To the beach

We checked our emails – 11 for J, 2 for me – and then headed off after lunch to the beach at Minturno. We had to drive across the battlefields to get there, but I took no photos. There was a distinct rotten egg smell on the way, and as neither of us owned up we went to check out the Terme at Suio. We didn’t actually stop, but this stretch of the Garigliano River Gorge has many springs with resorts around them. We don’t know if they are hot springs, but didn’t see any steam. The beach wasn’t quite as nice as the ones at Sperlonga, but were good enough. I guarantee I was the whitest person there…

Minturno (Mintunae to the Romans) has many Roman ruins and the British CWG for the area is also there. A section of an aquaduct that carried water from the hills to Minturnae cuts across the main road and is quite spectacular. There is a teatro, and forum and various other ruins to be seen. We didn’t stop though. We drove back behind San Ambrogio where the Brits were supposed to have attacked in Jan ’44, then through Sant Angelo in Theodice where the Yanks were rebuffed two days later from the ‘Bloody River’. Again we didn’t stop. No work today.
There is a band playing very loudly in town so we hope we’ll get some sleep.

At 10:46 an earthquake hit. It was just one big shake, like an explosion without sound. All the windows rattled and it gave us a hell of a fright. My nerves were still jangling minutes afterward, and car alarms were going off. It even stopped the music for a while!