Arrivederci Roma

It's sad, but true, all good things must come to an end. Our recent trip was amazing, but unless we decided to make Italy or Greece our permanent home, at some point, we had to return to our humble abode in the suburbs of Sacramento. Truth be told, if it wasn't for my grandchildren, I could almost make that move, but Sam is always ready to go home when it's time. He misses the kitties, the kids, the house, the garden. He loves to go, but he also loves to return. I feel like I could stay away forever sometimes... but maybe that's only because he would never go along with it, so I'm safe in feeling that way. The yin/yang thing.

There is one thing about the end of a trip that I always find fascinating though. Just when I think it's over, we're usually staying at a nothing-special-hotel the night before our morning flight home, when something special happens. 

The first time it happened was on our first trip to Italy ten years ago. We stayed at a business type hotel near the Milan airport, in a town called Galarate. After we had settled into our room and made a phone call home to check in with the girls, we asked the clerk at the front desk where we should go to dinner. As I recall, it was a Sunday night, and he was concerned that nothing would be open. (Obviously, this was not a tourist town, and pretty dead on weekends - kind of like Wall Street on the weekend.) He told us about a restaurant that might be open, and gave us directions. Our expectations were not very high.



Although I do not remember the name of the restaurant, I will always remember the experience. We walked down an alley, through a wrought iron gate, and into a beautiful garden that lead to the restaurant entrance. Who would have ever guessed something this lovely could exist in this otherwise grey area of banks and businesses closed until Monday morning? Still, our expectations remained fairly low. Surely, the food would be only so-so, and we certainly couldn't expect great service. There were so few people seated at tables... 


Well, we were wrong on all counts. As it turned out, it was one of the best meals we had on that trip! The food was amazingly good, and the service was outstanding! We had such a good time with the staff, we even took photos with them (I should try to find those!). At the table next to us sat a middle-aged American couple, who struck up a conversation with us. They were also on their way home. They had been staying in Tuscany for three weeks for their daughter's wedding and this was their eighth trip to Italy! Oh, my goodness, I thought! I could not even imagine going to Italy eight times! What lucky people they were!


Fast forward ten years.  Now, we are the middle-aged American couple who have just returned from our eleventh European trip and eighth trip to Italy (actually 9th for me, since I went by myself once)! What lucky people we are!  And on each of those trips, there has almost always been something special at the end. This time, it was the beach town of Fiumicino, and another wonderful restaurant, called Pinzimonio.


When we said goodbye to Marco and Antonella in Sorrento, before we began our three and a half hour drive to Rome, I was very sad. Our four week romp through Paris, Greece and southern Italy was almost over, and I was not happy. 


A few days earlier, I had found an inexpensive hotel online, near the airport, in the town of Fiumicino. As usual, we expected it would be a decent, but unexciting, place to sleep before getting up early the next morning to return our rental car and catch our flight.  When we arrived, we found our hotel was right across a one lane street from a very nice beach, and it was obvious, we were going to have a pretty nice sunset that evening. So, we grabbed our cameras and headed for the beach. (Click to enlarge, then back button to return.)

Along the shore there were these repeating jetties made of huge stones, that formed round pools of gently lapping waves, on soft, clean sand, perfect for kids and dogs.

We waded in the warm surf of the Tyrrhenian Sea, took lots of photos, and fantasized about bringing the grandkids there one day.

We watched planes take off from the airport, and head west. The next morning we would be on a jet just like that, heading home.  For the moment though, we still had one more night in Italy!

So we brushed the sand off of our feet, walked back to our room, and then headed down the street to what turned out to be one of the best meals we had on the whole trip!

Return to Sorrento

We always enjoy returning to Sorrento. Driving along the road that takes us there, it is all so familiar. It feels like we're going home. (Click photos to enlarge, then back button to return.)

When we drove up the narrow road to the Hotel Cristina, high above the Bay of Naples, Sam parked our rental car behind the hotel's shuttle bus, and one of the girls who works at the front desk, leaned over the railing overhead and welcomed us with a big smile. In fact, everyone at the Cristina greets us with big smiles and warm hugs. Most of these people have been working for Marco all the years we have been going there, and it feels like a big, happy family!

Of course the best hugs and kisses come when we finally get to see our friends, Marco and Antonella!  Sorrento is a beautiful town, and it is definitely a good base for some pretty spectacular sightseeing - the Amalfi Coast, the island of Capri, Pompeii - but the main attraction for us is spending time with this wonderful family! Watching their children grow up has been such a joy!

We had dinner every night with M & A at the hotel restaurant, but on the last night, the four of us went out to try a new sushi place (in Sorrento?!) that had just opened a couple of days before. As it turned out, their menu was very limited because they were a bit disorganized, so instead, we walked to a nearby restaurant that our hosts recommended, and we had a very relaxed and delicious meal. I say relaxed because not being at the Cristina, Marco was not interrupted by hotel issues, so we had him all to ourselves! Afterward, we walked back to the car, and Sam took this picture of the three of us. Not the greatest shot of me, but I think it's pretty good of two of them!

During our six day stay at the Cristina, we mostly stayed "home" - relaxing by the pool, enjoying their amazing garden...

 checking out Marco's chickens...

marveling at the views, and shooting photos of the beautiful Sorrento sky and sunsets!

The town of Sant' Agnello below.

Mt. Vesuvius across the Bay of Naples.

The island of Capri in the distance.

All of these were taken from the terrace at the Cristina.

One afternoon, we did drive to the Amalfi Coast, something Sam loves to do, as he really enjoys the "crazy" driving in Italy! We stopped a little beyond Positano, at the ceramic factory where we bought our beautiful table six years ago. It is across the road from the elevator that goes down to the Grotta della Smeralda (Emerald Grotto), and we had lunch at the same restaurant on the cliff, as we did the day we ordered our table. This photo is an old one, taken by our waiter, when we sat at the same table in 2005.

On one other day, we decided to do something we had never done before - go into the notorious city of Naples to see the sights. It's not that we had never been to Naples. We certainly had been to the train station many times, and we actually returned a rental car there once near the train station. I was in the hospital in Naples for 4 days in 2002, and Sam had visited me every day while he stayed in Sorrento with our then new friends. But we had never really walked around and gotten to know Naples, mostly because many people, including Marco, had made us afraid to do so. Supposedly, there is a lot of mafia activity and lots of bad guys in the streets, ready to rip you off.


ANYway, we decided we wanted to see for ourselves, to visit the National Museum of Archeology (where so many of the treasures found at Pompeii are kept), and to taste pizza in the town where it was created! We were advised to leave our cameras and valuable jewelry in Sorrento, and it wasn't just Marco who said that. Sam also read some things online that made us feel paranoid, so we did leave our cameras behind, and hopped on the Circumvesuviana (the commuter train) from Sorrento to Napoli!


When we arrived at the main train station, we made our way to the metro station and got off at the stop that should have lead us straight to the museum. But when we reached the street above, we looked around and did not see the museum. I guess we looked a little confused because a nice young woman came up to us and asked what we were looking for. She told us we just needed to walk a block farther and we would see the "red palace" that is the museum. OK. So far, Naples is not very scary. In fact, it seems pretty friendly.

We found the museum, paid our admission and checked out the exhibits. The whole time, we were both saying, "I wish I had brought my camera!" There are so many incredible sculptures, and the "Secret Cabinet," where the erotic art from the brothels of Pompeii is kept, was pretty interesting, but my favorites were the amazingly detailed mosaics found in the ruins of Pompeii. Since I didn't get any photos of my own, I found some online to share with you.

The detail in these mosaics was incredible! And to think they were created before 79 AD!!!

Some of the columns and wall fountains were just too beautiful. Thank goodness they escaped destruction by the the eruption of Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii nearly 2000 years ago!

As we left the museum, we walked around trying to find a place to eat a late lunch, but all we seemed to find were bars and places that were closed until dinner. We stepped into one of the bars and asked the man behind the counter where we could find a restaurant that served pizza. He stepped out the door, rubbed his chin, looked from side to side, and then in Italian, with hand gestures, told us to go down a block and turn left. We did so, and found an amazing restaurant and sidewalk cafe called La Tana dell'Arte, where we ate delicious, authentic Napoletana pizza! Maybe the best pizza we have ever eaten! 


La Tana dell'Arte is a very interesting place, and although we ordered traditionally shaped pizza, they had some very unusual creations. Here are some of the more interesting pizza found on their menu: crocodile, crab, my sun, and turtle. (Except for the O'Sole mio, which was provolone & parmigiana with eggplant, these were all filled with "insalata di mare" or seafood salad.)

Not only was the food creative and delicious, but the restaurant staff was terrific! We left with our bellies full and big smiles on our faces - and not just from the wine! Naples didn't feel any "scarier" to us than any other big city in the world, and we can't wait to return, with our cameras, for more of that marvelous pizza!

Puglia, Part 2

We were only supposed to stay at Franco & Ilaria's B&B for two nights, but we were enjoying ourselves so much, we decided to stay for an extra night. Ilaria made us breakfast each morning, which we ate on the patio by the front door, with the cats watching us. And the house had a fully equipped kitchen, so we bought groceries and I made dinner each night, which is one of my favorite things to do while traveling in a foreign country. During the day, we explored the countryside and beaches.


One of our two days we drove to the very tip of Italy's geographic heel, to Santa Maria di Leuca, where the Adriatic and Ionian seas meet. (Click to enlarge photos, then back button to return to blog.)

From there, we drove up the eastern coast. It's not as dramatic as the Amalfi Coast, but still quite beautiful. Since it was not yet high season, there were no crowds and we pretty much had the road to ourselves. We stopped at an area that would be called a beach, even though there was no sand, only concrete and rocks, where we could dangle our feet in the warm waters of the Adriatic.

As usual in the Mediterranean, the water was crystal clear and beautiful. We're not sure what this area once was though. There seems to be volcanic rock, and maybe even some ancient ruins of some kind. Looking at these pictures makes me want to be there again. These giant concrete "jacks," they use to make jetties, look like they were left behind by a giant's child.

A little farther up the road, we stopped at a cafe on a cliff side, that featured some interesting works of art, like this character, and her apparent offspring, who joined us for lunch.

We almost made it to the town of Otranto, but it was getting late, so we headed back across the heel. Turns out, we missed an exhibit we would have liked to see, but didn't find out about until the next day, while we were in Lecce.

 Instead, this is what we saw when we got "home" that evening. Fair trade, I suppose.

The next day we explored the towns of Gallipoli and Lecce. The former is a port town, that I'm guessing hosted a few pirates in its day, from the looks of this carry-out food establishment.

There were other signs of pirate presence...

Actually, this is on top of a chapel that seems to have belonged to a religious society of secular priests, dedicated to the spirits of Purgatory, built in 1660. Interesting. I didn't figure this out until we got home, so now I'm wishing we had gone inside!

Well, so much for Gallipoli... next, we went on to Lecce, said to be the Florence of southern Italy, rich in Baroque architectural monuments.  This is one of the gates into the historic center.

I was fascinated by all the interesting creatures that adorned many of the buildings, like this winged lion...

and this motley crew holding up a balcony.

 Lecce is a university town, and as usual, where there are students, there are bicycles. Maybe all bikes should be painted like this, so drivers would have no excuse not to see them!

One thing we found in Europe this time was that Europeans love our current President. We saw several references to Obama, but this was one of the more interesting ones. We didn't eat here, but we did have a lovely lunch at a wine & book store/cafe, of which I have no photos - I was enjoying my wine too much!

On our return that evening from a full day of sightseeing, we watched the sunset as we sped along the highway...

and when we reached Racale, we stopped at the beach before returning to our comfy little cottage for our last dinner and good nights rest in Puglia.

Puglia, Part 1

Puglia, a region in southern Italy. The heel of the boot. A part of Italy we had not seen before. Who knew it was so beautiful? Well, our friend Maria who owns Roma II, and our friends the Antonicelli family, knew it because that's where they came from when they immigrated to the US. Our old friends in Sorrento, Marco and Antonella know it, and they hooked us up with old friends of theirs, Franco and Ilaria, who have a bed and breakfast deep in the heel, along the western side, very near the sea. And now, we know it and we have new friends! Oh, my beloved Italy, you never cease to surprise and amaze me!

We arrived at the Rome Fiumicino airport late morning, rented a car and took off driving across southern Italy, without much of a plan. We only knew we were headed toward Puglia and the eastern shores of the Italian coast. (Click photos to enlarge, then hit back button to return.)

 We drove from the region of Lazio (where Rome is located), through Abruzzo, down the coast through Molise, and finally into Puglia. It was a gorgeous drive, on well-built highways, through snowcapped mountains and beautiful green valleys, through lots of tunnels and over lots of bridges. Rather than built roads around mountains, or down into valleys, Italians prefer to go as straight and level as possible. Hence, the tunnels and bridges. There was very little traffic, and it moved very fast - up to 140 kilometers per hour at times (about 87 mph), with the occasional BMW or Porche whizzing by at maybe 175 or 200 kph!

Although I almost always have all of our accommodations reserved ahead, this time, I thought it would be fun to wing it. Turns out, it wasn't such a good idea since I had not done any real research on the area, and the beach towns where we thought we might find a place to stay, mostly between Bari and Brindisi, turned out to be very industrial and not very picturesque. Having been on the road for several hours by this time, we were getting tired, so we headed inland. 


Sam had actually done a little research on Puglia the day before we left Greece, and found some information about an inland town I had heard about before, called Alberobello. It's a fairly big tourist area because the town mostly consists of buildings called trulli (plural for trullo). We decided to head in that direction, and long story short, we found a decent, modern hotel, a short walk from the main historic center, and after settling in, walked into town to find some dinner.

His Majesty Hotel, only €80 per night.

This what we found in the town center...

 Street after street of these quaint little homes, some with symbols painted on their roofs. The symbols are primitive, pagan, magic, or christian signs.

A lot of the chimneys have these weathervane-type things on top, which we decided may help keep rain out when the wind blows them to face away from the driving rain? Most of them seemed to be the same style, like this one of a gladiator's head.

 Like I said, Alberobello is a tourist destination, and there are lots of cute little shops selling all kinds of locally made arts and crafts. Probably the best souvenir would be one of the little models of the trulli. Some of them are so cute.

I watched a man making one, and I admired the ones he had finished. I really wanted one. Unfortunately, they are pretty heavy (being made of the same limestone the actual house are made of), and Sam reminded me that I would be carrying it if I did buy one!

Our next stop was to stay at a bed & breakfast belonging to friends of our friends, Marco & Antonella, near the small town of Racale, on the western coast of the heel of Italy's boot. Franco and Ilaria own land with two good size guest homes and several small buildings that Marco called trulli, but that are not like the cone topped version of Alberobello. Ilaria and her daughter, Erica, gave us a tour of the property and she called the structures "casadi" (sp?) or something like that, but I cannot find any info. They are much like the trulli we had seen, but had flat roofs. 

They had rain "gutters" on the back side, and this one actually drains inside where the water is stored in a well.

The guest house that we stayed in didn't look like this, but it was built in similar manner, with very thick walls, and had modern dual pane windows and screens on the windows (something we haven't seen much of in Italy - the screens, I mean).

And it had a nice patio in the back...

The other guest house is much larger, two stories, with a nice porch/patio, but we weren't able to see inside because someone was using it.

Franco & Ilaria's house is the largest of all the buildings.

And they have many, many cats, and four dogs, one of which is a bull dog named Dinero (or maybe it's DiNero?).

High season for them doesn't start until the end of June, so the pool was still empty, but it looks like it must be really nice when it's operating.

Also on the property, they have a very large vegetable garden and compost, bee hives, fruit trees, flowers everywhere, and groves of olive trees. It is an amazing place, and only a short drive to the beach. Sam and I are dreaming of taking the whole family either there or to Naxos Island someday...