Oct 7th 2019
We woke up this morning to some pretty heavy rain! It was thundering and lightening all night and it looked like it was going to continue all day. We decided that we wouldn’t do too much today. So we made a big breakfast and played LEGO’s for a few hours. It stopped raining and we took the time to walk to a castle that is really near to the Airbnb that we are staying in. It is called the Castello di Lettere. The castle was built in the 900’s by the Duke of Amalfi to protect his northern borders. It was part of a series of castles built to control the mountain areas. Inside the castle walls were a series of small sets of walls that showed the remains of a fortified village, a church, and many towers that could be filled with grains and food for storage. Here you can see the castle all lit up at night, and behind it, across the valley is Mt. Vesuvius.
The church was built in 987 and in the 1100’s a big bell tower was added with beautiful designs that decorated the outside.
After we hiked around the castle and discovered all of the nooks and crannies we headed back to our home. It started to rain even more and we had a relaxing afternoon.
One really cool thing about this Airbnb is that it is located in an area that is famous for hosting weddings. And in this part of Italy at least – the only way to celebrate a wedding is with Fireworks!! Wow, what a show we have seen.
Oct 8th 2019
Today we got up early and went to the car. We all got in and started to drive. My Uncle said he would lead. He went a completely different way then my moms GPS! We left his lead and went our own way. We went down the funniest little roads I have ever seen. They were as big as a one-way road, and out of no where a BIG tour bus came it was so hard for my Dad and our van to get past him.
We stopped went on a hike that was called the "Path of the Gods" – “Sentiero degli dei”. It was a 7km hike but we only did 2km. It had no railing so if we fell of we would have died, it was a 2km drop! So my Aunt and Nanny were very scared. It was a beautiful hike though, there were really old houses that were built into the side of the cliffs, and it looked like they were made out of mud and stones. We stopped and looked at some rock climbing areas for my dad and then we just enjoyed the view.
When we were done we continued on our way down to the town of Amalfi. It was another crazy drive down the side of the hill. We drove back and forth through the switch backs, my poor Dad could not even enjoy the view, he had to stay focused on the road! When we finally got into the town of Amalfi, we had a hard time finding a place to park – it was sure busy! But after a bit, we found an underground parking lot that lead us to a tunnel that we could take to get back into the main down town area of Amalfi. It was such a beautiful little town, and it had a great beach. Unfortunately we didn't bring our bathing suits, but we waded in and got a bit wet anyway!
We found a beautiful little restaurant and we had lunch. We all had something really nice to eat. My Mom had steamed Sea Bream in Lemon leaves. She said it was “beyond delicious”. My Dad had cod and chips, and my Grandpa even tried a new kind of pasta with anchovies, walnuts and cherry tomatoes! I had a delicious Tagliatelle Bolognese. I have eaten a lot of types of Pasta this summer – this one was for sure in the top 5. It was phenomenal.
We drove back across the mountains, and made our way back to our Airbnb. Because it is our last night together, we celebrated Donny, Liam and Brendan's 7th birthdays! Happy Birthday boys!
This is our last night here and I am so sad to leave this place – it is so beautiful. Tonight there was a beautiful sunset. It was deep and red over the ocean.
Oct 9th 2019
Today we got up early and packed all are stuff. We were driving to Pompeii that morning. It was nuts driving down all the small roads. We were following my Uncle Joe but he went down a small road and we said “I am not going down there, go right instead”. When we got there, we were amazed! It was like nothing I had ever seen in my life! Pompeii is a city that built over 2000 years ago and it was buried in ash from the volcano Mt. Vesuvius. The volcano exploded in 97 AD.
People had totally forgotten that the city of Pompeii was there. One day, people were digging in the area and started to dig up parts of houses from then on, archaeologists have been studying and working to uncover the city. We were able to walk right down the old roads, and I think they were cleaner now then when they were used! I guess the big stones the boys are jumping on were for people to walk across the gross dirty roads so they stayed clean!
We could see the volcano right behind the houses. The rich people had big houses, they had water fountains and big gardens, and in one of the houses, there was the casts of the people that lived in the house.
The casts were made from old bodies from people that had died after the volcano. They were buried by ash, mud and then rained on and buried forever. After a really long time the body parts rooted away. They disintegrated and some small bones were left from the bodies. What was there was a whole from where the body used to be. When people were digging they found a whole in the shape of a person. They destroyed the first one they found, but he second one the filled with concrete and it filled the whole and when they dug away all the rock and ashes and mud they were left with the shop e of the person who had died there. The ones we saw in the house were people from that house, but they were found in the street, they were running and trying to escape and were buried and died where they fell.
I also saw a cast of a dog and you can clearly see the collar on the dog. Also we saw a child, and many adults. I was walking to meet my mom and I got a little lost, but I was lucky enough to find the cast of a horse and a dog. The horse looked tangled up and scared. I felt horrible for them both.
I thought that Pompeii is the coolest and oldest city I have ever seen. I expected Pompeii to be just a few homes, but it was huge, it had so many streets and homes and temples and bath houses. I just loved it so much. I asked my Papa what he thought that "it was fabulous, what an incredible place, just imagine: an entire city just wiped out and gone!"
After visiting Pompeii we drove north back towards Rome. Rome is a huge city and instead of staying in the downtown, we stayed closer to the airport. We are flying to Malta tomorrow. My brothers and I are going to miss my cousins Donny and Jon and My Uncle Joe and Auntie Jen. It has been so much fun to travel with them for the last few weeks. We had one last big dinner together and then all gave each other huge hugs and said our goodbyes! We will see each other again at Christmas! They are continuing their journey in England before they head home. We are going with my Nanny and Papa to Malta. Malta is where my Great Grandfather (Papa’s Dad) fought during WW2. He was with the Air and Sea rescue division of the Air Force. And then later he worked as a Morse Code operator on the ships.
My Papa is really excited to see the placed that his Dad lived, worked and fought as a very young man. He was only 18 when he came to Malta. Wow. That is so young!
Tomorrow - On to Malta!
Good Bye to my cousins! We had soooo much fun traveling with you!
Tia and Mari
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