Hot, hot, day

A parade down the main street

Sunday, 1 June 2012

Today we were awakened by a rooster.  Then cars and motorcycles racing down the street outside and children talking and the church bells.  We decided last night that we would spend today settling in, maybe walk around town or down to the beach.  Well, Randy went to the supermarket at 11:00 and came back exhausted and drenched in sweat and it's less than 1/2 a kilometer away.  We decided to stay in and cool until late afternoon or early evening when we would go for a walk.  Around 5:00 we walked to the beach below town and through the main piazza.  We also happened to catch a "parade"--just one group as you can see in the photo above in ethnic dress and playing instruments.

The Bay of Naples

The beach is pretty lame--a small area of dirt surrounded by boats.  The people swim from the rocks you can see in the photo.  The water we could see close to the rocks was very clear and Joshua found many crabs in the small pools between rocks.  There were no cool breezes to be had off the water either so we made our way (uphill) back to our apartment, taking time to look through gates and at things along the way.  The shrines here are modest but numerous.  We counted 3-4 on the short 1.1 kilometer walk to the sea. The small town we are staying in is Massa Lubrense.  We will get an early start tomorrow to see Pompeii.

The Mediterranean Sea

This is one plant growing over the retaining wall.  The
flowers are leaves that turn pink.  To the right you can
see one of the many shrines out everywhere.

Painted tiles are everywhere

A walkway between field of fruit trees which are grown
between the houses