Sicily and the Amalfi coast

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Bonjourno for the last time from Italy.
Alright so we traveled from Naples on an overnight train to Palermo, which is on the northern coast of Sicily. Paul and I had a sleeper car, which we payed way too much for, but on the plus side we did get a good nights rest for our day in Palermo as compared to Kam who was an angry beast until he got his Fanta. We walked through the city, finding ourselves at the Theater Massimo, which is the 2nd largest Roman theater in Italy, and where they filmed one of the final scenes for Godfather III. We meandered the streets, witnessing a rally, smelling the fresh fish of an outdoor market, admiring yet another church, catching a bus to a small town on the outskirts where we were awed by a duomo with over 3000 sq ft of gold tiles on the walls. I especially liked the pictures on the walls that told the story of Genesis, Adam and Eve, and Noah's Ark.
The following day we checked out some catacombs which were pretty freaky because there were skeletons and somewhat mummified bodies hanging from the walls staring down at us. Not something you see everyday.
Then we took a train south to Agrigento where we were greeted by a slight drizzle, but I really can't complain because it has rainned maybe about 7 days in total on the entire trip. We checked out the local churchs that were all closed except for one which was very unique because it had been built on the site of an ancient Roman temple. The floor of the church had sections of glass so that we could see the ruins of the temple below. We then checked into our bungalow which was basically a camper trailer with a cozy living area where we drank wine and played spades for the remainder of the night.
The next day we explored some 5th century BC Greek ruins which are situated on a hill that overlooks the valley and the coast. The majority of the area was in ruins except for two of the temples that had most of their columns still intact. It was amazing to me to see that the columns placed there over 2500 years ago were still standing. Smart guys those Greeks.
I walked through the ruins for a good four hours before heading up a hill to the local museum on items excavated from the area. The museum housed many pots and bowls with Greek figures and Gods painted on them, along with pre-Greek pottery from the Mycenaeans. I noticed one of the pots had Sphinxs painted on. They totally ripped off the Egyptians!
Just outside of the museum there was a Greek stage that had been centered in between the two still standing temples in the distance, creating a beautiful backdrop from which to perform plays in front of.
That night we played more spades, drank wine and watched Mel Brooks' Dracula: Dead and Loving it, dubbed in Italian. Lots of laughing ensued 😊
The next day we took a train 3 hrs directly east to Catania. While on the train I accidently pressed the SOS button in the bathroom while trying to flush the toilet. We thought it was pretty hilarious, but the conductor didn't seem to enthused by the whole situation.
Once in Catania we took advantage of our hostels offer of buy one get one free drinks and played yet more spades. Then as we were trying to go to sleep in our 12 person dorm, we were disturbed by our drunk roomates who first: knocked the table in the room over which had a bottle of olive oil on it, unsuccesfully tried to stiffle their laughter, and then to top it off, one of the guys threw up on the floor. In the morning the room looked like a mosh pit had had brifely stopped there the night before.
We managed to get up at 6:45 to eat breakfast and catch a bus up to Mt. Etna where we hiked almost the whole day. The volcano is still active and had spewed lava as recently as last September, but we were going to face our fear of the scalding substance!
It was beautiful, but freezing, so I hiked up the mountain to stay warm as much as I could before having to turn back due to steepness and time. What was cool about the mountain was that there were a series of craters around the lower part of it, which we were able to hike around. Towards the middle of the day, the sun heated up the grainy black rocks that made up much of the mountain and melted the thin layer of snow on the surface. This created a cool effect of what appeared to be steam rising from all over the place. I also saw an awesome phenomenon of clouds forming before my eyes and then dissipating right at the lip of the mountain. I was glad to be hiking in nature again 😊
The following day Paul split off from Kam and I to explore Siracusa to the south of Catania, while we went north to explore the Amalfi coast. We arrived in Salerno later in the afternoon and took a bus another 30 min north to Atrani, just 1 km south of Amalfi. The bus ride along the coast was harrowing to say the least. We were right on the edge of a cliff almost the whole time, that dropped hundreds of feet down into the ocean, and the driver was flying around the corners. They drive the road everyday though so I had faith I would live to write this 😊 The Amalfi coast reminded me of highway 1 along the California coast just north of Big Sur, except the cliffs were more dramatic and the water clearer here.
We got in late so we ate and got some sleep. The following day we walked a good 20 km through the surrounding mountain villages. Through small towns of a few hundred people, with large churches (one even had a container of blood from a saint), stray dogs and cats cruising the streets, horses transporting dirt from one plateau to the next, winding stair cases by old houses built into the hillside, and gorgeous views of the valley and ocean below.
After climbing up through the small towns we headed down to Amalfi where we were given a tour of the huge duomo and I finished reading Confessions of an Economic Hitman. Which, of all the books I have read on this trip, has been the most eye opening. I highly highly recommend reading it. Thank you for the recommendation Kamberly 😊 That night we finally had that famous Italian pasta which was fantastic and the bar tender gave us free shots!
The next day we caught a train north to Rome where we checked into the same hostel we had been in before because who can pass up free breakfast and internet. Comeon!
The following day Kam and I spent the remainder of our time together doing laundry and eating pasta. We are basically an item now. Sorry Lisa 😊 Then we said our goodbyes and I headed off to catch my train to Barcelona. Kam will be traveling through China, Mongolia, and Korea, so if you want to continue to vicariously travel once my time has come to an end in Spain, check out Kam's blog. His pictures are pretty sweet, but you won't see any of my famous sunset zooms on his page 😊
I caught my train at 3, but we had to stop for about 10 min because someone got sick in another car. This was not good for me because I was supposed to transfer to another train 6 hrs from then and I only had a 10 min window to get to it. However, as luck would have it, the train I was transfering to was delayed 15 min, so everything was cool.
I had one of the most amazing coincidental encounters with a person on this trip thus far, maybe in my life. When the train stopped in the middle of the track and the announcer was speaking Italian a mile a minute, I asked the guy across from me what going on and I talked to him for the remaining 4 hrs of the trip. And guess what, he is an Italian movie director, by the name of Stefano Landini! And if that wasn't cool enough, one of his films he made was one of only two documentaries that have been made on Stanley Kubrick, called Stanley and Us, because he is as obsessed with Kubrick as most of you know I am. What are the chances! It was a very surreal experience for me especially since I had tried to find this guys film a few years ago when I was obsessing over anything relating to Kubrick.
I told him about my Bailey videos, especially the 2001 spoof, and I gave him Bailey's myspace page. For those that have not seen it, the web address is www.myspace.com/oinkmaster. As you can see I had a lot of fun making the profile of an ego-centric actor such as Bailey 😊
He gave me his business card, and I hope to send him the finished video of my trip once I edit it at home. What a great opportunity 😊
We said our goodbyes quickly because I had to jump off and catch my overnight train, which I got on succesfully, and am currently at my hostel in Barcelona 😊
I´m going to post my pics quickly and then explore the city as much as I can today. And maybe i'll even treat myself to a nice birthday dinner tonight 😊

Ciao,

Daniel

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Comments

[MOM]

Real domes in Cathedral?
I assume the domes "inside the cathedral" are real and not painted? Some great photos, kiddo, and an amazing birthday gift to have met the film director who is also passionate about Kubrick. I'm excited for you. Happy Birthday.

[kamdab]

stupid bird picture
i am so super jealous of it. i cant believe i even upped your stats just to look @ it. what was i thinking...