212 – 216 : East Side of Sicily

Posted on November 22, 2015 by Clunegapyears

212 – Wednesday 18th November 2015: Aci Trezza Walk and … Lunch

We had thought being in the town would be noisy, but it was actually very peaceful. J was up and about very early for the sunrise – you can tell how long he was out there by the changing light – I thought he gone fishing with one of the locals!

A superb and FREE parking location for two nights.

The Aged P’s arrived … on time! If anything 2 minutes late …. had my ribbing about being always early had an effect? It threw us off – we’d started a quick tidy and a hoovering.

A gent's tie cared in basalt ... J not having any of it! He has two remming ties in the Aged P's attic: weddings and funerals!

A gent’s tie carved in basalt … J not having any of it! He has two remming ties in the Aged P’s attic: weddings and funerals!

Coffee in Chardonnay and then a walk along the front to Acicastello, passing the Isole dei Cyclops: basalt rocks creating usual shapes near the harbour. According to Homer, Polyphemus threw them at Ulysses who had blinded him. Part of the path wended through a private lido with changing huts, plants and sun bathing areas … yours for EUR3. J and I wandered up the stairs into the town – the town where we had struggled with tight turns in Chardonnay yesterday, but we forgave it. It had a nice high piazza by the castle and views over the sea.

It was a little early for lunch, so we tried another of the Slovenian wines we had brought back for Horvat winery in Maribor … this is the second we have tried with the Aged Ps and they are really good. Despite trying for pizza; most seemed to be shut, we ended up with a very good lunch of swordfish overlooking the harbour.

Coffees after lunch sitting on the harbour wall.

OK for those of you who think we look alike … we obviously have the same mannerisms too!

Sylvie: This one’s for you. Tiramsu WITH coffee and chocolate ice cream and cream …..

213 – Thursday 19th November 2015: Mount Etna

A plan for Etna today. The Aged P’s had driven up part of it some years ago (they have been most places!), but it is so much part of Sicily and the largest volcano in Europe, that it really is a must. The other name for it is Mongibello: from the Italian ‘monte’ meaning mountain and the Arab ‘gebel’ meaning mountain too. So ‘Mount Mountain’. Regular eruptions from the main core and side craters – so constantly re-‘cratering’ itself, that it gets to be named twice! I hope you spotted my weak pun there!

We drove via a motorway services for imperfect motorhome services … I won’t go into detail about the concrete hole in the ground ….. Another stop for GPL. And several abortive stops for water. Ho hum … we were a little late at our rendezvous of Zafferano Etnea with the Aged P’s …. just as well. They arrived before us and rang to say the road was unsuitable to get Chardonnay down. We plugged in coordinates number 2 (we like to have a Plan B, and C and sometimes, even D) and met at Piazza Kennedy. The Aged P’s failed to find coffee and cakes in town and so joined us in Chardonnay, whilst J munched through a volcano sized bowl of cereal.

Car view on the drive up. The Autumn leaves must further on here than we have seen anywhere else as it is so much cooler.

Car view on the drive up. The Autumn leaves were further on here than we have seen anywhere else, as it is so much cooler.

We drove in Chardonnay up to the Rifugio Sapienza, where the cable car starts for the summit of Etna starts.

K had googled:

That the road was suitable for motorhomes and so it proved – much easier than most Sicilian roads! Wide and with a good surface for all the summer tourist coaches.
The prices for the Etna ascent. Not going to happen for us … EUR30 for the cable car. 23 for the 4 wheel drive jeep and you still had to walk the rest. And then 9 for the compulsory guide to get to mouth of the main crater. A whopping total of EUR62! EACH!!

However, Etna had kindly gushed a small crater near the carpark and we circled that. A quick and disdainful look at the souvenir shops … who would pay EUR10 for a lump of rock when you can pick one up? And then lunch in Chardonnay, admiring the effects of the changing light on the lava. Fascinating to see the lava, both black and red, and how vegetation starts to grow on areas of volcanic rock. Drifts of volcanic ash that covered the road in places and must be a real hazard to walkers and cars in high winds.

Definitely much cooler up here.

J at the bottom of a small crater … oops, at the bottom of a massive one, of course! If it blows, the only way is up.

Looks as if Dad is about to chuck Mum into the crater … she was actually being camera shy!

The car park was used for a mass paraglider landing, having come down from near the top of Etna. Bet this was more than the EUR 62 to get to the top!

Our Belgian neighbours from Aci Trezza had arrived too. They would stay overnight nearby and he would pay for the cable car and then walk the 5km up, but tomorrow morning as it was too late today.

We could have stayed overnight in the car park in Zafferano Etnea, but the guide book had promised a permanent agricultural fair with local wine and produce …. since there was no sight of either, a whining dog well within ear shot, and the rain had started … three good reasons to head back down the side of Etna towards the coast and higher temperatures.

Brad SatNav was duly tasked with taking us directly to an overnight parking near San Marco close to the coast….. Well, we coasted along following his directions….until he guided us down a quite narrow nondescript road. We followed confidently – the road got more narrow with trees brushing our roof… The road which seemed very narrow got more and more narrow. Did I just use the word narrow twice in the same sentence ? It then got narrowissimo ! Molto narrow, pissedoffissimo narrow, in fact… We came to a point where further progress was actually impossible with nowhere to turn around ! We have been in tight spots before, but this was definitely the worst. Calmly (not), we assessed the options – reverse our 28′ beauty along a ‘kinometre of blind mans alley – or (on finding a sort of gateway) turn in down a gravelly sandy slope with multifarious potholes – and then reverse up the slope and around an impossibly tight corner ! K (calmly) volunteered to drive – and I gave directions from outside the van. Reversing up the gravelly slope led to many wheel spins and slides – this was not promising… Finally, K administered some teacherly wellie – and Chardonnay made it up the gradient. As we share everything, I took my turn behind the wheel at this point. After a 27 point turn, we somehow got our home straightened enough to head back in the direction from whence we came ! Gulps of air (and relief) all round – the gin would have come later, except we don’t have any…

Brad (suitably admonished) finally led us to an alternative oasis – that just happened to be – a campsite! It was the one we planned to stay at tomorrow. We decide it was fate – and bivouacked for a peaceful evening…..

214 – Friday 20th November 2015: Defeated by Taormina Parking and a BBQ

The Aged P’s left their car at our campsite and J drove along the coast (after a direction error by K and had to do a tight 5 point turn at the entrance to the hospital), which was actually really pretty. A bay with islands and amazing clear water.

They have put a long tunnel under Taormina to get to the multi-storey car park as cars, thankfully, are banned from the old town centre. Bugger …. height barriers and not for motorhomes. We followed a motorhome parking sign, another tight turn, down a slope, just scraping the exhaust pipe and a 7 point turn this time. The ticket booth stated that motorhome parking was a whopping EUR5/hour but it seemed pretty deserted. We walked up the slope and looked at the tunnel we would have to walk through …. none of us fancied this, so we scarpered. Dad had suggested returning the the campsite via the supermarket to buy some fodder for lunch. We elected on a BBQ, which went slightly awry as the charcoal would not get going. J even chucked more lighting fuel on it … (from a safe distance, of course) and that just smoked. Abort. Chardonnay’s grill was deployed for the second time in 7 months, until K remembered the Cadac Safari grill … success … we managed to eat …. eventually.

Unbelievably, our Belgian neighbours turned up at the camping. It is a shame we were all too tired to make an evening of it (we had eaten and drunk too much and he had done the 5km walk up and then down Etna), and they only planned to stay the one night.

215 – Saturday 21st November 2015: Taormina and Pizza

Second attempt to reach and park in Taormina was successful. Dad drove in the small hire car … we discovered the rear suspension had gone. It groaned and growled over every bump and particularly did not like the tight hairpins.

Taormina is very pretty, nestled on rocks above the sea. Restaurant and shops, a small Duomo and lots of small narrow side streets. Nice, but must be horrendous in summer.

J tour guide for the day and he has the correct book :). We know where we are!!!

Rules as you enter Taormina …. Really?!?

Part of the statue outside the Duomo

A little rest for the menfolk, as the women checked out a mosaic (unremarkable and up steps), but at least we went to see!

Lots of quaint side streets.

J is Adam, eating Eve’s apple …. it is the carving on the balcony.

Cactus hair … the whole balcony had a family of cactus heads.

The Villa Communale was donated to th town by the Englishwoman Florence Trevelyan.

The Villa Communale was donated to the town by the Englishwoman Florence Trevelyan (could be of the Cornwall garden’s family). Great views of Etna and the coast.

A kooky construction in the Villa Comunale that Ms Trevelyn used for bird watching.

We chose not to have coffees or lunch in the Wunderbar Cafe where Taylor and Burton used to sip cocktails … not at EUR7.50 for an espresso! Swordfish (again, but so good) for Mum and I, and pizza for Dad and James … sitting in the sun overlooking the coast. Try not to feel too sorry for us!

Couldn’t come to Italy and not have at least one pizza.

216 – Sunday November 22nd November 2015 – Traffic Report … Aci Trezza again and Catania

Planned: A rendezvous in Aci Trezza (where we had previously overnighted) and then a bus to Catania … buses few on a Sunday so an early start.

Actual: K and J arrived in good time at the harbour car park … Aged P’s back on form … Early. Very early and had discovered that the published timetable on the web *updated Sept 2015* was incorrect, which it would have meant a long wait. K stocked up on veggies at the small market and then Dad drove.

Catania: Quiet roads and free parking. Main highlight is the the Piazza del Duomo which is really attractive.

A Town Hall security guard with good English explained about the presence of the elephant statue in the square … Hannibal was believed to have passed through and elephant remains were found under the square.

The elephant symbol is also found on the city carriage which is only used annually in a February procession.

You’ll have to wait till February for a lift!

Coffee and cake. Both J and Dad ended up waring the oozing chocolate!

Coffee and cake. Both J and Dad ended up wearing the oozing chocolate!

The town was flattened in an earthquake in 1693. so all the main buildings are C18 …. Baroque.

Some of the characterful gargoyles supporting balconies.

Inside the Duomo: Buy your own plastic saint!!! Otherwise stare at the Cardinal's corpse - face mask but withered bejewelled hands.

Inside the Duomo: Buy your own plastic saint!!! Otherwise stare at the Cardinal Dusmet’s corpse in a glass coffin – he had a face mask but his withered bejewelled hands were there to see.

I want one of those! Child is happy: he has his own car. Dad is happy: he has the remote control!!!!

The Roman baths under the Cathedral were shut and we did not fancy the Roman amphitheatre (a bit Roman Remains’d Out!), so we decided to return to Aci Trezzo for a risotto in Chardonnay. We picked up some fish on our way back to the car from the Pescheria: a relatively expensive fish, but meaty and lots of flavour … no idea what , but not dissimilar to monkfish.

The fruit market leading to the fish market under the arches.

Aci Trezza: Just getting here from Catania was an experience. And one not to wish for. Traffic everywhere. The WHOLE of the region was out and about and all driving as badly as only Sicilians know how. Once we got close to Aci Trezza we joined the back of serious traffic jam. Everyone who was not in Catania had come here. If one horn was beeped, then another, and then everyone had to join in. Is it a herd mentality? Everyone out in their car crawling along roads. We assumed our car park would be jam packed … wrong! Cars were scooting through hoping for a short cut and not parking. K and J left the Aged P’s in the traffic queue to collect the food makings of a risotto, intending to take it up the the Aged P’s apartment and eat there. Amazingly there were car park spaces – so what were all these people doing? Just driving around? Enjoying being in a traffic jam? K started to cook in the van …. it must have been half an hour before the Aged P’s finally parked up. Wine served immediately on arrival … medicinal. Entertainment on hand as we watched cars try to pass in front of our nose for a short cut thorough the short cut of the car park, only to have to reverse as the only exit was into the water. One young enterprising chap collected tips as he became the unofficial car park helper.

After lunch a little wander and into a cafe for dessert and coffee. Another Tiramasu ice-cream, wine and a chocolate crepe. K finally had a cafe correcto with Amoretto … expresso with a shot. 🙂

208 – 211: Picnics on the Coast and in the Hills

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Clunegapyears

208 – Saturday 14th November: Meal at ‘Home’ … How many units?

K shopped in Cefalu for the remaining food items and we drove to the Aged P’s apartment via (a half hour detour each way!) a motorway services that had motorhome services. We are not sure that they wanted us to use the services as they had ‘no entry’ poles up, but we asked, smiled a lot, and they let us use them. We could see why they were shut off. Some people are just foul (literally!) …. excrement and wet wipes had been poured down the grey waste, when there was a perfectly good chemical toilet point.

Arriving at the apartment, K showered in luxury and K and J sorted the hand laundry (3 batches) that were still slowly drying on the balcony. K cooked … all Sicilian recipes. We even had two different types of Marsala and two versions of Grillo white wine. K blames her father for the toxic poisoned feeling she had the next day. Thank you J for driving.

Chef at large … in a pukka kitchen … work space envy!

Starters on the balcony.

View across to Cefalu

209 – Sunday 15th November:

K started the day with two paracetamol 😦 . How does Dad do it?!? As we have a fridge and the picnic gear on board for a picnic, we picked up the Aged Ps and drove along the coast to two towns.

Santo Stefano di Camastra is known for its ceramics. A locals’ town and busy with people out for a wander, coffee and greeting each other. We liked it.

Ceramics everywhere, even on the park fence under some winter jasmine

We caught then end of the band and the majorettes.

We picnicked along side the sea …. and stayed for a couple of hours … peaceful, sun and sea… what’s to hurry for?

Castel di Tusa was less interesting … pretty fishing boats and rocks with the late afternoon glow. It is known mostly for being the start of a contemporary (odd!) art trail. And there was no gelateria open – a major failing!

J’s arms aren’t long enough to give some support!

210 – Monday 16th November:

Up to the hills today. Caccamo: lies under a Norman castle, overlooking a lake, with lots of pretty church squares on different levels. It was only supposed to be 10km from the motorway, but Brad (nice but dim Sat Nav) took us the scenic route up when K was driving (hairpins and a felled tree blockage) and a direct and quick route back when J was driving …. sexist?

It took a matter of minutes for these chaps to clear the road .... they moved fast. And hurled massive heavy trunk segments into the verge to allow traffic through.

It took a matter of minutes for these chaps to clear the road …. they moved fast. And strong as they hurled massive heavy trunk segments into the verge to allow traffic through.

When we approached the castle, an elderly gent scurried out of his museum / tasting shop and explained that despite all the guide books stating the castle was open on Monday it was not …. to be honest, we had completely forgotten that all the museums shut on Mondays …. duh! He was so charmingly earnest that we took him up on his free tasting. Why are these things never free … you feel beholden to buy something. The Aged Ps left with a pistachio pesto for pasta and a prickly pear (cactus fruit) grappa for Grumps … K with jam for M and the pistachio pesto. We LOVED the sweet tastings of lemon and pistachio … but what would we do with them … none of us bake cakes etc. Tempting as it is to buy and just eat from the jar on a spoon!

The elderly gent explaining the closed castle and offering the free tastings.

An ancient pasta press in the elderly gent’s museum

Charmingly proud of his town

We had a quick wander of the town and then had another long picnic – in the sun admiring the view.

Buildings clinging to the hill side

Seriously clinging to the rocks

An Englishman Abroad hat!!! For those that don’t know us … James is Irish.

Madonna and skull!!!

Lunch View 🙂

Back to the Aged P’s apartment for supper … strange looking fish: spatola – silver scabbard fish … pretty tasteless, but we were just relieved it was not eel – none of us care for the oiliness.

211 – Tuesday 17th November: Moving East: Just North of Catania

The Aged P’s second apartment is just north of Catania, near Aci Trezzo. K and J re-vistied the motorway services as there seem to be a lack of OPEN motorhome services.

Free motorway across the centre of Sicily: rolling hills. If it were not for the vegetation, it could have been the UK Dales. We plan to spend a bit of time visiting the central mountains.

Lots of motorway sections are propped up on stilts. Italy must me a major concrete consumer. Hilltop Enna on the horizon.

Lots of motorway sections are propped up on stilts. Italy must be a major concrete consumer. Hilltop Enna on the horizon.

Etna is visible from a long way off, wisps of smoke atop. Approaching Catania, it is flatter with orange groves.

K and J ‘negotiated’ part of Catania and then a few too many near miss / awkward reversing / tight turns of Aci Castello. Fortunately for K, J was driving, so she alighted several times and spotted for him. Onto Aci Trezzo, which is quite close to the Aged P’s apartment and down a few more narrow roads … Oh Joy … a harbour with a free car park. It is always reassuring to be near another motorhome … Belgian Knaus next door. we communicated in French. The first thing our neighbour said was how horrendous the narrow roads were! Yep, I said …. we were going to celebrate arriving with a glass of wine! We duly found a bar and people watched.

A water canoe polo practice – entertainment right on our front porch!

Stop press: J just called me outside… fish jumping. Right outside our front porch, again. Fat cat lurked and nabbed one as they landed on the lava rocks.

203-207: Into Sicily

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Clunegapyears

203 – Monday 9th November 2015: From one Beach to Another

We said farewell to our Austrian neighbours and set off with the intention of getting fairly close to the port for Sicily. We mostly used the motorway as we wanted to make good progress, having lingered an extra day in Praia de Mare.

Given that it gets dark at 5.00, we headed off for the coast at about 4.00. The Parking app guided us to a small marina in Lido di Palmi. There was water (which we used) but no other services. We may have been able to stay there but there was a large heavy gate and we don’t like the thought of being shut in … and the marina seemed to be in constant use, so potentially noisy. A few hundred meters further on and the road stopped … and so did we. We had passed a good few higgledy houses on the left, winter closed restaurants on the right with one remaining bar open …. all the local men seemed to be outside. Boys playing football. The beach was filthy … it looked like all the summer’s rubbish had not made it to a bin. But the sea was calm, fishing boasts darted back and forth and we were treated to another lovely sunset. The closed up restaurant nearest us had kindly left a toilet unlocked … so guess where our toilet contents went!

Our Pitch

204 – Tuesday 10th November 2015 – And into Sicily

In the morning, we passed the same men by the bar or mending nets. Quite a few young lads obviously had not made it to the school bus, preferring to help dad. The women pushed old stroller style push chairs with a trays of fish to the roadside and sold from there. Cars and vans came, negotiated and bought. As we left two women waved swordfish at us … but we did stop and I bought two fish, despite the seller trying to load me with about 5! If I had known how cheap it was, I might have bought that swordfish … only EUR2 for whatI think are two decent sized sea bass. I gutted them outside the motorhome and being so fresh … no smell at all. But real life. Unchanged since 1920s?

The ferry to Sicily is an experience. We stopped to buy the tickets before going the queue to board and a chap helpfully (in German) translated my motorhome and a three month open return request to the attendant … and then in a very charming way, asked for EUR5 for his help. We laughed that I was poor, but gave him the shrapnel out of my wallet …. he got the price of a small coffee. The ferries do not seem to run to a timetable, but ply back and forth as quickly as they can. It is organised chaos! Lots of staff, fairly unidentifiable as no high vis, waving cars, busses and trucks on in all and conflicting directions, even before the boat was emptied of the arriving traffic. Both boarding and disembarking saw 3/4 lanes merge (and I use the word ‘merge’ loosely) into fewer lanes.

Simultaneous on and off and the ferry runs around as fast as it can.

We elected to use the motorway to get close to Cefalu, near where K’s Aged Ps have rented for week one. Interesting … very over grown: sometimes on both sides making the hard shoulder unusable and the two active carriageways effective 1.5! And frequently down to one lane with countless road works, although little evidence of the works. A lot of tunnels, but pretty much hugged the coast.

We managed to avoid driving through the really narrow streets of Cefalu, thank goodness as Chardonnay would have been much the worse off – on all panels, as a couple of locals beeped at as and told us to turn around. Back up over the town and onto the sea front and we are installed in a Parking. To make life easier we will stay here 7 nights and negotiated a small discount. Supermarket nearby and easy walking distance to the old town. We joined the locals and a few tourists in the early evening perambulations and found the BEST ice cream vendor. K’s mission: partake every day!

205 – Wednesday 11th November 2015: Chuffing Cefalu

We ran along the beach front … just over two miles … good, but need to find a longer route.

The Aged P’s drove down to us and parked nose to nose with Chardonnay. We all needed an easy day so wandered the old town of Cefalu. It is actually pronounced Chefaloo, not Sefaloo or Kefaloo.

We lunched in front of the Duomo – very indifferent (nasty) food but wonderful location. Had an ice cream (day 2 mission accomplished) and investigated the train station. Supper for 4 in Chardonnay.

Beach and the old fishermen houses hugging the waterfront.

Food dropped from above the balcony … the cats knew where to sit!

The almost matching towers and Roca behind make the cathedral an impressive sight, filling the Piazza. Unfortunately the cloisters were undergoing work (we could actually hear work going on :)) and there was a barrier to prevent close inspection of the apse mosaics and marble work.

I'm not overseen on marzipan, but these are art works.

I’m not overkeen on marzipan, but these are art works.

The town laundry, fed by mountain water and then out to sea. It only came out of use in the 1980’s. With so many bays (you can’t see them all, it must have been a hub of chatter, news and gossip. Tempted to bring our our laundry down.

206 – Thursday 12th November 2015 – Marsarla … Town and Wine and Battling Sat Navs

The Aged P’s were due at 9.30 … guess what they were 20 mins early …. fortunately we had expected them to be a bit early and were just about ready.

We took the motorway along and down to Marsala. The hire car Sat Nav was programmed in German, and Mutt named her Gudren, after her childhood pen friend. However, just to be sure of the route, Mutt put Jane (brought from home) on too … it was like an England / Germany needle football match. Who would get in first with a direction? Did they agree? Jane was less gushing with instructions, and on the nose until on a motorway she did not know about … so I reckon we will have to call it a draw!

The plan was to enjoy some wine tastings and have a light lunch. We only half accomplished this as it was over 3 hours drive … we should have checked this out first … poor Dad …. he could have driven from home to Scotland in the time. With Sicily being an island, we sort of forgot that it is one third of the size of Ireland … distances are not exactly down the road.

Duomo: Thomas a Becket on the left of the window. But what made me chuckle was the naughty cherubs who are playing on the roof!

Not sure what was on the menu!? One of the letters?

Nearly lunchtime so a quick walk and then TripAdvisor to find a restaurant ‘around me’ …. excellent. Good English and a great meal. The wine was a Grillo, which we will try to buy in the supermarket. But the starter …. two sorts of mozarella, one with fried ham/ bacon and the other stuffed with a sort of cream and anchovies …. this would have done us …. fabulous. Mains and then we finished with a glass of … Marsala and the biscotti to dunk in it. No more tastings as all the entoteca were on their long lunch … J and I will probably go back.

We really liked Marsala once we got away from the children beggars in the the carpark and into the marble streets of the old town. Peaceful and attractive and no traffic, as in Cefalu, where you are constantly leaping into doorways to avoid the locals’ cars and mopeds.

My mission of an ice cream daily … no chance … too tired to walk into town …. and we’d been sat in the car for over 6 hours … how does that work?

207 – Friday 13th November: Pulsing Palermo

We met the Aged P’s at the station. Knowing they would be early, we planned to be 10 mins early …. they were there before us (of course!) and had already bought the tickets.

Palermo is bustling and alive. Architecture is a mix of Norman, Arab, Spanish, Italian etc. Some fabulous squares and a port.

Arab influence.

The Fountain of Shame: so called as all the nudes offended the local church goers. But it had wonderful marble animals around the base.

Some of the nudes … whoops, they forgot to remove their clothes!

Mum giggling when the chap in an e cigarette shop demonstrated smoke coming out of every orifice … sadly I was not quick enough to catch her as she fell apart. I should add that J was buying, not anyone else.

Amazing fig tree roots in the centre of one of the main squares.

The wrought iron fencing was really unusual: a clutch of birds and arrows and spears on the uprights.

Pukka fishing boats as well as leisure craft

The Duomo was a real mix of architecture and more interesting on the outside …

… the Arab influence

Another TripAdvisor lunch stop. And this was AMAZING! It was a small place in a back street, and initially we were the only diners. The host Michele had a great patter … little English but with lots of gesticulations and emphasis on each dish being a ‘Michele invention’ …. yes we would have the EUR20 lunch ….

We all agreed it was the BEST (as in tastiest) Italian food we’ve had and we had a floor show from Michele to accompany it … from trying to explain that his wife Iolanda did no work (and in true pantomime style as sided with her) to explain he would cry if he had to throw our left overs away … we have a massive doggy bag!

Our very memorable meal

It was a very slow walk back to the station … K and J via the Arab market to buy some of the ingredients for a long slow lunch tomorrow at the Aged P’s apartment … we plan an easy day, but good food – again!

Mission failure day 2: no ice cream … no room!

201-202: Paestum and Sunday Rest

Posted on November 8, 2015 by Clunegapyears

201 – Saturday 7th November 2015: Paestum – Not all Greek

A few pics from yesterday …

Possibly the largest back pack – ever

Sunset over the pitch we had to flit from

Drink in the local bar before supper …. note leather armchairs and a real fire … we could be at Rothbury!

One of the Greek Temples c. BC 450

We had a really peaceful night amongst the olive groves.

A short drive to the Paestum parking we had left as our EUR5 ticket was still valid. We drove around the parking and successfully retrieved one of J’s crocs, that he had left in our scramble to implement our evacuation plan. Lucky, eh?

It feels like we have done a lot of archaeological sites in the last week, but Paestum has three Greek temples as well as Roman excavations. The temples are often in Italy tourist advertising and predate the Roman. BC450 ish … so amazing to be walking around structures that were built and used nearly 2,500 years ago. In places you can still see the architectural details.

Roman: a double stone roof

The Greek temples were just huge

You can just make out J bottom left, which gives some idea of scale.

Architectural detail.

We lunched in the car park and set off, heading south. Across a peninsular and then along the coast road. The first part was pretty grim … ugly and tatty summer tourist bars and campsites, only inhabited by about 30 prostitutes and the passing (or not passing) traffic. Soon it was mostly stunning: stacks and smarter villages clinging to the rocks, bays and beaches.

We missed our intended pitch as we looked for a supermarket … comedic moment when K asked two parked Carabinari and a local chap for directions and they all spoke at once and tried to out do each other in helpfulness! We then missed a turning and ended up climbing 5km up a mountain in the dark … Brad the Sat Nav wanted us to turn around …. no chance in an 8m van and on hairpin bends! A the top we finally found somewhere to turn and headed for a nearer parking K found.

These things are meant to be …. beachside and fantastic! Our lovely Austrian neighbours came for a couple of days and are still here 8 days later! They warned us about the noise from a nightclub not far away so we followed them to another carpark overnight and then we moved back in the morning.

202 – Sunday 8th November 2015: Praia di Mare – A Day of Rest and Remembrance

We both ran in the sun along the front … J 5km with some speed 🙂 We wandered down the beach to look at the sea and both had a simultaneous thought … let’s stay all day and move on tomorrow.

We have had a lovely day …

we swam
K transcribed lots of free parkings in Sicily from a book loaned by our Austrian neighbours
we read
a little walk in the other direction
J took pix of the sun set
…. and we just sat in the sun and grinned at each other.

Black sand

We are the far left van … you can see how busy it is … NOT!

View from our waterside pitch

Sadly we have been watching a hillside fire … it does not seem to have eaten any of the houses.

198-200: The Hidden Napoli…

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Clunegapyears

198 – Wednesday 4th October 2015: Bank Foxtrotuncle, Duomo and Underground

Train into Napoli and as cash funds were low, the first stop was an ATM. With all the warnings of pick pockets, K sensibly held her bag in front of her….. and waited for the cash …. and waited for the cash …. said to J ‘This is taking a long time’ and ….. the machine asked for the next customer. No cash! The bag had obscured the very low exit for the money. Once we had negotiated the airlock door with guard to the bank, we attempted to explain what I had done. Some language difficulties until K offered French or German …. it then became and excellent conversation in French – understood by both sides! Oops … come back tomorrow when the bank has done its reconciliation. A telephone to the bank back home and they said to see if the Naples bank could sort it first too. Bugger as we meant to move south tomorrow. Ho Hum.

Naples is the home of the pizza, so we had to have one …. The Margeritta is named after a queen. So huge that we shared one… really fresh ingredients.

The Duomo is nothing special: rather sombre and the interior is very C18 looking, however it did have a lot of relics. Do I have a fascination with ancient body parts?

The Saint’s bits!

Wall to wall cupboards … More bits of goodness knows who

We then wandered through the iconic narrow tall streets with all the washing, street traders and traffic: moving and parked. It is buzzing. Real life. J loved it too, as it reminded him of his time living in Amman, Jordan.

Courtyards behind large gates – now flats and offices

Grocery delivery being winched up

Lots of deep fried fast food vendors. The chap did a nice pose for me 🙂

J had ordered this whilst I was in the UK thinking it was a fishcake… nope …. deep fried macaroni cheese with a bit o’ ham. Had to buy one to see what he was talking about … actually yummy

At San Lorenzo Church we paid to go underground to see a Roman market. After Pompei and Herculaneum, it was a bit of a poor offering. However, it does server as a reminder that it doesn’t matter where you dig around here, you will first find Roman remains and then a bit deeper – Greek.

This is the San Lorenzo underground market street, with butcher, baker, candlestick maker and …. a tax office!

Napoli (J here without toilet jokes this time…) has a street called “Christmas Alley” – you folk from Brizzle will know all about the Christmas Steps – not quite the same though – but a tenuous ‘James’ sort of link… This street as the photos show – is a child’s playground – everything from miniature Santas to grottos to realistic apartment blocks made to scale from timber (nothing to do with Christmas !) – we later saw a large model (to scale) apartment building made from – what’s Italy famous for ? Answers on a thin base please – PASTA !!! It’s called colloquially – an ‘apastrament’ building ! You lot will believe anything… The principal Napolitean superstitious instrument is – a gherkin (red chilli)… You need to have one handy at all times – mainly to protect you from the traffic. One can do lots of things with a gherkin – nose picking, ear wax picking, flossing…. I need to get back on script or else a gorgeous ex-teacher will give me a detention – yippee… !

This Christmas grotto was not made from pasta, or pizza dough (though we did see one that was). Mostly resin. Lots of of footballer and nativity figurines and … Kate, Wills and baby!

Fat dogs … sleep on … shelves!

The narrow back streets of Napoli really energised us – all life is there – we will definitely be back.

199 – Thursday 5th October 2015: Above and Over Ground in Napoli

Quick visit to the charming gentlemen in the bank … yes, Madame was right. K quickly quipped that she is always right … the money will be credited to the bank account by Monday.

On Thursday, we decided to join a free guided walking tour – we have enjoyed these tours in many major cities – a tip at the end is always welcomed. Our guide was Rafaella, highly articulate and witty – a true Napolitean gentleman. We were joined by a young couple from Bulgaria who had flown into Napoli the previous night for a short visit – really nice people – their English was perfect. Rafaella reminded us that Napoli was variously ruled by the Greeks, Romans, French, Spanish and Austro Hungarians… Small wonder they area truly diverse people. From the start point at the Castello Nuova to the amazing Spanish Quarter, we appreciated again the cosmopolitan nature of this marvellous city. As K has noted, this took me back 30 years to downtown Amman – Stephen, Simon, Sarah and Sinead will well remember – actually, from our April 2015 journey, downtown Amman has not changed – thankfully. Whole families out on the streets, talking, singing – is there anything more important than families ? No.

Mosaics at the Toledo metro station in the Spanish quarter.

Lunch in the Spanish quarter. Expresso was complimentary and J loved his pasta dish

Meeting point for the tour – Castello Nuevo – typical of Napoli … wonderful architecture …. but so much covered with scaffolding and surrounded by cars.

Castel nuevo main gate … a fresco showing the Spanish court

After Unification a gallery very similar to the Vittorio Emmanuelle gallery we saw recently in Milan was built to attempt to reconcile the disputing factions in the South. nothing like the buzz or crowds of Milan. And note the covered scaffolding on the right … endemic!

Cock and Bull! J with his star sign.

A main and large square … great architecture but again deserted bar a few military vehicles.

Ex voto shrine, washing and grafitti … this IS Naples.

Street scene ... moped, blokes chewing the fat and a craftsman.

Street scene … washing, moped, blokes chewing the fat and a craftsman.

Abandoned car. Despite our tour guide saying that there are few accidents given the crazy driving and parking, we saw a number of scrapped and dented cars. Great place to learn to drive!?

Looking up through the washing to St Elmo castle.

Tripe. All kinds of tripe.

St Jesu church, originally a private palace. Odd inscriptions on each stone have recently been found to contain a tune.

Entrance to one of the gated courtyards. Dragons either side had large mouths for the snuffing out the light beacons ... caught another chap just hanging around!

Entrance to one of the gated courtyards. Dragons either side had large mouths for the snuffing out the light beacons … with another chap just hanging around!

Football mad.

On a recommendation from Rafaella, we took the Funiculari railway to the top of the town and Castello St Elmo – staggering views over greater Napoli – K’s photos do it justice.

Steps back down to the Metro (parts of the Metro are still being built – Euro 1 per single journey – great value indeed) – stopped at an expensive Carrefour – and caught the Circumvesuvia train back to our beautiful soft cuddly van – can a 28 foot 4 tonne van be cuddly ? Yes – even after 14,000 miles in 6+ months ! In 10 days, we have become quite familiar with the Napolitean transport system.

200 – Friday 6th October 2015:

A beautiful sunlit day greeted us and spurred on by this light from the skies, we ran. (Actually, K spurred me out from under a perfectly warm duvet to get my arse into gear – she is a kind lady – I won’t mention the words ‘boot camp’ – otherwise my rear end might be conferred with the Order of the Boot – actually, I might prefer the Order of the Garter… ?

I ran 4 km at an acceptable pace. K ran 5.25 km – her longest run ever – at a good speed. This is the lady who started ‘norking/running’ 3 months ago – she now encourages me to run – I thought I was the ‘runner’ – changed times – well done my lady.

A jobs morning as check out was not till 2.00 … K’s grey hairs covered over…. J was so expert he now has this job for life! Hand washing, hoovering and both showered. K

We set SatNav Brad for Paestum, a Greek city dating from 700 BC – before the Romans. Seriously BC. We expected a scenic seaside route south – sadly, we got prostitute avenue. We mentioned this before – 25 at least ladies at the roadside over 20 kilometres – sad – but no judgement.

We had identified a ‘parking’ area for the night but upon arrival, decided it was a bit lonely. Our second choice was a large parking area – part tarmac part grass – near the Greek ruins. We stretched our legs for an hour – and repaired to a local cafe for a glass of Vino Bianco. The staff arranged us in leather armchairs in front of a real log fire – it could have been a ‘Rothbury’ fire – K’s home. Refreshed, we returned to our van.

I was playing with my camera – trying to set it on monochrome only and having succeeded, I decided to photograph some night star scenes. I set foot outside and saw a car entering the field. An alarm bell triggered and we went into a well practiced protocol. Anytime we use a ‘parking’ site, we park facing the exit, remove the Krooklock from the steering and leave the van ready in case of a swift drive out. The car I had spotted was doing circles around the field and we activated our evac plan. K drove and I stayed in the rear. We drove to the original choice – an olive grove in a farm – with another van parked nearby – the site looked better on a second viewing. At no time were we in any danger, but all motorhomes have these sensible evac plans. This was only the second time in 6+ months that we used it.

Tomorrow – to to the Greek ruins, following a Greek run – time to dive under my/our duvet and hide….

Clune Gap Years

A journal and reflections of our motorhome travels

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