Musical Explosions

This past weekend was our last in Sorrento and we spent it enjoying the musical culture of the area. Thursday evening, we took a chartered bus to the town of Ravello, about an hour long (nauseating) ride along the windy coast of Amalfi, to watch a concert that was part of Ravello Festival 2008. Apparently, every summer, Ravello hosts a series of concerts and other artsy stuff. The concert was conducted by Jeffrey Tate and featured the Orchestra del Massimo Napoletano from the San Carlo Theatre in Naples (the longest fully running theatre ever) along with an opera singer during the second movement of the second act. The stage was set to a backdrop of the ocean and coast of Amalfi, definitely classy. The music was enjoyable and the opera set heartfelt. I guess I can like opera, but only in moderation.

Saturday Night was a Tarantella show down in the fishing village of Marina Grande. Tarantella is the traditional folk dance and song show of the region and is accompanied by a festival-type atmosphere. There were lots of candy selling stands, a moon bounce, bungee thing, and other craziness. We had dinner in the village, even though it´s known for being a bit pricey, but we were determined to have fish and chips. We found a nice restaurant with no cover fee and had a nice dinner, but when we paid the bill, they didn´t give us back the right change.. we tried to tell them but the language barrier made it difficult, in the end, after much confusion, we ended up only paying 9 euro total.. because we quickly walked away when they gave us more change.

Sunday.. we didn´t do anything except read and sleep.

Sorry I´m so delayed in blogging, but I´ve been distracted by the end of the program (i.e. papers and exams and stuff) and a trip to Rome left me with no computer for a while.
I´m now in Barcelona and will update the Rome trip in a bit.
CIAO