2004 Europe

Diana & Rod halfway down to the Emerald Grotto



May 25 – Today we wanted to go to the Emerald Grotto by boat but Miro said that the sea was not good for that. I guess he doesn’t know what intrepid sailors we are. So he advised us to drive there. Since we wanted to go to Amalfi anyway we decided to take his advice. We had met a young couple at dinner (one of the advantages of taking your meals at the hotel is that you get to meet all the guests) and at breakfast they had mentioned that they were taking the bus into Amalfi. So we hunted them down and asked if they wanted a ride, an offer they were only too glad to accept because they had never ridden with the scourge of the Amalfi Coast, Mario Longenberger.



Mike and Debbie are from Atlanta, but only recently moved there from Chicago. We drove to the Grotto and were lucky enough to find a parking space, the last one. Unfortunately the elevator to get down to sea level was broken so be hiked down the path. We stopped half way down for a picture overlooking the Grotto’s bay (above). As you can see, it’s still a long way down to sea level.



When we got to the entrance both rowboats were on a circuit so we had to wait for them to return. Once inside and on the boat it turns out that the Emerald Grotto is essentially a large room with alcoves. The opening to the sea is under the water and when the sun shines on the opening it makes the water glow bright green. Quite impressive actually. When the boat captain makes waves with his oars and the small wavelets disrupt the green glow in geometric patterns that were very pretty, all the while yelling, ‘Lookie, lookie!!’ The he rowed us over to an underwater porcelain nativity scene. Jesus, Joseph and Mary with some donkeys. They’re down about 15 feet in very clear water. You could see them very well. He then made some small waves again causing them to appear to move, this time shouting, ‘Miraclo, miraclo!!.’ He was the best part of the show. Too dark for pics, I’ll have to see how the video comes out. Of course after this we had to hike back up to the car. No problem for the thin people but I can’t leave my extra 100 pound load that the bottom so I have to carry it out with me. It was only about 300 vertical feet up to the road level, but I was gratified to see that the young people were puffing a little by the time we got up. It was like climbing a 30-story building. Easy for some, not so easy for others.



So it was back in the car and off to Amalfi (below). Amalfi started out as a Maritime Republic in the 9th century and the Amalfi Navigation Tables are the oldest maritime code in the world. Shipbuilding was big here and during the Crusades they built most of the galleys that carried Crusaders to Levant.



On arrival we were hungry from our trip down to the grotto so we stopped at a seaside restorante for some lunch. We shared a Caprise (the tomato, mozzarella and basil salad I like so much). I had a seafood risotto and Diana had fettuccini Alfredo with chicken. Everything was excellent.



The Cathedral of St. Andrew is in the center of town (below). St. Andrew’s body was moved here from Constantinople in 1206, during the IV Crusade, and is in the crypt below the main altar. It’s an elaborately decorated room with a large bronze of St. Andrew flanked by smaller marble statues of the first deacons of the Eastern and Western Church, St. Stephen and St. Laurence. All these are above the altar and the sarcophagus containing his body. The church is very beautiful. At the top of the front façade is a mural depicting a scene from the Revelation of St. John. The bell tower is decorated with ceramic tiles, very fitting for a place where so much ceramic manufacturing has been done for centuries.



After viewing the Cathedral we stopped for some gelato, Italian ice cream. It’s very creamy and absolutely delicious. Each little shop makes its own gelato and they’re all uniformly great! After that it was some window-shopping and a rendezvous with Mike and Debbie for the trip back to the Onda Verde. When we arrived at the hotel there was the perfect parking space for leaving in the morning.



Dinner was a little melancholy because we are leaving in the morning. Miro, Sofia, Gianado and Franco will be making and serving our last dinner. I took my camera to dinner to get pictures of them all. The food has been great and everyone involved in the hotel is wonderful. If you want a quiet place with easy access to the Amalfi coast that has good food and warm atmosphere, the Hotel Onda Verde is the place. The last dinner lived up to the previous six, perfect in every way. I had home made pasta with basil, tomato, eggplant and feta (below, I liked this so much I put the picture in twice). By the way, the tomatoes are wonderful. They are small, bright red and have a delicious, strong tomato flavor. I’ve been enjoying them all week. For the second course I had cuttlefish, sautéed in olive oil with basil and tomato; and a side of green beans, not the large version we have at home but thin, very flavorful green beans. This was followed by strawberries marinated in light lemon juice for desert, and, of course, limoncello. A perfect ending to a perfect stay.

(c) 2004 Rod Longenberger