Today was the one day of our trip where there were no planned activities. This is a special characteristic of OLLI Study Abroad; we usually have at least one day, and sometimes a weekend, to figure out what we absolutely don't want to miss, or maybe return to one spot we really want to revisit. It's good that this free time comes near the end of the trip, as we have gotten very comfortable with our surroundings, the transportation system, and where the best restaurants are.
SO - first on the agenda was to NOT get up at 6:30 a.m. We have indulged ourselves in retirement by not being in such a hurry to get up in the morning, and the luxury of sleeping in until 8:00 a.m. was really nice. Our hotel offers breakfast until 10:30, so we stretched that out a little, too, with an extra cup of coffee and some lovely visiting with friends.
After breakfast, we went in search of a quiet, shady spot to do some sketching. Our instructor, the brilliant Bill, had offered a sketch class in OLLI Maymester just to prepare us for this trip. The Amalfi Coast is a haven for artists; there seems to be a sketchable landscape or architectural detail around every corner.
The problem with this plan was the "quiet, shady" part. It's very hot now, and midmorning offers very little shade. Alternative plan: find someplace cool, then return to the hotel and sit in the lovely area on our floor that has comfortable seating and a window opening onto a beautiful view and try that for the sketching.
There are two museums in Amalfi Town which we have intended to visit and just haven't quite gotten around to, so this morning we checked out the first one, the Arsenal Museum. This is housed in a tunnel under the main road in what was once the center of Amalfi's busy boat-building industry. Since the 4th century it was quite common for the keels of boats to be laid down inside the tunnels, then pushed across the beach into the water to be completed.
The tunnel was cool and quiet - we were the only visitors so early in the day. A small but beautifully curated history museum, this venue is a boat person's dream. There are compasses, sextants, octants, charts, maps, tools, even a scale model of the Doge of Venice's barge,complete with oars and a velvet canopy for the Doge himself in the stern.
Amalfi was one of the four major maritime republics of Italy in medieval times, along with Pisa, Genoa, and Venice. The four cities hold a regatta every year on the weekend of the first Sunday in June, rotating between them. Unfortunately, Amalfi's turn is next year - drat!
We left the museum and headed back to the hotel, where we spent an hour or so doing some sketching. Since I have neither the ability nor, really, the interest to get very far in this pursuit, I gave it my best with a pretty poor result. I can see so clearly what should be on the paper, but cannot seem to make my brain and my hand cooperate!
Next - lunch. By now it was about 2:30 p.m., and our late breakfast was but a faint memory. We headed for a seaside restaurant we had been meaning to try, split a very good pizza with a little dish of lemon sherbet to share, and just relaxed and watched the ferries and tour boats come and go in the marina. Today we have a medium-sized cruise ship just off the coast (the Amalfi harbor is simply not large enough or deep enough for that size ship), so crowds have been large, and tenders go to and fro ferrying passengers between ship and shore and back again. We enjoyed watching and not mixing in!
After lunch, it was on to the second museum that we had decided not to miss, the Museo di Carta, or Paper Museum. Amalfi once had many paper factories and even today the one remaining family business produces some of the finest papers in the world. This family has turned their old factory into a very well-preserved little museum, complete with a guided tour and a paper-making demonstration.
After a somewhat lengthy walk up a fairly steep street, we arrived and joined a tour with a total of five people, just perfect. The young man who showed us around was entertaining, demonstrating how paper was made before trees were used (with fine imported cotton and other cloth), and how the factory, established centuries ago, upgraded its process and its machinery as technology permitted. Through it all, the operation has used water power and natural drying methods. While today the paper that is made for artists and the paper used for writing is made from wood products, the process is very nearly the same as it was in the 14th century. We learned that the Vatican still insists on paper made from cloth, as it lasts for hundreds of years - and that paper comes from this very family's factory! This was fascinating, unhurried, and quite charming. We are very glad we took the trouble to climb that steep street.
Today is our last day in Amalfi Town; we leave very early in the morning for Salerno, where we will catch the train for Milan. The most important feature of any OLLI Study Abroad trip is that we have time: time to get to know an area or a town; time to enjoy the food and wine and friendship of our fellow travelers; time to rest; time to write in our blogs or journals and to look at our photos; and best of all, time to use a little of the language and interact with the people who are such gracious hosts. They are patient with us and seem genuinely glad that we are here. At OLLI at FSU, we say we "go and grow." That has certainly been true so far on this trip - so Milano, watch out - here we come!
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