September 12th
This morning we spent hanging out on the beach. I'm not very good at this. I like to walk beaches and swim, not sit out in the sun. I sunburn like it's the only thing I need to do to win the lottery. So I walked with Amy a bit, where we determined I was the palest person on the beach, and eventually made it into the water. Which was cool at first, but pretty nice once you got used to it.
Jen, Amy, and Michelle getting some sun.
We broke for lunch and then wandered over to explore the cave by our campgrounds.
Turns out this area used to be the Villa of Emperor Tiberius in the first century AD.
There's a museum near the cave, or grotto, with pieces recovered from the villa.
This is the Scylla Group.
It is comprised of several statues depicting Odysseus's battle against the monster Scylla (although no pieces of Scylla were found). Real pieces have been combined with reproductions in many of the sculptures in the museum.
This is the Polyphemus Group.
It was met with a "well that's a large penis" from Ann.
This sculpture set depicts the blinding of Polyphemus by Odysseus and his men.
Savannah for scale.
Some of the bones of the villa. The grotto and villa collapsed around 26 AD.
So many fish! Of so many sizes!
Apparently they used this for fish farming back in Tiberius's time.
This is where they think the various statue groups were found and would have looked in their original incarnations.
Approaching the grotto.
Woo photos!
Looking out of the grotto to Sperlonga.
I'm that weird shape in the middle of the photo.
The view of Sperlonga from the path above Tiberius's grotto.
At this point Savannah and I had to leave girls' weekend to head home. We both had things to get done over the weekend. The other girls stayed and enjoyed, I hope, shopping and more eating.
This concludes my adventures in Sperlonga.
