We're taking a couple of days for a breather, since we're pretty much caught up with what I wanted to do here in and around Napoli. We're in the hotel room and have an Italian kiddie program on the TV. I find that even junk programming is helpful in trying to follow Italian. That includes commercials (some very funny) and even junky TV home shopping isn't that hard to follow with the "buy this now!" speaking style that that type of program uses. You can always learn something. In hotels you can always get CNN and the BBC, usually a French station, and rarely, a Spanish one.

Torre Faro   The last of the longer drives was to be Catania-Napoli, since Napoli-Roma isn't very far. But even with the longer drive ahead, when we got to the ferry at Messina I just had to keep driving a little further to get to that little spit of land in Sicily that reaches closer to the mainland, the northeasternmost point of the island. We got out to the end, which is the town of Torre Faro (Photo by Dennis Jarvis). The name was clear when we got there. Near the point is a stubby black-and-white-striped lighthouse, and also a 13th century tower, built, strangely, by the English. There is a beach at this point, which is closest to the mainland, and the swimmers to the right were swimming in the Ionian Sea, which comes up gradually between Sicily and Catania, and those on the left were swimming in the Tyrhennian Sea. There was a shop that used "Two Seas" in its name. I got the sense of a real crossroads here, with two seas meeting in one direction and two land masses facing each other in the other, perhaps to be possibly connected by a bridge.

Highway Luck   When you plan things, you figure things will go well, and as it turns out, they did, but sometimes through dumb luck. Both the long haul from Bari and the one up to Napoli depended on the ferry, and in both directions we didn't have to wait long at all to get on. But leaving Sicily, when we got to the mainland there were rows upon rows of cars and trucks waiting to get on in the other direction, and the line left the parking lot, went up the road, and when we got on the autostrada, there was a backup waiting to get off to get to the ferry.

Equally bad, after we were hours up the autostrada, there was a spot where both sides went down to one lane for a bit. Our side went through quickly, but the other side was backed up. We drove for maybe 20 minutes until we saw the end of the backup on the other side. More dumb luck.

When we got closer, there was a matter-of-fact exit to Pompei. Well, why not, but it does seem to put you in a time warp. When we were between Pompei and Napoli, Vesuvius loomed up, all pink in the sunset. I suppose we were just switching volcanoes on this drive.

The Gulf of Naples   To understand where things are located around the Gulf of Naples, do this. Put your right thumb and forefinger in the form of a C with the open side facing the lower left. You are encircling the Gulf of Naples (Map by Norman Einstein). This topographic map (Map by Morn the Gorn) shows just where Vesuvius is and how it overwhelms the setting. This historical map of the area in the year 70 CE (Map by MapMaster) shows both the location of Pompeii and how the eruption of Vesuvius that year affected it and other towns.

Also note on that map Salerno (in Latin, Salernum), and the Gulf of Salerno. In the Middle Ages, Salerno and Naples competed for supremacy, and Naples won. Just to the right of Salerno was the allied landing of 1944.

The peninsula between the gulfs is the Sorrentine Peninsula, named after Sorrento (Surrentum in Latin). We drove around it yesterday for the first time. From Sorrento to Amalfi on the south side is the Costiera Amalfitana, the Amalfi Drive, cut in a corniche road in the cliffside, with the famous towns of Amalfi (Photo by Jensens) (click to enlarge) and Positano. The drive is on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

Off the end of the peninsula lies Capri. As we went around I was delighted to get beautiful views of it, including of I Farigloni, the rocks off the coast. I wanted to see it since we weren't going this time, having been there before. This is just about the late afternoon view we got of Capri (Photo by Red King) from the peninsula, just as I'd hoped to see it.

On the way, we'd gotten beautiful views of Sorrento from the road, which lies on top of the cliffs. Yes, I sang "Come Back to Sorrento" (without words).

We'd been to Pompeii before and wasn't trying to do it again, considering the heat and the wheelchair, but I just drove around the perimiter and got a few views. People don't realize that Pompei outside the excavated area is a contemporary Italian town. There was a Pompeii Camping, and yes, MacDonald's Pompeii.

I read in today's Corriere del Mezzogiorno (Courier of the South) that there is a historic reenactment group that's going to parade in costume as ancient Pompeians on August 24, the anniversary of the eruption in 79 CE. Later on this century, the eruption will have happened 2000 years ago.

Vesuvius rises to 1281 m (4203 ft). We drove up again as far as you can, maybe 80% up, for the views. The rest of the way to the top you hike. No thank you. Vesuvius last erupted in 1944, whereas Etna does so periodically, most recently in the early 90's, so Etna has more lava to see. Vesuvius's lava area, at least as far as we went, was largely overgrown with shrubbery. This is a view north of Vesuvius and the Gulf of Naples (Photo by Richard Marc) from the Sorrentine Peninsula. While it was late afternoon when we were there, it wasn't quite this dark yet.

Furthest north on the Gulf is Napoli itself (Photo by Massimo Finizio). By the time we got there, it had become evening, such as in this view back to where we'd come from, as I drove along the bay.

The upper peninsula surrounding the Gulf continues beyond the city, but just at the western end of the city, past the center and the port, is the neighborhood of Santa Lucia, on a point of land reaching out just a bit into the bay and giving excellent views.

Santa Lucia   We are staying free for five days on Starwood points at the Hotel Excelsior, just a century old, and in the Belle Époque style. The lobby, bar, and breakfast room downstairs are high-ceilinged, and heavy with drapes and mirrors. The hotel stands exactly at the outermost point of the Santa Lucia mini-peninsula, so you have views both east and south, and can see everything. Out our window we see Napoli, the Gulf, and Vesuvius (Photo by Jan Luca and Magnus Manske), although it's been too hazy to see Sorrento or Capri.

We've had the luck that the moon's been either full or close to it while we are here. It hangs right above the bay, and the moonglow shines on the bay right up to you. This is what you call romantic, and the words to the Neapolitan song "Che la luna mezzo mare" came to mind (O, the moon in the middle of the sea).

The restaurant is on the roof terrace. At the edge of the water is a Norman castle, the Castel dell'Ovo / Egg Castle (on the peninsula in the gulf in the above picture), and nearby is a small harbor, the harbor of Santa Lucia. You know more about this harbor than you think.

The words to the song Santa Lucia have nothing to do with Saint Lucy, even though the Swedes sing it at the Luciafest, and have no religious significance whatsoever. This Neapolitan song is about a boatman who takes his boat out into the bay, and is eager to get back to Santa Lucia harbor. So I walked Bev over to the ballustrade along the edge of the roof terrace restaurant, looked over the tiny harbor, and we sang a couple words of the song. Later on, in a restaurant below, someone was playing "Funiculì, funiculà", a favorite of Bev’s.

Nabolidan'   A final word really has to be said about the Neapolitan dialect. All languages have dialects where you can identify where the speaker comes from. These comments actually pretty much cover all the dialects of southern Italy. It is particularly worth mentioning, since it was mostly the southerners who immigrated to America, and so many "Italian" words, such as for foods, that English speakers use are frequently in Neapolitan dialect.

Most Italians pronounce the language exactly as it is written. Here are three major changes that southerners use.

1) P becomes B; T becomes D; C becomes G

If you've ever jokingly wanted to say "do you understand" and said gaBEESH', you were deep into Nabolidan'.

2) SP becomes SHP; ST becomes SHT; SC becomes SHC

3) What actually is the most notable change in Neapolitan I've left for last, it's that almost all vowels at the end of words are dropped (numerous examples above). I had a great-aunt Mary, known as Zia Maria (like Spanish Tía María). She was universally called Zi' Mari'. Many Americans call mozzarella muzzarell', in full dialect. The same with provolone (pro vo LO nay) being pronounced brovolon'.

Even in Florida when I ask for pro.vo.LO.nay, the woman behind the counter asks me "An' how much provolon' do you want, sweetie?" Nabolidan' is everywhere.