Sperlonga (September 19)

 After some rest and a hard-fought 6-4, 6-3 win in tennis verses Santo (archaeology teacher) at our resort in Terracina, we got up the next day and headed to Sperlonga.  The town sits on top of a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, with a very picturesque narrow route that twists and turns through 18th century streets and buildings (see below, left) onto a beautiful beach as seen in the picture at the right.  The kids enjoyed the beach for about an hour and then we headed up the hill from the beach to our next excursion.


Sperlonga is home of the Tiberius Museum, which offers many statues of that period of time, including a depiction of the scene where Odysseus gouges the eye of Cyclops in The Iliad (see right).

As part of the experiential learning component of their time here in Italy, the kids took over this part of the museum as Santo (below left), Yvonne, and Richard (below right) all took turns offering historical, archaeological, and literal interpretations of the showdown between Odysseus and Cyclops.  I must stay, the commentary among the three of them was pretty amazing.  On the bus ride over to the museum me and my big mouth thought it might be fun for Brad and me to act out the gouging scene for the kids while Yvonne narrated it in front of the statues.  The acting was terrible but the kids got a kick out of the math and English teacher offering our part to the presentation (lol).

Sperlonga is also home to the famous Grotto, a ruin where the original statues of Odysseus, Cyclops, et. al. lay.  The trail from the museum to the Grotto is very scenic (see left) and The Grotto sits adjacent to the beach, offering some wonderful views of Sperlonga and the beach inside its cavernous walls.

At left:  Yvonne is sitting and retelling the story in the spot where the original statues of Odysseus, Cyclops, et. al. were found centuries ago.  At right: Riley is sitting in a contemplative mood about what he's experienced today.

At left:  Ryan is carrying Jasper up the hill to the museum due to a major cut he sustained on his foot the day before while swimming in the sea back in Terracina.  Two weeks later, he and his three stitches are doing just fine!