Tuesday, October 17th, 2000 Amalfi
Slept in this morning and had a late breakfast. Walked around the town and then paid for a boat trip to the Amalfi La Grotta dello Smeraldo. Originally thought we were going to the Blue Grotto in Capri; but not so....that's why the price was much cheaper than we'd expected! Nice boat ride along the coast and some interesting caves. But this way we were home for lunch. Boat driver pointed out a white house on the cliff and said that Sophia Loren owned it. Beautiful day, lots of sunshine!
After lunch we took naps and then walked over to the Cathedral for the tour of that and the Basilica. The patron saint of this area is St. Andrew. His body is in a crypt in the Basilica. Wonderful little tour for only 3,000 Lire each. Unusual to have to pay to get inside of a Catholic Church, but they did lump it all together. The Cloister area was beautiful. Everything here has a Moorish and Byzantine flavor. These churches go back to the 800 A.D. time period. St. Andrew was a fisherman and the brother of St. Peter. When they tried to crucify him like Christ, the nails and wood broke and they ended up making a cross in the shape of an “X” and tied him to it. As we left we took a look at the Bronze Doors, the first to appear in Italy in the year 1060 A.D. The face of St. Andrew on the door is very shining due to everyone rubbing his face for a blessing???
Walked down the coastal road to the main breakwater/jetty for the harbor. Gave a great view of the city. While we were there a couple from Australia who stopped and took a photo of us together and then we did one for them. They’d come by bus today from Sorrento and had to go back. We shared travel stories with them for about fifteen minutes. Slowly strolled back into the main Plaza or Piazza Duomo for an afternoon fix of Lemon Cream Ice Cream cones.
Then Jim purchased another bottle of Lemione Liquor to take home! Found the garage door open and took the opportunity to get some maps out of the car. Purchased our tickets from the hotel for tomorrow’s trip to Pompei by bus. Should also give Jim an ideal of the road before driving out on Thursday. Back to the room and some rest time before dinner. Called home and my sister who is house setting said she is enjoying Jim's roses; she cuts them for bouquets inside of the house regularly. So glad, we should do that more ourselves. Jim is looking at the tile paintings that they put into the wall. Told him that would be great to do as a map showing all the places we’ve been in Europe. He could paint them and then have them fired.
Jim’s going out to catch the sunset and then it’ll be time for dinner.
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