Sunday, November 30, 2008
What an amazing kind of day!!
Two shots of trulli; one of the Via Traiana and another of the ruins!
More trulli to follow!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Wow!! What a great day! Up around 7, showered and down for breakfast. To be honest, one of the worst – rolls and juice, and that was about it! Think we might have been able to wrestle a cup of coffee for R, but decided it wasn’t worth the effort. Then, we headed back across town to see if the archeological museum was open … it wasn’t! Looked yesterday like it was undergoing major renovation, but wanted to make sure … so, back to the hotel, picked up the car, and headed out of town for a drive.
Absolutely beautiful day! Probably almost 70 degrees, blue skies, and nice brisk breeze! Headed north, toward Bari, for the ruins at Egnazia. And – surprise! – both ruins and museum were open! Very large excavation area – the town and the acropolis. Some interesting and very old (16th Century B.C.) finds; an unusual black pottery that was locally famous. The town included an excavation of a portion of the Via Traiana; now we have another road to go with the Via Appia Antica! We wandered around enjoying the ruins and the sunshine, then headed inland.
And here, we ran into Trulli!! And they are, truly, wonderful! Very interesting architecture – little pointed round roofs with funny decorations on top! They’re everywhere – the area we drove through was call Valle d’Itria, but really should have been called Valley of the Trulli! Some trulli were only one dome; but other places had six or seven! Such an odd sight – like nothing we’ve ever seen before, and they’re found only in this area of Italy! Actually just wandered at one point, following one small road after another. (Fortunately, with R and Rosy (the GPS), it’s impossible to get completely lost…)
By this time it was almost 1, and we were hungry – drove into Locorotondo, hoping to find food – but, like in Brindisi yesterday afternoon, seemed like everything was closed! Wasn’t sure what we were going to do, when we headed out on a small road and there was a sign advertising a restaurant/pizzeria – called Sette Trulli! (Seven Trulli!) Followed the signs for a half mile or so, and pulled into a parking lot that actually had other cars! R went in to see if they were really open – and voila, they were! Got a table for two underneath one of the trulli – we had a two-table trulli to ourselves! (There were three other trulli rooms which were all set out with large round tables, obviously for large groups – two of which were taken up by families having their Sunday dinner!)
Waitress comes and this is where we find that 1) no English spoken, which is fine, but 2) no menus to look at! She’ll just tell you what they have! She asked first if we wanted antipasti – and me, loving antipasti of most kinds, said SI! Then, we figured out that we could get anchelotte pasta (semi-circular ravioli) stuffed with porcini mushrooms! So…we waited.
First comes the antipasti – and it comes, and it comes…We had: plate of ham with mozzarella as well as one other cheese; 4 anchovies (which R said were WONDERFUL…YEK…); deep-fried potato balls (which were GREAT!); large piece of crab meat in a 1000 island-type dressing; small plate of salami. Then came the hot stuff – cheese wrapped in bacon; eggplant with cheese; ham and cheese in puffed pastry; small calzone. The only thing that we did NOT touch was the “seafood salad” – those calamari tentacles are STILL following us around Italy!!
Then came the pasta! Absolutely wonderful! Light as air; excellent porcini stuffing, with a cream and butter sauce and chunks of porcini mushrooms with parsley. Wow! Talk about stuffed! However, have to admit that I’d been eyeing the small dessert refrigerator that was in our trulli…so, I got the pane chocolato (I know I’m not spelling that right!) – but it was a chocolate cake, drizzled in chocolate syrup and topped with powdered sugar. R ordered café American, which wasn’t understood, so he tried again with café nero (black) – and got, of course, a cup of sludge!!! (My apologies to anybody who really likes to drink that stuff…) Also had a couple glasses of Prosecco…
Decided that a direct route back to Brindisi would be best, as we both wanted naps by this time. (It was almost a 2-hour lunch, but the time passes SO pleasantly, that it doesn’t seem like that long!) Fortunately, just like yesterday in Brindisi, the people just seem to disappear during the afternoons! Where are they, and WHAT are they doing?? At any rate, cruised back into town – only to somehow lose our hotel, and make what seemed to me like a complete circuit up and down every one way street in town!! UGH! How come it was so easy to find yesterday?? Finally pulled up at the hotel and unloaded. R says we’re in for the night, as NO need to find anything more to eat today! (Not sure where we’d put it anyway, even if we looked!) So, looks like we’ll be spending a quiet evening watch calcio (soccer) on TV (right now, Arsenal just scored to go 2-1 up on Chelsea!) (Bob, Kate: Remember when they won the FA Cup and we were THERE?)
So, on that note, I will close! Not sure about posting a blog tomorrow, as we will be heading to a B&B in Lecce for two nights; no idea if they have any internet access at all (although R does have the list of Earthlink telephone numbers, but going out on a phone line is SO time consuming!) So, while I will definitely be writing each day, everything may have to wait to post until we get back to Matera on Wednesday. (R SO looking forward to “his” cave…) Have decided that we will actually stop and do laundry on our way into Matera this time. Oh! And for anyone who might have a need to know: Brindisi has at least TWO lavanderia automatico (self-service) – too bad we didn’t have enough to keep them busy! Oh well!!
More later!
Love,
m
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Some folks are hard to discourage...
More of Brindisi, including Mussolini's statute to the fallen Italians of WWI.
m
Trying photos once again!
Still having photo problems, but Andy sent a few suggestions that I will try. For now, Katy, here's a sign for you! Also, me on top of the steps heading down to the water at Brindisi -- the end of the Way!
m
We did it!! The end of the Way!!
Saturday evening, November 28, 2008
Ciao, all! (Linda; Andy – would it be Ciao, Tutte?)
Whiling away the time before dinner by catching up with the blog events for today! And – WE DID IT! We made it to Brindisi! Left Taranto on a very pleasant, sunny morning – where we and just about everyone else in town was out on the roads. Very crowded in places, but we only had something like 75 km to go for the day. After last night’s rain, we were surprised at how all traces had disappeared in town, but in the countryside, there were many places where the fields were standing in inches of water.
Wound around a bit, finding stretches of the Appian Way as we drove. (Roman roads are fairly easy to identify – they are STRAIGHT as a board!) A little after 11 we came upon a huge shopping mall on the outskirts of Brindisi and saw, for the first time since we left Rome, a McDonald’s!! And, while I would like to be able to say that we drove right past … we didn’t…always good to have the occasional taste of home! So, went in for Big Mac meals (and for all of you who are groaning and holding your heads and asking why – the answer is, because it was there!!) GREAT fries, by the way…Took the opportunity to cruise through the mall – all dressed up for Christmas, and it was evident that the Italians were taking their Christmas shopping seriously! The toy stores in particular were doing brisk business.
It was only another 15-20 minutes from there into town and our hotel, and we arrived around 12:30. Our hotel, the Barsotti, is okay. (Although according to Tripadvisor, it’s the ONLY place in town!) I think it’s really a business sort of hotel; very plain, but easy to access, has parking and a bar – and who could ask for more? We took the second room offered, as the first was just WAY too smoky; obviously no non-smoking rooms here! Nice and clean; has computer access (which we’ll pay for later) – and, while I was channel surfing the TV, what should appear but SKY Calcio (that is, Italian soccer) channel! Went down to the desk to inquire, and turns out that they do have some SKY channels, and had taken CNN off to put the SKY channel on! Absolutely A-OK with me; apparently some game on tonight!!
Left our things and headed out for a walk. And the town was TOTALLY, and I mean TOTALLY desserted! Really rather surreal! We found our way first to the water, and then, a block later, found the Roman column that marked the end of the Appian Way! VERY exciting!! Took some pictures, and wandered through town. The Duomo (central Cathedral) was open; really lovely! Lovely afternoon; didn’t need jackets, although the wind sprang up occasionally. We finally ran across one person here, a couple people there – but basically, EVERYTHING in town was dark and closed up tight! Am assuming that this was for the afternoon nap-time, which is probably very important during the heat of the summer – but on a November afternoon? Or, possibly, everybody was at the shopping mall on the outskirts of town! Returned to the hotel for a nice nap – figure if you can’t find the people, you can at least join them in spirit – asleep, I’m sure!
Will do more exploring later, as the hotel has no restaurant and we will be heading out in search of food.
Feeling a bit odd now that we’ve completed the route of the Appian Way! Not sure how to describe it, actually! It’s not anticlimactic; it’s not disappointed – rather that something we’ve talked about for a long time now has been completed; a good feeling, but one that almost says: Isn’t there more road around here somewhere? (And actually, there are a few more less famous Roman roads that we could investigate; it’s just that the Appian Way has always been our favorite!)
So, will sign off now and catch up again after dinner!
Lots of love,
m
Just back from dinner – a VERY light one, as we have been eating WAY too much these days! Wandered out a bit after 7 for the nightly passagiata. Where all these people have suddenly spring from, we have NO idea! People everywhere! Old people, young people, families – everyone out, and all the shops and stores open! However, one problem: We noticed this somewhere or other – the streets that constitute the nightly passagiata are generally NOT the streets that have restaurants on them! So, wandered up, wandered down – up side streets, down main streets – looking for a restaurant – ANY restaurant! Finally came upon Tratorita Guiseppe, and in we went. Turns out to be GREAT! A VERY local kind of place; all the other people eating were families and friends. We got a nice corner table and ordered a half liter of red wine, a bottle of great sparkling water, and R had pizza marguerita (plain cheese pizza) and I had pizza regina, which had cheese, prosciutto and funghi (mushrooms). Just terrific, and exactly the right amount! Hopefully they will be open tomorrow night, as I’m thinking they might be the ONLY game in town! Passagiated back to our hotel, and now Juve (my favorite soccer team) is playing Reggia from Torino – where, to be honest, the weather looks REALLY awful; not sure if it’s rain that’s pelting down, or snow!! Oh well!! Happily ensconced in our hotel room; more tomorrow!
m
Ciao, all! (Linda; Andy – would it be Ciao, Tutte?)
Whiling away the time before dinner by catching up with the blog events for today! And – WE DID IT! We made it to Brindisi! Left Taranto on a very pleasant, sunny morning – where we and just about everyone else in town was out on the roads. Very crowded in places, but we only had something like 75 km to go for the day. After last night’s rain, we were surprised at how all traces had disappeared in town, but in the countryside, there were many places where the fields were standing in inches of water.
Wound around a bit, finding stretches of the Appian Way as we drove. (Roman roads are fairly easy to identify – they are STRAIGHT as a board!) A little after 11 we came upon a huge shopping mall on the outskirts of Brindisi and saw, for the first time since we left Rome, a McDonald’s!! And, while I would like to be able to say that we drove right past … we didn’t…always good to have the occasional taste of home! So, went in for Big Mac meals (and for all of you who are groaning and holding your heads and asking why – the answer is, because it was there!!) GREAT fries, by the way…Took the opportunity to cruise through the mall – all dressed up for Christmas, and it was evident that the Italians were taking their Christmas shopping seriously! The toy stores in particular were doing brisk business.
It was only another 15-20 minutes from there into town and our hotel, and we arrived around 12:30. Our hotel, the Barsotti, is okay. (Although according to Tripadvisor, it’s the ONLY place in town!) I think it’s really a business sort of hotel; very plain, but easy to access, has parking and a bar – and who could ask for more? We took the second room offered, as the first was just WAY too smoky; obviously no non-smoking rooms here! Nice and clean; has computer access (which we’ll pay for later) – and, while I was channel surfing the TV, what should appear but SKY Calcio (that is, Italian soccer) channel! Went down to the desk to inquire, and turns out that they do have some SKY channels, and had taken CNN off to put the SKY channel on! Absolutely A-OK with me; apparently some game on tonight!!
Left our things and headed out for a walk. And the town was TOTALLY, and I mean TOTALLY desserted! Really rather surreal! We found our way first to the water, and then, a block later, found the Roman column that marked the end of the Appian Way! VERY exciting!! Took some pictures, and wandered through town. The Duomo (central Cathedral) was open; really lovely! Lovely afternoon; didn’t need jackets, although the wind sprang up occasionally. We finally ran across one person here, a couple people there – but basically, EVERYTHING in town was dark and closed up tight! Am assuming that this was for the afternoon nap-time, which is probably very important during the heat of the summer – but on a November afternoon? Or, possibly, everybody was at the shopping mall on the outskirts of town! Returned to the hotel for a nice nap – figure if you can’t find the people, you can at least join them in spirit – asleep, I’m sure!
Will do more exploring later, as the hotel has no restaurant and we will be heading out in search of food.
Feeling a bit odd now that we’ve completed the route of the Appian Way! Not sure how to describe it, actually! It’s not anticlimactic; it’s not disappointed – rather that something we’ve talked about for a long time now has been completed; a good feeling, but one that almost says: Isn’t there more road around here somewhere? (And actually, there are a few more less famous Roman roads that we could investigate; it’s just that the Appian Way has always been our favorite!)
So, will sign off now and catch up again after dinner!
Lots of love,
m
Just back from dinner – a VERY light one, as we have been eating WAY too much these days! Wandered out a bit after 7 for the nightly passagiata. Where all these people have suddenly spring from, we have NO idea! People everywhere! Old people, young people, families – everyone out, and all the shops and stores open! However, one problem: We noticed this somewhere or other – the streets that constitute the nightly passagiata are generally NOT the streets that have restaurants on them! So, wandered up, wandered down – up side streets, down main streets – looking for a restaurant – ANY restaurant! Finally came upon Tratorita Guiseppe, and in we went. Turns out to be GREAT! A VERY local kind of place; all the other people eating were families and friends. We got a nice corner table and ordered a half liter of red wine, a bottle of great sparkling water, and R had pizza marguerita (plain cheese pizza) and I had pizza regina, which had cheese, prosciutto and funghi (mushrooms). Just terrific, and exactly the right amount! Hopefully they will be open tomorrow night, as I’m thinking they might be the ONLY game in town! Passagiated back to our hotel, and now Juve (my favorite soccer team) is playing Reggia from Torino – where, to be honest, the weather looks REALLY awful; not sure if it’s rain that’s pelting down, or snow!! Oh well!! Happily ensconced in our hotel room; more tomorrow!
m
It was a dark and stormy night...
A couple of pictures of Metaponto; Greek ruin on the coast
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Ciao!
Got up to a very overcast and drizzly kind of day. Went down for breakfast – OK; not terrible and not great. Then out we went, following the coastline to the west, to the ruins of Metapontum (Greek colony, 7th century BC), near the present-day town of Mentaponto. To be honest, they are doing a tremendous amount of road construction – and we weren’t able to get to the best temple site! (And I will say that we tried … we were on roads/alleys/driveways yesterday that NO American has probably been on since WWII!) Did find the town, though, and some of the ruins. Cold, windy, blustery day—and the creature known as “the masked bandit” made her appearance again! (She originally appeared years ago in Europe, whenever we traveled in the “off” season – covered up thoroughly by scarves, hat, gloves so that you couldn’t tell who she was! Hmmm…I wonder!) After we trudged through the fields, we headed to the museum – and a great find it was! To say that we were the only visitors is perhaps an understatement – suffice it to say that the nice folks had to go ahead of us to turn on the lights so we could see the exhibits! And wonderful they were – but NO pictures! BUMMER! Lots of finds from the immediate area, which had been settled by Athenians before the Romans moved in. Some really lovely pottery and jewelry.
From there we headed back inland to Altamura, a town we had by-passed on the way to Matera. A prehistoric human skeleton had been discovered there in the late 1990’s, which has actually been made a part of the cave, as it is being covered by calcite. Scientists surmise that the poor fellow had been exploring in the cave, and had gotten stuck trying to go from one cavern to another, and had died of starvation! At any rate, there has been a divergence of opinion as to whether he should be left in situ or taken out – and now we understand they’re going to do some carbon dating to find out how old he actually is. The cave where Altamura Man is closed to the public, but the museum had a very good exhibit about him, including photographs. They had other exhibits as well, of finds in the area. Not as good as Metaponto, and again, we had to have someone go before us and turn on the lights! Definitely this is the time to visit, if you want to be the only one in town!
We were now getting a bit peckish, so headed back toward Taranto, stopping at the Carrefore outside Matera for lunch. Found the local pizza place – always a lesson to figure out how to get food! Here, one makes ones way to the cashier, tells them what they want (or points, in our case!), pays, gets a receipt and then hopes for the best! Actually, with receipt in hand, you then have to fight your way to the front of yet another scrum, to get your food. In this case, believe it or not, we managed to order ourselves pizza WITH French fries and drinks (beer and softdrinks; same price!) Got our food and took it to a table – YUMMY! GREAT pizza! AND great fries! (Also got some ketsup; very unusual, made by Kraft in Italy, but it had Worchester sauce included! Tasted like my brisket recipe! R loved it!)
From there, found the “back way” into Taranto – actually through the bus station terminus! By this time it was really raining – but that was NOTHING to what was to come!
It was by now 4 o’clock, and R had a couple of hours work to do for Caltech, so we settled in – me watching actual US football (TX – TX A&M followed by Pitt vs. WVA) LIVE on something called NASN—which is really ESPN! VERY enjoyable! So, while we may not have had any turkey for Thanksgiving, I did get some football games!
And then it started to POUR. And I mean POUR! So much so that we decided to go downstairs again for dinner. And again, really flummoxed the poor waiter! I went with bresaola again for starters, but not sure what R said – he got BOTH a dish of clams AND a plate of mussels, this time baked! I helped him with the mussels, and they were GREAT! For mains, we both had pasta – and this time we were VERY clear about wanting TOMATO sauce. Just excellent; amazing tomatoes here!
Back upstairs, we were able to watch the end of the Pitt-WVA football game, even though the satellite lost reception a couple of times. And then, with the wind whipping around and the waves coming up over the piers, the electricity went out in the hotel! (Fortunately, the football game was over…) Decided as it was 10, to just go to bed, which we did. (Hotel very conveniently has emergency lights both in our downstairs and upstairs area, so obviously they’ve danced this little dance before!) Somewhere around 11:15 the power came back on, which fortunately turned out the emergency lights!!
Up around 7, packed and ready to go. Off via the last stretch of the Appian Way to Brindisi, and the terminus of the road – from there it would be off to the middle east via boat! MUCH nicer today – blue sky and some sunshine even! Where did that storm disappear to??
More later!
Love,
m
Thursday, November 27, 2008
In search of more ruins!
National Museum
Mosaic floor
Pictures of our hotel room in Taranto, and view from one of the windows!
Friday, November 28, 2008
Ciao, Everyone!
Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Was REALLY wishing for some turkey yesterday, but pizza had to suffice instead! Oh well! Turkey when we get home!
Got up yesterday to another nice day in Matera. Down for breakfast, and checked out. (But will be back next week! Yea!) Decided that as we were MUCH closer to the top of town than the bottom, that we’d schlep our stuff to the garage. Wasn’t too bad, actually, although rolling cases make LOTS of noise when rolling over cobblestones! Talk about being unobtrusive! Pulled out of town around 9:30; out Via Nationale (past our wonderful laundry!) and out to the Via Appia. No problems as we followed the road; no actual traces that we could find; very agricultural area.
Got to Taranto about 11 – BIG city, and actually, quite attractive! R guided us right to our hotel via an amazing maze of one-way streets (he is the best navigator in the entire WORLD!), and we parked the car in the underground garage down the block. Our room was ready, and in we came – WHEW! We’ve got a LOVELY apartment! Even has a kitchen! You walk into an antechamber (with lots of storage space), then into the living/dining room. (Note: GREAT TV!! SKY TV with wonderful selection of channels!) Our room is on the corner, and there are huge doors on each wall opening onto a balcony that runs around the corner! The view is of the canal on one side, and the Gulf of Taranto on the other! Just amazing! In the corner of the living room is a spiral staircase that leads up to the loft bedroom and bath. Again, more storage, lovely views out the windows! WOW! Taranto is a very large port city, and is the largest Italian Naval port after Spezia. The bed is REALLY hard; like a board, and feels GREAT! Got the best night’s sleep since we left Tucson!
Dropped everything off and headed to the National Museum. It is still in process of renovation, but the first floor was complete; lovely collection of ancient Greek and Roman artifacts and mosaics. Very, very enjoyable! And, everything was signed in Italian AND English! How nice for us!
Taranto started life as a Spartan (Greek) city, before it was taken over by the Romans. And, while there isn’t too much that remains from the old in town (an incredible amount of building and tearing up around here), the museum had some great stuff! (Which causes R to wonder what’s currently left under various parts of the city!)
Lunchtime after the museum, and we found a great cafeteria in town. We got wonderful squares of pizza – R tomato only; mine with mozzarella – along with what appears to be “the usual” snacks – a bowl of olives, a plate of appetizer-size pizza, little sandwiches with salami and cheese, puff pastry with sausage, as well as a small bowl of mozzarella! Just GREAT! Walked around a bit more to see the Temple of Poseidon and the fortress (which has been taken over by the Navy) – and stopped for a Magnum Classic for dessert!
Decided we’d seen enough, so waddled back to the hotel for a nap. Darkness arrives very early these days – around 4:45! – so we waited until around 7 to head out for our evening passagiata – and wow, seems like everyone in town is out strolling! All the stores are open, everyone heading up one side and down the other – great pedestrian area. Interesting that there doesn’t seem to be very many restaurants in this area – have decided to eat in the hotel tonight, and locate restaurants tomorrow ... not too hungry, actually, after that filling lunch!
Found “restaurant row” – down the street along the canal from our hotel! – and picked out a nice place for Friday night. Then into the hotel for dinner. We are traveling in an area where English really isn’t spoken much. The waiter was very confused, but fortunately we don’t need an English menu, and were able to order … however, he did talk me into changing my mind from orrichetti (little ears) with tomato to with rape, their local speciality.
R’s starter was a plate of mussels, grown locally. He said they were WONDERFUL! I had a bresaola salad – just great … which was good, because when my pasta came, it included ANCHOVIES! YECK!!! The rape was quite bitter, and not to my liking, but the pasta (that which wasn’t tainted by anchovies…) was quite good. R ordered scampi – he got three of them; huge, and of course, WHOLE! Hmmm…interesting course, that’s for sure. REALLY was missing turkey at that point!! Local red wine was excellent.
Headed up to the room around 9:30; slept REALLY well and woke around 7 to a rainy day. Supposed to be like this all day…not hard rain, but fairly drippy. Will get the car about 9 and head along the coast for a drive!
More later!
Love,
m
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
YEA!! Clean clothes!!!!! (R says it doesn’t take much to make me happy … but he doesn’t have the laundry issues that I do…)
Okay, starting with dinner last night. Headed down Via Fiorintini, the main street in the Sassi where we’re staying, to Nadi, just a minute’s walk away. We were (surprise!) the first one’s there when they opened. Found a very nice table for two in the back. What is really fun here is that people don’t speak English – meaning our very, very limited Italian, their similar few words of English, and meaningful hand gestures! Rather fun!
This was the first time in three days when I really wanted to eat; tummy seemed to be getting along nicely, thank you very much! So, after ordering fizzy water and wine (and here I’d like to ask: Why is it that the immediate reaction is that English speaking people want STILL water??) I ordered risotto with black truffles for starters, with eggplant parmigan for seconds. R had ravioli “du jour” – it was very good, ricotta filled with a wonderful tomato sauce. He had a fillet of beef with lemon, Italian style, for his main course; it looked (and was) great! Now, I have to tell you, if you’ve never had truffles – you either LOVE truffles or you don’t – and I’m one of those who LOVE them!! They were WONDERFUL in the risotto; I can still taste them!! And eggplant was also good, but after the truffles, everything else was second best. I also had chocolate gelato for dessert. (Always a nice way to end a meal, if one can’t find a Magnum Classic!)
Our restaurant was hosting a dinner of an American tour group of 12 (also staying at our hotel). While traveling in groups has never been our idea of fun, I think if I couldn’t have any choice at a meal – if it was just presented to me – I would have real issues! I did not WANT sausage and turnips and peppers for dinner last night, but again, that’s just us!
Sauntered back to the Locanda (and up ALL those stairs!) in a gentle rain. End of a really lovely day!
Woke around 7 to fairly clear skies. Having a bathtub was wonderful, but I greatly overestimated the amount of bubbles the bath gel would make … whew!! Took a bit to clean it out, that’s for sure! Went down to breakfast; very good. Ham, cheeses, salami and sweets; very good; VERY intense hot chocolate!
By now, we figured we would head to the Laundromat. Got directions – a bit vague, but R said he had it – then packed up one of the suitcases, which was now totally FULL of dirty clothes, and headed UP. Fortunately we’re at the top of the hotel, and it’s just a couple flights of stairs to put us near the central plaza in town. Walked around the corner and down a couple of blocks, and voila! The parking garage! (R can find ANYTHING!!) We loaded up, and on our way down Via Nationale looking for the landmarks described for us at the hotel: 1) gas station; 2) right turn right BEFORE the second traffic light. Initially things looked very bleak, but I kept pressing on, and there was the laundry! Looks really new, and it was WONDERFUL!! Open from 7 a.m. – 10:30 p.m. and there was a wonderful man there to help us! (Which was good. Not saying we wouldn’t have figured things out, but it’s nice not having to – not very many words of any other language than Italian!) Loaded up two washers; took ½ hour, then ½ hour for the dryer – and other than R’s really thick socks, things were actually DRY! I was SOOOO happy for the clean clothes! (Again, R says it doesn’t take much to make me happy, but I do have issues.) I also washed a pair of my jeans (I don’t put them in the dryer) – and we’ll see if/when they ever dry! (One needs to call downstairs and ask for the heat to be turned on; it’s on now, and I’m sure the jeans will be dry by morning!)
From there, we headed back to the hotel. Dropped things off, and headed out for a walk around the city.
Oh! Need to tell everyone, that we’ve modified our arrangements a bit. We REALLY love Matera, so have decided that after our stays in Taranto, Brindisi and Lecce, we’re going to come back here for two more nights! (We looked at another room -- #30, but prefer “ours” – even though it has a larger TV and a Jacuzzi tub – we really like this location and the size of the rooms/caves…) To do this, we’ve cut out our night at Frascati (which is fine with R) and one of the nights at Fiumicino. So, from Matera, we’ll head to Paestum for two nights, then a straight shot up to Rome and home!
The walk was lovely; beautiful day (even though I still need to find a scarf!); the views over the town looking down into the ravine were incredible. We saw the original caves that had made up the first civilization – probably during the stone age. Apparently at some time they were abandoned (probably because of waste) and shifted across the ravine to where we are now. (Couldn’t help but think that Bob Zappala would LOVE this area!!) As we were winding into the old area, we were targeted by a tourist guide – who wanted to take us on our own personal tour…which we did. To be honest, this young woman spoke English faster than I’ve ever heard it spoken before (and I speak English!) – albeit with an Italian accent. She was very interesting, but wow, did she have a lot of information packed into her spiel! She showed us some of the old sassi – the area that had been cleared by the government and all the people relocated in the late 1950’s and 60’s. These caves are SMALL and housed large families AND their animals! – they had no water, sewage or electricity! Just an incredibly difficult way to live! There were also some old caves used as churches. Don’t know how any of these folks survived, as their only water was from cisterns which ran off from the roofs and roads! YEK! Talk about diseases! Ugh! We walked into and out of various caves; talk about exercise!!
Dropped off the guide around lunchtime, and we headed UP … and UP … and UP…finally wound our way back into the more commercial part of town, and found a lovely little spot on the top of the restored old convent Palazzo dell’Annunziata. Lovely view! We both had two glasses of Prosecco. I had an insalata caprese – tomatoes with mozzarella and basil. R had a warm focaccio sandwich of ham, tomatoes, fontina cheese and lettuce. Don’t know about R’s, but mine was GREAT! Headed back to the hotel then (it was after two) for a rest and to catch up on notes!
I’m now raring to go; R trying to finish his book! I want to passagiata (and look for a scarf!) before we decide what to do about dinner!!
Take care! Lots of love!
m
PS … Okay…passigiata and cena (dinner). We headed UP to the upper (non-cave) part of town around 5:30. Walked a bit, and R pulled me into a shop where I found a wonderful (and WARM) long scarf; such a good idea! (Although how many scarves do I have at home???) Walked the adjacent blocks along with the other folks in town; great fun; just wish I was a shopper! Decided that, as we still had a ways to go until dinner time, that we would return to the nice place we had lunch. This time, had glasses of prosecco with olives (R ate TWO plates full!) and nuts and pretzels. Left the Terrazza and headed back to Nadi, our restaurant of last night. WONDERFUL dinner! I had tagliatelle with white truffles; al dente pasta; just perfect! R had homemade gnocchi – made by our wonderful waitress, who told us that she emigrated from Romania three years ago! (Wonder if my Italian would be that good in three years…) We both had the chicken for main course, along with an order of roast potatoes and grilled veggies. This time, zucchini and melanzane (eggplant); interesting thing is that the vegetables are served cold! Unusual! Everything was GREAT; really enjoyed it! Have threatened to return there next week! Home by about 9:15 p.m. – blue jeans are DRY and ready to go! Will collapse into bed; more tomorrow!!
m
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Oops! Got carried away ...
and before I knew it, the blog was published!
So -- PICTURES!
First couple of Aeclanum on a rainy day.
Then, Matera, the sassi (caves) and our room!
m
Our new favorite city -- Matera!!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Oh boy! I find myself (almost) speechless – we are now in Matera. One of our guidebooks says: It is unique. No kidding! We didn’t have the best of maps, but we actually found our way with no problem! Wound down and down into the valley; sassi on either side of us. (Sassi are the caves in the town that have been inhabited – mostly by the very poor – for centuries, some of which have now been converted into hotels.) Drove right past our hotel – (was on R’s side…obviously he wasn’t paying attention…) – found a real parking space, pulled in and walked back – and voila, here we are, the Locanda di San Martino. Lovely people, amazing place! We are just about at the top of the hotel – Room 23. If you want to see more pictures, other than ours, goggle Locanda di San Martino and find our cave! It’s just like that – really beautiful, and, what’s more, WARM! First time we’ve been really warm since we left Rome!!
Looked over our room, then went back and got luggage – lots of odd steps and stairs to get over, but whew, now that we’re here…(R outside right now, as a matter of fact, marking our location on Rosy (our GPS), so we can find our way back here!) (Note to Mom and Laura: Talk about steps to fall over and down; I’m keeping a hand on R at all times when we’re out, in the hope that WHEN I fall (not IF, notice!) that he’ll be there to pick me up!! Unless I bring him down too… Also, they tell us there is a laundromat in town, which we will find first thing tomorrow!! YEA!!!
Okay – back from our stroll – and we really, truly love this place! Up quite a flight of stairs from our hotel, we walk directly into Matera’s main town square. Huge, beautiful, clean – sparkling fountain – had a nice sit down at a café. R had red wine, I had coca-cola. Then proceeded to passagiata – and an interesting thing! Apparently this town is open from 9 – 1 and then closes down until 4:30 or 5! All the shops and services! We did make it into a couple of the churches – just beautiful! And tomorrow (after laundry!) we’re going to do a complete walking circle of the town; lots of steps, R definitely is NOT looking forward to it! After our walk, returned to the hotel for a bit of a rest up for dinner. Have decided on a local place, down (of course) with a good-looking menu. Poor R must be FAMISHED, as this is yet another day he went without lunch! (Although he did make short work of the nuts and olives that came with his wine and my coke!)
It really was a driving sort of day – driving the car AND driving rain! It poured for most of our journey – and the photos that we took at Aeclanum (on the east side of Benevento) shows just how wet it was! Did, again, have the place to ourselves, so that was nice. (Also, note to either LLBean or Orvis – those pricey umbrellas I ordered are TERRIBLE and I’m ONLY bringing them back to the U.S. to send them BACK to you! We would have done better with a 3 Euro special!!!) At any rate, left Capua and the Hotel Capys around 8:30. R found a shorter route around Benevento, and we got to Aeclanum around 10:30 am. From there we headed to Melfi, then Venoso, where we were of course too late for the Abbey to be open. Fortunately, it’s a ruin, so there was lots to see from the outside, and I don’t think we have to make a special trip back there.
From there we put pedal to the metal and headed to Matera, with an interesting detour along the Appian Way, which is in total disarray with construction! What a mess they’ve made! (Oh yes! The train…we were pulling into Puglia, and the train signals were down; we were #2 in line, behind a large truck…and we waited, and we waited … after about 10 minutes, finally, a 2 car train went chugging slowly past! And that was it! But the signals were still going; nothing else happening! Finally, a truck on the other side of the tracks decided to drive around the barrier … needless to say, I was the first on our side over the center median to the other side of the road … with everyone else following me to get by! I’m sure it’s still clanging, and it’s even possible that the truck in front of us is still waiting!!)
In all, including our stop at Aeclanum, it took us about 6 ½ hours to get here. And, hopefully, we’ve found better weather, as so far (knock wood!) there has been some blue sky to greet us!
More later, after dinner!
Much love,
m
Oh boy! I find myself (almost) speechless – we are now in Matera. One of our guidebooks says: It is unique. No kidding! We didn’t have the best of maps, but we actually found our way with no problem! Wound down and down into the valley; sassi on either side of us. (Sassi are the caves in the town that have been inhabited – mostly by the very poor – for centuries, some of which have now been converted into hotels.) Drove right past our hotel – (was on R’s side…obviously he wasn’t paying attention…) – found a real parking space, pulled in and walked back – and voila, here we are, the Locanda di San Martino. Lovely people, amazing place! We are just about at the top of the hotel – Room 23. If you want to see more pictures, other than ours, goggle Locanda di San Martino and find our cave! It’s just like that – really beautiful, and, what’s more, WARM! First time we’ve been really warm since we left Rome!!
Looked over our room, then went back and got luggage – lots of odd steps and stairs to get over, but whew, now that we’re here…(R outside right now, as a matter of fact, marking our location on Rosy (our GPS), so we can find our way back here!) (Note to Mom and Laura: Talk about steps to fall over and down; I’m keeping a hand on R at all times when we’re out, in the hope that WHEN I fall (not IF, notice!) that he’ll be there to pick me up!! Unless I bring him down too… Also, they tell us there is a laundromat in town, which we will find first thing tomorrow!! YEA!!!
Okay – back from our stroll – and we really, truly love this place! Up quite a flight of stairs from our hotel, we walk directly into Matera’s main town square. Huge, beautiful, clean – sparkling fountain – had a nice sit down at a café. R had red wine, I had coca-cola. Then proceeded to passagiata – and an interesting thing! Apparently this town is open from 9 – 1 and then closes down until 4:30 or 5! All the shops and services! We did make it into a couple of the churches – just beautiful! And tomorrow (after laundry!) we’re going to do a complete walking circle of the town; lots of steps, R definitely is NOT looking forward to it! After our walk, returned to the hotel for a bit of a rest up for dinner. Have decided on a local place, down (of course) with a good-looking menu. Poor R must be FAMISHED, as this is yet another day he went without lunch! (Although he did make short work of the nuts and olives that came with his wine and my coke!)
It really was a driving sort of day – driving the car AND driving rain! It poured for most of our journey – and the photos that we took at Aeclanum (on the east side of Benevento) shows just how wet it was! Did, again, have the place to ourselves, so that was nice. (Also, note to either LLBean or Orvis – those pricey umbrellas I ordered are TERRIBLE and I’m ONLY bringing them back to the U.S. to send them BACK to you! We would have done better with a 3 Euro special!!!) At any rate, left Capua and the Hotel Capys around 8:30. R found a shorter route around Benevento, and we got to Aeclanum around 10:30 am. From there we headed to Melfi, then Venoso, where we were of course too late for the Abbey to be open. Fortunately, it’s a ruin, so there was lots to see from the outside, and I don’t think we have to make a special trip back there.
From there we put pedal to the metal and headed to Matera, with an interesting detour along the Appian Way, which is in total disarray with construction! What a mess they’ve made! (Oh yes! The train…we were pulling into Puglia, and the train signals were down; we were #2 in line, behind a large truck…and we waited, and we waited … after about 10 minutes, finally, a 2 car train went chugging slowly past! And that was it! But the signals were still going; nothing else happening! Finally, a truck on the other side of the tracks decided to drive around the barrier … needless to say, I was the first on our side over the center median to the other side of the road … with everyone else following me to get by! I’m sure it’s still clanging, and it’s even possible that the truck in front of us is still waiting!!)
In all, including our stop at Aeclanum, it took us about 6 ½ hours to get here. And, hopefully, we’ve found better weather, as so far (knock wood!) there has been some blue sky to greet us!
More later, after dinner!
Much love,
m
Monday, November 24, 2008
On to Benevento!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Ciao!
Today started out fairly rainy, and continued like that throughout the day, with some fortunate breaks for sightseeing. We had a very meager breakfast – rolls and hot chocolate/coffee, and juice. (We’ve definitely been spoiled by other Italian breakfasts!) Headed out around 9 on our trip to Benevento, sometimes following the Appian Way, sometimes in other directions. There are whole huge spaces where the Way has disappeared entirely – SO sad! Benevento is a very lovely city; a university town, filled with lots of kids. Also a Roman arena! Just lovely – and all around it, there was fallen statuary! How odd! Did find a lion (see photo) that I would LOVE to have for our front yard! Oh well!! Do you think if we could somehow get it out of the arena, anybody would notice it was gone?
Our second stop in Benevento was the Church of Santa Sophia – and it was CLOSED for refurbishment! VERY disappointed, but glad that they’re restoring it – it’s going to be absolutely stunning when it gets finished! (Will definitely have a reason to return, that’s for sure!) Were particularly looking for the knotted column – saw it through the gate, but weren’t able to get closer! Oh well!! Did find a Magnum Classic bar, though, to help ease the pain – which basically constituted my lunch!
Took a very convoluted route back to Capua, and got here around 2:30 p.m. R went downstairs to see if he could get lunch, and ended up with a very good penne with tomato sauce along with a half-liter of wine. Figured we’d earned a well-needed rest, so napped and read for the rest of the afternoon. Had dinner here at the hotel – last night, besides us, there were three other people eating (one visitor and two firemen) – tonight, there was a very large crowd – at least 30 people – ALL guys! R wondered if women ate in this area; I told him they were all on diets! More pasta – which was wonderful; farfalle with cream sauce and prosciutto. Wine for R; water for me. (Still have a somewhat chippy tummy so am being careful!)
Have to say, the folks here at the hotel, are really neat. As R was settling our hotel bill, they offered him home-made (by Mama!) Lemoncello (yes, Laura!) and all had quite a talk – not sure in what language(s) but very friendly!
We’re off tomorrow to Matera and our very own cave hotel, with at least one big stop (possibly two, depending on time). Will HAVE to get laundry done there (didn’t work out this morning…) – or we’re going to be in REAL trouble!!
More later!
Much love,
m
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Heading Inland in search of the Romans!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Ciao!
I’ll start with dinner last night, which, I’d like to point out, included absolutely NO fish whatsoever (for me)! We headed back to Sperlonga – only a couple of miles away, and parked on the main street. Lots of folks – passagiata – just walking back and forth; many places closed, I’m sure, for the season, but enough to keep folks busy (including a soccer game on TV in the local bar), as well as a take-away pizza place. We wandered into a grocery store in search of munchies, as the restaurant where we had lunch on Friday wasn’t open until 8!! Finally open! And we were the only folks there for most of the evening! Started with an insalada caprese (tomatoes and wonderful buffalo mozzarella) for me, and a bowl of mussels for R. For dinner, we both ordered the same thing – filleto of beef in cognac sauce and vegetables of the season – turned out to be a plate of grilled zucchini, carrots, with roasted red peppers and incredible eggplant grilled with garlic and onion. Just delicious! The steak was cooked rare and was perfect! We were both so stuffed, absolutely NO room for dessert! Headed back to the hotel and were warmly ensconced in minutes.
Up about 7, gathered our things together and had breakfast at 8. They make the BEST hot chocolate here! Checked out and were on the road about 9.
Back to Terracina, and wound our way up and to the HUGE Temple of Jupiter; wonderful view that seems to go on forever! Again, had the place to ourselves! Had a good look around; lots to see! Then drove down the hill to find the Pisco Montana, the mountain from whence stone for the Temple and the Appian Way had been quarried. What makes this place particularly interesting is that someone in antiquity carved the heights of the various stone removed (in Roman numerals, of course!).
We then headed out of town, following the Appian Way as we headed southeast away from the coast. Various gates and roadblocks came next – between the Kingdom of Naples and the Papal states, for example.
We then hit a part of what may someday be a national park built around the Appian Way. Stretch of road next to the highway that goes on for several miles and includes a very ancient temple. There were good examples of the three periods of the Appian – the ancient Roman, a restoration in the 1500’s by the Papal States, and a national restoration in the 1700’s – we, obviously, like the oldest!
From there, headed to Minturnae, the ancient settlement of Minturno. Wonderful aquaduct – 150 arches! – leading to the old settlement. Lovely museum, restored arena and temples. This time, there was one other family to share the site with!
We then headed on to our stop for the next to nights, Capua. We had had a very difficult time getting 1) a hotel name, and 2) a confirmed reservation, as I could never get their fax to work, so I was a bit worried about what we’d find. But, we pulled into Capua, and voila, first thing, Hotel Capys. Well…interesting…had never thought I would suffer from hypothermia in a hotel before! Halls are very wide, and VERY, very cold! Found our room – very nice, second floor; lovely balcony in the back overlooking a garden with citrus trees. And there is a smattering of English, but not too much! Will see what happens today with our laundry!! Headed out to Santa Maria Capua Vetere, and their coliseum – second only to Rome in size (but definitely not in as good a condition!). Very good museum as well. Then drove around Capua, and finally back to our very cold hotel! Crawled under the covers for a nap…went down at 8 for dinner. I was having a touch of Turista, so only wanted some pasta; mine was with tomato sauce; R’s was cannelloni stuffed with ricotta and spinach; both very good! However, it’s definitely hard to enjoy your dinner when you can’t stop shaking from cold! And I had on the heaviest clothes I brought! (A shopping trip may definitely be in our future!) (Turns out, a VERY cold front is moving into Europe, with snow everywhere, including in Northern Italy – at least (so far) we haven’t had to deal with that!) And – soccer! The Sunday night game – AC Milan vs. Torino – and this place has SkySports! So, gathered with the rest of the family and it seems the entire fire department, in the lobby – 2-2 tie; very good game!
Back upstairs, and a frenzied changing to get under the covers! R had had the heat on high while we were at dinner, and of course, somewhere in the middle of the night, the room actually got WARM – then HOT! Whew! It’s either one way or the other! Up now around 7, as I want to finish and post the blog – and the place does have wireless internet, but for the first time, we have to pay for the time. Oh well! R says the shower is fine – off in a few minutes for breakfast and then out in search of more Romans!!
Take care; more later!
Much love,
m
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Hopefully pictures!!
Forgot! The pictures are backwards, of course! The first two pictures are of the Abbey; beautiful cloister and lovely columns! The last three are of the Cathedral in Terracina!
On the track of the Romans!
(Am posting without pictures; will include them when we get back from dinner!)
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Ciao!
Well, where did we leave off? Oh yes! Dinner, Friday night … hmmmm….Lovely dining room in the hotel, with a lovely view – problem was, a VERY blustery kind of night; more in keeping with “a dark and stormy night” than anything else. We were the only guests – and we both decided to have the full menu, for 35 Euros each. Starter was “seafood salad”, (no choice), followed by pasta with shrimp sauce for both of us. For main course, I chose the escallope of chicken, and R the Turbot (kind of fish). Got a bottle of lovely red wine of the region; excellent (although, you can’t really get wine in Italy that isn’t excellent!) Then came our seafood salad … well…there was one shrimp in each, and a HUGE bowl of calamari --- including suction cups!!! All covered in olive oil with a bit of carrot and onion added. There are certain things that I just can’t eat, and, while I did manage some of the calamari rings – NO WAY were those suction cups going down…Had to admit to the waitress that fish wasn’t really my “thing”…which is putting it mildly!
The pasta with shrimp sauce was much better – although there were only two shrimp, (more like langustino, really!) – it was the WHOLE thing, legs, claws, head – YEK! (If I’ve made you lose your appetite, I apologize – just think how I was feeling!!) All in a butter/tomato sauce, which was really good – as was the pasta. Then came the mains: Mine was a whole chicken breast pounded flat and sautéed in olive oil. R’s fish was cooked the same way, and both dishes came with servings of escarole; very good!
Desert for R was a plate of fruit – grapes (with seeds!) and tangerine. I had a wonderful cheese cake with a raspberry sauce and dusted all over with powered sugar. Yum! Much better ending than beginning, let me tell you!
From the dining room, we headed back to our room and retired for the night. Very tired, but still very blustery outside! Every so often our electricity would glitch, which made for some interesting moments!
This morning, we woke to a much nicer day – including some blue in the sky! Went down for breakfast around 8; very good, with plates of salami, ham and cheeses, as well the usual – cereals, juices, sweets – the Italians are the only folks I know who routinely serve dessert at breakfast time – No wonder I want to be Italian!!
We had quite a day planned, backtracking along the route we drove yesterday to find some of the surprises on and around the Via Appia Antica!
Our first stop was Terracina, the closest town to Sperlonga, about 16 km away. Drove into and through town, looking for the cathedral (which is built on Roman foundations). Couldn’t find it!! So, R bought a map of town for 5 Euros – thought it was quite a steep price, but realized later that we NEVER would have found it without the map! Had to drive outside of town, then circle around and head UP…Terracina is built, (surprise!) on a hill, and the old section of town is right at the top. Found a parking lot (after realizing that the signs indicating “area pedonale” really does mean, for pedestrians or residents ONLY. (Had I gone in, would have ended up at a HUGE bollard and chain across the rope – and I do NOT back up at all well!) Walked up the hill to find the preserved remains of a temple, more of the actual Appian Way road, and a wonderful cathedral which incorporated various bits of old Roman architecture into the cathedral, especially in the outdoor portico. And, had the place to OURSELVES, literally! Wow!
From there, we headed to the Abbey of Fossanova. Lovely building, cute little town, and again, we had it to ourselves! It was here that St. Thomas Aquinas died in the 1200’s. An absolutely stunning cloister, complete with roses and very interesting architecture, including an old Roman milestone, which had been incorporated into a fountain as the base! Now that’s inventive recycling!
Next stop were the Roman remains of Privernum; closed either for the day or the season, (hard to tell) but fortunately with lots of fences to walk along and look through; some beautiful mosaics.
We arrived at the Abbey of Valvisciolo after 12 noon, and they were closed. Lovely on the outside, though, with beautiful views over to Sermonetta. Decided we didn’t want to wait for several hours, so pushed on to Ninfa. Also closed! (We are finding that the wonderful part of traveling in November is that there are NO other people about! On the down side, there ARE no other people about, so some things close! Oh well!) Ninfa has been restored as a nature refuge, and is only open several days a month – and this didn’t happen to be one of them. Again, though, we were able to see lots from the roads and paths; would definitely want to come back here sometime – if/when they’re open!
Our last jaunt for the day was Norba, an ancient city near the present-day town of Norma. And Norma was UPPPPPPP at the TOPPPPP of a VERY high hill! Wound up and up – and of course managed to meet a huge Cotral bus right in a tight corner! – and voila, there was the town, way up in the clouds! Found Norba, and took a nice hike through the remains – temples, buildings and of course, the Roman bath. There was actually one family with three children there, so can’t say we had it to ourselves!
It was now after 2, and we hadn’t eaten, so we headed down, veering toward Terracina, looking for a place to stop. Found a cute restaurant – the Galleon (in Italian) in Latina Scalo; both had pasta. Mine was something long and thick (forget the name! It was buccatini. R) with a red/sausage sauce. R had spicy penne alla'arrabiata and a half-liter of red wine; I stuck with water (DD, you know…)
Wound about on the way back to the hotel, taking the coast road; lovely day (albeit cool!) for the beach! This is such an interesting area of Italy. Very flat at the coast; had been marshland for centuries, before being drained by the Romans. The land is cut by various canals, some of which are still in operation, some of which are overgrown. And then you hit the mountains, covered with hilltop towns!
Got back to the hotel around 5-ish. R worked for a bit and I napped, and now I’m blogging and he’s napping! We’ll both have to gather ourselves soon for dinner – hmmm….hoping that calamari doesn’t follow me tonight!!
Take care; more later!
Love,
m
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Ciao!
Well, where did we leave off? Oh yes! Dinner, Friday night … hmmmm….Lovely dining room in the hotel, with a lovely view – problem was, a VERY blustery kind of night; more in keeping with “a dark and stormy night” than anything else. We were the only guests – and we both decided to have the full menu, for 35 Euros each. Starter was “seafood salad”, (no choice), followed by pasta with shrimp sauce for both of us. For main course, I chose the escallope of chicken, and R the Turbot (kind of fish). Got a bottle of lovely red wine of the region; excellent (although, you can’t really get wine in Italy that isn’t excellent!) Then came our seafood salad … well…there was one shrimp in each, and a HUGE bowl of calamari --- including suction cups!!! All covered in olive oil with a bit of carrot and onion added. There are certain things that I just can’t eat, and, while I did manage some of the calamari rings – NO WAY were those suction cups going down…Had to admit to the waitress that fish wasn’t really my “thing”…which is putting it mildly!
The pasta with shrimp sauce was much better – although there were only two shrimp, (more like langustino, really!) – it was the WHOLE thing, legs, claws, head – YEK! (If I’ve made you lose your appetite, I apologize – just think how I was feeling!!) All in a butter/tomato sauce, which was really good – as was the pasta. Then came the mains: Mine was a whole chicken breast pounded flat and sautéed in olive oil. R’s fish was cooked the same way, and both dishes came with servings of escarole; very good!
Desert for R was a plate of fruit – grapes (with seeds!) and tangerine. I had a wonderful cheese cake with a raspberry sauce and dusted all over with powered sugar. Yum! Much better ending than beginning, let me tell you!
From the dining room, we headed back to our room and retired for the night. Very tired, but still very blustery outside! Every so often our electricity would glitch, which made for some interesting moments!
This morning, we woke to a much nicer day – including some blue in the sky! Went down for breakfast around 8; very good, with plates of salami, ham and cheeses, as well the usual – cereals, juices, sweets – the Italians are the only folks I know who routinely serve dessert at breakfast time – No wonder I want to be Italian!!
We had quite a day planned, backtracking along the route we drove yesterday to find some of the surprises on and around the Via Appia Antica!
Our first stop was Terracina, the closest town to Sperlonga, about 16 km away. Drove into and through town, looking for the cathedral (which is built on Roman foundations). Couldn’t find it!! So, R bought a map of town for 5 Euros – thought it was quite a steep price, but realized later that we NEVER would have found it without the map! Had to drive outside of town, then circle around and head UP…Terracina is built, (surprise!) on a hill, and the old section of town is right at the top. Found a parking lot (after realizing that the signs indicating “area pedonale” really does mean, for pedestrians or residents ONLY. (Had I gone in, would have ended up at a HUGE bollard and chain across the rope – and I do NOT back up at all well!) Walked up the hill to find the preserved remains of a temple, more of the actual Appian Way road, and a wonderful cathedral which incorporated various bits of old Roman architecture into the cathedral, especially in the outdoor portico. And, had the place to OURSELVES, literally! Wow!
From there, we headed to the Abbey of Fossanova. Lovely building, cute little town, and again, we had it to ourselves! It was here that St. Thomas Aquinas died in the 1200’s. An absolutely stunning cloister, complete with roses and very interesting architecture, including an old Roman milestone, which had been incorporated into a fountain as the base! Now that’s inventive recycling!
Next stop were the Roman remains of Privernum; closed either for the day or the season, (hard to tell) but fortunately with lots of fences to walk along and look through; some beautiful mosaics.
We arrived at the Abbey of Valvisciolo after 12 noon, and they were closed. Lovely on the outside, though, with beautiful views over to Sermonetta. Decided we didn’t want to wait for several hours, so pushed on to Ninfa. Also closed! (We are finding that the wonderful part of traveling in November is that there are NO other people about! On the down side, there ARE no other people about, so some things close! Oh well!) Ninfa has been restored as a nature refuge, and is only open several days a month – and this didn’t happen to be one of them. Again, though, we were able to see lots from the roads and paths; would definitely want to come back here sometime – if/when they’re open!
Our last jaunt for the day was Norba, an ancient city near the present-day town of Norma. And Norma was UPPPPPPP at the TOPPPPP of a VERY high hill! Wound up and up – and of course managed to meet a huge Cotral bus right in a tight corner! – and voila, there was the town, way up in the clouds! Found Norba, and took a nice hike through the remains – temples, buildings and of course, the Roman bath. There was actually one family with three children there, so can’t say we had it to ourselves!
It was now after 2, and we hadn’t eaten, so we headed down, veering toward Terracina, looking for a place to stop. Found a cute restaurant – the Galleon (in Italian) in Latina Scalo; both had pasta. Mine was something long and thick (forget the name! It was buccatini. R) with a red/sausage sauce. R had spicy penne alla'arrabiata and a half-liter of red wine; I stuck with water (DD, you know…)
Wound about on the way back to the hotel, taking the coast road; lovely day (albeit cool!) for the beach! This is such an interesting area of Italy. Very flat at the coast; had been marshland for centuries, before being drained by the Romans. The land is cut by various canals, some of which are still in operation, some of which are overgrown. And then you hit the mountains, covered with hilltop towns!
Got back to the hotel around 5-ish. R worked for a bit and I napped, and now I’m blogging and he’s napping! We’ll both have to gather ourselves soon for dinner – hmmm….hoping that calamari doesn’t follow me tonight!!
Take care; more later!
Love,
m
Friday, November 21, 2008
Something is happening with pictures...Andy???
Seems like I'm only getting 2 pictures at a time; I will try once more, for the town of Sperlonga and one of the Grotta.
m
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