May 21

May 21

Amalfi, Italy

What a day.  Mia and I got off the ship early (10am is early for us) with the intent of hiking up a “staired” pathway to nearly the top of the mountain.  We went sure exactly where it was and the people we were asking didn’t either, so we decided to just go a find it.

We walked passed a familiar area (we were here on Easter), took a few turns and found ourselves heading upward and thinking we might be heading the right direction.  Well, long story short, it wasn’t.  We found ourselves in neighborhoods.  Not any neighborhood I have ever seen.  People homes are built on the mountain and to get to these houses you have climb, climb and climb some more.  Well, we did and it was just amazing.  Some of the views were breathtaking including the cemetery we ran across.  This peaceful and respectful place was located in a place you would never imagine.  On one of the highest points in this location.  We decided we wanted to see it and we found that families are “buried” together.  We believe that the custom is to be cremated, as space is a premium.  One person that was buried there had passed away in 1871.

After the serene moments we spent at the cemetery, we treaded forward and actually started back down the steps, continuing to find this path.  One the way down we ran into a white lab puppy that must have been about 7-8 weeks old.  She was having trouble getting up the steps as her hind legs missed the steps as they were taller than her.  Mia fell in love and had to pet her and the pup stopped when she got to me, laid down and showed her belly, so I proceeded to give her a rub.  We were now rejuvenated to continue!

Our goal now was to get back down to sea level and get some nourishment.  After passing a sweet old lady who I’m sure was resting before she continued to her home high up, we saw the way down.  After working our way back to town we made it to the restaurant where we ate Easter dinner.  Some Aumm Aumm (basically bruschetta) and a wonderful salad gave us more energy, so we took off the other direction.  So many steps and our legs are burning and we are literally dripping sweat, we FINALLY found what we had set out to find.  Neither of us felt like we had the strength to continue, BUT… we decided to go up at least a part of the way.  We could see the crest and internally, we both knew it wasn’t going ot happen, but neither of us said anything.  I’m guessing we made it about 1/3 of the way up and while we were there, you could see that within this mountain city was a jungle, thick and rich of trees, vines and other lush greeneries.  I feel so fortunate to be here!

We were EXHAUSTED!!!  We weren’t sure if we had the strength to get back to the tendering point.  We took it slow down the steps and we finally made it back to sea level, the tender and finally the ship.  WOW… all in all we hiked nearly 2 hours.  I can’t guess how many steps we climbed or how many miles we walked, but it was a lot!

A crazy exhausted as we were, I immediately went to the gym when we got back on the ship and did weights and actually ran a little bit as well.  Took it easy after that, got some dinner and then I had night time duty again.

What a day!!!