St. Paddy’s Day Blog

Round Tower, Glendalough

The St. Patrick's Festival is Ireland's official celebration for its national holiday - St. Patrick's Day on Wednesday 17th March 2010. St. Patrick and St. Bridgid are the patron saints of Ireland but the former is better known due to the world wide Paddy Whackery which takes place on his feast day and indeed over a number of days. In my hometown of Dublin the festival now lasts 4 days – a far cry from many years ago when I used to stand with my Scout Group as part of the “Guard of Honour” in front of the reviewing stand at the GPO in Dublin's main thoroughfare, O’Connell Street, and watch a succession of commercial floats, Irish Dancing schools and over excitable American majorettes go by in a parade of dismal banality.


Ist Dublin (LHO) Scout Group Guard of Honour G.P.O. Dublin

However, behind the drinks industry sponsored excesses and politicians climbing on the original Green bandwagon there is a serious argument in favour of St. Patrick on a number of counts – firstly he actually visited and has a real connection with Ireland and secondly he left a body of work which gives us a lot of information and understanding about him. Contrast that with the situation of George of Cappodacia who may or may not be the St. George of England, who didn’t even know England existed and who was foisted on England by Richard the Lionheart, a French Plantagenet who spent less than six months in England during his reign.



http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/04/for-st-george-and-england.html

Or St. Andrew, crucified on a saltire in Patras and whose bones are now in Patras and the Duomo in Amalfi who had absolutely no connection with Scotland, unless you believe a cock and bull storey about his bones (he must have had a lot of bones as they also claim to have his arm in Kephalonia!) being brought under “divine guidance” to St. Andrews in Scotland!

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/02/amalfi-coast.html

Compared to these Patrick is real in body, thought and most importantly, connection to Ireland.


Statue of St.Patrick

Saint Patrick is believed to have been born in the late fourth century, and is often confused with Palladius, a bishop who was sent by Pope Celestine in 431 A.D. to be the first bishop to the Irish believers in Christ. Saint Patrick is the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland who is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland. Most of what is known about him comes from his two works, the Confessio, a spiritual autobiography, and his Epistola, a denunciation of British mistreatment of Irish Christians. Saint Patrick described himself as a "most humble-minded man, pouring forth a continuous paean of thanks to his Maker for having chosen him as the instrument whereby multitudes who had worshipped idols and unclean things had become the people of God."

In his Confessio he describes how he came to Ireland:

“I, Patrick, a sinner, am a most uncultivated man, and the least of all the faithful, and I am greatly despised by many.

My father was the deacon Calpornius, son of the late Potitus, a priest of the town of Banna Venta Berniae (probably near Carlisle) He had a small estate nearby, where I was taken captive. I was barely sixteen. I had neglected the true God, and when I was carried off into captivity in Ireland, along with a great number of people, it was well deserved. For we cut ourselves off from God and did not keep his commandments, and we disobeyed our bishops who were reminding us of our salvation. God revealed himself to us through his wrath: He scattered us among foreign peoples, even to the end of the earth, where, appropriately, I have my own small existence among strangers.”


The Sage in an Ancient St. Patrick Day's Parade, Dublin




St. Patrick's Day Parade, Dublin

Saint Patrick is best known for driving the snakes from Ireland. It is true there are no snakes in Ireland, but there probably never have been - the island was separated from the rest of the continent at the end of the Ice Age. As in many old pagan religions, serpent symbols were common and often worshipped. Driving the snakes from Ireland was probably symbolic of putting an end to that pagan practice. While not the first to bring Christianity to Ireland, it is Patrick who is said to have encountered the Druids at Tara and abolished their pagan rites. The story holds that he converted the warrior chiefs and princes, baptising them and thousands of their subjects in the "Holy Wells" that still bear this name.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/12/hill-of-tara.html


The Chicago River dyed green for St. Patrick's Day

The association with Ireland’s symbol the Shamrock come from him using this 3 leaved plant to explain the Christian concept formulated by the Council of Nicea of the Trinity, of there being one God but having three manifestations, The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. It has to be said that despite the Shamrock this is not a concept recognised by many Rabbis, Imans or indeed some other Christians such as the Coptic Church.



There are several accounts of Saint Patrick's death. One says that Patrick died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, on March 17, 460 A.D. His jawbone was preserved in a silver shrine and was often requested in times of childbirth, epileptic fits, and as a preservative against the "evil eye." Another account says that St. Patrick ended his days at Glastonbury, England and was buried there. The Chapel of St. Patrick still exists as part of Glastonbury Abbey. Today, many Catholic places of worship all around the world are named after St. Patrick, including cathedrals in New York, Dublin and my own favourite, Bridgetown, Barbados.


St. Patrick's Grave,Downpatrick

At his putative burial place in Downpatrick, near Armagh in Ulster there is now an excellent St. Patrick’s Centre with an informative website:

www.saintpatrickcentre.com


Pilgramage to Croagh Patrick

However to my mind there is far more fun to be had with the saint forever associated with the hauntingly beautiful valley of Glendalough (“Valley of the two lakes”) in Co. Wicklow and its monastic settlement of which many remains can be seen still today including a Round Tower where the monastery’s treasures were kept to protect them from marauders. St Kevin is celebrated not just for his piety but also for his misogyny being celebrated in a famous ballad by the Irish folk group The Dubliner’s for killing a woman who tried to lead him astray!



Glendalough from a postcard c. 1890




Glendalough

He was Abbot of Glendalough, Ireland, born about 498 A.D., the date being very obscure and died on 3rd. June, 618 A.D; son of Coemlog and Coemell. His name signifies fair-begotten. He was baptized by St. Cronan and educated by St. Petroc, a Briton. From his twelfth year he studied under monks, and eventually embraced the monastic state. Subsequently he founded the famous monastery of Glendalough the parent of several other monastic foundations. After visiting Sts. Columba, Comgall, and Canice at Usneach (Usny Hill) in Westmeath, he proceeded to Clonmacnoise, where St. Cieran had died three days before, in 544 A.D. Having firmly established his community, he retired into solitude for four years, and only returned to Glendalough at the earnest entreaty of his monks. He belonged to the second order of Irish saints and probably was never a bishop. So numerous were his followers that Glendalough became a veritable monastic city. Glendalough became an episcopal see, but is now incorporated with Dublin. St. Kevin's house and St. Kevin's bed of rock are still to be seen: and the Seven Churches of Glendalough have for centuries been visited by tourists and antiquarians. The misogyny points to the fact that the monastic tradition in the Irish Church owed more to the Eastern Church and it was only early in the 19th Century with Catholic Emancipation that Rome brought the Irish church back into the fold in more ways than one. So here is the Dubliner’s lyrical commemoration of the “old saint”.




In Glendalough lived an old saint,
Renowned for his learning and piety.
His manners were curious and quaint,
And he looked upon girls with disparity.

But as he was fishin' one day,
A-catchin' some kind of trout, sir,
Young Kathleen was walkin' that way
Just to see what the saint was about, sir.

'You're a mighty fine fisher, says Kate,
'Tis yourself is the boy that can hook them,
But when you have caught them so nate,
Don't you want some young woman to cook them?

"Be gone out of that", said the saint,
"For I am a man of great piety,
Me character I wouldn't taint,
By keeping such class of society.

But Kathleen wasn't goin' to give in,
For when he got home to his rockery,
He found her sitting therein,
A-polishing all of his crockery.

He gave the poor creature a shake,
Oh, I wish that the peelers had caught him:
He threw her right into the lake,
And of course she sank down to the bottom.

It is rumoured from that very day,
Kathleen's ghost can be seen on the river;
And the saint never raised up his hand,
For he died of the right kind of fever.

Until the rest of the world agrees with me that St. Kevin, with his outstanding record and enlightened attitude to women, is far more worthy of our national affections on Wednesday next wish your friends and colleagues a Happy St. Patrick’s Day in Gaelic:

“Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!”

For St. George and England?

Engerland - where that?



The 23rd of April is St. Georges’s Day and a campaign is afoot to have it celebrated as a National Holiday in England in the words of the Stgeorgesday.com “A site for England":

“As you may know, other countries all over the world celebrate their patron saint or have other days, the closest to us and probably the most well known is Saint Patrick's Day for Ireland! This day is celebrated all over the UK and also widely in the USA, what about Burns night for Scotland, for a well celebrated Scottish poet where the toasting of his words culminates in the eating of haggis, why then can we not have our own patron saint's day?”

In tandem with this the Government quango, English Heritage has launched a campaign to dispel the apathy surrounding St George's Day and encourage more people to celebrate the country's patron saint. A survey by the government agency revealed that fewer than one in five people mark St George's Day on April 23rd, suggesting that the English feel less national pride than the Welsh, Irish and Scottish. In an attempt to rectify the situation, English Heritage has produced a St George's Day Guide, which suggests recipes and traditional games with a St George and the Dragon theme. For those of you unfamiliar with English Heritage it is the Quango which took over historic public properties and sites from the Board of Works and by pretending to be separate from Government now charges to go into these sites which we already paid for and own as taxpayers. Nice work if you can get it!



Lady Godiva didn't need all this gear!

Now, those of you who have read The Paddy’s Day Blog

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/03/st-paddys-day-blog.html

will know that I compare unfavourably the very real connection St. Patrick has with Ireland with the situation of George of Cappadocia who may or may not be the St. George of England, who didn’t even know England existed and who was foisted on England by Richard the Lionheart, a French Plantagenet who spent less than six months in England during his reign. Or St. Andrew, crucified on a saltire in Patras and whose bones are now in Patras and the Duomo in Amalfi who had absolutely no connection with Scotland, unless you believe a cock and bull storey about his bones (he must have had a lot of bones as they also claim to have his arm in Kephalonia!) being brought under “divine guidance” to St. Andrews in Scotland!





What can be said with certainty about George is that he is a very busy saint. St. George's Day is celebrated by several nations of which Saint George is the patron saint, including Catalonia (Spain), England, Portugal, Georgia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Macedonia. For England, St. George's Day also marks its National Day. Most countries who observe St. George's Day celebrate it on 23rd. April, the traditionally accepted date of Saint George's death in 303 AD. St. George's Day is a provincial government holiday in Newfoundland, Canada. All very well and all very busy but none of this answers the question of what does he mean to England and how can you identify with a saint who didn’t really care about you because he never knew you even existed? St. George's Day is not celebrated as much in England as other National Days are around the world. The celebration of St. George's Day was once a major feast in England on a par with Christmas from the early 15th century. However, this tradition had waned by the end of the 18th century. On the other hand, there have also been calls to replace St. George as patron saint of England, on the grounds that he was an obscure figure who had no direct connection with the country. However there is no obvious consensus as to whom to replace him with, though names suggested include St. Edmund, St. Cuthbert, or St. Alban, with the latter having topped a BBC Radio 4 poll on the subject.


St. George attacking Ali Baba?

There is very little known in reality about Saint George. He's popularly identified with England and English ideals of honour, bravery and gallantry - but actually he wasn't English at all. Pope Gelasius said that George is one of the saints "whose names are rightly reverenced among us, but whose actions are known only to God." The little we do know is from accounts written well after the fact. What we believe to be the truth is that George was born in the Cappadocia region of central Turkey in the 3rd century; that his parents were Christians; and that when his father died, George's mother returned to her native Palestine, taking George with her. George became a soldier in the Roman army and rose to the rank of Tribune. The Emperor of the day, Diocletian (245-313 AD), began a campaign against Christians at the very beginning of the 4th century. In about 303 AD George is said to have objected to this persecution and resigned his military post in protest. George tore up the Emperor's order against Christians. This infuriated Diocletian, and George was imprisoned and tortured - but he refused to deny his faith. Eventually he was dragged through the streets of Diospolis (now Lydda) in Palestine and beheaded.



As was common there were many fanciful accounts of Saints and their wonderful deeds and a whole cult of veneration of their relics. After (with a gap) the Emperor Diocletian, Constantine the Great became Emperor and the position of Christianity was transformed when it became the state religion of the empire. It is possible the tale of St. George was played up to cast Diocletian in an evil light and draw a contrast between his vigorous persecutions of Christians and Constantine’s endorsement of Christianity.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/04/fall-of-byzantium.html

What is clear is that Richard the Lionheart, a French Plantagenet, who actually spoke English badly and spent less than six months in England as King endorsed St. George as Patron Saint because the Crusaders identified with his being martyred in land which they held as part of The Kingdom of Jerusalem and then of Acre in the 13th Century. George's reputation grew with the returning crusaders. A miracle appearance, when it was claimed that he appeared to lead crusaders into battle, is recorded in stone over the south door of a church at Fordington in Dorset. This still exists and is the earliest known church in England to be dedicated to Saint George. The Council of Oxford in 1222 named 23rd April as Saint George's Day.


Of course I'm a Dragon!

The story of Saint George and the Dragon only achieved mass circulation when it was printed in 1483 by Caxton in a book called The Golden Legend. This was a translation of a book by Jacques de Voragine, a French bishop, which incorporated fantastic details of Saints' lives.





Part of the efforts to promote St. George’s Day is to promote a concept of Englishness and the difficulty and confusion can be seen in the statement from Gordon Brown’s office announcing that Downing Street would be flying the flag of St. George on the day; "The Prime Minister's view is that of course we should celebrate our Britishness, but celebrating our Britishness does not mean we cannot also celebrate our Englishness, Scottishness, Welshness or Northern Irishness." Well leaving aside the last one there are more Ness’s there than in the highlands of Scotland!

It is time to face up to two important facts: St George has nothing to do with England and there are and never were creatures called Dragons. Oh, and while I’m at it there are probably no fairies at the end of the garden.

Having said that, have a happy St. Georges Day!


St. George's Day in Ye Olde Luton Towne

St. Paddy's Day Blog

Round Tower, Glendalough

The St. Patrick's Festival is Ireland's official celebration for its national holiday - St. Patrick's Day on Tuesday 17th March 2009. St. Patrick and St. Bridgid are the patron saints of Ireland but the former is better known due to the world wide Paddy Whackery which takes place on his feast day and indeed over a number of days. In my hometown of Dublin the festival now lasts 4 days – a far cry from many years ago when I used to stand with my Scout Group as part of the “Guard of Honour” in front of the reviewing stand at the GPO in Dublin's main thoroughfare, O’Connell Street, and watch a succession of commercial floats, Irish Dancing schools and over excitable American majorettes go by in a parade of dismal banality.


Ist Dublin (LHO) Scout Group Guard of Honour G.P.O. Dublin

However, behind the drinks industry sponsored excesses and politicians climbing on the original Green bandwagon there is a serious argument in favour of St. Patrick on a number of counts – firstly he actually visited and has a real connection with Ireland and secondly he left a body of work which gives us a lot of information and understanding about him. Contrast that with the situation of George of Cappodacia who may or may not be the St. George of England, who didn’t even know England existed and who was foisted on England by Richard the Lionheart, a French Plantagenet who spent less than six months in England during his reign.
( http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/04/for-st-george-and-england.html )

Or St. Andrew, crucified on a saltire in Patras and whose bones are now in Patras and the Duomo in Amalfi who had absolutely no connection with Scotland, unless you believe a cock and bull storey about his bones (he must have had a lot of bones as they also claim to have his arm in Kephalonia!) being brought under “divine guidance” to St. Andrews in Scotland! ( http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/02/amalfi-coast.html ) Compared to these Patrick is real in body, thought and most importantly, connection to Ireland.




Statue of St.Patrick



Saint Patrick is believed to have been born in the late fourth century, and is often confused with Palladius, a bishop who was sent by Pope Celestine in 431 A.D. to be the first bishop to the Irish believers in Christ. Saint Patrick is the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland who is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland. Most of what is known about him comes from his two works, the Confessio, a spiritual autobiography, and his Epistola, a denunciation of British mistreatment of Irish Christians. Saint Patrick described himself as a "most humble-minded man, pouring forth a continuous paean of thanks to his Maker for having chosen him as the instrument whereby multitudes who had worshipped idols and unclean things had become the people of God."

In his Confessio he describes how he came to Ireland:

“I, Patrick, a sinner, am a most uncultivated man, and the least of all the faithful, and I am greatly despised by many.

My father was the deacon Calpornius, son of the late Potitus, a priest of the town of Banna Venta Berniae (probably near Carlisle) He had a small estate nearby, where I was taken captive. I was barely sixteen. I had neglected the true God, and when I was carried off into captivity in Ireland, along with a great number of people, it was well deserved. For we cut ourselves off from God and did not keep his commandments, and we disobeyed our bishops who were reminding us of our salvation. God revealed himself to us through his wrath: He scattered us among foreign peoples, even to the end of the earth, where, appropriately, I have my own small existence among strangers.”

The Sage in an Ancient St. Patrick Day's Parade, Dublin




St. Patrick's Day Parade, Dublin

Saint Patrick is best known for driving the snakes from Ireland. It is true there are no snakes in Ireland, but there probably never have been - the island was separated from the rest of the continent at the end of the Ice Age. As in many old pagan religions, serpent symbols were common and often worshipped. Driving the snakes from Ireland was probably symbolic of putting an end to that pagan practice. While not the first to bring Christianity to Ireland, it is Patrick who is said to have encountered the Druids at Tara and abolished their pagan rites. The story holds that he converted the warrior chiefs and princes, baptising them and thousands of their subjects in the "Holy Wells" that still bear this name.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/12/hill-of-tara.html


The Chicago River dyed green for St. Patrick's Day

The association with Ireland’s symbol the Shamrock come from him using this 3 leaved plant to explain the Christian concept formulated by the Council of Nicea of the Trinity, of there being one God but having three manifestations, The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. It has to be said that despite the Shamrock this is not a concept recognised by many Rabbis, Imans or indeed some other Christians such as the Coptic Church.

There are several accounts of Saint Patrick's death. One says that Patrick died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, on March 17, 460 A.D. His jawbone was preserved in a silver shrine and was often requested in times of childbirth, epileptic fits, and as a preservative against the "evil eye." Another account says that St. Patrick ended his days at Glastonbury, England and was buried there. The Chapel of St. Patrick still exists as part of Glastonbury Abbey. Today, many Catholic places of worship all around the world are named after St. Patrick, including cathedrals in New York, Dublin and my own favourite, Bridgetown, Barbados.


St. Patrick's Grave,Downpatrick

At his putative burial place in Downpatrick, near Armagh in Ulster there is now an excellent St. Patrick’s Centre with an informative website:

www.saintpatrickcentre.com


Pilgramage to Croagh Patrick

However to my mind there is far more fun to be had with the saint forever associated with the hauntingly beautiful valley of Glendalough (“Valley of the two lakes”) in Co. Wicklow and its monastic settlement of which many remains can be seen still today including a Round Tower where the monastery’s treasures were kept to protect them from marauders. St Kevin is celebrated not just for his piety but also for his misogyny being celebrated in a famous ballad by the Irish folk group The Dubliner’s for killing a woman who tried to lead him astray!

Glendalough from a postcard c. 1890




Glendalough

He was Abbot of Glendalough, Ireland, born about 498 A.D., the date being very obscure and died on 3rd. June, 618 A.D; son of Coemlog and Coemell. His name signifies fair-begotten. He was baptized by St. Cronan and educated by St. Petroc, a Briton. From his twelfth year he studied under monks, and eventually embraced the monastic state. Subsequently he founded the famous monastery of Glendalough the parent of several other monastic foundations. After visiting Sts. Columba, Comgall, and Canice at Usneach (Usny Hill) in Westmeath, he proceeded to Clonmacnoise, where St. Cieran had died three days before, in 544 A.D. Having firmly established his community, he retired into solitude for four years, and only returned to Glendalough at the earnest entreaty of his monks. He belonged to the second order of Irish saints and probably was never a bishop. So numerous were his followers that Glendalough became a veritable monastic city. Glendalough became an episcopal see, but is now incorporated with Dublin. St. Kevin's house and St. Kevin's bed of rock are still to be seen: and the Seven Churches of Glendalough have for centuries been visited by tourists and antiquarians. The misogyny points to the fact that the monastic tradition in the Irish Church owed more to the Eastern Church and it was only early in the 19th Century with Catholic Emancipation that Rome brought the Irish church back into the fold in more ways than one. So here is the Dubliner’s lyrical commemoration of the “old saint”.

In Glendalough lived an old saint,
Renowned for his learning and piety.
His manners were curious and quaint,
And he looked upon girls with disparity.

But as he was fishin' one day,
A-catchin' some kind of trout, sir,
Young Kathleen was walkin' that way
Just to see what the saint was about, sir.

'You're a mighty fine fisher, says Kate,
'Tis yourself is the boy that can hook them,
But when you have caught them so nate,
Don't you want some young woman to cook them?

"Be gone out of that", said the saint,
"For I am a man of great piety,
Me character I wouldn't taint,
By keeping such class of society.

But Kathleen wasn't goin' to give in,
For when he got home to his rockery,
He found her sitting therein,
A-polishing all of his crockery.

He gave the poor creature a shake,
Oh, I wish that the peelers had caught him:
He threw her right into the lake,
And of course she sank down to the bottom.

It is rumoured from that very day,
Kathleen's ghost can be seen on the river;
And the saint never raised up his hand,
For he died of the right kind of fever.

Until the rest of the world agrees with me that St. Kevin, with his outstanding record and enlightened attitude to women, is far more worthy of our national affections on Tuesday next wish your friends and colleagues a Happy St. Patrick’s Day in Gaelic:

“Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!”

The Amalfi Coast.

Amalfi Duomo


Amalfi - St. Andrew

The reputation of the Amalfi Coast precedes any trip with visions of La Dolce Vita, the stupendous beauty of the coastline and a magical and simpler Italy as seen in “Il Postino”. The reputation is not without some truth but the truth of today’s Amalfi Coast is somewhat more complex. The complexity begins with the probability that you will access Amalfi by flying into Naples Airport. This exercise in chaos is owned by our old friends B.A.A. who are in turn owned by Ferrovival, the Spanish brick company. The previous year Naples had won the title of “Worst Airport in Europe” and from what I could see it was fighting hard to keep the title. Terminal 2 at Naples demonstrates BAA’s advanced sense of humour. It is a former cargo warehouse which has lost none of its ambience a mile from the airport to which the charter flight cattle are bussed. It has no luggage trolleys (either side!) and the “management response” when you mention this at the Information desk is to make a tannoy announcement which they have pre-printed in 12 languages that “there is a shortage of trolleys for operational reasons.” Indeed.

Proudly wearing our “We saw Naples Airport and didn’t die” badges we went outside for our transfer. Here it got better, much better. We had booked a cheap week at the end of season in October with MyTravel staying half board in a family run hotel, Hotel Santa Lucia, in the small town of Minori with transfers included. Tonight we were the only people going to this destination so we had a Lancia Thema and driver to ourselves and soon the mess of the airport was consigned to memory. We headed south in the fading light along the Autostrade del Sol before turning into the coast road at Vietri sul Mare (so called because it is the centre of the wonderful ceramics industry) and heading along the precipitous coast road which is the only land connection between the Amalfi towns. The coastline looked magical in the moonlight as we went from one picture postcard town to another until we arrived at Minori. However one of the reasons we were relaxed on arrival is we hadn’t driven. In the cold light of day The Amalfi Coast consists of towns which were built for defence in ravines and on mountain tops joined by a road which should never have been built driven on by people who should never drive!!

Yet what we are looking at today is the remnant of a powerful and vigorous maritime republic. In 1112 Amalfi founded an imposing hospital in Jerusalem, the "Sacra Infirma" which gave birth to the powerful Order of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem, later to become the Knights of Cyprus, then of Rhodes and now the Sovereign Military Order of the Knights of Malta

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/03/knights-of-malta.html

It was the first of the Italian maritime republics and was a powerful naval and trading power from the 8th to 12th Centuries. It was the home of Flavio Gioia, who invented the compass and gave navigators the famous "Tabula de Amphala", the foundation stone of modern Maritime Law. The maritime commerce of Amalfi formed part of a triangle that involved Italy, the Arabian North Africa and the Byzantine Empire. Amalfi ships carried wood to the North African coastal Arabian cities and sold their cargoes for gold. The second leg of the triangle took them to Syrian-Palestinian coasts where they bought spices, gem stones, fine cloths and gold objects that they then sold all over Italy by sailing as far as Ravenna and from there up the Po as far as Pavia. Amalfi lost its independence in 1131 when it became part of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily but its prosperity and importance as a maritime power did not wane. It was the later effects of new sea-going activities by the powerful cities of Pisa and Genoa that put an end to Amalfi’s once unassailable position.


Amalfi from the sea


State Barge of the Amalfi Republic

Today The Amalfi Coast, or Costiera Amalfitana in Italian, is a stretch of coastline on the southern side of the Sorrentine Peninsula of Italy (Province of Salerno), extending from Positano in the west to Vietri sul Mare in the east. The towns lying on the Amalfi Coast are Vietri sul Mare, Cetara, Maiori, Minori, Ravello, Scala, Atrani, Amalfi, Conca dei Marini, Praiano and Positano. Renowned for its rugged terrain, scenic beauty, picturesque towns and diversity, the Amalfi Coast is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.


Pompei

Minori (The little town), our base for the week is a pleasant small Italian town with a nice park, beach and pier and many reminders of past riches. It is set in the deepest inlet of the Amalfi Coast, between Amalfi and Capo d'Orso (Bear's Cape) with its twin town towns of Maiori (The big town), always joined by a common destiny, as underlined by their names. The Romans called them Reginna Minor and Reginna Maior after the two small rivers flowing in this bay, with their mouths divided by a small promontory. It is a good introduction to Italian town life with charming shops, cafes and restaurants. However, our favourite activity was to take a stroll by the park faming the lovely seafront and having an "espresso a banco" for 50 cents at the kiosk with the locals.




Minori

The first settlement of Minori was a Roman villa during the first imperial age, of which nowadays some of the ground floor remains, discovered in 1932 but buried by an inundation in 1954 and excavated again. This villa is very important, because it is the only one remaining of the numerous maritime villas originally built by wealthy Romans on the Amalfi Coast. The wealth of the owner can still be gauged from the scale of the villa as the whole household would decamp from Rome by Galley, sail down to their own pier and access the villa through a tunnel on the foreshore. The Roman Villa in Minori extended up to the seashore for more than 2500 sq.ms. and was overlooked by our hotel at the rear. Today there is mainly the basement remaining and you can visit rooms on the ground floor, among which are the thermal baths with a mosaic pavement and the courtyard with arcaded sides and a pool in the middle. The past riches of the town as a member of the Amalfi Republic are attested by the magnificent Basillica de Santa Trofimena. The Cafe Europa on the sea front does a busy trade with many locals taking away boxes of its wonderful pastries. There are photographs all over the walls showing the many famous people that had visited this bar and pastry shop. Some of these included the Pope, the movie actress Sharon Stone, many Italian sports stars, and Italian politicians to name just a few. Apparently the owner/chef, Antonio Riso, is a famous pastry chef in Italy, and well known for his creations.


Roman Villa Minori

The Hotel Santa Lucia is a charming family run hotel of about 35 rooms with mostly Italian expats staying who were visiting family and friends along the coast. There was a “proper” dining room doing hearty home made Italian fare served by the head waiter Antonio who wore a black waistcoat in the morning and a white waist coat (with cummerbund) in the evening. He was ably assisted by Giovanni who was generous in offering seconds and obviously believed in his product! The rooms were spotless and both they and the bathrooms were decorated with the charming ceramics for which the Amalfi Coast is famous. However the beds could be better with plywood bases. There is a nice lounge and café terrace and the ambience is friendly. The one downside is it is on the main road and traffic noise is intrusive when the air conditioning is not in use.


Hotel Santa Lucia

The local bus service which connects the Amalfi is run by a company called SITA and I can only assume that the “H” is silent. They are totally unreliable, overcrowded and disabled unfriendly and whatever they are focussed on it is not the customer. One day we had the surreal experience of trying to get a bus to Sorrento and after 3 of them had not arrived the Italians at the stop were so enraged they were ringing the local police. Oh, you can’t buy the tickets on the bus but at newsagents and if the bus doesn’t turn up you can’t get a refund. On the day in question we gave up on going to Sorrento and instead took a bus to the other end of the coast to Salerno. The journey along the Amalfi Drive is dramatic and the coast line jaw dropping but Salerno, whilst having no great negatives, didn’t impress. This is where the Allies invaded mainland Italy in 1943 and judging by the modern town you see today they did a comprehensive demolition job on Salerno. The other complication is that all buses on the Amalfi Coast route change in Amalfi but on a busy parking area on the seafront which is chaotic and disorganised to the point of being dangerous.

The eponymous capital of the Amalfi Coast was 15 minutes away by bus (when they came) and is a delightful and atmospheric town which lies at the mouth of the deep Valle dei Mulini ravine at the foot of Monte Cerreto and is surrounded by dramatic cliffs and and gorgeous scenery. The bus drops you at the harbour front and the town is constructed along a ravine back from the harbour and on the slopes on either side. In caverns burrowed into the cliff front you will find the Armouries of the Amalfi Republic. These impressive subterranean spaces are used today for exhibitions and in one of them you will find an impressive replica of the State Barge and an exhibition on the history of Amalfi. The Armouries hint at the scale and power of the Amalfi Republic. at its height this was a town of 70,000 souls which commanded a fleet of 120 warships. The geography of Amalfi town is easy, there is one main street along the ravine and everything flows off that. Heading inland you soon come to a piazza with a fountain and a statue of St. Andrew. Overlooking this piazza is the Byzantine Duomo (the cathedral) and its cloister (Chiostro del Paradiso in Italian) which was built in the 13th. Century in the Arabian style and holds ancient sarcophagi, marble sculptures and mosaics. Contained in the Duomo are Saint Andrew's relics which were brought from Constantinople to Amalfi by the Amalfitan Pietro, cardinal of Capua, in 1210 after the completion of the town's cathedral. This is a contentious point amongst the Orthodox who regard the relics as looted by the rapacious 3rd Crusade which sacked Constantinople and installed Norman vassals as Emperors of Byzantium. The cathedral, dedicated to St. Andrew, contains a tomb in its crypt that it maintains still holds a portion of the remains of the body of the apostle. You can also see a golden reliquary which originally housed his skull and another one used to process the bones through Amalfi on holy days. Saint Andrew, called in the Orthodox tradition Protocletos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the younger brother of Saint Peter. He was crucified and originally interred at Patras in Greece. His followers put X after their name as a secret sign of their fealty, the first emoticon?



The cathedral is worth a visit up the many steps and often as not there will be a glamorous bride climbing the steps with you. There appears to be a parade of non stop society weddings taking place as the Duomo is a popular venue due to the association with the Apostle but more probably because it is highly photogenic. After viewing the wonders within and the beautiful cloisters stop at the wonderfully embellished traditional coffee shop and patisserie at the foot of the steps. Here, take a seat outside and order the wonderful frozen coffee, Café Frodo, whilst watching the world go by. You will never taste a more intense coffee flavour and the world will seem a better place.



Further along the coast you come to the picture postcard town and port of Positano, no longer a simple fishing village but still a place of considerable allure. When he was here in the 1950’s John Steinbeck observed "Positano bites deep". It still does and it gathers you in as you walk down to the centre which is pedestrian because the streets are stepped as you go down through its narrow alleys which open into squares with fountains and churches before you arrive at the seafront. Here there are two superb seafood restaurants which have been here for ever and which are compulsory stops. Choose want you want for your second visit but today don't think about it, go and have Fruitti dell Mare and a bottle of well chilled Corvo Siciliano in the Tres Sorreles (Three Sisters) restaurant or its neighbour on the water front. On a fine day watching the parade of fishing boats, ferries and yachts you may find yourself agreeing with Steinbeck! Life is too short and on a sunny day the time spent here is too precious to waste it on decision making! Steinbeck's description of the town still holds good today:

"Positano bites deep. It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone. Its houses climb a hill so steep it would be a cliff except that stairs are cut in it. I believe that whereas most house foundations are vertical, in Positano they are horizontal. The small curving bay of unbelievably blue and green water lips gently on a beach of small pebbles. There is only one narrow street and it does not come down to the water. Everything else is stairs, some of them as steep as ladders. You do not walk to visit a friend, you either climb or slide."

John Steinbeck, Harper's Bazaar, May 1953




Positano

Where we stayed in Minori we were only 3,000 steps away from Ravello which is perched on the hill top above but unless you have the DNA of a mountain goat you may decide to take the bus which winds up a steep corkscrew road to this enchanting town of stepped streets which has attracted people as diverse as Wagner, Garbo and Gore Vidal who lived here for many years. Ravello is one of the most attractive destinations on the Amalfi Coast. With a population of around 2,000, the settlement perches high above Amalfi, overlooking the Mediterranean. A renowned musical festival is held in Ravello every year, with classical music concerts taking place in gardens with breathtaking views, all through the summer months. The dreamlike setting of Ravello's gardens inspired Wagner, and it's fitting that today music is a major feature of the town. The Ravello Concert Society organises a long season of chamber music concerts (March-November), most of which are held against a backdrop of sky and sea in the panoramic gardens of Wagner's inspiration for Parsifal, the Villa Rufolo. When Steinbeck saw this view from the Villa Rufolo he cried. Photos don't do it justice, you have to be there. The other principal Ravello tourist attraction is the Villa Cimbrone with its breathtaking “Terrace of Eternity” where Leopold Stokowski and Greta Garbo romanced.




Ravello - View from the Villa Ruffolo

Both of these panoramic gardens are open to the public, and you can wander through the tropical plants and enjoy fabulous views of the coastline. Ravello also has an impressive cathedral, the venerable Byzantine Duomo, dedicated to San Pantaleone whose blood is a treasured relic. Ravello is not an easy town for those not fleet footed to get around due to the considerable number of steps but built on a hilltop for protection against corsairs it is still a place apart with incomparable costal vistas.

So far so wonderful but to see and appreciate the former maritime republic we need to see the Costiera Amalfitana from the only place which makes sense of it, the sea. The precarious switchback Amalfi Drive dates from the 1850's, before that travel from town to town was by sea and some would suggest this is the only sensible and safe method today! Here off the coast braced by the salt air a wondrous vista unfolds of deep eroded ravines, villages tucked into the clefts for shelter and defence, Saracen watch towers and implausibly steep terraces groaning with the heavy lemon fruits of Amalfi which make the famous Limoncello. Here we can be in awe of the spectacular coast as we head towards Capri

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/08/capri.html

and the Isola Gallo Lungo, once the home of Rudolf Nuryevev but in antiquity these were the islands (Sirenum scopuli; three small rocky islands) where, according to the Greek poet Homer, Ulysses was enticed and held captive by the mystical song of the Sirens. Visitors will still be seduced by the Sirens and the Amalfi Coast today.

"You will come first of all to the Sirens, who are enchanters
of all mankind and whoever comes their way; and that man
who unsuspecting approaches them, and listens to the Sirens
singing, has no prospect of coming home and delighting
his wife and little children as they stand about him in greeting,
but the Sirens by the melody of their singing enchant him."

Homer, (Odyssey XII, 39).




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