Marble Mountains

Had a lovely day with a couple friends last Sunday. Leisurely drive, break for coffee at the beach, inside an amazing marble “cathedral,” and then up to the top of a quarry in a 4WD jeep.

The coffee was at a very modern place, even the bathroom sign was stylish and modern:. Check out these graphics. You’d never see this in America.

Then up up up a valley, to the Fantascritti caves.

We donned hard hats, mostly for the drops of water that came down through the marble. We drove a long way on a broken-up dirt single-lane road into the center of the mountain.

This is a special place: a piece of marble broke off and the workers decided it looked like the Madonna holding a baby. Since they need all the help the Madonna can give, they made it a shrine.

This photo is for Barb. Am amazingly huge machine for inside a mountain. Who knows how they got this in, but it dominates the”cathedral” interior of the quarry.

Then a good lunch, and THEN the jeep ride. The paved road was narrow and steep with very tight corners. And then it turned into a dirt road. I confess I was a bit nervous at the steep drop, but Filippo was a great driver and he got us to the top on one piece. Amazing views and lots of info. The quarry is very active on weekdays and the machinery for cutting and moving the huge 600-ton blocks off marble was all over the place.