Blogs from Monte Cassino, Lazio, Italy, Europe

Where in the world is our girl Gabby parked? High up above the town of Cassino. Parked up on a spot reserved for camping cars in the abbey car park. Impressive the abbey is too. You can see it from the motorway high up on its hill. It commands the area. So how did we get here? Through a very busy and poorly sign posted town . That is how. We passed stalls where the stallholders were selling fruit and vegetables. We climbed narrow buttock clenching roads with twistbacks and very passing places. Stomach churning at times as the town fell further and further away into the distance far below. It was a long way up. A long drive for Glenn who prayed nothing came the other way. The drop to our one side was jaw ... read more

Italy Day 17, Thursday, October 20, Sorrento to Rome This morning we left Sorrento and the amazing Amalfi Coast, heading north to our ultimate destination, Rome. To break up the 3 1/2 drive we stopped at the Benedictine Abbey of Montecassino. The abbey is located on top of Monte Cassino, (also called Montecassino) a 1,706 foot high “hill” overlooking the town of Cassino. When we arrived the entire valley was engulfed in clouds. We began to break through the white billowy stuff as our bus wound up the narrow steep switchbacks to the mountain top. Perched high above the town of Cassino, the surrounding atmosphere gave a rather heavenly aspect to the abbey above the clouds. This was previously a heavily pagan area. Cassino, the town at the base of the mountain, was first settled in ... read more

So this Saturday, Laura and I had a field trip to an Abbey and Castle that dealt with Dominican Monks and St. Thomas of Aquenis. We left and the morning and headed south the Monte Cassino. Its located half way between Rome and Naples in the hills. The Abbey itself is located on top of a mountain on a cliff side. They abbey was neat and actually saw where the monks and civilians camped out during WWII from the Nazis. Most of the Abbey was actually destroyed because it was thought to have housed Nazi soldiers but has been rebuilt in recent years in an exact replication. Regardless it has a small museum, church, and courtyard that overlooks the hills which in my opinion was the best part of the Abbey. Next we made our way ... read more