50 days away - nearing an end

Naples was very different to what we were expecting. It is like 2 completely different cities all rolled into one. The coastline was just spectacular and right at the doorstep of the city. You could walk for kilometers along the walkway edge and never grow tired of the view. Thats Mount Vesuvius in the background.

We also loved watching the fishermen selling their catch straight off the boats.

The centre part of Naples is a mixture. Its totally crazy and yet totally organised at the same time. There appears to be no road rules but everyone is courteous and we saw no road rage or crashes, which it surprising considering the volume of traffic.

The centre city, which boasts many fine and ancient buildings, is itself a real disappointment. The ‘tourist walk’ is in an area which is totally covered in graffiti and it is dirty and littered with household rubbish and dog excrement. A real shame! There are 2 beautiful castles within easy walk of the centre. They are like pictures from a fairytale book – from a distance. Both sustained huge amounts of damage as they protected the city over many centuries of battles. And then there were decades of neglect....

A lot of effort has been, and is being made to preserve them. Walking around inside gives you the feeling of being in another world. They are massive. Like a city inside. Looking over the edge to the sea it just looks as if the castle is coming up and out of the rock that it is sitting on. Which of course it is! In places its hard to see where one line finishes and another starts.

We danced in Naples at a Sunday night milonga called Salon Baires. A nice little venue in a very unexpected spot. We walked to the street by day so we were certain we knew where we were going. It was only a 15 minute walk from where we were staying. By day looks a bit grim and secretive with the location down a narrow dingy street and locked gates allowing only a peep into the courtyard beyond. But by night its transformed, and was just beautiful. The gates were open, the courtyard all lit up and the music is just oozing out to greet you. Lovely music and a nice evening.

We enjoyed our time in Naples. It was a mixture of mild days, scorching hot days and one cold wet day ( the day we planned to go on the ‘topless’ explorer bus). Oh well – that’s Murphy’s Law!

We had a lovely few hours on that cold wet day at the Museum of Archeology. What a place. It was originally a palace and has been changed and added to, to make it a suitable venue for the museum. Floors and floors of statues and marble and mosaics. Lots from major wealthy families of bygone years, and a lot excavated from the ruins of Pompeii. I had a total fixation on the marble statues and particularly the feet. Incredible details showing toenails, veins, shoes and sandals of the time. Each foot was around 25cm long so the whole statue in each case was enormous. A real showcase of the skill of the time.

 

We left Naples on a sunny day and headed for Rome to begin the final leg of our journey home. Amazing autostrada made the journey smooth and simple – no more tight alleys!

Rome to Buenos Aires seemed to take forever. It was just over 14 hours and a real test of stamina. We arrived at 4.30 am and by the time we cleared customs (a breeze) and got the taxi to the hotel it was just on 6am. The first thing on the agenda was some sleep in a proper bed. So we allowed ourselves around 2.5 hours and then up for showers and breakfast before a final bit of time enjoying one of our favourite cities.

We love Buenos Aires. Everytime we go, we just get to know it a bit more. Some final milongas were on the agenda and so we decided to go to La Nacionale d’Italia run by Mi Refugio on Wednesday night. Last time we went really struggled to get a table so this time we decided to go early. Started at 9 and so we decided to arrive at 9.30. It was almost deserted! So we sat and had a drink and enjoyed the music until a few others arrived. It really didn’t get started until 11.30 or so and by this time we were seriously running short on energy after our long flight the same day. However, all in all a lovely milonga, and one of our favourite places to dance.

Late this afternoon after a short nap, we went across the road from our hotel to dance at El Arranque. Literally across the road! We wore our dance shoes instead of changing them there. The place was totally packed and humming. We had a lovely final milonga of our trip.

As I write this I am sitting on the plane as we make our final leg of the trip back to Auckland, I will put it on the site once we have arrived. This time Aerolineas Argentinas actually departed exactly on time. This is probably a first for us travelling with them.

Its been 50 days.

50 days of adventures, photos, memories and new friends.

We started our journey in late spring and it will be winter when we touch down later this morning.
There are still lots of stories to tell and I am sure that they will be told over the coming few months.

We had Sun !

After our drizzly couple of days, Wednesday dawned sunny and perfect.
We are going to the beach!  But we didnt bring towels because they take up too much room!

How can you sit on the beach without towels?

So a quick walk to the little haberdashery store a couple of minutes away and we emerged with the brightest beach towels we have ever owned. One is lime green and the other bright orange. The best we could manage in the circumstances and the only choice - but nice quality.

We went to a beach about 10 minutes drive away that we had spotted on one of our drives and it was lovely. Needed a walk down of nearly 300 steps to get to the sand (that means 300 back up again!). The funniest thing was a man waiting at the bottom to charge us 2 euro each for using the stairs. There is apparently a free way down but its not for the faint hearted and involves a fair bit of rock scaling apparently.

We did the same again the next day (but the man wasnt there this time) and had two lovely days at the beach. Water was freezing, but that was OK because we are not keen swimmers. Well, that is unless we are at Noosa where the water temperature matches the air temperature.

So now we have refreshed our NZ summer tans a little - yes NW - we were sensible and had sunscreen on :)

We really loved our few days at Sperlonga and would love to visit again sometime. There is a lot to see and do - or not if you dont want to. The last evening there was just beautiful and we snapped these shots of the town from both angles - looking at the new town and looking towards the old part.

Today we drove to Napoli. Another lovely day and we passed by the entrance to the beach with some degree of longing....
It was only about an hour and a half drive to Naples, and as we got closer and closer we could sense the craziness starting to happen. Crazy Italian drivers - impatient and constantly tooting at everyone - darting in and out of lanes - double and triple parking to pick up pizzas or buy icecreams  - and the noise is incredible. And yet nobody seems to be concerned. Thats Italy.

Kate was doing a great job of navigating us to our hotel. We had chosen a hotel not very far into the city, and that was done on purpose. We encountered road works (with deviations) coming into the city, and that was bad enough, but (wait for it.....) somebody forgot to tell Kate that the street our hotel is on, has also had some changes. The America's Cup was held here only about 5 weeks ago, and for that special occasion, our street called via Francesco Caracciolo, which is a 3 lane one-way street, was completely reversed. It is now one way - the other way! Poor Kate had her little pointer going round and round in circles and I must admit to being a bit concerned by the traffic and also, as primary navigator, was feeling like a failure being unable to find our hotel. Well I knew where it was, but we just couldnt get there. In the end we luckily spotted a guy backing out of a park, and grabbed it. Then we walked about 500 metres or so to the hotel, and that way we could figure out how to drive there. Simple really!

However the small 'boutique hotel' we had booked online was all locked up and a sign said 'back later' - in Italian of course. So we had some lunch and a beer to calm ourselves down - well me really, Craig was fine - and then went back to the hotel. It was open now and after checking in we had to walk back to the car and drive to the hotel - by now we knew the way - unload the cases - then drive to a parking garage a few streets over. There is no parking at the hotel. That was also very tricky, but we made it. The strangest thing is leaving the car keys with the attendant. Thats the rules! Plus its 13euro a day to park!

Our Hotel is on the waterfront about a 20 minute walk away from the centre of Naples. We dont have a sea view because the building is multi-tenanted and our hotel is on the far side. Our room is unusual - to say the least - but very sunny and bright. Take a look at the bathroom - yikes you wouldnt want to be in there if you were feeling a bit sick!

Interesting combination of colours :). Bathroom and bedroom decor combined into one hotel room!
All in great condition and scrupulously clean. The bathroom is dazzling!

The foreshore in front of our hotel.

Tomorrow we are going to head into the historic centre fairly early and go on a 'hop on, hop off'' tourist bus to get our bearings.

Our initial impressions of Naples are good. The drivers are crazy and the scooter riders are even worse. I hope to get some video footage because nobody would believe the chaos here unless they have seen it for themselves. Its a sort of 'organised chaos' and makes the 'Wellington rush hour' look like a Sunday drive. Even Buenos Aires looks tame by comparison.

Two days in Sperlonga

Well the first two days here in Sperlonga have just raced by. Yesterday we went driving to a smallish town called Terracina. We had planned some slightly more 'beachy' activities, but the day dawned grey and showery.

Terracina is a very typical seaside town which is obviously very busy during the high summer months. The 'Information Centre' was closed - either its because its Monday, or because there are no tourists around yet! Have some lunch and then decide to get 'Kate' to navigate us up to a huge historical structure that we can see high on a hill above the town. It ends up being the remains of a massive temple  'Tempio di Giove (Jupiter) Anxur',  and what is left is just the lower foundations. Well, its another of those feats of engineering, the majority of which has been razed to the ground by fire. We still wonder how fire can cause total devastation to stone and marble structures??
The day is getting warmer as we wander around.

Head back and get changed into shorts and sandals -  and now we are definately recognisable as tourists, as all the locals still have jeans and jackets on. Walk along the beach and sit in the sun, and its hot, and still, and very, very nice.

This is the view from our balcony - nice eh!

So much for the break in the weather though - we had an amazing electrical storm with wind, lightning and thunder when we were halfway through our dinner. The temperature halved in the space of half an hour, and what started as a balmy calm night, ended as a cold windy wet night and a dash back to the hotel.

Raining off and on again this morning so we went to the small town of Gaeta - in the opposite direction of Terracina and about 12 kms away. Again, a pretty town with a tonne of history and interesting narrow alleys to find - and drive down - and more forts to discover :)

Narrow alley we are just about to enter - may have even been '2-way' - but we didnt hang around long enough to find out!

So, all day the weather has been alternately drizzly and sunny and yet mild. No worries though for us as we are happy pottering about and exploring.

We are just back from a walk in the old town part of Sperlonga. We are staying in the new part down at sea level, which by NZ standards is still old. The old part on the hill is SO interesting though. It has been on the same hill on the edge of the sea and in its strategic position since 1125 or so. A few 'razing to the ground and rebuilding' episodes later and its still incredible. The outside edge of the town is quite impenetrable - or could be if needed - and inside its a maze of walking-only alleys and covered walkways. Very different to anything else we have seen. Plus lots of vantage points to observe the 'enemy'. Plus there are cats everywhere! One corner we rounded, Craig counted 7 of them just sitting in the sun. Not great healthy looking characters - a bit thin and wary and very streetwise!

The 'old town'

Standing inside the old town and looking down at the new town - where we are staying

We are still hoping for a couple of days just dozing on the beach before we leave - who knows - it may still happen!

Gentle pace of life

We have spent a few days at Ascoli Piceno just pottering around and enjoying the area and the old town.

We walked down to the river on Thursday because we had decided we needed to get a feel of open spaces and fresh air again. For the size of this small town, there are a lot of bridges over it - a mixture of really, really old and just old. Its a beautiful day and we just walk and refresh the senses.

Friday was a day set aside for touring around the East Coast, and so we drove the 20km to the coast and then headed South from there into new territory. We pack our togs....The Italian beaches aren't anything like ours. For a start its hard to actually get onto the beach because the main truck railway line follows the coast and there are limited ways to cross it, and when you do, the beach front is 'owned' by the hotel behind it and you cant go there unless you pay. And if you do pay, you sit in amongst rows and rows of numbered deckchairs. Its probably the only way you can get a lot of people using a small amount of beach?? I am not sure, but anyway we dont like it much - having been used to driving down to Waitarere Beach in the car as far as you want and then getting out and putting down your towel.

The highlight of this day was on our way home when we decided to detour into a small hilltop settlement called Civitella del Tronto. Had an icecream and wandered around the village. Nice and quiet (its siesta time) and also very old. Just as we were leaving we spotted an ancient tower with a sign saying that it was the entrance to the 'moving stairs'. Once inside we realise that its the entrance to the old fort on the top of the hill where some of the Napoleonic wars were fought in 1806. We went up the 2 escalators and arrived at the fort. Spent a couple of hours there and the views from the top were amazing. Of course thats why they positioned the fort there in the first place! The fortress is one of the most impressive works of military engineering in Europe. It measures 500metres long and has an area of 25,000 square metres. It was in the process of being restored after all the wars plus the pillaging of the stone by locals to build houses!

The fort even had the remains of the old bread ovens which have been restored. They look very suspiciously like pizza ovens :) Each one was about 3m in diameter inside so they would have made a lot of bread at one time.

Shallow steps to enable horses and cannons to be moved around easily. Still in pretty good condition. The parade grounds were paved like this too and they were massive.

Saturday at our village its market day. Its a huge big deal and every piazza has tents and vans and there are people selling everything from clothes to antiques, enormous pottery pots and furniture. Huge pieces of furniture only suitable for huge houses. What we loved the most was the smaller piazza that had people selling fruits and vegetables from their own gardens. For instance, an elderly man sitting on a wee wooden stool was selling some leeks, some artichokes and a basket of fresh eggs. It seems as if everyone who has a few centimetres of ground here, has some sort of vegetable or herb planted in it. No-one mows lawns - its all edible production. I think we are going to come home and rotary hoe up all the lawns :)

Leave Ascoli Piceno on Sunday morning and head for the West Coast. Its going to be a 4 hour drive at least. Its a great drive and a nice sunny but not too hot day. We drive over (or should I say though) the mountain range called 'Gran Sasso d'Italia'. Lots and lots of tunnels of around 500 metres to 2 kms long and then one enormous one that was 10km long. Also lots of very long bridges going straight down the centre of a deep valley. Its a fantastic and very scenic drive. Amazing Italian engineering!

And now we are at a small beach settlement of Sperlonga. We are staying in a smaller, family run,older hotel called La Sirenella. We have been here before - 7 years ago - and its lovely. Its not too touristy and crowded at this time of the year. And yes we have the rows of deckchairs in front of the hotel - but we have declined the option (and cost of 15 euros per day) to use them. There are more opportunities to access the beach around here and we will just use them instead.

So 5 days here and lots more exploring to do. Last visit was very short as it was the beginning of our holiday and we had a lot of travelling to do. This time its the end.

Then we will spend the last 4 nights in Naples and plan to dance tango every opportunity we can find. Thomas and Simone have told us about the great dancing there and we are looking forward to it.

Apologies for the lack of blogs in the last while but we had internet issues in Ascoli Piceno and couldnt even find any wifi to use the smart phone. All is resolved now.

Nasty earthquake in the North of Italy. It hasn't affected us down here but is still horrible for those effected.

Settling into Ascoli Piceno

It started out this morning as a beautiful warm late spring day. We picked up our laundry and had breakfast and decided that today would be a great day to head up the coast towards Ancona and visit some beaches.

This is the first little beach we called into. Its called Cupra Marittima and its flat, white and smooth and was almost deserted except for one young lady walking briskly in a bikini.

We kept on driving up the coast and it started to get cloudy, then darker and then rain. We were only wearing light clothes and had no jackets so decided to head home.

On the way back we called into a little town up on top of a hill called Camerano, and had in mind to have a bite to eat and a coffee. Well... Kate (you remember her from my previous story?), decided that we could do with some excitement, considering that the day had not gone as well as we had planned.

She navigated us into a series of alleys that got progressively smaller and smaller until we had about 3 inches space on either side of the car. The alleys were curving around and flanked with huge high medieval stone walls and you couldn't see what was coming up. Craig was totally freaking out as he drove us at a 'baby crawling' pace along these alleyways. If we had become stuck I have no idea what we would have done. My Italian night classes didnt include translation exercises in 'explaining to rental car company why you were driving their car in an alley big enough for a bicycle'. However we did make it through and didnt scratch the car. I only wish I had been quick enough to grab the video camera - but I was too busy hanging on, and reassuring the driver :)

We made it back without a hitch on the fantastic Autostrada. Speed limit of 130 and its such a lovely wide multi-lane highway you dont feel as if you are even going that fast.

Once back and in warm clothes, we headed out for a drink. It was 4pm by now and definately drinkies time. So we ordered a glass of local red wine each and this is what came complimentary with the drinks. We have had a complimentary small bowl of peanuts or chippies before, but never anything to this degree. It included baby tomatoes, a slice of soft mozzerella cheese, proscuitto ham, olives, grisini sticks and corn chips and was lovely.

We have been away 5 weeks now and it is starting to feel like it. We are finding that conversations are starting to revolve around the things we are planning to do around the property when we get back, and the pizzas we will cook in the new pizza oven, and the tango festival, and seeing family and friends, and cuddles from the grandchildren - hoping they still remember us!

Assisi to Ascoli Piceno

Well my last story was telling about the lovely hot day we had had in Assisi, followed by the cooler Sunday. Well after writing that, we had the most amazing electrical storm - like the one we had in Noosa a few years ago when we were there with Noeline and Vic. We decided to eat at the restaurant in our little hotel that night. That was a great choice on several counts....

Firstly it was raining - big time (before the electrical storm)
Plus it was just downstairs
Plus the meal was very, very good - and not expensive either!

We left Assisi on Monday morning. It was much cooler - in fact you could say it was cold.

It didnt take as long as we expected to get to our next stop of Ascoli Piceno as the road has been seriously upgraded since our old map (2000) was printed. Theoretically it was over the mountains, but in reality it was a more leasurely drive through 2 tunnels, at least 5km long each, and then an enormous bridge which took us for possibly 10kms above a river bed. Way, way up high. It was a lovely drive and in places was only 6 degrees. I told you it was a cool day!

We arrived in Ascoli Piceno around lunchtime and it was cold and drizzly. Our hotel was supposed to be a 2 star but in reality its way, way better than that. We were so impressed when we arrived! Craig had booked it via a discount site online about a month before we left. Our room is extremely large and has a huge marble bathroom that is a dream to be in. We were very happy when we arrived and immediately showered to warm up and then hit the town. Its a very old historic place with a population of around 50,000 which is a little bigger than we have been in so far. (Except the major cities of course)

Last night we had a pizza each for dinner (I mean we are in ITALY!). It was 2 of the best we have had and we will be back - maybe tonight.....Plus it was very cheap and most of the people there were locals so it was a great mixture of people.

Today it is a beautiful day again. Very sunny and warm. Possibly around 20 degrees which is a good temperature for exploring the city on foot.

We went to a few of the noted tourist spots and we both really liked the walk over an ancient Roman bridge which dates from the Augustan Era and was rebuilt in 1230. Man thats old! Its still in use by vehicles but its very narrow so care must be taken.

At the end of the bridge is an old Roman 'laundry' and when we approached we realised that there was actually an older lady using it! (I use the term 'older lady' with some respect because OMG she was probably not much older than me!) Its a series of stone troughs with what would be a stone equivalent of a washing board, with a continuous feed of spring water. But its COLD water so imagine doing the washing by hand in the winter! After the lady had gone we took a close up pic. There is space for 6 people (ladies probably!) at each bay - 3 on each side with the cold water running through the middle. The cappuccin monks also used to use this place to dye their robes.

This whole area has such a lot of history. Stories of conflict, battles won and lost, land won and lost and overall the feeling of being a spectator in the middle of ancient history.

There are obviously a lot of modern features and the people are typically Italian - just the same as you see in the big cities. Craig and I both love the way they speak on the phone. You may not understand what they are saying, but the free arm (the one not holding the phone) is just going crazy! Such emotional and passionate people. The children are enthusiastic and very loud (especially when in groups) and yet have a degree of sophistication way beyond their years.

If it is a nice day tomorrow we plan to leave the city for the day and head to the coast (about 10kms) and then up the coast to find some sun and sand.

I think tonight I am keen to go back to the pizza place we found last night - assuming we can find it again of course! We have not had any accommodations where we can cook for ourselves, so its tough, but we have to eat out each night. Not expensive places - just local spots where the locals eat. Its so much more interesting that way.

Hot days in Assisi

We left Loro Cuiffenna on a very hot and sunny Saturday and headed towards Assisi.

I bought a new mobile phone a few days before we left NZ,  and I must say I havent actually made any calls on it yet....but the best thing it has been doing, is acting as our GPS. We have a program on it called 'Nokia Drive' and it works on GPS satelite. We have chosen our 'person to speak' from a list and our person is called Kate. So Kate is in charge of getting us around the country.

Its a totally brilliant program and Kate is using up-to-date maps and seems to know exactly where we are and how to navigate us through small villages - even if we are walking!

Well anyway, Kate decided to take us on the scenic route when we left Loro Ciuffenna, heading towards Assisi. We have no idea why, but maybe she just thought we would like to see some more of the scenery before we moved on. Anyway, we ended up driving along the top of Lago Maggiore. And it was there we stumbled across this lovely lakeside village of Passignano. So we decided it was lunchtime and we needed a stretch anyway. What a lovely little spot. It was made more so, because it was a stunning day and already 32 degrees according to the car thermometer.

I seem to have also got a 'step fettish' because these ones also took my fancy. The big curved lumps either side are solid rock - the foundations of the main part of the house that just happen to be sticking out enough to make some steps to fit. Quirky and interesting - well to me anyway - and very, very old!

The rest of the trip to Assisi was on a main motorway - not the Autostrada - but still fast. There were a lot of tunnels and this one was over 1km long, and that's not the longest one we have been in. They are always one way and have 2 or more lanes inside. Fast and smooth.

We arrive at Assisi mid afternoon - us and about 20 busloads of tourists. We hadn't booked a hotel in advance and I think that was a good idea, as I doubt we would have found our way around in the first little while until we got our bearings.

We parked and walked down into the village - by now its 34.5 degrees and we are seriously hot. The big stone walls of the medieval villages really hold the heat and throw it back at you every possible chance. After a short wander we find a lovely wee hotel called Hotel Belvedere. Book in then have to find the car to bring the luggage. Our fears of losing the car were unfounded and we got back to the hotel without a problem. We parked with one wheel on the road and one on the footpath! Checked in and up to our room for lightning fast showers, and then back out to park the car again, in a proper carpark, before we got a ticket.

Then its time to find a cold beer and explore. There is a lot to see here. We love these little places - much more than the big cities. They are intersting and quirky and have little stairways in unusual places - just begging you to go up - or down - just to see whats there!

Like this one :)

This was a nice spot on a hot day too. The bronze was very cool and the shade underneath was just inviting a snooze - however the shape of his leg was very uncomfortable and didnt beg you to linger long.

Most of the day crowds started to disappear by about 7pm and there were only the resident,s and the tourists who were staying, left in the streets. The evening was really lovely and we walked and explored the town by night. Interesting lighting effects using candles inside glass jars to light the steps up to a wee restaurant or bar. Romantic :)

This is the night view from our hotel balcony down to the street below. Lovely isnt it? We sat on the balcony at twilight before we went out for dinner, and had a glass of wine, and just watched and listened to all the people walking below. No-one was aware we were even there.

I just had to include this picture Craig took from the street looking into a shop display. We had never seen so many cakes before. I dont usually have a sweet tooth but I would have fancied being left inside there for the night with a spoon to taste all the fillings. Lots of creamy fillings of various flavours as well as pan forte and other cakes with fruits, and of course chocolate! In every possible way - grated on top, melted, creamy and smooth.

Tomorrow its Monday here and we head off again towards the East Coast and will be staying at Ascoli Piceno for the next week. That means I can unpack properly!

Happy Mother's Day !