Starting our Journey

Friday Oct. 7

There are 6 of us from Saskatoon on this adventure in Southern Italy. We were pleased to find that Lynne and Don joined us on the flight to Toronto rather than travelling via Calgary.  Leaving Toronto we snuggled into our seats for an 8 hour flight to Frankfurt. We did our own experiment with jet lag prevention by various groups using sleeping pills, Melanin or wine, food and coffee to see who would get the best sleep.  It turns out that nothing works like your own bed so we all arrived in Frankfurt exhausted.  The next leg of the journey was a confusing marathon of buses, tunnels, stairs, moving walkways and running, running, running to be sure we caught our next flight to Naples. We did, and then collapsed into our seats expecting a 1.5 hour sleep.  Nobody managed anything beyond a slight rest so we were all exhausted upon arrival in Naples.  Bettina and Rolf, our tour guides for the next 10 days, met us as planned and after picking up our vehicle they drove us to Herculaneum.  This is a wonderful place, similar to Pompei, but not as crowded. We explored the ruins for a few hours and marvelled at the antiquity of buildings that had been covered in mud for centuries and then restored.

Imagine all of this under 15 meters of mud.

We are now travelling with about 30 hours of sleep deprivation and not absorbing all of the information available.  For the devout history buff have a look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herculaneum

Now we are in the van heading back to Naples to pick up Bettina's mother and three friends from Germany. After we pick them up we head out to Tortorella (our destination for the next few days) and stop for a 'small' taste of antepasto at a restaurant where Bettina & Rolf know the owner. Well…. This turned out to be a major meal with maybe 10 different dishes and of course some local vino to help keep us awake! This restaurant is registered with the Slow Food Movement and was a tremendous way to start our Italian feasting. After this amazing feast we headed out in the dark to our mystery destination where we will spend the next week or so.

After another half hour of driving in the dark over twisty, turny roads we finally got to bed about 1:30 in the morning.


Saturday Oct. 8

I finally awoke at 10:40 as Pat and Linda came clattering up our stairs to get us all going. They had consumed their breakfast and wanted to get going.  Shortly after walking outside I heard the delightful sound of cow bells clanging as the local herd munched grass in the field below our house.

Cow bells and grazing cows

This day promised to hold big adventures as we drove away to explore the coast line and go for some short hikes. Our first stop out was a Farmacia to purchase medications for those prone to car sickness. These roads are a true test of your susceptibility to vestibular induced vomiting!

This coastline is spectacular with vista after vista of high hills, small villages clinging to the side of rocky outcrops all under the watchful eye of the Mediterranean Sea.

Our furthest destination was a climb (in the car I must admit) to view what Cathy calls 'Jesus Christ Superstar'. This large statue of Christ is patterned after the famous one in Brazil and is visible from miles around.

Here we encountered our fist experience of Don and Pat immediately engaging in conversation any stranger showing a modicum of friendliness. I was busy gazing around looking at some birds flying about and the next thing I see is Don drinking wine offered by a tourist group from Brazil!! 

Our next stop was for gelato, pizza, cappuccino Italliano and sweet cakes. A short shopping trip later we headed back home.

Throughout this whole experience we were given a thorough explanation of local history by Bettina. She is so knowledgeable and capable of explaining everything to the point where even Cathy's questions were answered. The sense of antiquity one gets when Bettina talks about something that happened before Christ and during Roman times is overwhelming for a prairie boy where our recorded history is so short.  Back home again we have a delicious meal cooked by Bettina and Rolf and head off to bed.

Sunday Oct. 9

Our first real hiking day. We drive about 6 km. to Tortorella leave the vehicles and head out on a great walk along an ancient donkey trail leading down to a local river. The walk is steep in places but very safe with a guard rail most of the way. A few of the more adventuresome head down the last few hundred meters to spend time right at the river.

We head back and are treated to a wonderful lunch along the trail. 

I have a wonderful time trying to capture the perfect picture of these colorful lizards.

 Back home we collapse for our afternoon siesta and then head out for the evenings adventure. We are treated to a Piano Quartette of classical music by 4 professional musicians from Naples, Romania and a local cello player. Off to supper at a local establishment right by the sea specializing in fish dishes. Our stomachs are still not used to starting to eat at 9:00 at night but somehow we manage to down an array of fish dishes, pasta and numerous jugs of wine. Off to bed to get ready for another day of hiking.