Category Archives: italy
Pompeii and Napoli
Our final leg of our trip brings us back to the Campania region to Pompeii.
We check in to a great hotel called Habita79 and go for lunch after a very long drive across the country from Adriatic to the Mediterranean. We take a stroll but as we are told, Pompei is a very small city. Basically built around the ruins and a big basilica.
We go to the beautiful rooftop patio and are treated to amazing fireworks and a procession. We are told it is a campaign to try to get someone to be declared a saint. 🤦♀️
Tonight the boys decide to go to the ….McDonald across the street to see how it is. I can not participate in that…I go to bed 🙂
The next day is a very full day.
FIrst we meet our guide for a 2-hour tour of the ruins. It is very much worth it and we learn a lot about the history of the city and how they lived. Some of the house that have been excavated are the house of rich merchants…they are huge, complete with a garden inside the courtyard. Pompei was a port city in 79BC when the eruption occurred and under Roman rule. We learned that this city that is being excavated was actually build on top of a previous city prior to Roman conquering this region. There are amazing mosaic, sculpture and artifacts…but we learnt that all the mosaic on the floor are reproduction as every thing of value is stored in the Naples museum.
At the end of our tour, we rush back to the hotel to get our luggage and drive to Vesuvius for our entry time. Fortunately, I realized a few days ago that you must pre -book your time for access to Vesuvius and that can only be done online.
Chuck drives up very winding and narrow roads where we come face ti face with full size tour bus….that is so crazy! And on top of that, we are driving along a very steep cliff….but the view for us, passengers is amazing!
We finally arrive at the parking (basically along a side road) and are told that we have to pay for the taxi that are waiting there to take us even further up. Very disorganized affair.
Once at the top, we begging the climb up a dirt / gravel road, much steeper than anticipated. But the view along the way is fantastic as well as when we reach the crater. The view of Positano and Capri is breathtaking! Well worth it!
The descent is tougher for me as my knee is protesting loudly but we take our time and finally make it to where the taxi should be picking us up but we find that we have to wait for them to feel like driving up. It takes a good 50 minutes before we are able to get room in one to take us down. We are all tired and hungry and so ready for the famous Napoli pizza!
We drive to Naples to return the car and check into our last hotel. It is complete mayhem in this city! The roads do not make any sense and no one cares about any rules – stopping anywhere to park, cutting people from any directions, scooters and pedestrians coming out of nowhere. Chuck thinks it is probably the worst city he has ever driven in.
The hotel is OK but 10 minutes from the airport which is important since our flight is at 6Am tomorrow morning. On their recommendation, we walk to Felece for pasta and pizzas. We taste meloncello and limoncello after dinner and are ready to go back and get ready to return home.
Since we fly via Paris, as a last treat, we buy passes for the boys to the Air France lounge at Charles De Gaulle and spend a confortable 4 hours waiting for our flight. When it is time, we say good bye to Alex who will fly to Edinburgh a few hours later than us and stay in England for an extra week.
It was a fabulous trip and we are so thankful to have been able to celebrate our 30th anniversary with our 3 amazing boys.
Life is good! Ciao!
Puglia
Our last morning in Amalfi, we are blessed with a beautiful day and I take the opportunity to take a selfies with each of my boy on this beautiful balcony! We loved it here!
As we leave amalfi to drive across to Puglia, we decide to make a stop at the Grotto di Castellana. We barely make it on time for the tour. What a treat! These caves are majestic, formed by a river thousands of years ago, it is hard to take it all in. While we take the shorter tour because of time constraint, we still make our way 72 metres below the surface and learned about the various formations. It is really something ! Apparently the biggest ones in Europe. The locals used to think that it was a direct path to hell so were quite scared of it until the Ministry decided to hire speleogues to climb down on rope ladder to explore what was beneath. And what was their surprise when they realized the magnitude of the caves and tunnels! Definitely a must see.
We arrive at our villa in the evening after our stop at the grotto. We realize that there isn’t anything walking distance so we must drive over for food 😦 Luckily our hosts had stuck the fridge with cold cuts, cheese, fruits, bread and more!
The next morning I drive over the the old part of Ostuni called the White City with Marc-Andre. It is beautiful and we love the piazza. Why don’t we have piazza in Canada? Marc-Andre and I have a nice caffè and explore the city a bit.
Tonight is the highlight of the trip. One of the main reason why we came to Puglia.
Dinner at the Grotto Palazzere!
Our driver picks us up on time and we are seated right by the water. It is truly unique and all that I had imagined! The food is excellent and we spend a beautiful evening serenaded by a sax players perched on top in a balcony gazing at the see and the cliffs and caves around us. Truly a magical experience.
The next morning I realize that we face east from the upstairs terrace and we are treated to a beautiful sunrise…for the early risers like me so we is really just me 🤪.
Beach day!! I finally get all our team up and at it and we make our way to the coast for a beach day.
The water is turquoise blue and everything is so beautiful! We all enjoyed some floating, some swimming and some relaxing with our books on the beach. A lovely half day!
We all change into our clothes and decide to make our way to the White City so I can show everyone the piazza and get a bite to eat.
We forgot about the siesta!
Few restaurant are opened but we manage to find a place to eat nonetheless.
The next day is supposed to be a rainy day but it turns out that we got major wind and rain overnight and it looks like we will be spared of rain so I suggest a day trip to Arberobello to see the trullis.
While there is one on our property and several in the fields as we drive, it is great to see the small museum as well as a whole neighbourhood of them. The cathedral is also impressive and we have a nice lunch in town.
Sunday is an exciting day for me. We have reservation for a tour of the “Antica Masseria Brancati”, speciliazing in produce olive oil manually. We learn that the current owner bought the masseria in the early 1800s from the previous Spanish owners. They are now on the 7th generation running the farm. They have trees that have been analyse with carbon method to be more than 2000 years old and e learn that olive trees are hollow and store water in the bark so do not need to be water often. Their biggest enemy is frost.
He also brings us to the grandfather tree….it is 3000 years old…it is crooked and needs support (from the stones on the photo) as they try to protect it but it continues to be a great producer of olives.
He explains that a large portion of these trees were planted by the roman who ensured that there was good distance between the trees so that they did not compete for ressources. They continue to adhere to the artisanal way, including absolutely no use of pesticide and fertilizer. He explains that the modern masseria plant trees much too close together to increase production but their trees do not live as long or produce as well. Puglia produces 40% of the Italian olive olive oil production.
He explains that extra virgin oil means that the olives must be harvested and pressed the same day and can not be mixed…check the labels! They harvest by spreading a large net under the tree and shaking the branches so that the olive fall. If the olive touch the ground, they decompose immediately!
He also takes us down to show the oil olive press from the Greek time and the roman times and explains the difference. This is all fascinating.
We do a taste test and understand clearly the difference in taste and use of virgin versus extra virgin. We plan to order oil in January after the next harvest! There are some type of olive oil that are so strong that they should never be used with fish as they will overwhelm the taste…good to know! Now I know how to taste olive oil as our guide is also an oil sommelier.
Olive oil has a maximum shelf life of 18 months so he suggest to the Californian people to buy Californian olive oil. The best oil is the freshest! I could go on and on. This tour was amazing!
Beautiful property and we take the opportunity to take a great family picture.
We meet visitors from Poland who are able to fly over for the weekend for 40 euros 🤦♀️ Again we are encouraged to visit Poland as our next destination. They tell also that they feel Puglia will become the next Tuscany in terms of popularity in the next few years. Good thing we visited now!
In the evening, we have a local Italian mama coming over to cook for us. She prepares a menu of typical local food including stuffed zucchini flowers fried, which she teaches me how to do, amazing orecchiette, stuffed fish and tiramisu.
What a great evening enjoyed on the upstairs patios and delicious meal. We are stuffed and have to store a lot fo the leftovers for tomorrow!
Monday is our visit to Lecce to visit the “Florence of the South” and meet up with my cousin’s daughter Myriam who is doing her PHD in archeology in the South of Italy!
She is so nice and has researched buildings and history to give us a fantastic private tour of the city. We visit the monumental cemetery, the old wall and vestige of roman road and the old city itself, including the Basilica and the church of Santa Croce which are the symbol of Baroque architecture.
We also walk by the roman amphitheater, still used for shows and concerts, the small castle and the private museum Faggiano, fully excavated by the owner family who wanted to open a restaurant but instead found vestiges from roman and pre-roman era, the templars and the medieval times. An amazing story of dedication and perseverance.
She has found a restaurant servicing typical local food and Alex choose the pasta with donkey sausage 😳 and Chuck the horse meat balls! Lovely day in her company.
We say our good byes where we started our day at the magnificent Porta Napoli.
I close by posting some photos of our beautiful Villa Aurora. Beautiful pomegranate trees, enormous bushes of rosemary, hedges of lavender bushes, magnificent views of the sea and Ostuni as well as a mischievous elf overlooking the pool. They even have their own trulli on-site which is fully renovated as an apartment.
Despite the big wind, we really enjoyed it!
Amalfi, Atrani and Positano
The boys’ flight was delayed for 2 hours so we enjoyed a few Birra and panini on the patio at the airport in Naples. Our driver was there on time to pick us up and drive us to Atrani. Unfortunately, it was dark by the time we were driving so we could not take in the scenery but the narrow, very winding road was very reminiscent of the Mountains of North Scotland or the road to reach Chamonix in France. We were glad that Roberto was driving!
Once at the villa, Antoinette showed us around and opened the door to the most amazing terrazzo! This is even better than the photos!
We take in the view and then walk down the 50 steps to the road to go to this restaurant on the water. We meet Andrea, one of our most friendly server. He informs me that I can not have parmigiana for my pasta with clams and mussels. Every time someone puts parmigiana on fish, an Italian die 😳 They are all most welcoming and the food is amazing!
The next day, the ones who are up by 6:45 are witnessed to a fabulous sunrise which unfortunately does not last long. Clouds are rolling in and the waves are huge!
Marc-Andre and I leave early to walk over to Amalfi and enjoy a coffee and the freshest orange juice (spurmate al arancia). In front of us, in all its glory is the cathedral. Absolutely beautiful! But even more touching is seeing these older couples all dressed up, climbing all these steps, very slowly, to attend mass.
Back to the apartment, the rain does not let out….a few of us walk back to Amalfi to enjoy a lunch and I have a very flavourful and comforting vegetable soup. Pasta with mussels for chuck!
We walk around a bit to discover a small market where we buy salami and cheese as well as beer and wine. We find a vegetable vendor where I buy tomatoes, onions and pasta to cook at home so we can enjoy the terrasse tonight. Antoinette has warned us that Sunday afternoon and night, most stores and restaurants are closed so we will eat on our patio. Unfortunately it is mostly a rainy day so we enjoy the rain with a good book from the patio.
During a short reprieve, Marc-Andre, Mathew and I go down to the road to walk a bit in Atrani to discover the beautiful views of the cliffs from different angles as well as the church and the small back alleys with the never ending staircase.
On Monday we wake up to more rain and our tour to the lemon farm is unfortunately canceled. Disappointing since we walked to the town in the pouring rain but we sit at our favorite cafe to enjoy our freshly pressed orange juice and coffee, while Alex and Mathew order an English breakfast of bacon and eggs.
As I walk in Amalfi, I find a local marketto and fish vendor so I will come back to buy supplies to cook a nice fish dinner on the patio rather than walk around in the pouring rain again.
When we go back the fish market is closed! Italian have a very loose idea of time and things seems to close unexpectedly. We end up at the butcher and buy veal scallopini, 3 of the biggest amalfi lemons I have ever seem and supplies for pasta and salads. But first we walk to Atrani to try to get a “lemoni sorbetto” but discover that everything is closed because Denzel is filming Equalizer 3 in the area!
Back at the apartment we are treated to an amazing double rainbow!
Dinner is a treat, everything is so fresh and bursting with flavour!
Tuesday morning, the sun is finally out and we make our way to the ferry to spend the day in Positano. The view is spectacular of course and the 25 minutes ride is very picturesque.
While Positano is beautiful and as with the other towns, the houses are pretty and the views as we climb the twisting road is nice, it is much more touristique and commercial than Amalfi. I do love the street with the wines overhead!
We walk to the top and find this overpriced restaurant with an amazing view. Well worth it!
Who would have thought…I bumped into a mom from Mississauga I hadn’t seem in over 10 years!….what are the chances!
Back on the ferry to return to Amalfi in a rougher seas than in the morning. Once in the town, we do some last minute shopping, and again, the store I was going to buy some ceramics souvenir is closed! Why?!?! Nevertheless we find new little alleys to have fun!
And yes mathew is using a hat from our apartment 🤣
We walk back to the apartment, barely missing some unexpected rain and decide to still go for a dip in te Mediterranean. While it is chilly, it is surprisingly confortable once we jump in!
Final night in Atrani….we drive to Puglia tomorrow.
Sicily – 30th in Sicily
A long time in planning – we are finally off to Italy for our 30th anniversary.
First stop is Sicily for Chuck and I. Since we have a long lay over in Naples, we decided to take a taxi into town for a taste of pizza where it all began! The famous antica Michele has a long line up so we make our way to El Présidente. Watching the locals scream at each other across the road is a show onto itself!! While the slice is good, the crust could be better cooked in my opinion. We will try again.
First day in Catania, we decide to walk around the town to see the various landmarks. We are staying on Via Etna which is the main artery with high end brand name stores as well as cute cafe and trattoria in sideway alleys.
We start with the ancien Roman amphitheater that is very close to our hotel. Unfortunately it is closed to the public while they repair the walls and we can not walk down but we have a great view from the street. Very impressive.
Nearby a street market, piazza Carlo Alberto is full of life and….umbrella hanging above the street. As with everywhere, fish has the place of honour. The smell is almost overwhelming. 👃🐠
We arrive at the Piazza Duomo and cathedral Sant-Agatha with its famous black elephant statut (made of lava stone) and beautiful fountain. We walk to the Porta Garibaldi via a street that is fairly rundown area. Lots of small businesses seem to be closed unfortunately.
We stop at Castillo Ursino and visit the museum. This castle was moved after a lava flow covered Catania hundreds of years ago.
On our way back we stop at the Scirrocco fish bar in a small alley where everything seems to be fried. We order the specialty – a cone of fried pieces of fish and a drink. What a treat!! Chuck didn’t like the fried sardines so we will have to try again.
Then we are off to the Bénédictin Monastery that is now owned by the university and we see students in class in medieval classrooms!
We stop at another Theatro Greco, Sam Nicolo Arena, where we can walk all the way up and get a perfect impression of what it would have been to see a fight from those stands.
The garden Bellini is a must stop and yet more stairs to climb up. This is a very hilly town!
Along the way, more alleys with umbrellas and decorations 🤪
We have an excellent dinner at Be Quiet, a small restaurant near us. I have a craving for local tomato pasta and am not disappointed. Flavour is bursting in each bite. Chuck enjoys his grilled mixed fish skewer and of course we share a perfect bottle of Sicilian red wine. We learned that Sicily is the largest producer of wine is Italy!
The next day we have a full day tour to Mount Etna and Taormina.
Our excellent driver Francesco (we purchased the tour on getyourguide), explains the various craters and the particularity of Mount Etna as we take the road to climb to 2500 feet. Lava stones and craters everywhere! He tells us that Catanian are not scared of mama Etna. It is a volcano that creates slow lava flow in contrast to Vesuvius which is explosive so citizens have time to evacuate. The lava flows in return becomes a very fertile ground which provides them excellent produces. They regularly watch the “show” is short eruptions.
Arriving at the station which is a ski resort in the winter, we take the cable car up to 2750. It is a lot colder than expected. I needed to buy a sweater! The mountain currently stands at 3300 feet but this is the highest people can go. The road and cable cars etc…had to all be rebuilt following the last eruption of lava flow in 2001. Apparently they rebuild every time it happens. While some people still live in the park, houses can not longer be built or rebuilt.
At the top we take a bus to an area where we meet a guide that will take us around and explain the particularity of this volcano. We are lucky that there is a short clearing from the clouds and are able to see the top!
We are then driven to a crater that was formed in 2001 and we can still see steam from the heat. It basically was created from flat land at that time. Another hike up but well worth it. We feel like we are on another planet.
Next stop is a lava tube where we can descend to see a sort of a cave that was created in the 1700s by the flow of lava. This is followed by a quick stop to taste olive oil, honey and wine and then off to Taormina.
First, Francesco drop us off to walk the 200 steps down to the beach to see Iso Bella from the sea level. Water is surprisingly warm.
Taormina is very reminiscent of Santorini. Small pedestrian street high fashion stores, way too many people and amazing views of the sea. The Teatro Roman Greco is spectacular. Spectators in the stand would be able to watch the show with the beautiful view of the sea in the background. We are taking in the views from all directions! The best bucket list thing would be to come back to watch a show here! Our guide tells us he saw multiple acts here including Simple minds and Sting. Maybe we come back for the film festival!!
First stop is at Bam Bar for the famous Sicilian granite. We choose kiwi and it does not disappoint!
The pizza at the local trattoria wins the prize so far and the spaghetti with clams is excellent!
On our way back to the hotel for our last sleepover. The boys are boarding their flight from Toronto tonight with much drama about whether Mathew will make it or not 🤦♀️
Arrivederci Sicily!
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