Mediterranean Odyssey 2019: March 18

Welcome To Italy!

This morning we arrived in Italy. The bad news was that we missed our afternoon excursion to Pisa where we were going to see the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa....but the reason was because we had such a FABULOUS morning traveling to the top of the mountains in Carrara, Italy at their marble mines and didn't make back in time. We knew it would be close booking the two of them, and like every day on this adventure there were at least a half dozen of the twenty optional choices that were "must do" so something had to give at each stop.....just means we need to come back!

The end result of the mining in building form

Let me start by saying that none of the photos do the spectacular scenery justice, nor do they even begin to capture just how high, no not high, HIGH we were and sooooo close to the edge! The 2:45 second video at the bottom does a better job, but still just not the same. Especially when we were driving along just three feet from a 1,000 feet plunge straight down. Ironically though, none of us were ever really that fearful. Well, ok, when the driver asked me if I wanted to drive us back down the mountain I believe the others were pretty scared :)

We knew when we booked the trip that we'd be going to the marble quarry and traveling in jeeps. What we did not know was how high it would be. And it's a good thing we were on a Viking Oceans trip because had we been on a river adventure and they described this excursion at the evening meeting I can't guarantee any of us (other than Kim) would have been so excited about going. When we checked in to go to the bus the first thing the Viking rep said was "Oh, that's one of my favorites - you aren't afraid of heights are you?" Uh oh, that's not good! It took about 45 minutes for the eight brave passengers to travel by mini-bus to Carrara from our pier. There we transferred to 4x4 jeeps and drove up the narrow road to the marble mining camp. We got our safety vests and helmets - nothing but the finest Italian fashion for us - and we climbed back in. The "road" was paved about 1/3 of the way but the rest of the way was chunks of crushed marble and rock, all mixed into a muddy goo as we took one hairpin turn after another, constantly climbing higher and higher. At one point I did wonder, "How high are we going, to the top of the mountain?" Yes.

But the views that awaited us were sensational. So much information it's impossible to remember or share it all. But the highlights....these mines have been being used since the Roman times (which begs the question, how did THEY do this?!!!). The complexity of the process is just mind boggling, and then to think it's done at the top of the mountain and has to be transported all the way down. We were told that at the top we were 1,000 meters above sea level and the marble goes two miles below sea level! Oh my! And we were told in this one valley there was at least another 100 years worth of mining to be done! The workers put in eight hour days - but to cut one big stone of marble usually takes several days! Just amazing.