Abandoned

This is where Gerald and I went in Italy, the hill that you can see in the distance is the one that gave me the inspiration to write Abandoned. We actually climbed up to the top of it one day,there was an old church at the top called the Sanctuary of the Advocate. It was pretty much a last minute decision, we were having a strong espresso in the village below, Maori, and we were reading about the Sanctuary in a guide book. It was a Sunday and the beaches were packed with hundreds of people coming in from Naples so we decided to escape the crowds and set off with only a bunch of grapes and a bottle of water. Up and up we climbed in the searing heat, it was very tough going, we stopped at a few lovely little places. There was an ancient olive tree that we rested under and also a lovely little spring under some shady trees. As in so many places in Italy, there was a little altar by the water with a picture of the Virgin Mary and some candles, it was as if she was wishing us good fortune on our journey. We even got chased up a steep path by a man on his mule, he seemed to find it very amusing, although we couldn't understand what he was saying. Anyway, several hours later we reached the summit, totally exhausted. Our reward was the stunning views, and the lovely feeling of peace and tranquillity. So basically that's where all the lyrics from Abandoned came from, the day we went in search of the Sanctuary.