Coastliners

Hard as it is to believe, we have been away from home for nearly two months.  It was time for a brief interlude to let our feet have a rest from walking over cobblestones and our brains have a rest from culture.  We decided on leaving Naples to spend a few days in Marina del Cantone on the western edge of the Amalfi Coast.  Instead of braving the chaos of Garibaldi Station with our bags we went to Porta Nolana – about the same distance from our apartment in Duomo but a LOT less crowded.  We settled into our window seats for the hour or so trip to Sorrento.  Even Mussolini couldn’t make the regional trains run on time and they still don’t!  Still, eventually we arrived and had a lovely lunch.  I worry some days that Matt is going to turn into an anchovy before we go home as he eats them with (or for) every meal!  We then joined the queue for a little bus to the coast.  The driver was very skilful and despite the narrow (oh so narrow), congested, cliff top roads we arrived at our destination safely.  We had booked the downstairs apartment in Torre Turbulo but were disappointed to discover it was an ancient (remodeled) building at the base of the tower, not in it.  Luckily the top floor was not booked for our entire stay and we were able to move!  Our view really is from an eyrie this time.

Ground floor view.

The view from supper at the top.

Turbulo Tower was built in the mid 1500s by the Turbulo family as part of the coastal defences against the Saracen invaders. From the outside the building still looks very medieval and romantic but the inside is a light airy space with just about everything you could need for a comfortable stay.  Except possibly a lift…Four flights of stairs every time you go in or out.  And to get to the “public areas”, which were the ones with wifi, four more flights of stairs and a busy road (on a hairpin bend) to cross.  Luckily the bar was also there and they had delicious home made granita.  We enjoyed a few more home cooked meals accompanied by a regional wine, complete with label showing ‘our’ tower.

Because we were here for a rest we decided to take it easy and only walk up and down a cliff, scramble down a precipice and explore a ruined tower in order to reach the next bay.  It did feel very Enid Blytonish to prowl amongst the ruins and we thought we might find a nice spot for a swim in the bay it overlooked.  We found modern day pirates instead who charged us €20 for two drinks! 

Not the tower we stayed in.

Here be Pirates

We also enjoyed snorkelling in the clear green waters at the bottom of – you guessed it, some more stairs!  Quite strange to swim in a sea with no swell except for that caused by the passing boat traffic.    The remains of what we we guessed were a sea wall or breakwater were clearly evident only about 50 metres from shore.  Sorry no photos of that as my phone isn’t waterproof!  

rock formations.  The Italians say Garibaldi, the Germans say it's Merkel!

For our final day we decided to see some more of the famous Amalfi coast and joined a boat tour to the towns of Amalfi and Positano.  Neither of these more famous places appealed to our solitude loving souls.  They were crowded, hot, and expensive.  We did, however, enjoy the ferry trip, the views up and down the coast, and stopping to admire places out of myth.  The islands renowned for the sirens who sang sailors to a watery doom as well as the island that you can rent for only €40000 or so a week, once home to the dancer Nureyev.  Rocks with faces and grottos with emerald glows.  And one last sunset over the water from our little tower.

Aussie ingenuity - no ice bucket or ice? Just use a kettle and your freezer bricks!

Very Steep Stairs

Coastal view

We’re now heading for a brief stop in Rome to complete Matt’s odyssey – the final, and newest, Trappist brewery in Europe; Tres Fontaine.  Except he’s just told me there are two more potential applicants in the pipeline, in France and Spain.  Dear, dear me, we might have to plan yet another European holiday.  In closing, dear reader, a quote from Helen McInnes’s North from Rome; “Hie thee to a monastery.  Preferably a Trappist one.”.

We'll all be ruined

We arrived in Naples at the early hour of 6:30 and it was already steamy.  The overnight cruise was smooth and the cabin very comfortable - and the water pressure in our en-suite was the best we've had in Europe!  Still, at that early hour we were very grateful that our hosts had permitted us an early check in so we only had to walk from the port to Duomo where our apartment for the next few days was.  Leaving our bags we checked the kitchen had cooking utensils and made a dash for a supermercato to lay in some supplies.  Yay, a home cooked meal!

When a dozen zucchini flowers cost what I usually pay for one you know they're going to be on the menu

And here they are, stuffed and fried - along with a few other delicacies!

Naturally eating wasn't all we did.  Our next plan was to visit the famous Archaeological Museum where we spent several hours fascinated by the items which had been removed from Pompei and Herculaneum.  No wonder there wasn't much to see except the remains of buildings at Pompei - everything was in town carefully curated.  And yes we did go into the "secret room" but I don't think I'll share photos from that one on a g-rated blog!

Tiny dancers.

Hmmm...what to see next?

You shall not pass!

You and me babe...how about it?

Detail from the Farnese Bull.  This reminds me of an illustration by Pauline Baynes in "The Horse and his boy" by C.S. Lewis.  I could see where many of her ideas for the Narnia illustrations came from.

Hercules looking weary

We visited Pompei on our last trip to Italy, this time Herculaneum was the excavation of choice.  First thing was braving the notorious Napoli Centrale Stazione.  We made it with all fingers and toes (and more importantly wallets) all intact.  I do think walking around with a daypack on backwards just screams "All my valuables are right here!" and maybe those are the people the pickpockets were targeting?  The train was crowded but we didn't have too far to go and it wasn't a long walk from Erculaneum to Herculaneum.  Legend has it that the city was founded by Hercules.  The inhabitants were not built on his scale though with clear evidence that the average height for women was just 150cm, and for men, only 160cm.  Yes, Matt has a really big bump on his forehead, not just the evidence of the bodies.

We spent several hours exploring the open parts of the excavation - and really could have spent a lot more time there.  Such a fascinating glimpse of life over 20 centuries ago.

From the entrance you could see multiple levels of the excavation.  The green swamp was once the beach, the arches were storage areas and boathouses that opened onto it.  The sea is now around 400 metres further away

The bodies in the archways were only excavated in the 1980s - and are how we know the average height of the people here.  So far more than 300 have been found who died as they were waiting to be rescued.  Prior to this it was thought most of the population had escaped the devastation as so few bodies were found in the upper levels.

Matt would make a great spruiker for the tavern.  "Hello welcome, you like English menu?  You like spaghetti?"  (Yes someone did ask us that once.  I bet they were shocked at the answer!).

The frescos were not ALL removed from Herculaneum. 

Nor were the mosaic floors.  This one was in the men's bath house.  But WHY did the ancients depict dolphins with fishy fins?

Colours in the frescos have somehow survived 300 years of archeology

you can still see the remains of the wood in many places as it was instantly carbonised. 
Unlike Pompei, many building's upper floors survived

the glass mosaic of Neptune and Amphrite clearly showed what a rich man the owner of this house was!  

I can see why so many people say they prefer the ruins of Herculaneum to those of Pompei.  We toured ourselves with the help of a guidebook and although we undoubtedly missed some really interesting information it was great to wander around at our own pace and linger where we wanted to.

Our final full day in the crazy chaotic fantastic city of Napoli involved revisiting a few spots we saw on our first trip here.  That time were were on a day trip and were convinced we were going to be killed and mugged as soon as we stepped of the tour bus - with tour guides that encouraged that.  We haven't been (touch wood) and local people we've spoken to have said it's no more dangerous than any big European city.  Indeed, we've been hassled for money or trade less than comparable places, although during a VERY crowded bus trip this morning Matt did ask if it was me grabbing his bum.  It wasn't.

While visiting the castle of the egg (Castell dell ovo) today we also stopped and saw a couple of modern exhibitions - the first, a conceptual installation of sculpture on the theme of separation.  I wrote in the guest book that it was thought provoking.  It's placement in the former gaol was certainly deliberate.  The second was much more to my taste, mostly modern landscape paintings including some pointillism works I found fascinating.  Not quite in our budget to bring any of the rather large paintings home though.  We would have had to buy a bigger house for the ones I fancied!

They NEVER let you down into the really interesting bits of castles.  :-(

We then walked back through the shopping areas including the beautiful gallery Umberto (under scaffolding natch) and old town to partake in one final Napoli experience.

Matt thought he'd like a 'tache like this one.   I assured him he wouldn't.

Gallery Umberto

The lunch crowd.  This was voted the"best Napoli style pizza in the world" but we reckon Napoli Centrale back in Newcastle would give it a run for its money...

There may have been leftovers for supper.

More incipient leftovers

   

Tomorrow we're off to the beach for a couple of days.  Our feet need some time off the cobblestones and in the water!

To the islands

Sometimes when there is a language barrier you have to be careful about how you word your question.  Like when we asked at the information centre in Reggio di Calabria about the ferry to Sicily.  They assured us we would have to go back up the coast to Villa San Giovanni, that was the only place the ferry left from, nope, no ferries from Reggio.  Amazing in a port town!  We were quite surprised when our host later told us not to worry, that we could catch the hydrofoil and they ran at least hourly from a spot only a few minutes walk away.

They were all wrong. It did leave nearly every hour - but it was a catamaran. The trip takes about as long as the Manly Ferry.

We toured to Lipari via Messina where we had lunch before joining Sunday's only ferry to the islands from that port.  We could have gone to Mezzari but by the time we added an additional train and bus to the trip we wouldn't have had time for lunch!  Our accommodation, as promised, is a ground floor unit with a private (ish) terrace area.  Unlike its ad on booking.com it does NOT have room service or even a restaurant - both of which we're unlikely to use anyway (and you should have heard the swift talking we needed to do to get an ice bucket to chill our supermarcarto vino and beira!) (Edited to add that on checkout they tried to charge us four euro for bar purchases.  I looked blank and said we hadn't ordered any drinks.  Which of course we hadn't.  The cost, we were told, was obviously a mistake!)

The ferry stopped at Vulcano for long enough for us to know that we didn't want to stay there.  The pong was quite unbelievable and neither of us had any desire for a thermal mud bath, no matter how good they're supposed to be for you.  Onwards we went, our faces buried in Matt's clean hankies.

Lipari town is fairly small but the castello and museum of antiquities were well worth a visit.  We spent a long morning there, but at least this time we left before we were escorted out.  The strangest thing we saw?  Not the exhibits, the gum trees!  No wonder so many Aussies visit (on the ferry over the seats in front AND the seats behind had Aussies in them), it smells like home.  Or it could be that we were the only visitors from Oz who were not offspring of the post war diaspora.

The next day we thought we'd go to Salina for lunch.  We nearly fell over when told the cost of the ferry!  Luckily for just a few Euro more we joined a tourist trip that went right round both Lipari and Salina with multiple stops for shopping, swimming, and eating.  In general the swimming stops were too short and the stop at Lingua on Salina was way too long.  Two and a half hours in a town with two streets, four restaurants and no shops.  Clearly no Italian blood running in our veins as we explained to the waitress we were used to light and fast lunches (in order to fit in more walking and swimming of course).  It was, however, delicious.  I'm sure my shellfish were straight off the boat.  I even ate and enjoyed the bait as we sat and watched Stromboli send out enough puffs of toxic smoke that the seismologists would know it was still an active volcano.  Not really close enough to photograph the action.  I'm torn between my desire to take better photos (meaning more equipment and weight) and knowing if I buy it I have to carry it!

An abandoned town or resort on the coast of Lipari

Tasty tasty bait on Salina

Not lost at sea

In the distance you could see Stromboli.  

While on Lipari we actually dined one night at a restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet "Europe on a shoestring" (dunno how it fit THAT category) and it was great.  Food was tasty and well presented, the cats were friendly and greedy, and we correctly guessed the chef had worked in Australia.  Possibly the use of ingredients like finger limes were a give-away?  Lipari was also where we made the food sensation discovery of the trip (so far).   Take one take-away lemon granita at sundown.  Add a slug of gin from the stash in your bag.  Enjoy...  In the interests of science we have tried to replicate the success of this experiment with other flavours but much to our surprise the lime wasn't as good and the mint was so much like a sugar toothpaste fusion it went down the sink (luckily before we added the gin).  We have named this important concoction a  “Diana’s downfall” – granita and gin and a change of name for me because Italian’s can’t deal with a woman’s name ending in e.   Perhaps it still needs a sprig of fresh mint?  Hmm, more research is required. We may also have tried a few local vinos and some of the street food.  We did consider trying ALL the local delicacies but kind of got stuck on the pluck panini and left that for someone more adventurous food wise to report back on.

We left Lipari on a morning ferry to the Big Island and even managed to make our train connection.  The ferry port and the railway station at Milazzo are four km apart and they don't seem to discuss timetables with each other.  The trip up the coast is slow, but mostly interesting .  We cheered at the families setting up their picnics on the free beaches, immediately adjacent to the paying customers - the thing about Italy I really DON'T get - paying to sit down in a crowd at the beach when there are 100s of km of coast!

Arriving in Palermo it was hot and humid and historical.  We arrived by train from Milazzo and soon found the free bus which wound around the narrow streets of the old part of the town.  We squeezed on with loads of locals who used it more than the tourists and (thanks to the wonders of google maps working offline and Matt’s mad map reading skilz) found a stop close to our B&B.  We only had to brave the traffic and cross the road to get there…

Pedestrian crossings in Italy are always challenging I find.  These were possibly closer to chaos than any others – and unlike Rome, no handy nuns to shield you from the craziest drivers.  We soon worked out the rule was to close your eyes and imagine a protective bubble that would cause cars to miraculously stop for you.  And then proceed to cross with your eyes still shut so you couldn’t see how close you came to certain death. Oh all right, Matt peeked.  I sure didn’t.  I just held his hand and prayed!

Don’t think we spent all our time eating and drinking because we did manage a few cultural icons.  The Capuchin Catacombs fuelled my taste for the macabre.  What a WEIRD thing.  While there were a few very old mummies on display (mostly priests) the vast majority were between the 1830s and 1880s.  Maybe the really old ones have turned to dust?  You could see incredible detail of the clothes the corpses were preserved wearing and one baby looked like a lifesize doll, still with hair and clothes perfectly preserved.  Matt tells me that one was wearing a porcelain overlay/deathmask.  Others were little more than shrouds and skelitons.  We were fascinated to see how they were arranged too, one section for entire families, another for virgin girls, yet another for professional people (and yes we did speculate on their professions).  What Matt thought was weird was while professionals were heralded there was no similar identification of groups of skilled craftsmen or artisans.  Don’t worry, no photography was permitted so I shan’t freak you out any further.

The architecture of Palermo is worthy of 1000s of words with so many layers of rulers and cultures building on top of each other.  At one turn, the old port’s keep is the centre of a dog park, while in the city the magnificent Norman/Moorish buildings jostle for with modern buildings and medieval facades. 

Our accommodation overlooked the Calla; the original old port, repurposed as a marina – Bru, you would love our view.   

 The street art was also interesting, both formal and informal.

Before we knew it, we were on board another ferry, this time heading overnight for Napoli.  Once again, the food was shocking!  And we thought the Mediterranean people were supposed to love their food so much even the take away was good.  It's so not.  Matt got caught out with the meat option which was quite pricey (although was supposed to include vegetables which he declined) and Di’s ceasar salad was an interesting interpretation of the subject.  At least it had chicken not anchovies I suppose!  We know we should buy our dinner on shore and bring it with us, but it was so hot (36 degrees) we were afraid of giving ourselves food poisoning between the supermercato and the port, a good 45 minute walk with our bags.  Our cabin, however, is a GREAT improvement on the one we had from Croatia as we have a porthole and an ensuite.  It was worth visiting the ticket office to buy our tickets as the double cabins offered online were only inside cabins and the same price!   Still no double bed, but this time we had a window.  Daylight woke us before the alarm and our 6:30 disembarktion.

Next stop Naples and a few famous antiquities.

From coast to coast

We were very sorry to have had such a short time in Croatia and are already plotting our return.  However, Italy beckoned, so on we went, catching the overnight ferry from Dubrovnik to Bari. 

We walked down here and had a swim.  Thank goodness for beach shoes!

View while waiting for the ferry to depart.

We had booked a cabin on the ferry in the hope of sleeping most of the way.  More a cubicle than a cabin, there was only room for one of us to stand up at a time and the narrow bunks certainly didn’t allow sharing.  Included with our tickets was breakfast.  I just love a good hotel breakfast, unfortunately this one wasn’t.  Even the bread was stale (possibly the slices left over from dinner the night before?).  Disembarking around 8am we cleared customs and went to the station to leave our luggage so we could explore the town before journeying on.

We tried catching a bus to the old town but it seems our language skills weren’t up to scratch and we’d been told any bus except number 12.  Number 12 went a long way down the coast and back and it was quite interesting to see the suburban houses and caravan parks (or that is Di’s explanation, me I think the disinformation guy was having a lend of us – Ed). More disturbing, away from the tourist areas, was the roadside prostitution/ slavery which I have read is apparently a huge problem, with young women from the former communist bloc countries being tricked into coming for what they think is going to be legitimate work and having their passport withheld.


On our eventual return to Bari Centrale we decided to walk into the old town where there were several points of interest - the cathederal (closed for lunch), the castle (mostly closed for rennovations) and we did manage the third - the Basilica of Saint Nicholas.  We went down to the crypt where I thought the bones looked decidedly unhygienic and didn’t join the queue to kiss them!  Our next stop was lunch in a typical trattoria.  Missing the generous serves of vegetables I’m accustomed to, I ordered a zucchini salad.  And that’s just what I got... a large plate raw zucchini, liberally dressed with lemon and olive oil.  I also thought I ordered a medium sized glass of wine but got a medium sized carafe!  Oh well, I only had to manage to get on the next train….

Not Santa's bones but other looted relics from the time of the First Crusade.

I'd also like to point out that I'm not the only one who sometimes has an unexpected meal.  The next meal out Matt ordered an Americano burger - and a what he got was a very tasty rissole with chips on the side.  No bun, a not really a salad with no onion or tomato, not even any tomato sauce.

The afternoon saw us on the train to Taranto where we planned to visit the castle (surprise!).  The castle is still in use as a naval base but they do run tours over a small part and show off their archaeological discoveries.  There was lots of commentary, most of which we didn’t understand.  Luckily the rooms we visited had translations in English, German, and French pinned to the walls so while we missed what the crowd was laughing at we did get the important historical information!

An evening promenade alone the waterfront meant wandering past what we initially thought were food trucks.  Nope, they were bar trucks.  The one we stopped at specialised in citrus based drinks which were very refreshing in the heat.

Thwarted in our plan to eat early and often we had to wait for the restaurants to open.  We thought we had selected a very unpopular place when we entered and were the only patrons.  Not at all, it was nearly full when we left – we were just unfashionably early in our dining hour (it was nearly 9pm when we sat down).  Still, we were happy to have some familiar food.

Oh sushi, how I adore you.

Dinners out also meant I finally had an opportunity to show off my Croatian coral from Korcula – thanks Fay and Bru, I bought the necklace and earrings with some of my birthday money.

I really need to get photoshop so I can fix my ruddy features!

The place I most enjoyed visiting in Taranto was the museum of antiquities.  Taranto has a long history and was first mentioned in recorded history as a Spartan colony where illegitimate offspring were sent.  Its roots are even older with the museum having objects on display going back to humanities earliest days.    We lingered until closing time and were eventually escorted out by one of the lovely staff who took the time to show us some of her favourite pieces on the way.

Our final town before Sicily was Reggio de Calabria where I picked our apartment purely because it offered a washing machine!  As I wrote this we were en route there -  on a train travelling south, on a narrow stretch of coast before the mountains begin.  The views were astonishing.

Sorry Mum and Dad, I know one of your favourite bronzes ever is in the museum at Reggio but our day was entirely taken up with doing nothing except a bit of housekeeping!  We didn't get there.  We did watch the sun set over Sicily though as we planned our trip to the Aeolian Islands.  Next stop Lipari (pronounced like Slippery).