21 October 2024–Uh-oh! Dad’s not feeling well! It started yesterday at Pompeii with extreme discomfort in the sun, heat, standing, walking, uphilling, downhilling, climbing up, stepping down, for a long time with really not a bunch of available shade. Dad had a rough night. I believe has has the stomach flue. We have a Viator tour scheduled for all day out of Sorrento, but Dad can’t go. I went alone. Our tour guide calls our group “Family”: “So, Family, today we are going to…”. We traveled b small tour bus from Sorrento to Positano. We ferried on the Gulf of Naples to Amalfi. Subsequently, we took a mini-cruise from Amalfi and back, and finally traveled by mini-bus to Ravello. Our tour guide was Marily—an awesome and knowledgeable guide, but I didn’t get the sense that she was very much appreciated by my other “Family” members on this tour. For one thing, although she spoke very good English, she did not know some of the nuances of the language. So, for example, “gradire” means to value, to appreciate. But, in other contexts, it can mean, to desire/to want/to choose….So, for example, if one could choose to go on a minicruise, one could reply yes, to: “Gradisci una minicruise”? And if some “family” members elects not to go on the minicruise, the tour guide might instruct them to meet at a different location from the rest of the group: “Se non gradite andare in una minicruise, raccogliesi davanti al Duomo.” (If you elect not to go on the minicruise, meet in front of the Cathedral). Anyway, I overheard one person comment to another about Marilu’s translation of the word gradire. She translated as “if you do not appreciate the minicruise…”. This young man’s tone suggested that he was somewhat offended by having been “accused” of not appreciating the minicruise instead of simply having chosen not to go on one. Additionally, when Marilu played some music on the bus on the way to Ravello, the Music City, songs such as, “Volare” or Bocelli’s “Con Te Partiro,” these “Family” members did not sing along, or seem to actively participate. This was a tough group, composed of mostly U.S. tourists, for whom the culture is not as convivial in times like these, or…. Anyway, I felt bad for this tour guide who had been both competent and professional in my opinion. Although people applauded the bus driver at the end, no one applauded Marilu! That’s OK, I tipped and thanked her. And, who knows, maybe I just misread the situation. Maybe others showed their appreciation to her, too, in their own ways that perhaps I did not see. Positano is called the Vertical Cityy because it is built along the mountainside, which is very steep and scraggly sometimes. Roads are narrow. Locals struggle for limited parking spots closer to the top of the mountain. The sea is at the bottom of the mountain. The soil is rich and yields fruits, especially lemons, figs, olives, and other fruits. People terraced the mountain side. They covered the fruit trees with net material to protect the fruit from heavy rain or hail. The people rely on donkeys to c array heavy items up the steep mountainsides. AT the bottom, there is a b each, and it is rocky. There are also lots of shops, restaurants, bars, cafes, and so on. Businesses are family run, sometimes over several generations. Life is not easy on these mountains, but Marilu explained that the people here are proud of their villages, and they choose to stay. Even older people who are still fit enough, in their 80s and even 90, choose to live here. Amalfi is smaller than Positano, with just two streets, but restaurants, shops, and bars are plentiful. A beautiful cathedral of St. Andrew the Apostle, including his crypt, dominates the town center. There are 50+ concrete steps to get to the front door. The cathedral is decorated in mosaics and Byzantine splendor. I enjoyed a lemon sorbet in a locally grown Leon, Amalfi’s pride and creation! After climbing up and down those Cathedral steps, the sweet-tart lemon sorbet concoction was not only pretty to see but also tasty and refreshing! The mini-cruise served complimentary limoncello to the passengers. I do not like limoncello. I did not have any. We saw celebrity houses, like Jackie Kennedy’s, Gore Vidal’s, Gina Lollobrigida’s, and Sofia Loren’s, and we saw the cloister at the top of a mountain where a nun invented the sfogliatella, a local delicacy. Ravello is the Music City. It, too, is perched high up on one of these Milk Mountains in the region. (Milk because of their light color and also because of the dairy produced here). Some of these are accessible only by boat, some have elevators, and some use helicopters. There are no hospitals in these villages. The nearest is in Salerno. In cases of emergency, people rely on helicopter transportation. This was a beautiful tour today—LOTS of steps, up and downhill. A note/observation: On the mini-cruise, the “Family” were mostly English-speaking. A guide narrated on loud speaker. But another helper only spoke Italian, I believe. I could not see over people’s heads to take good photos at one point. Once again, the power of genuine smiles, respect, and an attempt to speak the home language. I was invited to stand where there was no obstruction for photos, and I basically had my own private tour guide to point out houses and buildings on shore. One store I got was Gina Lollobrigida’s: She rarely came to this house of hers. Why? Because the cemetery is perched right above and behind her house. Gina Lollobrigida was afraid that there would be ghosts in her house! Ravello is the Music City because every year there is a special festival to honor Wagner. There was a good-sized uphill walk to get to the town center, but then this was a flatter town, quieter in some ways, and filled with stores, shops, bars in the Piazza, restaurants, and mostly shops. Ceramic shops! Ceramic was brought to the area by Arabs long ago, and Ravello has continued the craft, displaying/selling beautiful items! Note, that the music festivals are not for everyone to attend. They are for the likes of Celine Dion, or Andrea Bocelli, and so on.
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