| A VISIT TO ROME AND SOUTHERN ITALY
JUNE 2006
By Ron Coffey If there’s a better country
to visit than There are two ways of dealing
with these issues: 1. Deal with someone who knows
the proverbial ropes and speaks the language. 2.
Sign up for a group tour. We did both. Our son Wade had been living in We had visited We hit the jackpot on this
trip! Wade greeted us at the airport
in It was a modest apartment, but we loved the way the window of his third-story unit opened to the street market below. There was also a bakery beneath the apartment, and each morning we started the day with fresh-baked goodies, fresh fruit and cappuccino from street level. The smells and sounds made for a great start to each day. We walked to La Sapenzia University where Wade and his mates did most of their relational ministry work, and met some of the other team members. English Club was taking place, and several Italian students were gathered around on the college green to hang out, improve their English, and learn more about the Bible message. Nearby, Italians kicked a soccer ball around. Not a Frisbee was seen! Wade’s girlfriend Susan was
also in Wade took us to his favorite
coffee place, Sant Eustachio. While it’s hard to
find bad coffee in We paid a visit to the
Pantheon, the one-time pagan place of worship that
was later taken over by the Christians and is the
best preserved ancient building in We relaxed by the fountain in
the Piazza Della Rotonda and admired the view of the
Pantheon. At the other end of the piazza was a
McDonald’s restaurant, unremarkable except for a
beautiful growth of bougainvillea creating a splash
of purple. We walked to After dealing with the crowd
and the warm day, we decided to relax with some
long-awaited gelato. This Italian ice cream was a
cut above, according to Wade, and after visiting the
establishment called Giolitti we had to agree. I had
a taste for something tart and tried the grapefruit
flavor. All of us tried different flavor
combinations so we could sample more flavors. I must
admit it was the best gelato I had on our trip (no
small feat, since we indulged frequently). Another outing with our son
resulted in a double-decker train ride to Back in We took a bus back to Termini
and walked to our hotel. Wade had to attend a
meeting with his team elsewhere. The meeting was to
start at 9 p.m.
– about the same time we got to our hotel – and
Wade had another bus to catch. He didn’t appear
too concerned, because in We watched some Italian TV
before going to bed. There was a Billy Crystal movie
on and the voices were all dubbed. It wasn’t that
hard to follow the action – or to drift into
dreamy reverie. We had just a few more days in The church, like just about
every cathedral in Our next stop was the Basilica
di San Giovanni ( Wade helped us get to the Our first evening get-together
involved a bus ride to the Mino Restaurant for a
five-course dinner featuring a guitarist and
flautist who played Italian standards. We sat with a family from
THE
TOUR BEGINS WITH THE The next morning we arose early
and met Franchesco, our local guide for the Vatican
part of the tour. While we awaited our turn to
check in, the line behind us kept getting longer. Always
try to be early for this tour! One couple we met
said they were disappointed in the We struck up a conversation
with Dale and her sister Carole, who live in Our guide was very
knowledgeable and passionate about the indescribable
art at the We also toured the Colosseum,
that iconic sporting complex so symbolic of the
power and decadence of ancient Franchesco took the group on an
optional walking tour of We walked to the Castle Saint
Angelo and enjoyed the view from the top. Wade said
the only view of For our last evening with Wade
we wanted to have a nice dinner. Being a bit tired
of Italian food, he expressed an interest in the
Hard Rock Café and so we went there. However, as fate would have it, this was the
evening of the big THE TRIP SOUTH We kicked off the next morning
with a typical hotel buffet breakfast: cereal,
yogurt, sweet rolls, fruit, hard bread, ham, salami,
cheese, juice and coffee (espresso with milk
available for a more familiar We boarded our bus and headed
south to During one of Millie’s
lessons I jotted down a few notes indicating that
southern Near At Upon meeting our local guide,
Luigi, my wife commented that he looked and sounded
like the guide we had in 2001 who passed out
stickers to put on our shirts saying “My guide is
Luigi” and giving his cell phone number. When we
asked about this, he affirmed that he was indeed the
Luigi with the stickers, and produced one for us to
examine! Luigi said he only used his own stickers if
the tour operator did not provide them, and in our
case he was utilizing the Globus/Brendan Tours
stickers. Small world indeed, we thought. This trip to Capri was different from our 2001 itinerary. We actually spent most of our visit in Ana Capri (part of the same island), riding the incredibly narrow roadway in specially-made buses that each carried about 20 people. At times we met other buses heading the opposite direction, and somehow the laws of physics were altered enough to let us pass. After some tasty Pizza Margherita at a snack bar, we visited St. Michael’s, or San Michele, the beautiful onetime residence of Dr. Axel Munthe. The villa featured a lovely garden and a wonderful view of the island and sea below. On another part of the island,
Dianna and I took a kind of ski-lift ride to another Our next destination was Instead of seeing the downtown as we had hoped, we took a walk around the hotel area, enjoying the view of the sea, the evening air and the occasional cruise ship that passed by. At dinner we made some new
friends, Neal, Karen, Ned and Lisa from We bid a reluctant goodbye to Meanwhile we were getting to
know our fellow passengers better. I enjoyed the
comments and mental playfulness of Francis, an
engineer from We passed by Largo Negro, said
to be the birthplace of Mona Lisa, and Millie said
the region is reputed to be the birthplace of many
beautiful women to this day. “Stop the bus!”
shouted one of the male passengers, garnering the
intended laughter. At the Autogrill we dined on a
couple of pizzas and encountered our first problems
of the trip. The bus gave off some strange odors
that reminded me of propane gas. One of our company
named Bill, who had experience with diesel engines
in the States, said he thought there was a fuel
filter problem. Our driver got all sweaty as he
examined the problem and phoned the office for
advice. About an hour later we departed, and sure
enough, the problem had been with a fuel filter! The trip south led through many
tunnels. Eventually the topography smoothed out a
bit with rolling hills. We saw beautiful farmlands,
mainly vineyards and olive trees, with occasional
fields dotted with bales of hay and a few cattle. The roads were good, usually four lanes, and as we traveled we learned lots of little tidbits, including claims that Sicily is the birthplace of ice cream, home of the first cookbook, birthplace of radio inventor Marconi, and the home of marsala wine.
From the We spent three nights in
Taromina at the Capotaromina Hotel. This was the
nicest place we stayed on our trip. Breakfast at
this place was always great, with the best selection
of foods and a machine that made fresh-squeezed
orange juice as we watched. Most of us took the optional
excursion to As our bus braved the
frightfully curvy roadway to the top of We explored one of the craters
and found the footing very difficult as the lava
dust/sand gave way easily and could lead to a long
slide downhill. A few tourists did slip and fall,
but no one was seriously injured. At the gift shop there were free samples of some kind of wine or drink that I found too strong to enjoy. They also had a fountain and various souvenirs made from lava. The cool weather we expected at this altitude did not materialize. It was very pleasant, although on some nearby slopes we could see snow. Aside from a near-miss as our
bus nearly collided with another bus on the winding
roadway – both had to stop and one backed up –
it was a nice trip. Guiseppe always honked his horn
when coming into one of the blind curves, as we had
to go left of center to have a chance of navigating
the roadway. The next item on our agenda was
shopping in the After the excursion to Two whose names we quickly
learned were Noela and Tracey, a mother-daughter duo
from The tour had some free time
built in, and we visited the hotel pool for a
refreshing dip in the salty water. A young woman was
there sunbathing in
topless fashion. I talked to one of the guys from
our group and we did our best to act nonchalant as
we discussed what a great vacation we were having. “Yes,
we’ve been breast indeed,” he said, or words to
that effect. The operative word was “breast” in
place of “blessed” and I mentioned something
about a Freudian slip. His face got red and we left
it at that! One morning our We struck up a conversation
with Nick, a Our next stop was This was the hottest day of the
tour so far. Most of us kept water bottles handy to
keep ourselves hydrated. Our guide Salvatore pointed
out that the theatre we visited is a monolith,
carved from the limestone rock. Originally it seated
20,000 but some of the seats were moved during the
Spanish occupation and now the capacity is about
15,000. The stage also was destroyed during that
period but the theater has been resurrected for
special performances. Original lighting was by
torch, but temporary electric lights had been placed
for the performances. The best seats sell for about 60
Euros, Salvatore said, while the top section goes
for about 35 Euros. As we walked through a shady arbor of oleander, Salvatore described the earthquake of 1693 that destroyed much of the mine we were about to visit. As we entered a large opening in the limestone wall called Dionysius’ Ear because of its shape, our guide led us in, but cautioned us to watch out for pigeons. They like the tranquil, relatively cool cavern but apparently get frustrated when tour groups come in and disturb their reverie. They are particularly unhappy with the tour guides, and try to bomb them with their only available weapon, pigeon poop. Salvatore said the birds seem to recognize the guides’ voices and focus most of their anger – and ammunition – on the guides. The acoustics inside were
excellent, and most of the people shouted or sang
something to experience the sonic effect. A lady in
a nearby group gave an operatic performance, which
humbled the rest of us into silence. Some pigeons
did buzz us but we escaped to tell the tale. We also saw the largest altar
of the ancient world and the Roman amphitheatre
where patrons watched gladiators in gory
competition. Salvatore called this the We had dinner at the hotel and
got to know some of the other folks. There was
Marvin from That night we had a great gabfest on the terrace by the garden. At least I called it a terrace. I mentioned to some people at dinner that we should get together at the terrace by the garden, but somehow it got misconstrued as me saying there was a “terrorist” by the garden. Blame it on my Appalachian upbringing – oh well, we got a lot of mileage out of that! And Francis was able to open our bottle of wine after our souvenir corkscrew came apart in a failed attempt to open said bottle. MOSAICS,
TEMPLES
AND
ANTIQUITIES Back on the road, we witnessed an amazing collection of tile mosaics at the fourth century Roman villa of Casale near Piazza Armerina. A glass covering had been erected over much of the villa to protect the artwork. I tried to take some photos but the colors were somewhat washed out. Later, a tour guide demonstrated how to bring out the colors by simply pouring some water on the tile. Many of the mosaics were devoted to mythological themes and activities of the day, such as hunting. Perhaps the most famous mosaics are of the “bikini girls” depicting scantily-clad women running, throwing a ball and otherwise showcasing the value of exercise. Our next stop was Selinunte is known for the
Dorian temples and Acropolis built by the Greeks on
a natural balcony overlooking the Mediterranean. Although some of the temples had been knocked over
during the passing centuries, I thought these were
the most photogenic of the temples we visited. One
of the three temples had been reconstructed in 1957
and no scaffolding was present (the scaffolding at We took a short bus ride to
another temple ruins and necropolis. It was
interesting too, but the heat took its toll on our
exploratory spirit. At least there was a nice
breeze. Millie told us that We checked in at our hotel in Many of the people on our tour
have family connections in On our last full day in Local guide Milena greeted us
at the Piazza Bellini and expounded on the
multicultural history of We saw beautiful mosaics of the Apostle Peter and enjoyed the Arabic/Norman architecture, one of the hallmarks of which was that the windows contained no glass. At the Cathedral of Palermo the
outside was flanked by towers, while inside plans
had been laid for a Florentine style interior
featuring mosaics and frescos. However, the funding
was not available to complete the interior as
planned. The most important piece in the
cathedral is the Virgin in alabaster from 1490. We also visited another
cathedral outside of
VEAL
OR NO VEAL We had one final dinner
together at the hotel, which for the umpteenth time
on this trip featured veal or another choice of
meat. This prompted me to dub the whole tour “Veal
or No Veal” in honor of Howie
Mandell’s popular TV game show. The table where the Aussies sat was the most laughter-filled (as usual), but everyone enjoyed getting together for one last meal. While it was sad to think of leaving these new friends, most of us had probably come to the conclusion that our own homes and beds would be most welcome. We hung around the pool area for a last drink or two with our companions from the past 10 days and reminisced about the good times we had shared. It’s amazing how much bonding can take place on a trip like this. As time can turn grapes into
wine, we enjoyed the 10-day process in which a group
of about 30 strangers were transformed into valued
traveling companions and friends. Here’s to la
dolce vita, the sweet life in +++
Postscript: In late August of
2006 we received word that one of our traveling
companions, Neal Harvey, had passed away
unexpectedly of a massive heart attack. We called
the family and offered our condolences. Neal’s wife Karen commented that
she was glad the family had taken their vacation
together to |
