back at sea level we continue up Via Toledo, before veering back into the historic center. We try to visit Chiesa Gesu Nuovo, but it is closed till this evening. It has the strangest church facade we have ever seen.

We continue on Spaccanapoli St. past one tall plague obelisk to another one in Piazza Domenico. We have been looking for something small to eat but there is little besides pizza. Here we stopped and ordered Taralli, a southern Italian snack that looks like a flavored pretzel. This time the cover charge also came with some snacks.

We had a pasta dinner near our hotel and then returned to finish off the Marzipan I bought in Palermo at the beginning of the trip. It is so rich I can only eat a little at a time. Sicilian Marzipan or Frutta Martorana is a sugary almond snack that is glazed and dyed to look like a real fruit. According to legend the Martorana nuns made these fake fruits to beautify their monastery for an off-season papal visit.

May 25, 2023

May 25, 2023

We awoke early, checked out of our hotel and Ubered to the Malta airport. Check-in was a breeze. Our flight to Naples was only supposed to be an hour. After passing the island of Capri and Mt Vesuvius to begin our approach, we turned and headed back out to sea. After what seemed ages we circled around and again made our final approach into the Naples airport. Just as we were to land, the pilot made an abrupt nose-up at full throttle. Either a near-miss or the runway was still occupied. I can handle turbulence but emergency evasive maneuvers make me nervous. After circling around landward we made another approach and landed. Phew. On the plus side I got the grand aerial tour of Naples.

Back on Terra Firma, finally, we met our driver and he took us to our hotel in the heart of Naples, the old capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilys. Our room is not ready, so we dropped our bags and started walking to a pizzeria. We weren't really hungry, so we kept walking through the historic district. It is packed with tourists. Plus everywhere is covered in blue and white banners. Apparently Naples just won a soccer championship.

We continued on to the National Archeology Museum. We saw they had a cafeteria, so we had a bite to tide us over. Aimee picked a Focaccia con Mortadella. It was good, but I didn't have the heart to tell her this was the Italian version of a Bologna sandwich. It is what I ate every day as a kid!

This museum is famous for having the treasures collected from Pompeii. We start on the top floor with the many household items one would have in their home if you suddenly had to flee. This includes lamps for lighting, scissors and other personal hygiene products, and pots and pans for cooking and serving. Pompeii must have been upscale as many of the items are bronzeware as opposed to simple ceramic.

Many museums have collections of monumental Roman statues, but the uniqueness of Pompeii and this museum is the astounding collection of the Roman mundane. It is amazing how advanced the Romans were and how much like ourselves they were. They even had a metal folding table.

I liked the collection of glassware on display. There is a lot of it in many intricate and sometimes beautiful shapes. Glass would be one of those many skills lost in the post-Roman Dark Ages. I had to laugh a little when I saw some water glasses that looked exactly like ones I used as a child.

We next moved into Roman wall painting. When Pompeii was first excavated, the standard practice was to remove the painted walls and bring them to the King's museum here in Naples. It ranges from the simple decorative to elaborate scenes to personal portraits. Pompeii is one of the few places where this fragile art was preserved.

We quickly walked through a large section on Magna Graecia (Greater Greece). Besides Sicily the Greeks colonized much of the coastline of Southern Italy. Napoli, or Neopolis (New City) started life as a Greek city. We have already seen lots of Greek treasures, but this section has lots of wall paintings found in ancient nearby Greek tombs. They are centuries older than Pompeii.

What is also impressive about this Magna Graecia section is that the floor is all mosaic tile that was removed from Pompeii. You have to wear booties to peruse this exhibit.

The museum is preparing a special exhibit on the first floor. Disappointingly the most famous object, the Alexander Mosaic, has already been moved. Shockingly I watched as they took the famous Dancing Faun statue off its base and carried it away.

There is a rather large collection of erotic art. This used to be kept hidden away from public view. No longer. Sex was important to the Romans. Some of it is erotic but much of it is just plain odd, even hilarious. You will have to come to see it for yourself.

We finished on the first floor with the large sculptures found in Pompeii and the neighboring town of Herculaneum. While impressive, it is stuff we have seen at many other sites. The Romans decorated every public space with sculpture.

We walked back to the hotel through the historic district again. We passed a statue of the Nile River god. I have no idea why that is here. We also passed a street full of Presepi (Nativity Scene) vendors. Many are monumental and amazingly elaborate. They also seemed to have branched out to rustic scenes.

For dinner we went to a Pizzeria and had one with spicy Calabrian sausage. Delicious, but then again Naples is the birthplace of pizza. The waiter talked us into after dinner drinks of Limoncello. For variety I had a creamy Meloncello. It is made from Cantaloupe. We liked it so much we bought a bottle at a grocery store on the walk back.

May 24, 2023

May 24, 2023

We had planned to rent a car at the Malta Airport. Since we took the ferry, we now have no wheels. Our traveling companions alerted us to Uber now being available in Malta. So we used the app this morning to drive us to the nearby city of Mdina. With the heavy traffic, narrow roads, and opposite side driving, Aimee is very happy we are using Uber instead. I am too.

Mdina is the old capital of Malta. It is a small walled city atop a hill. Its name is Arabic from Medina, or old city. When Malta was given to the Knights they moved the capital to Valletta. The old Maltese nobility remained here but without their power, earning Mdina the nickname of the Silent City. Aimee and I walked the narrow, clean, almost barren, streets dodging cars. There are few tourists at this hour.

Our first stop is St Paul’s co-cathedral. It shares the bishop seat with its counterpart St John’s in Valletta. It is much smaller and less ostentatious. But it does have the same tomb flooring like St Johns. A mass is starting so we can’t stray far from the entrance.

We finish at the far end of Mdina where we get nice views of the surrounding valley. We chuckle watching a woman with a tripod-mounted cell phone taking selfies. It is a new world we live in.

We exit through the side Greek gate and next visit the Domus Romana. In Roman times Mdina was called Melita, from which the whole island got its name. In 1882 a large mosaic floor was discovered from a large Roman city house. The centerpiece of the design is two doves drinking water. This is a common motif for Romans.

During excavation a number of artifacts from the likely wealthy owner were discovered. I am always amazed at the quality of Roman luxury goods. It reminds me that the needs of husbands and wives have changed little through the millennia.

From Mdina, we Ubered across the island to Hagar Qim. This is one of the World Heritage Megalithic Temple sites we learned about yesterday at the Archeology Museum. Mediterraneans curse the Sirocco winds. But one benefit is that they buried ancient sites in a layer of Sahara dust protecting them for 5000 years. Hagar Qim is older than Stonehenge and equally as mysterious. The stone temples consist of multiple adjoining rooms in a cloverleaf pattern; akin to a cathedral with lots of side chapels. No bodies were discovered, so it is not a tomb. It must be associated with some religious ritual. The purpose must have been pretty important to spend precious time carving, moving and erecting huge blocks of stone. On the temple perimeter is a niche room with a hole cut to the interior. One archeologist suggested this might have been used by an oracle to deliver predictions.

About 500 yards downhill towards the sea is Mnajdra, another set of three temples. This one is in a little better shape because of the use of a harder stone. Some of the stones are decorated with thousands of little holes. Aimee thinks they resemble the hammered copper look of the kitchen table she has been wanting.

We are getting hungry so we Uber back to Mdina where we find a madhouse. The cruise ships must be bussing tourists in by the hundreds. We walk away from the crowd and find a nice restaurant where we have a lunch of Maltese Pasta. It was much better than last night’s choice.

Afterwards we walk into the adjoining town of Rabat (suburb in Arabic) to the Basilica of St Paul. Paul was shipwrecked here on his way to Rome. During his time on Malta he installed a bishop and started an early Christian community. The cave he supposedly lived in is called St Paul's Grotto. Because Christians buried their dead instead of cremating like the Romans, Rabat is filled with catacombs.

We then Ubered to the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum. This is another Megalithic site. Unlike the many above ground temples in Malta, this is an underground catacomb that was only discovered a hundred years ago when a worker was digging a cistern. Like the caveman paintings in France, the site deteriorated quickly because of tourism. Visits are now limited to ten at a time. I had to make this coveted reservation months ago.

After watching two films, we are led down the stairs into this hand-dug cave system. It must have been grueling to remove all this stone in darkness. Because of dampness most of the thousands of interred skeletons simply disintegrated into dust.

Many of the rooms are carved to resemble the stone slab architecture of the above ground temples. A few ceilings have remnants of decoration with red ochre paint. We have seen similar catacomb and troglodyte housing elsewhere. The 5000 year-old age of this site is just an indication that digging into stone must somehow be in the human DNA.

Back in Valletta, we relax on our rooftop deck with some beverages bought at the lobby bar. We watch the biggest cruise ship I have ever seen leave the harbor. It holds 9000 crew and passengers and even has a giant water slide in the stern.

We also watched a crew filming a German language movie outside our hotel, and in the adjoining building. Because of all the stone fortresses and narrow streets, Malta has long been a filming location. Our hotel clerk said last year dinosaurs from the latest Jurassic Park film rampaged outside the hotel.

For dinner, we ate at a Michelin guide restaurant. It was excellent. Starting with a half bottle of Caravaggio wine, we had a tasty bean appetizer that reminded us of Olive Tapenade. Our main course was Sea Bass. We finished with a dessert of Prickly Pear Panna Cotta. Yum

May 23, 2023

May 23, 2023

Yesterday was a long exhausting day getting to Malta so we slept in. After several cups of coffee we set out to explore the capital city of Valletta. It is a small city on a peninsula completely enclosed within a massive stone fortress. Our first stop is around the corner at St John's Co-cathedral. This was the main church of the Knights of St John that ruled the island. The knights were a religious order charged with defending the Holy Land. In the face of the advancing Ottoman Empire, they became a naval force to protect Christian shipping and harass Turkish fleets.

The exterior of the cathedral is plain but the interior is richly decorated Baroque. The most striking feature is the floor; it is completely covered in marble tombs from past knights.

We followed the audio guide to learn more about the ostentatious decoration. The perimeter is a set of chapels dedicated to each of the different ‘langues’ or regions represented by the Knights. Each chapel is lavishly decorated to their patron saint and usually features several tombs from the leading knights. A common theme is some military conquest over the slave armies of the Ottoman Empire.

The tour finishes in the oratory that contains two masterpiece paintings by Caravaggio. While a gifted artist, known for his dramatic use of lighting, he was always getting into serious trouble and had to move around often to keep ahead of the executioner. He spent a year here.

The weather is warm and sunny so we decided to visit some outdoor sites. We start in the Lower Barrakka Garden. Surprisingly, in the center is a Greek Temple styled memorial. We thought we had left the Greeks behind in Sicily. On a platform beyond the edge of the garden is the Siege Bell War Memorial. It is dedicated to Malta's second great siege during WWII when the British fended off attacks by the Axis powers. There is a film crew working on the memorial.

We then walked to the Upper Gardens just west of our hotel. It contains a Cold War memorial dedicated to the Malta Summit meeting of Bush and Gorbachev officially ending the Cold War. The garden also overlooks the Saluting Battery. We think about watching the noon cannon firing, but the crowds are too thick.

Instead we walk through town to Fort St Elmo at the far tip. One of the defining characteristics of Valletta is the colorful enclosed wooden balconies adorning most buildings. This harkens back to Malta’s Arab roots where ladies used these to peer out windows without being seen.

We finished at the National Archeology Museum. The main floor is devoted to the rich Neolithic history of Malta. This small island has an astounding number of megalithic temples thousands of years older than the pyramids. Only one site in Turkey can claim to be older. We start with the simple temple decorations that include basic animal figures and geometric shapes. We then move into the artistic artifacts found during excavation. The most fascinating pieces are those of human depiction. Typical is an obese female. Most are very small, but there are a few that are human size. The most peculiar piece is a reclining woman. This would not be a typical artist pose for another 5000 years.

On the upper floor, there are a couple rooms devoted to the Phoenician merchants who established a colony here. These first seafarers from Lebanon used their plentiful supply of Cedar wood to build ships. They probably got started supplying luxuries to wealthy Egyptian Pharaohs. They specialized in glass, wine, and a purple mollusk dye but eventually built a trading empire across the entire Mediterranean. Interestingly glassware was initially produced by laboriously winding beads of molten glass around a mold. The art of glassblowing wouldn't be invented until Roman times.

May 22, 2023

May 22, 2023

We spent the night at a wine resort on the northern slopes of Mt Etna. Etna must have been happy to see us as she sprang to life. Unfortunately her exuberant and frothy voice rained down on the local airport forcing it to close. At 4:00 am, we met our driver in the parking lot for the hour drive to the airport. We already know our flight is cancelled and not rescheduled. At the airport we find everyone is looking for a flight if and when the airport reopens later this morning. We are stuck.

Our next destination is another island, Malta. I was thinking of skipping Malta and taking the train to mainland Italy, until I learn we had the opportunity for a ferry to Malta. But first we have to get to the seaport on the faraway southern tip of Sicily. It is an adventure. Fortunately we met a nice young Sri Lankan-Swiss couple on the same itinerary to share it with. Their travel skills complement ours. We located and hopped on the shuttle bus to the local train station and bought a ticket south. We took the 6:30 am train to Siricusa, where we have a long layover. We spend the time at an outdoor cafe drinking cappuccino and enjoying a chocolate croissant.

After a couple hours we catch the next train to the southern port city of Pozzallo. We arrive to pouring rain, but fortunately a taxi is waiting to transfer us to the harbor. We have another long wait that we spend in a pizzeria-bar.

At 2:30 pm we finally board the ferry to Valletta, the capital of Malta. The catamaran ferry is huge with several semis on board.

Fortunately for me the seas were calm and this catamaran ferry very fast. We land in Malta in ninety minutes. The four of us are overjoyed and a little surprised that we really made it.

There is a long line of people wanting taxis, so we just decided to walk the mile to our hotel. Valletta is a small city inside a high stone walled fortress. Our penthouse hotel room has a great view of the port. Every spot on the harbor is bristling with fortifications. That is the essence of Maltese history.

Before going to bed, we took a quick stroll around this heavily fortified city. We passed memorials to Jean de Valette and the Great Siege of 1565. When the Ottoman Turks threw the Knights of St John (defenders of the Holy Land) out of the island of Rhodes in 1530, the king of Spain gave them Malta for an annual tribute of one Maltese Falcon. Malta was the next stronghold defending against the relentless Ottoman campaign to conquer Europe. Fortunately for us, the Knights made a successful last stand; otherwise I might be writing this in Turkish or Arabic.

May 21, 2023

May 21, 2023

We left Siracusa and drove north along the Sicilian coastline. We are supposed to explore Mt Etna this morning but it is not looking good as the weather is still cloudy and rainy. So we decide to skip it and spend more time in our next destination of Taormina. Taormina, derived from Taurus Mount or Bull Mountain, is an old coastal city that is now a tourist destination. It sits high above the beautiful coastline.

Our first stop is a coffee shop to buy a Cappuccino so we can use the bathroom. We walked down the main street checking out the minor sites. The town is cute with nicely decorated side streets and alleys.

After a short while we separated so my sister could do some shopping. The most common souvenirs for sale in Sicily are ceramic Pinecones (a symbol of Prosperity and Good Wishes) and a pair of Heads, usually a Saracen or Moorish male and a Sicilian woman, that derives from a tragic love story from the Muslim era.

Aimee and I continued to the opposite end to visit the Ancient Theater, the main reason Taormina made it on the tourist map. It is famous because its setting is arguably the most scenic of any theatrical venue. A hole in the Scenae (backdrop) allows an expansive view of the seacoast. The only thing missing in the vista is Mt. Etna. She is still hiding in the clouds.

While the theater started out Greek it was expanded during Roman times. In particular many of the walls were rebuilt by the Romans using Opus Latericium, a rubble interior core with a brick facade. The bricks would have been plastered white and painted.

We rejoined my sister to have a pizza lunch at a restaurant with terrace seating on the cliff edge. The pizza with spicy pepperoni was especially good.

From Taormina we climbed the northern slope of Mt Etna to find our next accommodation at a Wine Resort. It is really out in the country. We get the news that Etna is erupting again and the airport is closed because it is covered in ash. We are told that Etna erupts often but usually the wind blows away from the Catania airport. That doesn't bode well for our flight out tomorrow, assuming we survive the eruption.

After resting for an hour we join a bunch of other tourists for the wine tour. It is hard to understand the Italian accent of the winemaker. We then move into the dining room for a combination dinner and wine tasting. The tasting begins with champagne, and then a white and a red wine. The meal starts with a Pumpkin Antipasti, then Pasta, followed by a very tender Beef in wine sauce. We finish with a huge Cannoli and a sweet dessert wine.

We are stuffed. We retire early because we have an early flight and it is an hour drive to the airport.