Sorrento and Capri 2012

The town of Sorrento is situated on a peninsular on the south side of the Bay of Naples.

As our bus drove along the winding, narrow road to Sorrento we had breathtaking views across the Bay of Naples with Vesuvius and Naples on the other shores.



As we neared the town we also had spectacular views over Sorrento ...



We spent some time walking the streets ...

... but the highlight was the visit to the Isle of Capri.

To reach the Capri ferry we had to descend the cliff to the harbour ...



... and find a comfortable place to wait for the ferry ...

... here are six of us from Seaholme Probus waiting, resting, conversing and texting - the seventh member was taking the photo ...

After about 15 minutes of sailing we caught our first glimpse of the island ...



After a brief drive into Capri town we found this view ...



... and further rambling around the town resulted in these sights ...











We took a bus ride up a winding road to the island's other settlement Anacapri, located in the highest part of the island, at the foot of Monte Solaro ...

... where we had magnificent views over the island ...

... including the harbour with the Italian mainland in the background ...

We reached the highest point on the island via a chair lift ...

... and here is the view that we found there ...



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Here is a link to my photos of Sorrento and Capri

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Our next destination was Pompeii.

Assisi 2012

Assisi is famous as the birthplace of St Francis, 1181 – 1226.

Francis was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant in Assisi, and he lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young man, even fighting as a soldier for Assisi. While going off to war in 1204, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, where he lost his taste for his worldly life. On a pilgrimage to Rome, he begged with the beggars at St. Peter's. The experience moved him to live in poverty. Francis returned home, began preaching on the streets, and soon amassed a following. His order was endorsed by Pope Innocent III in 1210. source here.

It is an irony that St Fancis, who devoted his life to poverty, should be commemorated in Assisi by the magnificent Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi which consists of an upper and lower church.



The upper church is is decorated with frescoes including the St Francis Cycle . This series of paintings, depicting scenes from St Francis's live, are traditionally assigned to Giotto though this is disputed by many art historians.

Here is one of the paintings, St Francis Giving his Mantle to a Poor Man ...

Francis hands his valuable golden cloak to an impoverished citizen. The scene takes place in front of two rocky hills, on whose peaks two very different types of architecture rise up -

the world of the city and of the cloister confront one another here. The descending slopes meet behind the figure of the saint, emphasizing his position in the picture, as well as characterizing his situation in life: this is a first indication that the saint will decide to lead a secluded life of poverty. Source .

Beneath the lower Basilica is a crypt that houses the tomb of St Francis ...

The remains of St. Francis were solemnly transported to the new church on 25 May 1230. Pope Innocent IV consecrated the basilica on 25 May 1253 ... ... Pius VII, on 12 September 1818, gave permission to the ... Friars Minor Conventuals to proceed with the excavations underneath the main altar of the lower basilica in order to find the tomb of St. Francis, which had been conceiled ... in 1476. The tomb came to light on 8 December 1818, and on 12 December the remains of St. Francis were exhumed. In order to facilitate the visits of the growing number of pilgrims to the tomb, a new neo-romanic crypt was opened underneath the lower basilica

Note: photography is not allowed in the Basilica. The photos of the tomb and the painting above were taken from the Internet.

Assisi had a long history before the Christian Era. It had, of course, been a Roman town. In the main square - Piazza del Comune - stands Santa Maria sopra Minerva, a Christian church which had been built during the Emperor Augustus' rule as the Temple of Minerva ...



Here is another link to the Temple of Minerva.

Assisi is an interesting and pleasant city to visit as shown by the photographs at this link.

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Our next destination was Sorrento.

Venice 2012

Venice is situated in a lagoon in northeastern Italy. It is criss-crossed by more than 200 canals and 400 bridges, The historic center of Venice, spreading out from the beautiful Basilica di San Marco, is built on a group of islets separated from the Adriatic Sea by a barrier of islands and peninsulas.

Although Venice has a creation myth that it was founded by people fleeing Troy, it was probably formed in the sixth century CE (AD) by people seeking a safe haven from the chaos of the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West. The Roman Empire didn't collapse in the East though, and lived on until 1453 (we call it the Byzantine Empire). Venice was ruled by the Byzantines until 751, when a Venetian ruler the Doge was appointed by the major merchant families. Venice became a major trading power, and only declined when the Ottomans finally destroyed the Byzantines and when other powers in Western Europe found trading routes to the indies around the Cape of Good Hope. The discovery of the Americas also played an important role in shifting maritime power.

For more information about the history of Venice see here and here

As we traveled to Venice our tour director's description was liberally sprinkled with superlatives. When we arrived we found that it is very difficult to over hype Venice and its lagoon.

After settling in to our hotel, situated on the Grand Canal, we took a gondola ride. Most of our Probus travellers were in the gondola in the video below - Carmel, Julie, Margaret S, Margaret B and Judy. If you listen carefully to the video you will hear some musicians who were in one of our group's boats ...



... part of the ride was on the Grand Canal. Travel around Venice is either on foot or by boat. The equivalents of busses in other cities are boats in Venice. In the background of the picture below is one of the "bus" stops ...



... we traveled down the Grand Canal - by water taxi ...



... under the famous Rialto Bridge ...

... to St Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco) the principal public square of Venice. The Piazza is dominated by St Mark's Basilica at its eastern end with the nearby clock tower. Interestingly, the clock tower collapsed in 1902, and was completely rebuilt over the following decade. The north, west and south sides of the square are bordered by a long arcade which is lined with shops and restaurants at ground level, and offices above....

We spent time in St Marks Piazza having an evening drink, serenaded by local musicians ...





Venice is one of the flattest cities in the world, but because there are so many canals we found ourselves walking up and down many steps on the bridges over the canals ...



In the photo below the bridge in the distance is called the bridge of sighs...

The enclosed bridge is made of white limestone and has windows with stone bars. It passes over the Rio di Palazzo and connects the New Prison to the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace. It was designed by Antoni Contino (whose uncle Antonio da Ponte had designed the Rialto Bridge), and built in 1602. The view from the Bridge of Sighs was the last view of Venice that convicts saw before their imprisonment. The bridge name, given by Lord Byron in the 19th century, comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice through the window before being taken down to their cells. In reality, the days of inquisitions and summary executions were over by the time the bridge was built and the cells under the palace roof were occupied mostly by small-time criminals. In addition, little could be seen from inside the Bridge due to the stone grills covering the windows. Source.



Venice is renowned for its glass making so naturally we visited a glass factory and shop ..



Marco Polo is one of Venice's most famous residents. Here some of the members of our tour party inspect a house that is said to be built on the location of the Polo house ...



After a too short stay in Venice we too off on our travels, this time to Assisi.

Click on this link for my photos of Venice.