Subject: More about Italy...
Hi again!
I was planning on making a trip to Luzern today, but considering it's Sunday (aka everything's closed), cloudy, and quite chilly, I thought tomorrow would be a better day for that. So now I'm back to write the next chapter....
I told you about Cuma already. Our next stop was the Piscina mirabile (the miraculous pool, I think is how that translates.) We rode into the next town, then walked up the hill along a narrow residential street until we found the house of the old woman who is the "keeper" of this site.
Apparently it is quite common in this part of the world for someone in the neighborhood to take care of the key to get in to see things like this- you have to knock on her or his door (and probably call ahead too, I'd imagine) and ask to be let in. She or he will take you there, unlock the gate, and stay until you have left, when she will lock it back up again. Makes sense to me, that the community itself would care for its ancient ruins rather than some government agency, which would never be able to care for everything in a country with such a long history.
This old woman unlocked the gate to a staircase that led to a huge underground space. The Piscina mirabile was apparently an ancient water reservoir, but today looks more like an underground Romanesque cathedral...or maybe even Gothic, since it seemed so tall, and open, for something completely underground! It was a vast grid of columns, soaring up to a vaulted ceiling 15m (~48-49 feet) above us.
In a few places the ceiling had crumbled away to reveal daylight glowing down to the depths. These openings were covered with a metal grating, and there were vines and other plants growing there, dangling down into the space. The sunlight and its gridded and "planted" shadows made a brilliant contrast to the buried ancient world we were standing in.
The floor was damp, and if I remember right there were puddles of water here and there. I really felt as though I could have been standing in a sacred hall of so long ago, whose windows were buried over the years until it became the cavernous place that it is today. It's amazing to think such things were built solely to store water! (Even though I know that such building techniques were originally just for such practical infrastructural uses)
Then we went to see another water reservoir, called Centum Cellae, which was quite similar, except that it had 2 levels- the lower one from the Republican period, and the upper from the Imperial period. They actually think there may be up to 4 levels, each built upon the last, but at this point they only have 2 excavated. This one was kind of neat, bec. the upper level was a series of barrel vaults next to each other, whose walls are broken only by regularly spaced arched openings.
The lower level was also a grid, but skewed 45° from the upper! The supports for the walls of the upper continue down through the lower and fit perfectly into that grid, although they jut out from the walls in the lower level. It's really confusing to figure out how they arranged it to work like that, to be able to project up from one level to the next and still have it work structurally. It also made me wonder WHY they rotated the grid like that! (But it was really cool to stand in the lower level and look up through the opening to the ceiling of the upper as everything was twisted around you!)
As we walked through all the tiny little passages in the lower level (I think I was one of the very few who didn't have to duck!) I felt like we were exploring a cave. At one point it broke out to a spectacular view of the bay, shaded by the surrounding vegetation, and made all that much more spectacular by the contrast to the dank claustrophobic world we were just in.
Afterwards we headed on to a villa owned by Julius Caesar in Baia.
This area was known as the "most enchanting bay in the world" and in ancient Roman times was visited by emporers and was a place of leisure, luxury, and corruption.
This was because of the attraction of the hot springs there, which apparently still draw people today. It is an area of broad seismic activity, (Vesuvius was in the distance, across the bay from where we were standing) and the land shifts gradually, so that much of the ancient stuff is now underwater.
This villa had 6 terraces, each of which took full advantage of the view- and what a view! To our left was the land, quite hilly, which curved around way out in front of us and slowly tapered off into the huge expanse of dark blue to the right.
Vesuvius, as I'd said was in front of us, and there was a white poofy cloud hovering above its peak- I wondered what it must have looked like from here on the day it erupted- scary, that's for sure. The bay was lined with fishing boats and docks, with the tall masts of a few sailboats sticking way up into our panoramic view. Directly in front of us were a bunch of masonry houses, all squished in together, of so many different colors, pastels, mostly, I think. The air was so warm, and summery, with the sun shining down on us, making the whole thing that much more appealing. (especially as I sit here in mid February describing it!)
I think this view intrigued me as much as the villa we were visiting, which I don't remember the details of all that well. I have one quick sketch of what I think was once a pool, but that is now covered up and like a lawn enlosed by the brick arches, arcades, and walls of its ancient past.
But not much more. The part I remember most is the Tempio di Mercurio, also known as the "Temple of Echo." It is a dome, 22m (67') in diameter, with an oculus (big round opening at the top, like the Pantheon.) There was a walkway that led in to a platform on one side, and the rest was filled with water.
We went in, and people started making different noises- like drops of water, screams, etc. And true to its name, the whole place was filled with the most tremendous echo! So loud and reverberating. Then a few of the guys started singing like a barbershop quartet, and it sounded amazing in there! I think it was Mike, Matt, Steve, and Jay, with Mike singing the baseline. I loved it!
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OK, Nana, this part is for you- Naples is at the northern tip of a big bay, Golfo di Napoli. To the west there is a smaller bay, Golfo di Pozzuoli, that cuts further into the land. The city of Pozzuoli is at the northern tip of this smaller bay. Baia is on the western edge, looking east towards Naples and Mt. Vesuvius. Just a little bit south, on the very tip of this little protrusion of land is Piscina Mirabile, and just on the other side, facing west is Cuma. As the land around the bay continues east from Naples and then southward, it ends again in another peninsula, which points (SW) out to the island of Capri. On this peninsula is Sorrento, and then if you follow the coastline around to the southern side of the peninsula then continue east you get to the Amalfi coast. Ok, I just wanted to give you some bearings, because these are the places I'm going to (or have already...)describe!
We hopped back on the bus and drove further along the coastline, getting our first glimpse of Naples, which looked smoggy and congested, but intriguing at the same time. I remembered Herr Marko (my German professor at RPI) going on and on about Goethe's quote "Neapel sehen und sterben" in its relation to a story we read. That literally translates to "see Naples and die", meaning that it was so beautiful that once you see it you can die in peace. I looked back out towards that city and thought that it must have really been something 150 years ago- I don't think overwhelmingly beautiful is the way I would have classified it from this first view. And I don't think I would be able to say my life is complete after seeing it- I've still got WAY too much other stuff to see! :)
We visited a boat builder in Sorrento, which I thought was really cool- the last time I had seen boats in production like that was two years ago in Albany. We got a full tour, learned about all the steps of the process, from how they made the curved forms out of wood, to the decks, to the design alterations they've made in more recent years. The boats they made were beautiful- all based on the traditional fishing boat form of the region, but with teak decks, mahogany rims, cherry interiors, and fiberglass exteriors. And lots of custom stainless steel pieces. The prices are quite "beautiful" too- the smallest model is about 300 000 lire, or $80 000!!! Anyway, I think it is really fascinating to watch how something like that is made.
Finally we headed towards our hotel, which was right in Amalfi. We continued riding along the coastline to get there, and it has to be one of the most spectacular roads, but one where we had to put a TON of faith in our bus driver!! This coastline is a high cliff which drops off almost immediately to the water far below us. The road is narrow and winding, full of hairpin turns and parts where the road is cantilevering off the edge of the rockface, nothing below it. It reminded me of the car commercials you see of an expensive sports car zooming along a narrow coastline road, deftly swerving around the Mac truck that comes barrelling around the corner, but no other cars in sight for the rest of the ad as the driver continues along in the glow of the setting (or rising) sun. That's what this was like, except there was a bit more traffic than that. The cliffs, where they were not just rock, were covered with the same dry green vegetation as in Cuma, sometimes with prickly pears and other cacti. (Wow, how often do you get to use the plural of cactus in a sentence?) :) Around every bend the view seemed to get more spectacular. Other than the fact that it was starting to get dark out and the bus windows were not the most conducive to camera use, it would have been the most perfect Kodak moment or twelve! I think I would have used a full roll of film and then some just on this stretch of road, had the conditions been better! When we arrived at our hotel we all got cleaned up and a little dressed up, then met at a restaurant right on the water for dinner together. Our hotel was on the main road, about halfway up the cliff, and there was a long winding stairway that led down to the part of the village down below. It was great to be able to sit down and talk to everyone some more, do some more catching up on everything, and just enjoy ourselves! I remember we had little breaded fish (whole) which we didn't know quite what to do with, so we didn't eat the heads. But the rest was very yummy. It was also the first time I had ever eaten kalamari, which is delicious, and had a whole glass of wine, which also tasted good and is very much a part of the culture there. (Afterwards my head felt kinda fuzzy, and I crashed on the balcony outside our room for a while when I got back to the hotel...noone could believe that it affected me that much, but it did! And I didn't really care for that part!)
So that was the first day of our Italian adventure. Phew- I told you they like to cram a ton into each day! :)
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!
Love,
Cor :)
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