Dublin, Trad, Seafood and Home

On Thursday, September 12th, after a nice continental breakfast on the terrace of Terra Satis, a nearby hip winebar (courtesy of Arco del Lauro), we were picked up by a black Mercedes and driven to the airport, where we caught our Aer Lingus flight to Dublin.

In Dublin, our hotel was the Kingfisher Townhouse, above a restaurant on Parnell Street, near the O'Connell Street stop for the 747 Airlink airport bus. 

We did a roundabout walk, by way of the river and past the Fish Shop, the restaurant where we had our later reservation, to the Cobblestone pub, reputed to be the best place to here traditional Irish music.  It was jam-packed with people, most of them talking  loudly at the long bar, rather than listening to the changing group of musicians, anchored by a pair of sisters on the fiddle, in the window.  We got our drinks and stood near the players, listening for around an hour-and-a-half.

We then walked to the Fish Shop and had a wonderful seafood dinner--Mary Joy's favorite meal of the whole trip.

The next morning, we had breakfast at Queen of Tarts, then caught the 747 bus to the airport.  Our flight home was very late (Mary Joy is not fond of Aer Lingus, due to timeliness and cleanliness issues), but otherwise uneventful.

Trastevere and the Gianicolo

On Wednesday, September 11th, we said goodbye to our terrace overlooking the sea, and Roberto was kind enough to drive us down to Amalfi, where we bought some sandwiches for the train ride, and caught the ferry back to Salerno.

There, we caught the train to Rome Termini, where we got a taxi to Trastevere, to the Piazza in Piscinula.  From there, we walked a block to our B&B, Arco del Lauro.  This was very nice, except that early that evening, the toilet flush mechanism, which had been partly inoperative, completely broke, and they couldn't get it fixed that night, so we had a choice between letting the toilet run constantly, or turning it off entirely.  We alternated between the two, as need required.

But first, we did some sightseeing.  The woman at Arco del Lauro had suggested gelato at a gelataria on the Tiber Island, so we went there--very good.  On the island, we also visited the Church of San Bartolomeo, which had a number of shrines to modern martyrs.

The woman at Arco del Lauro had also suggested going up the Gianicolo (Janiculum) hill, to the Garibaldi statue, for the view.  On the way there, we stopped in at Santa Maria in Trastevere, believed to be the very first church dedicated to Mary.  This was my second-favorite church of the whole trip (first, again, being the Duomo in Ravello).

We continued up the Gianicolo, taking the shortcut up the steps to San Pietro in Montorio, then past the Acqua Paola fountain (under repair), and eventually finding our way up to the Piazza Garibaldi, with its equestrian statue of the hero and a terrace giving a view over the city.  From another side, the dome of St. Peter's was visible. Then we headed back to our room. 

We had dinner at a restaurant, Dar Sor Olimpio al Drago, with a lot of Guide Routard stickers in the window--to Mary Joy an even more infallible evidence of restaurant quality than a Lonely Planet recommendation. Very good.

Positano and Above

On Tuesday, September 10th, we decided to walk down to Atrani, then through the tunnel to Amalfi, and take the ferry to Positano.  Anchored off shore was the world's largest sailing vessel, the five-masted cruise ship Royal Clipper, on a 7-day cruise from Civitavecchia to Taormina and back.

We visited the Cathedral, which I liked.

Then we took the little bus up to Nocelle, with the idea of walking around some and eating in the area, but the restaurant we had found in Lonely Planet was actually, farther down, in Montepertuso.  but that restaurant turned out not to be open, so we ate at an artsy sort of restaurant called Il Ritrovo, which turned out to be pricey but good.

When we tried to catch the minibus back down to Positano, it was jam-packed.  Since the next bus was in half and hour, we and a young British couple decided to walk all the way down.  They were on the Amalfi Coast for their own destination wedding, which would take place in a few days.

We headed back to Punta Civita, in time to see Royal Clipper sailing off toward Sicily.

That evening, we walked down to Atrani again for a very nice meal at Savo.

I also called my parents, to wish them a happy 70th wedding anniversary!