Our driver poicked us up at 6:45 for the transfer to teh airport. .. I got diane , linda and david into the airport lounge to eat breakfast.. I am fasting today for Yom Kippur

We boarded our flight and 10 hours later we were in Dulles airport.. I used the time to think and reflect about he last year and my intentions for the next year. It was a good peaceful time. I’m very thankful for all the love I have in my life.  I also did not have trouble coming up with things  I could do better.

If there’s anything If I did this year that hurt you or anyone you know.. I’m very sorry..  .. and will try to do better this year. 

As we say in the tribe גמר חתימה טובה

Wishing you a good seling in the book of life 

As we landed back in Vermont.. I was very grateful  to be home

nite all, nite sam

-me

We woke early and packed. Our driver Pasquale showed up a little before 8 and we piled in and headed to Rome. It was easy to say goodbye to Sorento.. We’d had a good time.. but  it wasn’t our type of city.. we’re definitely more at home in the countryside. 

Pasquale was great.. he kept us informed and entertained the whole 3 hour ride to Rome . 

We got to our hotel earlier than expected which was great.. more time to explore the place. We dropped our bags, settled in and headed out to explore this beautiful city. 

I’ve been in Rome several  times over the years (I think this is my 5th visit ?) .. and have always loved this city. Its such a cool mix of modern and ancient.. . 

We started on the roof of our hotel .. checking out the view

 

Then headed out on the streets. Our plan was to see as much of the city as we could on foot without getting into any lines to get in to stuff. Suits me.. as I’ve been here    First stop was The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore .. It was beautiful.. and (I don’t think I could have imagined saying this) we haven’t been in enough old churches yet on our trip. We even got to watch a baptism !

Here are the paper shoulder covers they provide for women who are “immodestly dressed” 

 

From there we started to walk to the colosseum… The roman streets are full of surprises

 

 

All the manholes still have the letters SPQR  ..I.e.  Senatus Populusque Romanus ..Latin for  “The Senate and People of Rome”

 

Right outside the colosseum we came upon a skate park. they were running some kind of jam. great music and somewhat great riding..   Made us think of our kids !   We put a samstone there for good riding

 

There were ancient building everywhere.. here was the roman baths

 

The coluseum always blows me away..Its so huge and well built.. and it’s 2000 years old !!!  last time we were here together .. which must have been in the mid 80’s (!!) .. we took a tour inside.. today the crowds were gigantic.. and in keeping with our plan.. we gave ourselves our own outside tour

robust crowds for sure !  but still enough space to move around

As always, We quickly tried to get away from the crowds.. we walked up a deserted path .. and got these unimpeded vies.. almost looks like no one else is around !

 

I remember the first time I came here in 1979 ? 1980 ? ,, we were able to walk around in the palatine gardens  without seeing other people . I remember posing in one of the statue niches before getting caught be a bunch of girlscouts 🙂  Whata. funny memory..  Now its fenced and way too crowded to get up to anything

 

We enjoyed follwoing the quiet streets only blocks from the swarm of humanity

 

From there we battled the throngs to head out to the old jewish ghetto

 

Luigi has us all tuned in to Julius Ceaser.. he was everywhere !

 

We stopped in the old Jewish quarter and grabbed lunch from a coffesho anbd grocery store.

 

Then we plunged in to the old ghetto.. I was shocked to see something I know as Stolpersteins.  literally “stumble stones”. They are used to mark the places that people who were killed in the holocaust once lived.. I didn’t expect them in Rome.. we read more about the deportations.

. \it was hard to read about

 

There was all sorts of judaica oin the square.. most of it modern some was ancient

That remionded me that there is a tone of speculation that leanardo davinci was half jewish.. (check out his hairstyle). I did a little digging.. from what I gather there is soem speculative evidence.. but nothing conclusive.. But I’ll take him as a knsman if it turned out to be true 🙂

 

There was a whole jewish tourist culture here.. with lots of kosher restaurants

 

We made it to the great synagog.. the place was liek a fortress.. you had to submit your passport a few days before youre visit if you wanted to enter.

 

From there we headed to … hmmm.. somewhere.. maybe .. oh yeah.. the Trevi fountain.. T

Hat part of the city was absolutely packed. THe square with the fountain was so packed with  people it felt like watching the Haj in Mecca. 

 

Its supposed to be good luck to throw a coin over your left sholder into the fountain for luck..DId that. but better yet.. a samstone !

 

THen through more busy streets to the Pnatheon !

 

There are 7 egyption columns that were brought over in antiquity and repurposed to hold saints

 

THen all of a sudden.. .tehre was the Pantheon !

 

Again.. just amazing antiquiteis in the middle of a busy modern street.. WOW !

Now on to the spanish steps. Kinda just like it sounds.. some steps.. on a rode line with gucci, cartier, bulgarie, hermes shops.. ugh

 

We found a back way up and di our own stairmaster

 

By this point we were hot and thirsty and craving green grass.. so we found our way to a huge beautiful park

 

We searched out a temple to Dianna.. the goddess of the hunt.. wouldn’t ya’ know that the statue was missing. Good thing we brought our own Dianna !

 

 

It was now time for the walk back to hotel.. our last mile

 

We got back to the hotel, washed up .. then went aroudn the corner to a place that was well reveiwed on trip advisor.. we got there to find that the place that was reviewed had been closed for 10 years (!).. there was another place there.. we waited for 30 min.. and it was worth the weight.. Our last meal in italy.. 

it was also my last meal for 24 houra.s Tonight is Erev Yom Kippur…

From this point I’ll be fasting for 24 hours. 

I checked my watch and realized that  we’d walked 10 miles today.. almost exactly.

A great way to end our trip

 

nite all, nite sam 

-me

 

Today it was supposed to rain  most of the day.. and that was pretty nice. We didn’t have anythingn more we wanted to do in Sorrento anyway..

Diane and I went for a short hike up the same trail system we’d walked yesterday.. we took a few different trails.. and we did it at a fast pace.

That took us through town a bit.. but it was early enough .. that the crowds wernt too bad.  The town is much prettier when it’s nearly empty

 

once again it was so nice to get out of town into the country.. looking back we saw  a huge ship waiting to land. 

the trail was beutiful

 

Everywhere We saw olives being caught in large nets that had been placed underneath to catch the ripe olives.

 

We got up on top of the ridge.. then the bad weater started to come in.. thunder, lighting then heavy rain.. we started running the last couple of miles home.. it was really fun.. we got soaked !

we spent most of the rest of the day hanging out in our beutiful Airbnb.. readin, sleeping and (In my case ) blogging.. .. it was pretty blissful

 

At one point the power went out several times after biug ligtning strikes.. Our great host mariangela texted us to remocve one of the paintings.. in order to find the breaker box to turn things back on

 

Aroudn 5 Linda and Dianes hig school friend Liz and her husband Jeff came by .. THey’r both very nice p folks. THey live in charelston and had great sotuhern accents. they were in sorrento by pure coincidence. We hung out for a while then went to a nearby resturant for dinner. Dinner was good.. even when diane got several cups of wine on her when a waiter got bumped.. The witer wasreally apologetic.. strangely.. the maitredee didnt say anything.. no big deal.. diane wasnt hiurt… it was kinda funny,. she smelled good and winey

 

We took a short walk to see the night .. teh air had turned cool.. and the crowds were lower due to rain

 

It was fun doin g soem window anti-shoping.. the stores had some  really strange stuff. I saw these clowns .. and said aloud that lall we needed to see was soem dogs playing cards.. and next store over.. tehre the y were 🙂 

 

Tomorrow we leave  early for rome.. thats good. we’re ready to move on from here.

nite all, nite sam

-me

 

Today we had booked a driving tour of the Amalfi coast. That was one of the main drws of coming to this part of Italy. The pictrure you see of the place show beutifl hillside villages like Positano and Amafi tumbling  down to the  sea.. What they don’t show you is the massive crowds there to see the same thing .

 Our guides picked us up  from the AIRBNB at 9AM 

 

Today we had a great driver Oreste and a great guid Giovani.. who turns

out to be Paulo from Pompei’s charming wife. They were both great. Oreste is just about to have his second daughter.. Congrats ! His wife is from Ukraine 

 

The first thing Oreste did was to hand us a motion sickness bag.. A pretty funny way to start a tour.. but our friends Shmul and family had made the same drive a few days back and the kids had all gotten carsick.. They had also warned us about the crowds.. but noting could have prepared us.. I think

Giovana told us that we were lucky, we’d beaten most of the crowds.. The road was busy, but cars were moving. It reminded us very much of the ‘Road to Hana’ .. more on that later.

THe scenery was spectacular…

 

Because of the beuty,. The crowds were everywhere… and we were part of the problem !

 

The first city we saw was Positana.. it was beutiful from a distance. We stopped at a small fruit stand to catch the view. 

 

We could tell  as we approached that the city was full.. the narrow streets were sholder to sholder with peoplke

 

Giovsnna gave us the choice of stopping and trying to explore the town with the crowds, or to skip positano and head down the road to a less crowded town

 

We opted to take our chances down the road

 

We stopped at another fruit stand and sampled the lemons. 

 

Giovanna showed us this crazy rock tower that looked like a woman (Mary ?) holding flowers.. Very cool

 

By now the traffic was even worse.. busses passing us in the other direction almost took off our mirrors !  Oreste was a fabulous driver.. so glad we werent driving. Shul had driven his family.. brave man !

As we approached to town of Amalfi.. the traffic got even worse.. We felt for the folks trying to go for a run

 

Amalfi was as crowded at positano, so we decided to push on yet again. We heard the next day from our friend Liz that they’d foudn a busy resturant in Amalfi.. waited a long time to get seated.. ordered.. then after 45 min of not gettign there food, had to leave to catch their boat !) 

 

Fianlly we got to the town of Ravello.. it was higher above the sea, off the main (and olny ?) road.. and much quieter.. still busy, but navigale by foot. We spent a really nice hour there… we looked around the town a bit.. but soon found a shady courtyard with a great view and no (ZERO !) peopkle.. we took our shoes of and layed in the grass and took in the quiet.. it was the high point of the day..   .. kinda funny that doign nothing  with no-one around felt so nice !

We headed back to the square for a quick gelato (whihchwe had to buy in order to use the bathroom) .. and met up with Oreste and Giovana

 

next stop was Minori  ..next to Maiori  .. Min and Max just like my grandparents. 

Minori was the sight of Giovanna’s favorite pastry place. it was soooo good !

Oh.. one interesting thing.. every easter theres a procession in Ravello where the towns folk dress like this for a procession. As you can see they look like klu-klux-klansman.. but it couldnt be fiurther from that,. its abotu love and devotion

 

we got back in the van then had the choice of turning aroudn and goign back up the super busy road.. or continue on straight to salerno.. We opted for the 2nd to see more sites.. Salenro is a big city.. but interestign to look at

 

 

And that was the amalfi tour.. I have to say it was pretty underwhelming.. and dissapointing.  Oreste and Giovana were really great.. it was the location.. or more specifically the over use of the location that caused the problem. 
the bggest impression was of a beutiful place that was overtaxed by visitors.. making it no fun for the vistors.. and (i’ll bet) no fun for the locals. It was so much like the ‘road to hana’ on maui.. a must do trip..we did 37 years ago on our honeymoon (super fun) .. and last summer (super not fun )  that was a solid line of cars.. and filled up parking lots.. (see here) 

Anywhoo (are Alora.. as an italina might say) .. we got back home ..  and decided we needed to get out of all these cities.. Diane, Linda and I headed out on a trial we found on Alltrails. First we had to crawl through the busy streets of sorento.. but soon we were climbing the hills out of the city.. we walked about 7 miles total.. which included a nice walks arounf stone foot paths, a great view of soreento (much prettier from far away).. and a visit to an ancient roman ruin on the beach. It was the best thing we ended up doing in the sorrento / amalfi area (other than seeing smhul and family and liz and jeff) .. we are definitely country people. not city people 

 

 

Irony noted 🙂 

 

Everywhere were olive and lemon groves. THere were nets out to catch the olives as they fell

 

here’s lookign back at sorerento. not bad from here !

 

hey we blend in !

 

then the long wonderful walk home

 

We stopped for a few groceriens and went hoem to cook dinner.. now this is the best meal we’ve eaten in Sorrento !

 

NIce long day.. showing that siple pleasures of nature and erecise .

this is who we are as tourists.

 

nite all, nite sam

-me