Sorrento...catching up.

It's been a difficult to keep up with posting lately, internet access has been spotty, and I was not feeling well. I'm now in Sorrento, south of Naples, at a beautiful campsite overlooking Naples Bay with Mt Vesuvius looming in the background. Let me relate how I got here:

May 1, Labor Day for Europe and my last day in Barcelona for awhile, I became very ill. I managed to get to the airport by tram where, thanks to having camping gear, I was able to sleep in a corner. Felt almost normal by takeoff at 6AM.
(Note: Ryanair could learn a thing or two from Southwest Airlines about how to enhance the 'customer experience'. Enough said.)
This shot was taken from the floor of the Barcelona Airport

Rome is chaotic, confusing, dirty, ancient, chic, charming and delightful by turns. It's also expensive, and full of tourists. Still, it's not hard to find amazing sights, especially inside basilicas, which are not overrun, despite being free. They are filled with amazing artwork.

These photos are from Santa Maria del Popolo, at the Flaminio gate through the third-century Aurelian city walls.

Reminder of mortality

On a lighter note, It pays to find a nice little Trattoria frequented by locals for some tasty dishes. This place was great, and not expensive.

After walking to exhaustion for a couple of days I took the train south to Naples, thence by tram to Sorrento.

Sorrento is the Malibu for Naples (and for Germans too, apparently) full of boutiques and beautiful vistas.

The ancient city of Ponpei, buried by Vesuvius' eruption, is a few tram stops away, though many of the antiquities have been removed to the Archaeological Museum in Naples, which I plan to visit.

This is looking across at Vesuvius tonight

Looking towards Sorrento

On Sundays they restrict a section of the main street to pedestrians only, and people flood into the road.

Argh! There be Parrots!

These guys were feasting on blossoms in these trees. Pirate supply. Catch your own.

Parc Guell

Originally designed by Antonin Gaudi as an upmarket, 60 residence housing development, delayed by WWI, and finally completed as a park by Gaudi's compatriots, these buildings and grounds evoke a feeling of Alice in Wonderland.

Oh yes, it also rains in Barcelona.

Catalonian National Art

The Catalans converted the fortress at Montjuic, which had been used by Generalissimo Franco as a center to torture and execute those with independent leanings (the Catalans don't quite consider themselves Spanish) to their National Art Gallery.

It starts with Romanesque, works through the middle ages and Rennaissance, right into the modern. Some pretty amazing artwork in there, much of it from churches. Here are a few of my favorites, and a surprise.

(Look at who painted the last one...bet you couldn't guess)

Protests over Education Cuts

There's a terrible crisis of unemployment in Spain. After a housing bubble burst which was at least as great as what happened in the US, the private sector retrenched dramatically, stretching government resources.

Unlike in the US, the Spanish government cannot invent money; it has to borrow on the bond market. Interest rates have been high, further stressing finances, while revenues plumitted. The European authorities by and large have been stingy with providing funding, responding to northern European sensibilities which tend to view southern Europe as a victim of its own irresponsibility. They say pain will eventually cure the ill.

Meanwhile, Keynesian economists, while not denying that long term problems exist, say the proximate fix is government spending to replace the missing private sector spending.

It's a bit like a smoker who had a heart attack, the austerians are saying smoking leads to heart attacks. Kick the habit! The Keynesians are saying, Administer CPR, the patient should quit smoking once he's recovered.

Since the austerian northerners effectively control the bank, they're having their way, and the patient is nearing death. So these Catalans are responding to the cuts in the way they know: they're out on the street.

It's kind of thrilling to see this democratic protest in action. I hope they suceed, but Spain may have to threaten to, or actually, leave the eurozone, at which point they could spend and tax in their own money again.

Shoppers Paradise

There's something here for every taste.

Put your clothes on!

You'll catch your death of cold!