What a View!

We awoke early once again to a beautiful ocean side view of Serapo Beach even though it was cloudy. Mark’s knee seemed to be a little bit better, but was still sore.

After breakfast in the hotel lobby, Vito came to see how Mark was. We spent time in the room together for a while talking about what we would do that day and decided we would not do anything that involved a lot of walking so Mark could heal properly.

A friend I had made on Facebook from Gaeta, Nicola Tarallo, an author of several books, mostly cookbooks about Gaetani food, came to the hotel to visit us. He was very nice and extended an invitation to us to come to his apartment where he lives with his parents to meet them, and to visit his nonna (grandmother) who was also an author of books about Gaeta in the next day or two. It became apparent to us that his entire family was ambassadors for their city and the tourism that it is famous for. We accepted to invitation for that afternoon as long as Mark’s knee was better.

After about an hour visit, Nicola left. Vito insisted on taking me to Via Indepenzia in downtown Gaeta, a narrow street that is filled with shops and accessible by foot. Mark had seen the street on his previous visit to Gaeta, so he agreed to stay in the hotel.

The experience of walking down Via Indepenzia was amazing. Small, locally owned shops that were quaintly decorated on the outside in the Italian motif were filled with everything from leather goods to jewelry, fresh produce to Nutella, clothing to shoes, just about anything you could imagine.

We stopped at my insistence at a leather store where I could purchase some gifts to take back to America. Many of the items are engraved by burning into the leather. I also coaxed Vito to take me to the jewelry store where I could buy something special for my wife and stepdaughter. He took me into the store where he bought Wilma’s wedding ring and I met Paola De Vellis, the owner. She was very warm and friendly and greeted me with kisses on both cheeks since she was good friends of Vito’s. Paola spoke good English and assisted me with buying some nice pieces for the gifts I was seeking.

Soon after, the rain came and we made our way back to the car to go check on Mark. Seeing that he was doing better, Vito suggested another sightseeing trip by car, but Mark declined for this one.

The rain had subsided and Vito took me up on a mountain to the north side of Gaeta between Gaeta and Itri. The climb up the mountain by car was steep and on a winding road that was not paved very well. The elevation was such that the pressure in my ears was affected much like going up in a plane.  Vito did not tell me what we would find at the top, but the sight was unbelievable. When we stopped the car and got out, it was absolutely quiet. Some low clouds were hugging the mountains very close to where we were. Looking south you could see the entire peninsula of Gaeta from the Gulf of Gaeta to the Tyrannian Sea. The view was spectacular. Visually, it was a masterpiece to the eyes. But what struck me as even more amazing to my senses was the peace and quiet. If I lived here I would come here often for solitude and reflection.

When we were ready to retreat to the car, Vito said he would take me down the mountain in a different way. We passed fields of olive trees and property that had been owned by Wilma’s father high on this mountain. We descended down a road no better than the one we had come up and ended up near Itri where there was a Roman aqueduct running between the mountains, a sight we would see closer in a few days according to Vito.

Driving back to the hotel, Vito shared some of his personal thoughts and dreams with me that I will keep private. I felt as though we had known each other for a very long time and could share these things as family often does.

We went back to the hotel and Vito decided that the best thing we could do was to get dinner to bring in for Mark and the two of us. Besides, the rain had returned and we were concerned that Mark would further injure his knee on the wet, cobblestone streets. Vito drove me to a German hamburger restaurant and ordered take-out hamburgers and French fries, a very American meal. But these burgers were outstanding and the meal was satisfying to each of us as we devoured it back at the hotel.

Vito left us in the hotel for the night to make sure that Mark could recover some more as tomorrow was to be a big day of touring. While we were worried whether or not he would be able to walk, we were moving ahead with the plans. So he left us to rest for the night.