One of my favorite trips
One of my favorite trips was when I was in the Coast Guard and was sent to Libya for a year. I thought that it was going to be awful. And in some ways it was,,, ahh ,,,,dreary.
There were a lot of things about the desert and the locals that I just couldn’t get used to at first. But, after putting all of our differences with the locals aside, there were a lot of interesting things to learn about the culture and the people.
Italy
But, the best part of the year in Libya was that getting there we had to go through Naples, Italy because the Coast Guard headquarters for the Mediterranean area was there.
Here is a story about my Naples experience.
Then during the Christmas season we were, in groups, flown up to Naples again and turned loose for a week’s liberty. A couple of my buddies and I jumped on a train and went up to Rome for a few days.
Here is a story about our few days in Rome.
I fell in love with Italy.
And, here are a few pics from my Libya, Naples and Rome adventures. Please excuse the quality. But they were taken with a Polaroid camera 60 years ago.
That’s me on the right in Rome – 1959
A street in old Rome – 1959
The inside of the Colosseum Rome 1959
The outside of the Colosseum Rome 1959
We were looking for the Trevi Fountain. But, we stopped at a couple of bars and got lost. So we had to settle for this one.
Rome 1959
Some locals hanging out in Libya
Mama Rosa’s – A little bar left over from WWII. The Italians were a big presence in Libya during WWII and there were still a lot of them around when I was there in ’59. Mama Rosa’s was just down the road from our base. Sometimes there would be camels tied up outside while their owners were inside getting – er – something. Sorta like an old western movie.
That’s two of our crew in the back chatting – or trying to – with some the locals
Great stuff, Jack. Fond memories, I’m sure. I didn’t realize that you were “cheek by jowl” w/ the natives in Libya.
When I was in the Army reserves, I had five tours of duty in Italy — four in Vicenza (40 miles west of Venice and one at Campy Darby on the West Coast — halfway between Pisa and Livorno (In English: “Leghorn”; I don’t know why.). All great tours, but Venice on the weekends took the cake. There’s a lot of cities in the world, but there’s only one Venice (still, before the rising sea levels swallow it up!)
Made it to Rome on the way home, but Naples was a little too far south to “manipulate” my travel orders.
Grazi for the travelogue!
Hugs to you and Judy.
Doug