Sunday, November 30, 2008

Amalfi Coast: An Amalfi Funeral

 So we had walked uphill through most of Amalfi on Via del Duomo, and turned around to walk back down to SS163. We had purchased gelatos in cones and were slowly walking downill...I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and woman was motioning me to move to the side...it was then I noticed the hearse right behind me with mourners behind it.
 These photos were taken as I stood to the side...camera in one hand, gelato in the other. Oh, what a tourist I must have looked like. Lick. Snap. Lick. Snap. Lick. Snap.
 Suddenly the hearse stops in front of the Amalfi Duomo. The mourners start bunching up.
 A man starts carrying flowers up to the Duomo.
 And then the hatch on the hearse opens and pall bearers starting carrying the casket up the Duomo steps...
 I think it was the woman in the hat nearest my camera who tapped me on the shoulder.
 Just looking at the steps to the church got me slightly dizzy...
 ...but these people were carrying a casket up them!
  This is why we did not end up touring the Duomo crypts. It was bad enough that I was taking photos and licking a gelato. We were not about to come traipsing though asking to see the crypts. We do, after all, show a tiny bit of respect.
And being the car guy I am, I had to get a couple shots of an Italian hearse.
It turns out, apparently, that hearses in Italy are made my Mercedes-Benz.




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