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Day 11 - Tuesday, 25-September-2007
In the morning, we left Lucca for the Carrara marble quarries.
Carrara is in the Apuan Alps on Italy’s western coast and is famous for its snow white marble.
And as you get close, you can easily see why.
From a distance, the mountains look picturesque and snow covered.
Even up close, the white marble (and literally tons of marble dust) looks like freshly fallen snow.
It's all about the marble, even in the roundabouts.
Carrara Monument
Cutting the marble is time consuming.
Carrara's white marble makes the Apuan Alps look snow covered year round.
Walter was born and has always lived on or near the mountain with the miners. After the tour, we bought a couple of small souvenirs in Walter’s shop.
Walter injected spirited humor frequently. It was easy to see that he really enjoyed sharing his memories with others. Walter was also a little mischievous and was obviously delighted when (several times) Karin got a more than a little red faced and would not translate “everything” Walter was saying, but, we got the main points of the stories and sufficient detail to appreciate the joys and hardships of being a miner.
Karin arranged for a “local” to give us a tour of the outdoor museum and tell us about the lives of the miners. We arrived at the small museum on the mountain top and met Walter. Walter was enchanting, knowledgeable, and literally overflowing with character. Walter spoke little or no English, so as he talked about the history of the mining, how the techniques have changed through the years, the tools they used, and small details of their daily lives, Karin translated.
Giorgio skillfully executed the hairpin turns that were as sharp and narrow as any in the Rockies. I was more than glad to “leave the driving” to someone else. The local guide that usually gives the tour of Carrara was not available, so Karin filled in with background information on the quarries and the history of the area. For those of you who don’t know, the marble that Michelangelo used to sculpt “The David” statue and many of this other masterpieces came from the Carrara mines.
Every hairpin turn on the bus provides a slightly different panorama.
Base of a marker at the Carrara checkpoint.
Walter welcomes us to the museum.
Wiggle that block!!
Creepy, but effective...
The town of Carrara in the shadow of the mountains.
In C
arrara, the eyes follow you as you pass by.
The Italian version of razor wire.
Cathy shares a laugh while helping Walter with a demonstration as Jim captures another angle in the background (photo by Char)
A horny pair at the museum.
The group listens intently as Walter speaks.
Walter talking about the miners smoking (Is this considered talking with your hands?)
Walter loved to make us laugh!
Walter could have been the model for this sculpture!
Karin translates "most" of what Walter says...
An old saw used to cut the blocks out of the mountain.
Some of the antique mining equipment.
Blocks ready to be cut or shipped (no FedEx for these chunks)
The mountain dwarfs the blocks
Through the bus window at Carrara
This "flawed" sculpture was a "crack up".
In the town of Carrara, even the curbs are made of marble. We passed some unusual stone and concrete walls topped with jagged broken glass. Having never seen this before, it was somewhat scary and at the same time, strangely beautiful. In any case, I’m pretty sure that it served its intended purpose.
On the way down the mountain, Giorgio kept a watchful eye on the rear view mirror to make sure we were not followed too closely by one of the lorry drivers who transport literally tons of stone blocks down the mountain. It’s been said that the lorry drivers don’t stop for anyone. I’m really glad we didn’t have to find out.
