Days of our Lives

It's hard to believe we’ve been here in San Vito Lo Capo for almost 4 weeks. “What have we been doing?” I hear you ask. Well, not much it seems.

The weather has been mostly good apart from some horror days (wind, rain). Our days have developed a rhythm that we delight in as a complete break from sightseeing.

Late breakfast reading email, papers online etc to start the day. Then we ride into town for a coffee in the sun (mostly). Then a half hour bike ride up a few hills to work off last nights dinner, followed by some shopping.

View of the town from our morning bike ride

Food shopping here is an adventure, as you are never sure what you’ll find. First stop the butcher to see what he has. We’ve got a favourite butcher now so he knows us, but the first time was hilarious. The other customers were friendly, and of course ask “Inglese?”. No, Australia. Ahhh!! Australia bella! And so the conversation goes, all in Italian with me understanding every 10^th word. A lot of knowledgeable nodding and smiling and Si, Va bene goes a long way. Then we lurk in the background while they discuss their purchases in great detail. This can take 20 mins. The pork and fennel sausages tied with straw are worth waiting for!

Next we find one of the vege trucks. We ride around the streets until we find the friendliest one with hopefully the freshest veg. It usually takes about 3 trucks before we find what we want. Fennel is everywhere (it grows wild here) along with artichokes, cauliflower and tomatoes. Everything else is hit and miss, and menu planning comes after shopping. As in “what can we make with this lot??. Fennel salad has become a standard. Just slice it with a mandolin along with red onion and douse liberally with lemon juice and olive oil. Then add whatever else you have to hand. Delicious.

Friday morning is market time and the selection is slightly better. The flower man usually has spinach and broccoli. The olive man is the usual shyster (seems to be universal) and the cheese comes in enormous chunks. We always walk away with far more than we want, as the locals don’t understand the concept of only one pepper or one eggplant.

Just another sunset

As you can imagine, shopping takes up the best part of the morning. After lunch we go for a bike ride or explore some of the area. We’ve now hired a cheapo car (11 euros a day) so we can go further afield.

Beach further along the coast

A few days ago we drove to Monreale, near Palermo to see a cathedral. Once we got into the centre we were starting to wonder if it was worth it. The driving here is lawless, a bit like dodgem cars and we weren’t sure if we’d make it out unscathed from the very narrow streets. Cars are not so much parked, as abandoned and passing or parking on a bend seems to be compulsory. Luckily we jagged a parking spot near the Duomo or we’d have simply given up.

This 12th century Romanesque church is completely decorated in Byzantium/Greek mosaics. It is simply stunning. The colours are not as vibrant as the Ravenna ones but the craftsmanship and artistry is mind-blowing.

Monreale Duomo

 

Lawrence’s brother, Stuart, flew down from Bonn for a few days last weekend. The weather was gorgeous and we had a great time sitting about in the sun chatting and sipping on local wine.

Today we went off to see Marsala, famous of course for its wine. The town was so mind-numbingly dull that we just left and went to a Trattoria nearer home that knew had fabulous food. We can buy Marsala in the supermarket!

Nearby town of Trapani

It’s not all beer and skittles though. We did have full week of no alcohol and eating nothing but fresh home cooked food, as a good start to the new year. 

Monreale Duomo cloister - more mosaics

PS: We are still caning the poor old Poms in the cricket..!!

Happy New Year and all that ...

This is, of course, my last post for the year.

As usual at this time of year one does a little reflection. First up we can’t believe that we still on the road after 28 months, still happily living in confined quarters and have only made it as far as Sicily.

So far the slow campers have seen 21 countries, but really only explored 9. We’ve driven approximately 26,000 kilometres (in 3 vehicles) – not counting miles in the air, on MoJo, in rented cars, on bicycles or astride camels.

I’ve posted 103 blogs, but only 29 this year – my laziest writing year, but at least I’m still at it. Once we hit the ‘The Stans’ and beyond it’ll be more interesting (hopefully) but I imagine more spasmodic.

Thanks for following and I always appreciate your comments.

We are now in our winter ‘bolt hole’ San Vito Lo Capo but today the weather is dreary and wet.

After leaving the Pompei Campsite we spent the day at Paestum about 100 kms south of Naples. This area boasts the oldest intact Doric Temples in the world and worth a visit. The photos say it all.

2500 year old temples - give or take a hundred years

We left ourselves 3 1/2 hours to make to back to Naples to be on time for our ferry. We needed every second of it as the last 7kms took an hour and a half. I think it’s the worst traffic jam I’ve ever been in. The bloody scooters don’t help. We nearly knocked a few off – should have tried harder.

Anyway we made our boat and checked into our relatively spacious 4 berth cabin. We went down to the restaurant for our pre-paid dinner and had the second worst meal of our lives. Fortunately we had the foresight to bring our own wine, thanks to Lawrence, so left our cold pasta and overcooked meat and demolished a bottle of cheap red.

Our arrival next morning was terribly early (we skipped the breakfast) and we drove through Palermo and headed straight to the campsite and sunshine. Bliss, but it didn’t last.

Our favourite local bar

Christmas morning wasn’t too bad but the winds whipped up at midday and just got worse. We ate inside, so no photos to post. Of course we drank an excellent Marc Chauvet vintage champagne, a lovely Sud Tirol Pinot Noir with our duck and finished with a Jurancon doux to accompany our cheese. There was a knock on our door at 7pm and a Swiss couple came to pay us a visit as they were interested in our vehicle. These things happen in campsites and we often end up with lovely friendships out of the blue. More wine was consumed so I’m not sure how much sense we made!

Boxing Day was just bloody awful. Horrendous winds that kept us indoors all day and awake all night. Things improved for a few days, but now we have rain – oh well, could be worse, could be in the office.

We plan to stay here for a few weeks, no matter what. The weather is no better anywhere else and this is a great spot to hang out. It’s a real summer tourist beach spot so very quiet in the winter, suits us just fine.

But the best new of all is that Australia have won The Ashes - we now have that ugly little urn back in our clutches.

Happy New Year to all – and let me know all your news.

Our local beach

Our local rock

See Naples and Live

We are leaving the Pompei/Naples area tomorrow morning and heading to Sicily by boat. We’ve been warned over and again that the “Autostrada” to Reggio Calabria is treacherous in many ways. The locals say we’ll be robbed blind and the tourists say the road is terrible. It was built in 1974 and has been under repair ever since - apparently. Hence Naples to Sicily the easy way.

Northern Italians are rather scathing about their southern cousins and when you say you are going to Naples, they roll their eyes and throw their hands in the air. “It’s dangerous” they warn you severely, “be very careful”.

Well we survived Naples without being pickpocketed, robbed, mugged, beaten, stabbed or murdered. In fact we saw nothing like this and the whole thing was slightly disappointing. We found Naples a bit dreary and having spent the best part of 2 days there were happy to leave.

Typical Naples street

Sorry to say, but we were also underwhelmed by Sorrento. Rather dull and the dramatic coastline is completely over developed and commandeered by large hotels. I didn't even take a photo!

However, we were blown away by Positano and the Amalfi Coast. It’s everything you dream it will be. Stunning. Also we had brilliant weather that day and being south facing, we managed lunch in the sun.

Positano and the Amalfi Coast

We also climbed to the top of Vesuvius, hoping that this wasn’t the day it would blow it’s top for first time since 1944. It was fabulous to see and there just a bit of steam escaping to remind us that it is still an active volcano.

Looking into vesuvius

Looking at Vesuvius

We’ll spend Christmas in San Vito Lo Capo and if all goes to plan, we’ll stay there for a few weeks. www.campinglapineta.it

That’s all from me tonight.

Merry Christmas to all and see you in the New Year (if not before).

Roman Holiday

We never made it to Norcia and the Apennines – bloody snow again. We’d had enough cold weather and snow so just hung out in Assisi and did some walking. Weather was beautiful, cold and sunny.

On our way to Rome, we stopped in Rieti. We stayed the night with Julian and his family. Some of you may remember that Julian is the guy that Lawrence bought the Mog from! They’ve stayed in touch, so we decided to pay them a visit. He’s a really fun and interesting guy and his wife Lucia is lovely. We left on the Sunday with farm fresh eggs and 6 bottles of wine!!

Next stop Rome! The campsite is outside the ring road so this meant a bus and train into town. We made the decision to spend 2 nights in the city centre, and found a cheap, fabulous, serviced apartment in Trastevere. Day one was spent simply re-acquainting ourselves with this amazing city. Neither of us had been to Rome since the early ‘80s so we were a bit rusty.

We did our usual thing of stopping in a sunny Piazza first up and having a coffee. Now, we always know that these are going to be expensive, but it’s a nice introduction to a new city. Well!! The bill came and I burst out laughing in disbelief. Lawrence went pale and had trouble breathing – €23.40 for 2 coffees!!! That’s far more than Piazza San Marco – or anywhere in the world I think!! Can anyone beat that??

Then of course we got stuck right in. Colosseum, Roman Forum, Vatican City, you name it – we saw it. The highlight for me was the Raphael rooms at the Vatican Museums. They were so very beautiful, we spent an age looking at these frescos. Thankfully we had taken the binoculars so we could see the incredible detail up close.

Just to prove I was at the Colosseum

Roman Forum

I thought the Raphaels were much more striking than the Sistine Chapel, which I find slightly disturbing. Michaelangelo had a very strange idea of what a man’s bottom looks like, but if you look closely at the famous ‘Creation of Adam’ painting, under the God figure is a young man with a VERY cute bum. Worth taking the binoculars for!!!

Of course we did loads of churches, St Peter’s, the Duomo, Pantheon and so on. A highlight was the byzantine mosaics in Santa Maria Maggiore. Some of these were not in great condition and the lighting was terrible, but they were really worth seeing. You need to look behind the monstrous baroque altarpiece.

We met more Aussies in the campsite, who again gave us the lowdown on Sicily – over quite a few bottles of wine and great meal cooked by Lynne.

From Rome we headed straight to Pompei. The campsite is a bit ho-hum but we expect that as we head south. The location is brilliant, walking distance to the ruins, train to Naples, Sorrento, Amalfi etc. we’ve only seen Naples briefly so far, but it’s everything you expect – busy, dirty, big.

Today we did the Pompei ruins, which are mindblowing. I wasn’t sure what to expect as so often these thing are over-sold and your expectations are way too high. Pompei does not disappoint. We spent most of the day there and are now very foot sore. It really is something to see and impossible to describe. The whole experience was enhanced by wonderful weather – warm and sunny. Oh bliss. Photos to follow. 

Lawrence at Pompei

Fresco of Achille

One of the three ampitheatres

Fresco in the Villa of Mysteries

Pompei street

Of course we found a vineyard!!

Under the Tuscan Clouds

We’ve been in Tuscany/ Umbria for around 2 weeks now and have been extremely unimpressed with our weather. I remember being here in November 2008 and the weather was perfect! What happened??

We stayed overnight in Assisi and managed to do all interesting stuff without getting wet, which was clearly the result of masterful planning. It’s a wonderful hill town and don’t let anyone tell you it’s been ruined by tourism, just very slightly tainted.

Assisi

Next stop Siena. We found a really good campsite 30 minutes walk from the Centro Storico (or any easy bus ride) and ‘did’ Siena. I love Siena, it has a bit of everything and so easy to wander around. The Duomo is one of my favourites – a bit over-the-top but beautiful anyway to my eye. I also adore the ‘extension’ which has been standing there for about 500 years waiting for someone to work out how to finish it.

Siena Duomo

Our Sunday lunch in Siena was a laugh. We walked into an almost empty “Ma and Pa’ style place, only to be invaded by half the population of Guadaloupe! About 40 of them filled the small restaurant and their laughter and chatter entertained us for the whole lunch.

Bella Tuscany

Wine wise we’ve enjoyed all the local stuff, Brunello of course, but mainly Chianti, Rosso de Montlacino, Rosso de Montefalco, and interesting whites from Verdicchio, Vermentino and Grechetto. Italian white wine has come a long way in the last 15 years.

We hired a cheapo car to see the rest of Tuscany as the weather was terrible and I was afflicted with a nasty cold, so not up for much. We toured Chianti, wandered around Montepulciano and Pienza, did San Gimignano, Monteriggioni, ie: ‘the full Toscana experience’.

Pienza

The day we went to Montalcino was probably the worst. 6 degrees, windy and raining. This is my favourite wine town and I was so keen to show it to Lawrence but it was not weather for strolling.

Montepulciano

We lunched in Montalcino with Sarah (a Canadian living in Johannesburg) and Willie (from Cape Town) who we met in Siena. We organised to meet them in Montalcino for pranzo at Grappolo Blu after a tour of major wine producer Castello Banfi. Great fun, but not the weather for the expected activity of sitting in the square sipping Prosecco watching the passegiata. It was very cold.

A highlight of our sojourn in Siena was having fabulous neighbours. First Sheena and Brian from UK, who had spent a lot of time over the years in Southern Italy and Sicily and had lots of good advice for us. Replacing them were a couple from Byron Bay (north coast of NSW, Australia). Sally and Doug had also spent time in Sicily and talked us through pros and cons of the various towns and campsites over many bottles of wine and lots of laughs.

After obsessively checking weather sites for days on end, we decided to go back to Assisi. Our new friends had told us about a campsite just outside with easy access to the town, and walking in the adjacent National Park. Seemed like a good plan.

It was snowing as we arrived and then snowed for 2 more days. What is it with us and snow?? We never planned for snow, it just wasn’t in the budget. Anyway Assisi in the snow is very pretty and we have photos to prove it. I’ve come to the conclusion that Assisi is gorgeous in any weather, and is most likely my absolute favourite Italian town (well, this week anyway).

Assisi

San Francesco, Assisi

Assisi Campsite

So, we hired another cheapo car (around 80 euros for 5 days) and have been touring southern Umbrian hill towns - Spoleto, Spello. Montefalco, Todi, Orvieto, Bevagna. After the snow we had 3 days of sunny but very cold weather. Any sun is welcome so we weren’t complaining that the mercury didn’t reach double figures. We’ve both been living in our down jackets. It’s hard to believe how cold it has been and today is the first day of winter – are you kidding me???

Assisi disappeared under fog

Hopefully as we head south, thing will hopefully improve.

From here will head to Norcia in the southern Apennines and then head towards Rome. 

Also - I've just realised this is my 100th post!! Thanks for reading.