Terza Parte

Sunday morning: final installment of the Almalfi Coast series!

Sunday I woke up feeling exhausted and achy thanks to a head cold. Amanda, Sophia, and I packed up our room and went down for another fabulous breakfast. When I went to get an omelet I asked the man preparing them what type of cheese he was using (safe to say it wasn't shredded cheddar, they don't understand breakfast foods like Americans do). I had noticed earlier this man knew limited English: tomato, omelet, cheese, you want?, and your welcome! haha So I asked the very simple question "Che tipo di fromaggio?" He got really excited I could speak Italian and we chatted about how pretty Sorrento is, art history, where I am from back home and when the group was leaving the hotel. I had so much fun chatting in Italian (before 8am I'd like to add) and this man didn't seem to be purposefully simple or slow. The cheese is German by the way.

After my fun breakfast we all boarded our bus for a tour of the Amalfi Coast. These roads are wide enough for maybe a car and vespa to pass eachother yet are two way traffic heavily populated by tourist filled buses like our own. They twist and turn up and down perilously steep cliffs allowing for breathtaking views (if you're not the driver). It was a little muggy but our tour guide, Esmerelda, pointed out the olive groves and lemon groves along the way which are supposedly the best in Italy (and therefore the world in the Italian mind). I might have dozed for 15 min or so but it left me feeling much more alert for the rest of the morning. We made a stop at an overlook crowded with tourists and aggressive salesmen.

The sleeping giant, see his face looking to the sky
and hands folded on his chest?

Good example of the roads, remember that's a cliff

Scenic views

Olive groves on terraces

We made it to the town of Almalfi for a tour of a Cloister and the shrine to St. Andrew where his remains are. The church was built in the striped style reminding me of Moorish/Spanish buildings which I haven't seen much of  in Italy before. There was a long staircase up to the church and it was richly decorated on the narthex/porch with bronze figures on the portone and mosaics and elegant columns. I was a happy camper. Also I read the itinerary that day and knew to wear church appropriate attire. The majority of ladies in my program were wearing tank tops and booty shorts, which meant they had to wrap two or three scarves around themselves before entering the church and museum. The Cloister of Paradise was originally a burial site for the nobles in Almalfi in the second century, hence "paradise". There was a beautiful atrium area with graceful arches and colorful frescoes that was covered over with a more straight simple whitewashed style. I feel like an awful art student because I am blanking on the actual name for it. Basically it went from being beautifully ornate and decorated to square and white and boring. Thankfully an earthquake much later on reveled these hidden niches and they were uncovered to find very well preserved frescoes!! Sadly it appears there was a Muslim invasion at one point so many of the heads of saints were carved out, but still these frescoes are incredible and we could see them right up close in person!

Ceramic mosaic at port entrance to the city

Pretty arches

San Andrea- can you spot my plaid scarf?

Above the door

Uncovered mosaic designs on display

Frescoes in the Giotto school!

Birdie

The crypt/shrine!

Depiction of the procession of St. Andrew's remains
from Constantinople to Amalfi (read up on the miracle)

St. Andrew himself

After the artium we went into the church's old basilica which is now a museum for relics of saints and popes and the church in general. It's just one large room with glass cases but inside the cases are priceless treasures. I was awestruck at the collection! After the museum we descended some stairs down to St. Andrew's shrine. This room was clearly Baroque! The ceiling was covered with colorful depictions of the saint's life and there was gold gilding everywhere! In the center there was a large bronze of the saint over his remains in the alter. Even without being Catholic or super religious I felt honored to be there. We didn't get to explore the Baroque basilica since it was a Sunday and there was a service in process. After the church we were given a little bit of time to explore and get a snack. Sophia bought two cute little lemoncello glasses (like a large shotglass but you sip on it as a digestivo). The area is known for it's ceramic tiles and I almost bought these cute little bottle stoppers with pretty ceramic flowers for family friends, but we ran out of time and I felt like I was ready to faint again haha. Ten minutes and a coke later we were getting back on the bus. Oh! but I used my first public bathroom!! I paid only a euro and it was really clean (toilet paper included!) which I thought was a bug success. At Pompeii we learned all about the public tax on urine which started the evil trend of paying to use bathrooms.

On the bus we were informed that our next stop for lunch was supposed to be Ravello but between the coast and the town there was a wild fire which they were trying to put out and there was a likelihood of a landslide. Thus Ravello was out of the picture and we would stop somewhere else for a quick bite. Since we had to change our route the roads got jam packed and amazingly smaller! We spent 30 minutes trying to go down one hill because the traffic had to take turns on one specific turn, and well Italians don't understand that concept too well. Once we reached the bottom we were met with the horrid idea of having to return up the same hill because along our desired route there had been a fatal car/motorcycle accident. We were trapped between a fire and an accident. All the students were just hungry and tired and wanted to be in Rome, we weren't heartbroken about missing part of the narrated tour. We stopped for 20 minutes for lunch and thankfully the roads opened up ahead of us so we could continue. We reached the end of the coastline highway (to great applause) and hit the road back home. Whew! I slept much of the bus ride back to Rome and thankfully our apartment is so close to IES that getting home from there was a breeze.

I made a bland dinner to get something in my stomach and skyped with my family for a teeny bit because it was John's birthday. Then I collapsed into my bed hoping that 9:30am would take it's sweet time in getting here.