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Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

Capitolo, Italy

Tomorrow I’ll be cooking pancakes (very sad ones as we have run out of eggs and are not desperate enough to brave the roads to go and buy some more!)….and between flipping I’ll catch up on our Van With A View pictures. Here’s our so-far selection from Italy:


perched on top of the hill, just down the road from the noisiest church bells ever, overlooking the spreading village-filled valley, next to the cemetery


squeezed into two close carparks wedged between a school and river, having driven and driven and driven, looking for somewhere suitable to stop


the town with THE best pizzas…and worst signposts to the “area attrezzata”…but fantastic location beside a park….more noisy bells 😉


too easy to find! what went wrong? nothing!
good gelato too


sunset pictures – we were never there during daylight hours!


in the (stinking hot, humid) natural amphitheatre (filled with mozzies) after the
try-to-turn-around-and-stay-out-of-the-ditch episode


just up the road from the truck that fell off the bridge – spot chosen after driving around and around and around and around following obviously incorrect directions


the place we joked we’d never stay at (too expensive!), but everything else was more pricey and we arrived in the off-season so it was cheaper


favourite


where you go when you want a free night or two close to the train station for Grandpa’s early morning departure


another freebie

he lingers

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Capitolo, Italy

We cut the breakfast rockmelon into eleven slices.
Rob ate two, as Grandpa was out of reach, somewhere over the Indian Ocean.
He joined us for lunch though – we discovered two emails from Dubai in the inbox just as we were slicing into our semolina bread and bright blood red tomatoes.
When we got to spreading mascarpone under the strawberry jam, Mboy6 announced, “I’m glad Grandpa’s gone.” Wondering eyebrows raised as we waited for further explanation. None was forthcoming and so we pried deeper.
”Well, now there’s more room to sleep. It’s so hot up in the alcove, but it’s cooler with only two people.”
True enough.
And thankfully he added, “I’ll miss him though.”
Others reminded him of the ancient’s propensity to buy icecreams and all agreed, that *that* too, would be missed!
”And remember when we were in Malaysia and he always bought us cans of fizzy coz it was so hot and we were all thirsty?”
”And remember how he got icecream if we went out with him on our own?”
”And remember…”
”And remember…”

Grandpa might not be here, but he has certainly not gone.

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Last night we slept on the side of the road. A quiet, well-lit safe-feeling residential street. With no adult in the van to ward off possible intruders, the big kids were under strict instructions to leave the windows locked (yes, even though it’s still 30 degrees), and not open the door to anyone. At any hint of trouble they could push their dog button – the alarm, sounding like a miniature poodle, would not scare off even a cat, but at least it would alert The Protective Daddy to danger. If all else failed, there was the van horn. But that really is a last resort. It takes three pushes before it even makes a sound, and then there is not a word croaky or feeble or weak enough to describe the pathetic cough it sputters.
Fortunately, there was no need for any of the precautions, and no-one woke until Rob’s alarm went off signalling yesterday’s need to rise early to get to the train station on time! We enjoyed the sunrise. And rockmelon.

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Now we are stationed at a camper park. In addition to our favourite facilities (toilet and waste water dumping and a potable water supply), we have real toilets, a cold shower, an outdoor kitchen (sink and BBQ), shadecloth overhead as well as trees, and the beach is no more than a minute’s walk away.
We were going to travel down to Gallipoli and Lecce before catching a ferry from Brindisi, but there is something very appealing about the thought of just staying here for a week and going nowhere! The sea is so blue-green, the sand hot, the sun shining….bread, pizza, vegetable and fruit sellers wait at the gate…it’s safe…..most holiday-makers have gone home….and it’s quiet apart from the lilting Italian, which makes beautiful background music.
We are thinking of staying here. Whether we end up back on the free street, or just put down paid roots, I don’t mind. The thought of not driving for a few days is an attractive one! Besides, we need to take some time to plan our northward route, to pore over maps, choose some places to visit, read up on road rules and refresh our memories regarding the Cyrillic alphabet. Lecce may be the Florence of the South, but we missed the Florence of the north too so we would not be able to compare. Gallipoli has an important ring about it for Kiwis, but it’s the Turkish one that features in our history, not the Italian one!
So a week on the Adriatic Coast might just be in order.

We just know Grandpa would approve of the decision!

friendly, helpful and informative

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009
Capitolo, Italy One of our dear friends suggested that a line should be drawn across Italy at Rome and the southern half left to float away. If that had happened we would not have had any friendly encounters with Italians. All ... [Continue reading this entry]

the last supper

Monday, August 31st, 2009
Bari, Italy If I don’t write about it, it won’t happen, right? So I’ll just say we went out for dinner tonight, Grandpa’s shout. I won’t mention that it was his last meal with us. If we don’t think about ... [Continue reading this entry]

uno trullo, many trulli

Sunday, August 30th, 2009
Bari, Italy (via Alberobello) When you live in a field that constantly spews rocks, you use them to build your fences, your house, even your roof. I have enjoyed looking at how people use locally available materials to create their ... [Continue reading this entry]

down on the farm

Saturday, August 29th, 2009
same place as yesterday, Italy – so nice we didn’t move on chickens clucking ducks quacking donkeys braying dogs gnawing on bones doves cooing roosters crowing horses neighing reindeer banging a box geese gaggling wasps humming sheep baaing peacock screeching a howl emus staring goats butting rabbits hopping cat meows under our van And that was ... [Continue reading this entry]

soul food

Friday, August 28th, 2009
somewhere near Altamura on the SouthEast Coast, Italy We woke in mozarella di buffala country…..from Naples onwards we had seen billboards and shops advertising the cheese the region is famous for and we had resolved to try it. Surely one ... [Continue reading this entry]

kids click

Thursday, August 27th, 2009
Paestum, Italy A quiet day at the beach with pictures of clear blue water reflecting clear blue sky, a heat haze shimmering on the horizon, just might be too taunting a post two days in a row. But looking through ... [Continue reading this entry]

beach blessings

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
Paestum, Italy

We have seen a famous volcano (Vesuvius), accidentally ... [Continue reading this entry]

neapolitan christmas

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
Battipaglia, Italy As a child, neapolitan meant icecream to me. Chocolate, strawberry, vanilla. Of course, it is also “of naples”. And today that’s where we went.

 

We only spent a couple of hours in the historic town ... [Continue reading this entry]