Ron Corbin – Page 17 – RV Travels in Europe and North America

October 12, 2023 Orgosolo IT

When we went down to breakfast Peppina the host at our B&B asked what our plans were for the day, we both looked at each other, then looked at her and shrugged. She liked that, she said she liked guests who knew how to relax.

Cliffs leading down to the waters edge at Cala Gonone.

We went back up to the room and decided to take another drive thru the countryside to a beach town called Cala Gonone. It was about 10 kilometers past yesterdays destination of Dorgali and about 40 kilometers from Orgosolo. We largely retraced our drive from yesterday, but we enjoyed the drive yesterday, and we enjoyed it again today. We stopped to take a look at the entrance to the Gola Su Grouppu which is a 1300 foot deep gorge and is quite beautiful.

The Flumineddu River entering the Gola Su Gorroppu. One of the deepest gorges in Europe.

As we were going around Dorgali we came to a hilltop view point that had great views back to the valley we had just driven thru. Ton asked me to stop because she wanted to get some pictures. It was a spectacular view, in a place with spectacular views.

Dorgali in the forefront and the Punta Corrasi in the background one of the highest mountains in Sardinia.

The drop from Dorgali to the coast at Cala Gonone was steep and curvy, and much more fun in the Panda, though we passed several motorhomes coming up the hill from the town. There are two campgrounds in town and they both looked pretty busy.

We contemplated doing a 2 hour cruise on this boat but finally decided to pass. Ton loves the Sardinian flag on the front of the boat.

We walked along the beachfront of Cala Gonone for an hour or so taking in the sites. It is a picturesque coast line, but it would have required signing up for a day cruise to really see it, and neither of us were interested in spending several hours on a boat. Ultimately we decided to head back to Orgosolo for lunch and a siesta.

These flowers were next to the beach in Cala Gonone.

We are starting to adapt to the Italian meal schedule, which is a lightish breakfast, a huge lunch, and a late/light dinner. After siesta we decided to walk to the grocery near the B&B to get some salami to go with the cheese we had bought a couple of days ago for our dinner.

Ton decided that this is the prettiest bank and ATM she has seen.

For a small town the amount of traffic passing thru town at 7 pm is really impressive. The rest of the day traffic is pretty light, but at 7pm rush hour kicks in. Since pedestrians and cars share the road the volume of traffic affects the speed you walk at. We have been trying to figure out where all of the cars are coming from and where they are going as we are basically on a mountain top 20 kilometers from the next town. The population of the town is only around 4000, but at 7 pm a large number of them are driving around.

At the grocery Ton decided to stock up on salami from this area as it is quite delicious. We picked out 2 that looked good to us and ordered 100 grams of each one. Ton wanted one more so I asked the girl slicing the salami to recommend one more, she pointed to the one she had just finished cutting for us and said this is the best so we ordered 100 more grams of that one.

Another one of the street murals in Orgosolo.

Walking back Ton found several more murals she really liked and kept stopping to take more pictures when she wasn’t dodging rush hour traffic. We have enjoyed our stay in Orgosolo.

There are a couple of murals of sheep shearing. I’m pretty sure she wandered into someones courtyard to get a picture of this one.

Ton can’t make up her mind if the sheep is smiling or frowning in this mural.

October 11, 2023 Ogosoro IT

Today we explored the mountain valley around Ogosoro. We didn’t have a set plan except to visit the local costume museum in the regional capitol of Nuoro.

A photo showing an example of the regional dress for this area. Surprisingly a lot of the photos in the museum of Sardinian dress date from the early 1960’s, though I am not sure about this one.

We arrived at the museum and the ticket seller asked if I was over 65 I said yes and she nodded, she then pointed at Ton and asked if she was over 65, I said yes, and in a skeptical tone, she asked again over 65?, I said yes again, she then asked a third time and I said yes and told her Tons age. She then gave us both the senior rate. I don’t know if I should be insulted, but Ton was also annoyed instead of flattered not because the lady did not believe she was a senior, but because I told the ticket taker her age.

Each village in this region has its own variation of dress.

The museum had a nice explanation of the local history here in the most sparsely settled part of Sardinia. While Sardinia has had many rulers over its history, many of the rulers didn’t make much of an effort to assert much control over this region due to its inaccessibility and small population. So the people of this region are known for their strong sense of independence to this day.

This painting of a shepherd in the mountains seemed to sum up the independent spirit of the people in this area.

The museum was very well done, and the exhibits were fun, but it was small and we were thru it pretty quickly. We had driven thru a lot of the city to get here, and while Nuoro was the center of government for the area and the largest city we did not see anything else that we were particularly interested in, so we decided to move on.

This sculpture is a work of an artist from Dorgali named Salvatore Francello. Neither of us had heard of him, but he was important enough to have an entire museum dedicated to his work.

We headed to Dorgali because it is the one of the centers for Cannonau wine which is the dominant grape on Sardinia. There is some debate about whether the grape is native to Sardinia or was brought here when the Aragonese from Spain controlled the island, it is very similar to the Grenache in Aragon. Prior to our wine search we had another very good lunch in Dorgali which maintains Sardinias 100% record for good meals.

Our target for the afternoon. The mountains in the background are the tallest in Sardinia.

After lunch we set out for a winery Ton had found on line. When we arrived at the winery after a lovely drive through the Sardinian countryside we missed the turn into the tasting area, and came across a worker cleaning winery equipment. He flagged us down pointed us in the right direction, and then met us at the door to pour us wine.

These two cute kittens, and an old dog met us at the entrance to the winery, and provided entertainment while we were there.

The wine was excellent, and thanks to google translate we were able to enjoy conversing with the owner. We have been using a lot of google translate on this trip, particularly in Sardinia. The hostess of the bed and breakfast doesn’t speak English or German, so this morning at breakfast some German guests and us enjoyed speaking to her, but it was done using Google.

The logo of Mastro De ‘Inu Winery. Ton really likes the logo.

By the time we finished our tasting it was time to head back to Ogosoro. Today I really enjoyed driving around in the mountain valleys in our little Panda. The traffic was very light, the countryside with the wide valley framed by high mountains was beautiful, and the roads were very good.

Our Fiat Panda, she is not fast or sexy, but will fit into very tight parking spaces and squeeze down very narrow roads without too much stress.

We returned for another roof top dining experience. I went down to the local market, and managed to order 100 grams of salami in Italian, though my bluff was called when the lady behind the counter hit me with a blast of Italian which required googles intervention to sort out. It turns out she was asking if I wanted a bag to put the meat in.

We ate a little earlier today, so tonights view is at dusk.

October 10, Orgosolo IT

Tonight we are staying in a bed and breakfast in Orgosolo. We picked Orgosolo because our friends Ovi and Cory recommended it for visiting central Sardinia.

Looking down on the valley from the center of Orgosolo.

The drive over was much quicker than I expected as all but the last 20 kilometers was on a good freeway. The last 20 kilometers were on narrow mountain roads where I appreciated being in our little Fiat car, instead of our big Fiat camper. The roads in the town were really narrow, but I was able to zip around relatively easily in the Panda, which is the basic economy car of Italy.

You never know what you will be sharing the road with in Italy.

Orgosoro is high in the mountains of Sardinia and is historically famous for being an area that is difficult to rule. There are many tales of rebellions, vendettas, feud’s, and just plain old thievery. One of the recent tales of a Robin Hood character was a guy from the 1930’s who stole from the rich and took care of the poor sometime. He was eventually caught and sentenced to prison for murder. After his release he returned to Orgosolo and retired from stealing and began to work as a tour guide. They even made a movie about his life.

This region is famous for its sheep cheese so we visited a manufacturer in town.

The other thing that Orgosolo is famous for is murals. In the 1970’s an art teacher moved here from Northern Italy. He got the idea of having his students paint murals on the buildings in the center of the town to help re-vitalize the city.

He started them off by painting a mural in support of the local shepherds who were trying to prevent the Italian army from opening a military training area in the mountains around town. He taught that all murals must include art and words. So most of the murals have political or social themes integrated into them.

This is another famous character from the region, unfortunately we don’t understand the writing that goes with the mural.

There are hundreds of murals throughout the town, done in different styles from primitive, to cubist, to highly realistic. It was fun to walk up and down the streets taking in all of the different murals.

One of Tons favorites a very realistic portrait of a local man.

This region has long been a stronghold of communism, the founder of the Italian Communist party was born here, and the teacher who began the mural project was a communist. So a lot of the murals reflect that history.

Tons favorite murals were a series of paintings of more portly ladies on a side street. In this case there were no words to go with the pictures, just the ladies.

Part of a series of about 8 murals of ladies working in the village.

After walking for a while we were ready for a lunch and saw an interesting restaurant. We walked into the courtyard and there was a bell hanging there that said in Italian and English to ring the bell for service. We rang the bell and a young man stuck his head out of a third floor window and asked how many. I told him two and he said come on up. The restaurant was beautiful and the food was really excellent and interesting. So far Sardinia is 100% on good meals.

An anti war, or anti military mural. But it is cute.

We settled into the bed and breakfast for the evening. We decided to eat in tonight so we went to the local grocery store and picked up some ham, cheese and cheap wine and ate it from the roof of the B&B with a French couple from Brittany.

October 9, 2023 Cagliari IT

Tonight we are set up in the parking area of the RV dealer in Cagliari. We had a couple of minor issues that have cropped up on François and the on line reviews of Dott Camper were very good, and they offered both rental cars and storage so it was the perfect fit for our plans.

Ton likes the Sardinia flag. This one is from the port area where we parked our rental car.

The spine of Sardinia is very mountainous, so we made the decision to rent a car for a few days while we explored the mountains as it will be a lot easier in a small car, than in François. We are going to use a B&B in the mountains on our trip as a base and to get our mid- trip hotel break in. So being able to rent the car where we will store François killed 2 birds with one stone.

Looking out at downtown Cagliari from the castle.

We have two minor issues with François, one was an annoyance rather than a problem, and the other one could become a problem if not fixed pretty quickly. When I showed the technician the problem he looked at it for a few minutes and then went to get the manager (who turned out to be the technicians father), they had a discussion in Italian for a couple of minutes, before the father looked at me and said in English we can fix it, and then took the offending part off and to the shop. About 20 minutes later the technician came back out and showed me their solution. It was simple and ingenious and solved the problem. The annoyance which is part of the bed frame they said also was no problem, but since we were leaving François with them they would wait until we were gone to work on it.

The shopping arcade near the waterfront. These arcade style buildings are very common in Spain. Since Sardinia was under Spanish rule for a couple of hundred years we guessed that influenced this style. We have not seen it in Italy before.

While the technician was working on François I went inside to have the office manager (the managers mother) fill out the rental car contract. She was a charming lady with limited English but was curious about our travels in Europe. When we went out to look at the car it had a couple of minor paint chips that I pointed out. She told me to take a video of them and send them to her. I couldn’t get a good internet connection so after several attempts to send her the video she looked at me and said I saw it, you saw it we are ok. I agreed and we moved on. Later the technicians grandfather came by and did a quality check of the grandsons work on the window frame. It is a real family business. Ton was so impressed that she kept asking me is there anything else we need to get fixed? But I couldn’t come up with anything.

The traffic in Cagliari was lighter and less aggressive than Palermo.

Once we had the rental car we headed into town to take a look around. We ended up parking in a lot right next to the ferry dock we landed at last night. The climb up to the cathedral was quite steep, but when we got to the top we were rewarded with some nice views.

Is there a point when graffiti becomes art?

The cathedral was integrated into the old castle for the town. We visited a very spacious redoubt that had a good field of fire back towards the port area. (Sorry, the old infantryman comes out sometime.) In the past I imagine there would have been many cannons on the platform, but today it was full of tourists.

Looking down on one of the old city gates from the redoubt of the castle.

We didn’t spend too much time at the cathedral, but the architecture was very different than Sicily. It was less ornate, I mentioned earlier that the Rococo style didn’t appeal to me as it seemed too busy. So when faced with older more traditional architecture I was thinking where are all of the waves and intricate stone work. So maybe experiencing Rococo in person in Sicily gave me a better appreciation for it.

The facade of the Cagliari Cathedral. Much less ornate than in Sicily.

The building was still impressive, and Ton really liked the artwork above the three entrance doors to the Cathedral. We didn’t enter because there was a big tour group at the entrance.

The artwork above the main entrance door to the Cathedral.

We hadn’t had a proper meal in a couple of days so we had our first Sardinian meal. We had a charcuterie plate as an appetizer that came with three meats and three cheeses and would have made a meal in itself. For our main course we had two types of stew typical of Sardinia. The food here appears to be heartier than in Sicily. This is sheep country as Ton informed me that there are two sheep on the island for every person. It’s not quite up to New Zealand for sheep to people ratio, but it is still pretty good.

Our charcuterie plate. Three types of sheep cheese, and three types of pork.

At the end of the meal the waiter asked if we wanted some limoncello or mirto on the house. Ton perked up and said mirto please. It is a flower based liqueur unique to Sardinia and Corsica. The drink is made from the berries of the myrtle plant. It was very interesting and different than anything I have had before because it berry based instead of fruit based. It was a nice introduction to Sardinia.

October 8, 2023 Cagliari IT

We have changed islands and are now in Sardinia. We had an early ferry departure and for the first time on this trip set an alarm. But because we live an alarm free life, we both tossed and turned all night afraid we would miss it. I ended up waking up at 5:30 and Ton a few minutes later so we went ahead and packed up François and headed out for the Ferry terminal.

The center of Palermo from the ferry. Garmin needs to review their maps for driving here.

Driving in an Italian city at 6:30 am on a Sunday is a little surreal. The usually full and chaotic streets are empty. This came in handy as Greta was having a particularly bad day. The map set for the center of Palermo is in need of an update, because she kept trying to send us down dead end streets, and twice when I turned on main 2 way traffic avenues, instead of following her down an ally, she shouted at me that I was going the wrong way on a one way street. Fortunately having the streets to ourselves I was able to stop and sort it out. Just as I was about to fire her and break out google maps Ton saw a sign for the port and we just followed the signs the old fashioned way to the ferry.

François parked in our RV line waiting to board. How boring.

The Italians board ferries in a very boring manner. You are funneled into an entrance way where someone looks at your ticket and directs you into a line of vehicles where you wait until someone from the crew tells you to drive on board. Not nearly as entertaining as the Greeks, but much more efficient.

An on time departure from the ferry port.

Our ferry departed pretty much on time at 9 am and arrived pretty much on time at 9 pm. The only issue was for some reason one of the crew knocked on the door at 7 pm and told us we had 10 minutes to leave the room. We hastily packed thinking we were arriving early, but no, we just sat in the lounge with the rest of the guests and watched the local soccer team Cagliari lose to Rome.

Tonight is our first wild camping night of the trip, as we are parked up in a dirt lot across from a RV dealer/Sosta where we are going to have some minor repairs done to François and use as our base for exploring central Sardinia.

October 7, 2023 Palermo IT

We were off early to try to get ahead of the Saturday crowds in the center. Ton really liked Palermo yesterday, so she spent some time researching the town. After her research she told me that she wanted to go back to the cathedral and look for the meridian line on the floor. The meridian line is placed on the floor of the cathedral so that at exactly solar noon the light from a window in the cathedral is directly on the line. Solar noon is when the sun passes a locations meridian and is at its highest point in the sky for that day. Palermo has the last functioning meridian line in Europe. When we arrived at the cathedral Ton sent me off to find the line while she shot some more photos. I found it faster than I thought as I had no idea where to look and it is a big cathedral. Fortunately based on Tons description when I saw it I knew I had found it. The line runs at an angle across the floor and there are signs of the zodiac imbedded in it. Our quest for the day completed we could move on to the markets as we had originally planned.

Part of the meridian line across the floor of the Palermo Cathedral.

When we were leaving the cathedral Ton stopped because she wanted to get a shot of one of the walls of the cathedral. Yesterday we showed the entrance to the cathedral which is done in a Rococo style. But what had caught Tons eye the day before was that the wall next to the entrance was done in a very Islamic style. She wanted to get a shot because it was a good example of the blending of cultures that is part of Sicily.

This wall leading from the entrance of the Palermo Cathedral done in an Islamic style. The Cathedral blends multiple styles of architecture in a very beautiful way.

Our next stop was the Mercato del Capo which is the fish market for the town. It is an open air market that extends for about 300 yards along one of the streets in town. We always enjoy walking thru these to see the different fish and how they are displayed. The markets are always lively places and we enjoy the vibe.

Approaching the fish market in Palermo. Sicily has always been a cross roads of cultures.

We enjoyed the fish market, but didn’t buy anything there. The route into the fish market is busy, and other vendors have set up business there. There was about a 50 yard stretch with tablecloths and other linen goods. We did walk away from there with a nice table cloth.

It was a little early for lunch so Ton asked me what we should do. I told her we had not been to the waterfront yet, she looked surprised because in her research of things to do in Palermo, going to the waterfront was not in there, but we decided to head that way. We later learned that the reason no one mentions the waterfront is that it is not interesting at all. But walking down there we made two interesting discoveries.

The road down to the blah waterfront in Palermo.

The first thing we came across was a puppet theater. It was tucked into an ally that was our route to the ocean. As we were looking at the posters and peering into the theater itself a gentleman came out and was kind enough to spend about 5 minutes explaining the art to us.

Some of the puppets and props for the puppet theater.

A little further down we came upon a small square with a church fronting it. Ton was shooting the exterior when I ran up the stairs to take a look in the interior. I immediately waved her up as it was one of the prettier churches we have seen in a while. The interior marble was dark, but the color made a great contrast to the floors. The art work was also very beautiful. It was a real find and we enjoyed poking around inside while they were setting up for a wedding later in the day.

The interior of St. Ignacio’s church. A great example of Sicilian Rococo.

We made it down to the water, took a quick look, found out why no one talks about it, and decided it was lunch time. So we were back up the hill to another outdoor market to the restaurant Ton had picked out for the day. We wanted to taste a dish called Pasta Con le Sarde. They have a saying in Thai that you judge a good restaurant by its Pad Thai because it is a simple dish using basic ingredients that is a staple of the country. Some Sicilians say the same about Pasta Con le Sarde. The dish is supposed to combine elements of Arab, Spanish, and Italian food in a way that is unique to Sicily. When we sat down the waiter was a little gruff but when we told him we wanted Pasta Con le Sarde he smiled and said that was a good choice, and would we like him to pick out the rest of the meal to go with that. We took him up on his offer. In addition to the Pasta con le Sarde we received another pasta with Tuna and a mixed plate of calamari, prawns, and octopus. The Pasta Con le Sarde was a big hit with both of us as the sauce was delicious and very different than the tomato based sauces we associate with Italian food. The other dishes were also very good, and we walked out of the restaurant stuffed but very happy.

Pasta Con la Sarde. I messed up Tons shot by grabbing a bite before she took her picture so the presentation is not up to standard, but the dish is wonderful.

We headed up the street to another food market that we had walked thru yesterday. But after our meal I did more people watching than food watching. Ton on the other hand was fascinated with the different food on display and kept stopping to get a closer look.

Some of the food on display in one of the cafeterias.

Fortunately we had a long walk back to François as we had some calories to burn off. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in a very hot François. Thought it is October it is still very warm out.

Ton loved the mosaics from this chapel in St. Ignacio’s church.

October 6, 2023 Palermo IT

We made a quick jump along the coast to Palermo. The drive was short, and I was nervous as always when I have to drive in big cities, one missed or wrong turn can lead quickly to some very tense situations. Fortunately this time Greta picked a good route and I did not screw it up. So we arrived in our campground/parking lot for the night with no adventure.

This mountain suddenly loomed up as we came around a turn driving to Palermo. Sicily is a rugged island with lots of mountains running down to the sea.

We settled into our Sosta for the day, got a tour of the facilities and hooked up the electricity. After our beautiful seaside campground yesterday with beach bar, big pool, and a great view of the Mediterranean, today we are parked about 3 feet from two other RV’s in a parking lot surrounded by apartments. But the location is fantastic for exploring Palermo and the services are clean and the internet is fast so we are content.

This gate into the old city in Palermo is about a 10 minute walk from our parking spot for the night.

Palermo had definitely gotten mixed reviews. Somewhat like Naples people either tend to love it or hate it. After our first day we are definitely in the love it category.

Scenes like this captured our hearts for Palermo.

Palermo is the capital of Sicily and its largest city so we decided to give it two days. It won’t be enough. Our plan today was to take in all of the tourist sites, and tomorrow to take in the markets.

When we first arrive in a city we tend to start at the Cathedral as they are usually the center of the attractions. Ton gave me a list of things to look at including the cathedral, some churches, a couple of fountains and squares. We covered them all today and they were uniformly beautiful and a little different. Sicily has a real mix of influences including Spain, France, Roman, Greek, Moslem, and of course Italian. Because of that the architecture is different than anywhere else we have visited.

Ton was really taken with this church. While it was built as a Catholic Church the Islamic influences on the design are obvious.

The architecture is lively here with the Rococo influence and the intertwining of the various cultures. While the themes are very similar to those we have seen throughout Europe, in Sicily and particularly Palermo they are done with a flair that we both enjoy.

Part of a fountain with more than a dozen statues of gods from antiquity.

Ton had two foods she wanted to try today. Sicily has a dish called Arancini which is fried dough stuffed with rice and a filling made of cheese, meat or vegetable. They are usually served as appetizers and are bite size, but in Palermo they are meal sized, that was number 1 on her list. The second thing was a desert called Cassata Torte Setteveli which is made from marzipan. As we were walking down the main street in the old town she saw a bakery that served both and had two chairs and before I realized what happened we sat down and had ordered.

The Arancini are in front of me, the Cassata is next to the coffee. The chocolate cake was me not being able to resist the waitress upselling me.

Later in the day Ton saw a sign for one of the three markets in Palermo and decided we should take a quick look before tomorrow. When we arrived she was in heaven. The market really reminded her of Thailand. In Sicily they have a restaurant style called cafeteria where they lay all of the food they have prepared for the day on a big table and you point at what you want. They then take it into the kitchen and prepare it for you. She was in heaven just looking at what was available and thinking about what we were going to be able to eat tomorrow. We passed some nice Arancini on display and ended up buying two more for supper.

Our last stop for the day was the theater. We covered a lot of ground on foot today, and the town was teeming with people so at times it was difficult to move. But Palermo has won us over, and Ton can’t wait to head into the market for our lunch tomorrow.

Ton will be dreaming about this tonight.

October 5, 2023 Cefalu IT

We spent today wandering thru the beautiful sea side town of Cefalu. The first thing we noticed is that the tourists in this town were significantly younger than in any other town we visited. While there were plenty of seniors and cruise ship tours, we were slightly outnumbered by 20 and 30 somethings from all over the world. The beach fronting the town is beautiful and that may explain the attraction for the younger set. Anyway it gave the town a more lively vibe and we enjoyed it.

One of the many pretty streets in Cefalu. This cat sauntered into Tons picture and posed until she was done.

The old town is pretty small, as these old towns tend to be. While there was a lot of space given over to restaurants and tourist stores, a great deal of the homes were still occupied by people. We enjoyed this aspect of the town as well, as it made the streets more lively.

100 years ago there was a guy with a donkey and a cart going thru the streets delivering vegetables. Today the donkey and the cart have been replaced with an Ape.

We saw the vegetable guy going thru town delivering food, the fish guy pushing his cart and singing to let people know he was coming, and a guy going around delivering gas canisters to homes on a scooter.

This guy had a unique call to let people know he was going thru the streets with fresh fish for sale.

Another interesting place that we have not seen anywhere else is the laundry for the old town. There was a designated place to wash clothes near the ocean. It was built to purpose and there were different stations in it for particular actions. There was a fast running stream, and several pools, and workspaces with shaped stones. We could not quite figure out what they were but we were fascinated. The exit for the water from the laundry went straight into the sea to get rid of the dirty water.

We spent a couple of hours just walking up and down the streets enjoying people watching. We were getting hungry and Ton had picked out a couple of places she wanted to try. The first was a bakery and when we got there, there was a handwritten sign on the door in Italian and English saying they were on vacation until October 15. The other was a restaurant and they must have went on vacation also, but that is only conjecture because there was no sign, it just wasn’t open.

Taking a short cut between two streets. We wouldn’t have noticed this ally if a lady hadn’t popped out of it right in front of us.

We found an alternative place for lunch and it was ok. We have become spoiled with the food here in Sicily and our expectations when we eat out are quite high.

Another beautiful street scene in Cefalu.

We wound up our day trying a couple of the local wines out. After finishing our wine we headed over to the bus stop to take the bus back to the camp, and when 3 pm came the bus rolled up, we all boarded and we arrived at the campground 20 minutes later right on time. Our first uneventful bus ride on this trip.

The best way to get around these narrow streets.

October 4, 2023 Cefalu IT

Today we left Catania and shifted across the island to Cefalu. We were not in a hurry to get going as we wanted to let the rush hour traffic die down in Catania before setting out. Our plan worked as the traffic was much less than we had faced in the previous two days. I also now knew the route out of the city so I did not have to pay attention to Greta to make all of the correct turns.

We had about 180 kilometers to cover today to shift from one side of the island to the other. A lot of the drive was over the mountainous spine of Sicily so I didn’t know how fast it was going to be. It turned out to be a piece of cake as it was all on a good freeway. So we ended up covering the distance in slightly less than 3 hours which is flying for us.

Driving thru the mountainous spine of Sicily.

When we pulled onto the side road for the campground we came face to face with two competing campground entrances. We were amused because as we came down the ramp each campground had a person at their entrance vigorously waving for us to pick their campground. We picked the one I had plugged into Greta, but I told Ton that it must be pretty quiet here today.

Looking down the coast towards Cefalu from the campground.

It turns out the campground was pretty full. The interesting thing for the first time on this trip there are a lot of children in the campground. Everywhere we have stayed up to now has been mostly retirees with a couple of 20 somethings working remotely. Ton was concerned because she wondered why these kids weren’t in school. Then she decided they must be being home schooled.

The beach at the campground just before sunset.

Today we relaxed, Ton cooked two nice meals, and for the first time on this trip we had rice instead of pasta so Ton was very happy and full at the end of the day.

Ton liked these dried flowers with the tall cactus.

October 3, 2023 Catania IT

One of the reasons we picked Catania as our base for the last few days was due to its proximity to Naval Air Station Signonella. This is a base operated by the US Navy, and because I am retired from the Marine Corps we can access it. In Italy we can even shop in the on base food store which is full of American goodies. But most importantly they have a big laundry full of giant American washers and dryers so we can wash and dry all of our sheets, towels, and clothes in less than 90 minutes. So in the morning we set off for the base which was only 25 kilometers away.

When we were walking thru the campground Ton noticed this chili pepper plant. She had never seen chili peppers that were purple so she had to get a picture. After she got the picture she picked the peppers, so we have fresh purple peppers for a future meal.

We arrived and went straight into the laundry with two big bags of laundry. The only problem is that we didn’t have any US Quarters to put into the machines. US Bases operate on the dollar, and I checked my wallet and I didn’t have any dollars. Luckily Ton had a hundred dollar bill tucked in her wallet, so we set off to find someone who could break the hundred and give us some change. The Navy Exchange was happily to break our hundred and give us $10 worth of quarters. So an hour later every bit of dirty cloth product in François was clean and dry for the total cost of $5.50. The same process in a campground if they had a dryer would cost about €20 and take around 6 hours.

The beach at our campground. Apparently the diving is good off shore as in addition to the campground there is a diving school on site that was very busy on the weekend.

We next stopped at the Commissary which is the grocery store for the US personnel. It is the same size and has nearly the same products as you would find in any US grocery store. We spent about an hour going thru and ended up with a cart full of American snacks, paper towels, toilet paper, and cleaning products. We also bought a sirloin steak, that I think came from a European cow. We then went to a Lidl to stock up with the staples such as bread, fresh vegetables, and wine which are much cheaper there than at the American store. When we were done the trunk of our little Lancia was stuffed full, and I asked Ton if it would all fit in François, and she said of course.

Another view of our beach at the campground.

When we returned to the campground I unloaded the Lancia while Ton began putting things away. After I parked the Lancia and returned the keys I came back and asked Ton if I could help. She handed me a wine bottle with a large glass of wine left in the bottom and told me to get rid of this and stay out of her way. So being a good husband I sat outside drinking my glass of wine and offering moral support while Ton worked inside François. I did throw the wine bottle away when I was done completing my task as assigned.

The rocks at the beach are black lava from Mt. Etna.

We finished our American day with a meal of sirloin steak and potatoes, though the wine was Italian. While eating we listened to the Armed Forces Radio station where we heard tomorrows weather forecast with the high and low temperatures given in Fahrenheit instead of Celsius. To me this completed our American day in Italy.

October 2, Val di Noto IT

Today we tried to take in the Val di Noto which is in the southeast corner of Sicily. There are several good sized towns in the Val di Noto, and it would probably take three days to explore them all and it would be worth it. Unfortunately, we only had today so we had to limit ourselves to three of them, and we were definitely on the run to get that done.

The cathedral in Noto which is very similar in size to the cathedral in Modica at the top. Artistically we preferred Modica.

Our first stop was Noto which is the city the valley is named after. We arrived fairly early, and parked down the hill from the old town. The walk up the hill from the modern town to the old town was good exercise to get us ready for the day. We came into the old town right at the cathedral. The cathedral was originally built in the 1700’s in the Sicilian Rococo style. The dome to the cathedral collapsed in 1996 causing extensive damage. It has been rebuilt now and it was hard for me to tell what was rebuilt and what was part of the original structure, so kudos to the restoration team.

The interior of the dome that collapsed. I’m not sure if the art is a reconstruction of the original, or a modern interpretation of Catholic art.

The main street in the old town is quite monumental with very large and interesting buildings stretching for maybe 500 meters. The town has been used in the past for movies, and the posters of the movies filmed in Noto were featured as street art. The buildings lining the street are also done in Sicilian Rococo which is why Noto is a world heritage site.

Ton really liked this movie when she saw it many years ago. She didn’t know until today where it was filmed.

We would have liked to have given Noto some more time, but we were feeling under time pressure. So after about an hour of walking the main street we decided to push on to our next destination.

The main government building in Noto. The first floor was built by an architect named Sinatra in the 1700’s. The top floor was added in the 1950’s.

Our next spot was Marzamemi which we had selected because we wanted to experience fine dining. We usually go for street food or moderate priced restaurants, but today we decided to go upscale. We picked a place that was Michelin rated that had been owned by a niece of the last queen of Italy. It was our first experience with a Michelin rated restaurant.

The front of the restaurant we had lunch in today.

Marzamemi is famous for its tuna, so I leaned heavily towards tuna. Our appetizer was seasoned raw tuna and it was quite good. I went with a tuna and artichoke pasta dish, and Ton had a mixed fish of the day. The service and presentation of the food was very good, and the ingredients were all fresh and first class. Overall we enjoyed our special meal, and though it was more than we usually spend, it was in line with what we would spend at home for a restaurant meal.

We now had to run from the coast up into the hills of the Val di Noto for our last stop of the day in Modica. Ton was really looking to visiting Modica after she read about the chocolate from the city. Her way of selling Modica to me was by telling me a story from WWII where an American pilot who parachuted from his damaged plane was hanging from a tree after he got snagged in it coming down. A local girl from Modica saw him and he offered her a Hershey bar if she helped him. She left with the Hershey bar, but instead of returning with help, she returned with a bar of Modica chocolate for him, because it was so superior to the Hershey bar.

Giant clock built on a castle in Modica. The building on the left also had a clock built on it. Ton said that the people here must have been very punctual in the past.

The climb up to the old town was again pretty steep, but since we had just finished a big lunch, we had plenty of energy to pull it off. The town was quite striking with houses perched on steep hills all around the old town. It reminded me of Porto in Portugal which also had a section of town built on extremely steep hills.

Some of the homes climbing the hill above the cathedral. The picture does not do justice to the steepness of the hill they are built on.

We stopped in one of the chocolate stores. Ton bought a chocolate granita that was delicious, and I had a lemon granita which was also quite good. A granita is a kind of like a slushee but nicer, made of ice, sugar, and a flavor such as chocolate, lemon, coffee, …you get the picture. Ton read that it is sometimes served for breakfast in Sicily.

This guy was weaving baskets in Noto. I liked the hat but I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off.

In the end we bought about 15 chocolate bars as gifts for our friends at home. We will see how many of them actually make it back to Oregon.

Our Lancia Ypsilon we rented. Not as powerful as François, but much more nimble. We had never noticed this car before, but today now that we have rented one we saw them everywhere.

It was getting near dark and we had about 120 kilometers to cover to get back to the campground. We were doing pretty good until we got near Catania and ran head long into the evening rush hour. It turns out rush hour is later in Italy, we assume because of the siesta, it was going full tilt at 7pm. The last 20 kilometers were bumper to bumper cars, with every traffic circle being an absolute free for all. But we made it back unscathed, but tired.

Mt. Etna from the freeway, right before we hit rush hour traffic and came to a complete stop. It looks like it is venting gas from the left side.

October 1, 2023 Siracusa IT

We are still parked up in Catania, and we made a decision to use Catania as a base to explore this part of Sicily. To make the process easier for me we decided to rent a car, because to see the places we wanted to see it was going to be a lot of city driving, and while François is small as motorhomes/rv’s go it is not a city car and finding places to park can be stressful. Yesterday we arranged for a rental car for the next three days, and promptly at 9am our Lancia showed up. It is the perfect size to drive in Italian cities and find places to park.

The entrance to Isola di Ortiga, a small island that is part of Siracusa.

Today we visited the Isola di Ortiga which is the historical center of Siracusa, or Syracuse as it is known in the English speaking world. We started here because Siracusa is a substantial city and I thought we would avoid a lot of the week day traffic if we went on a Sunday. I was mostly right but we were glad we were driving our tiny Lancia and not François as we approached the city center as I forgot to account for the fact that a lot of the local families would take advantage of the perfect weather to go downtown and have a nice meal so the traffic was still substantial.

A really nice pedestrian street on Ortiga.

When we arrived we were startled by how busy it was. There were multiple tour groups being guided thru town, and there was a small cruise ship docked, as well as the local people who were enjoying a good Sunday meal and day out. In a few places it was difficult to walk, but as the day went on the crowds thinned out and we enjoyed ourselves more.

The Cathedral in Ortiga. It is another nice example of Baroque architecture.

Most of the buildings in this region were built in the early 1700’s after a large earthquake caused massive damage thru out Sicily. At the time Sicily was ruled by the Spanish, so the style is different than that found on the mainland because of the Spanish influence.

Ton really liked the planter on the right of the photo made of old PVC pipes.

We spent a great deal of the late morning and early afternoon aimlessly wandering thru town. But our walk was not aimless, we were really looking for the perfect restaurant. After much searching we settled on a sea food place near the cathedral and got one of the last tables. Right after we sat down people suddenly descended on the place and within 20 minutes of our arrival there was a substantial number of people waiting for a table, so our choice was vindicated.

One of the restaurants we considered during our search, but ultimately passed on.

The staff seemed a little overwhelmed by the sudden surge in customers and we had a difficult time getting our order put in. The guy who seated us came by and I started to give him our order, but he told me that he did not take food orders, only beverage orders, so I did manage to get a beer from him. I finally got the guy who took food orders attention and we ordered a mixed seafood platter for two.

Another place we considered because of the center piece.

I was a little nervous about our choice, but when our food arrived we were thrilled. The platter was immense with a great variety of fish, some served on bread like Pinxtos in Spain, probably the Spanish rule from the 1700’s influencing not only the architecture, but the food. Our Italian neighbors were impressed and asked to take a picture of it. Everything on the platter was excellent and after our two hour search for the perfect meal we were very happy with our choice.

Ton does not think this picture does justice to the quality of the food or the presentation. The serving board is shaped like Sicily.

We needed some more exercise after our lunch so we decided to walk the perimeter of the island. Ortiga has been a fortified harbor since the Greeks and it is surrounded by walls all the way around. But the fortifications and walls did not impress Ton as much as the clear green water of the Mediterranean.

The water is crystal clear, and the old fort is now used as a swimming platform.

As we walked she would stop every few feet to take another picture and talk about the clearness and the beautiful green color of the water, then take another picture because the water had changed to a perfect blue color. She was in heaven. We really enjoyed strolling along the top of the wall and looking at the sea.

Looking back at the main part of the city from the wall.

We finally decided to head back to Catania for the evening as we had put in a good walk for the day. We really enjoyed Ortiga and while we did not get out into the modern part of Siracusa we enjoyed the old town very much.

The people who live in these medieval towns still need to have their garbage hauled away. Everywhere we have gone on this trip we have seen these little garbage trucks going up and down the narrow roads. Sometimes we forget the practical things that need to be accounted for like garbage disposal don’t go away even if you are living in a postcard.

September 30, 2023 Catania IT

Today we used the morning to shift about 120 kilometers to Catania. Catania is the 2nd largest city in Sicily, but is the economic hub of the island. It was founded by the Greeks around the 8th century BC, but like much of Sicily it has had many rulers. We are going to be using it for a base for the next few days while we visit the surrounding region.

The main square of the city with the Cathedral in the background, and the black elephant fountain column in the center of the square.

It is famous for a fountain with a black elephant on it. The Black Elephant was carved in Roman times from a single block of lava from Mt. Etna. It has been placed in its current location in the mid 1700’s as part of a fountain in front of the cathedral. Having an elephant as a prominent landmark already stood Catania in Tons good graces.

The main street leading towards the square. It was very busy on a Saturday afternoon.

Catania has a reputation of being a little rough around the edges and some of reading on the internet talked about buildings being covered with graffiti and the streets being dirty. So we were surprised that in the areas we walked around and we saw from the bus ride there was very little graffiti and the streets were fairly clean.

Some of the worst graffiti we saw downtown, and this is not bad at all. Some places would call this street art.

Our first impression was of a prosperous and vigorous city with a real positive vibe. We enjoyed walking around and looking at the crowds out seeing the sites on a Saturday. The people were mostly Italian, with a healthy mix of foreign tourists mixed in.

The crowds were not overwhelming but the area was busy.

We messed up a little by having a late light lunch before we left François, so we were not hungry when we arrived downtown. By the time we were hungry lunch was over and most of the restaurants were closing down. The restaurants generally close from about 3pm to 7 pm, there were a few places still open but none of them appealed to us.

A nice street of restaurants that were closing down when we arrived looking for some food.

Since we couldn’t eat, we decided to go look at an area that is devoted mostly to religious institutions and is considered to be one of the most beautiful streets in Catania. Via Crociferi includes the second largest monastery in Europe, and several churches. It was pretty quiet compared to the area around the cathedral. But the buildings were beautiful, and we enjoyed the walk. Someone has done a good job of putting explanations about the buildings in both Italian and English so we took our time reading the histories of the various buildings as we strolled along.

One end of Via Crociferi, near the monastery.

At this point we decided to head back to the campground. It was around 4:30 when I told google maps to get us back home. We walked to the bus stop guided by maps, and there were a group of Italians waiting there. There was a sign that told you when your bus was going to arrive. One of the options google gave us was due to arrive in 17 minutes. It counted down to 7 minutes and then the time to arrival went blank. After a while we noticed a bunch of googling going on among the Italians and after some discussion among themselves the crowd at the bus stop began to disperse. We were kind of confused. Finally, a gentleman from the crowd came over and spoke a burst of Italian into his phone and held it out to me. In English it said that this bus stop was not served after 5pm and we need to move to another bus stop on a different road. He asked where we going and when I told him he said that was the same bus he was taking. He then proceeded to spend the next 45 minutes with us walking to the next bus stop, getting on one bus, and then transferring to our final bus. The whole time he was going out of his way to help us he was apologizing because he an Italian in Italy could not speak English. I told him that since this was Italy, it was our fault for not speaking Italian, but he waived his hand dismissively at this thought.

A nice view towards the waterfront in Catania.

Once again Italian busses confounded us with there mysterious schedules, but also, once again Italians came to the rescue to make sure we were not left in a lurch. This willingness to help strangers is one of the things that has really struck both Ton and me about traveling in Italy, it is really special.

When we walked by later in the day trying to find our bus stop the wedding party was out in front.

Catania is a beautiful city with a very lively center that we both enjoyed a great deal. Our only regret is we mis-timed our meals so we did not experience the local food. But, we have many days to make up for that mistake.

September 29, 2023 Torerotta IT

Today we finished our drive to Sicily. We decided to get an early start on the drive as we had 300 kilometers to cover today. The drive south was very easy and we made good time. We arrived at the ferry terminal about 12:30. As we were entering the ferry terminal I saw a sign that said ferries to Messina and pulled in there. I was immediately directed to a spot in a staging area, and told by the guy to go in and buy my ticket in the office. Things were going exceptionally efficiently, so I was nervous.

François is the very first RV near the front.

We were loaded and underway about 30 minutes after we arrived so again things were going great. We had taken the ferry the other way from downtown Messina in 2019 and I remember the trip was very quick, maybe 20 minutes. Right after we were underway I noticed we were not going directly across but heading south. It turns out we had boarded a ferry that went to a secondary terminal south of downtown Messina. Instead of taking 20 minutes it took 45 minutes. But, it was a nice day for a boat ride and when we arrived we were on the freeway within 1km without dealing with the traffic in the center of Messina.

Pulling into port after our slightly longer ferry ride to south of Messina.

We had booked ourselves into an agritourismo near Messina which was highly rated on park4night our go to app for finding places to stay. I had been corresponding with the owner since yesterday. In Europe I only use GPS coordinates to route ourselves. Addresses are frequently not in Greta Garmin’s data base, so the best thing is to use GPS coordinates, but they have to be manually entered in Greta. We were going along happily when we came to a toll booth. I saw a sign for credit cards and pulled into that one. The machine asked for a ticket (it actually asked for a biglietto) which we didn’t have, so I stuck a credit card in, and the gate went up. But we had unknowingly picked the toll booth for the exit ramp, so we were into a small town before we knew it. The next 2.5 km’s included a lot of narrow road driving that frequently had Ton wincing as we just cleared vehicles with 5 or 6 inches to spare. We finally got back on the freeway, and were driving merrily along when I happened to notice that the purple line that marked our route was heading out to sea. I pulled into a gas station and while we were filling up I checked the GPS coordinates I had put in and one of the digits was wrong so Greta was directing us to a point about 4 or 5 miles into the Mediterranean. I usually double check my entries but must have forgot to last night as one misplaced number can have you trying to navigate in the sea. I corrected the error and we ended back in the same little town we had squeezed thru before, but this time it was our destination.

*Ton loves tomatoes and after we checked in they told us to pick all we wanted. We now have a lot of tomatoes in François.*

Agritourismos in Italy are farms that allow people to camp or stay on site. They range from very posh to pretty rustic. This one is pretty urban and high tech, but we are parked in a field of tomatoes and mango trees and we were told to help ourselves. We also have the place to ourselves with a nice private bathroom. Right after we arrived Ton was out picking tomatoes with abandon, and I found three mangos. We had both for dinner and they are good.

September 28, 2023 Salicetti IT

We have left Puglia and are now heading to Sicily. The drive from Gallipoli to Messina was a bit much for one day so I picked a point about half way which is Salicetti. We are in a beach front campground filled almost exclusively with German snow birds. The drive was easy, mostly on freeways. We made good time and thought we would get in and set up early, but we were stymied by the Italian siesta. We arrived at 2:30 and the gate to the campground was closed with a sign saying they would open at 4pm. So we pulled to the side and settled in for our own siesta. One advantage of having your house with you is you can relax while you are waiting for something to open up.

Throughout Puglia we have kept coming across these dolls of stout women, this one is an exception because it includes a man.

Ton has been intrigued with porcelain dolls of women dressed in traditional clothes, but the catch is they are all stout. We discovered the are called La Massaia del Salento, but all of the explanations we have discovered on the internet are in Italian, so we are not quite sure what the meaning of the dolls is.

Some more examples of La Massaia del Salento.

We are going to continue to try to discover the story, but for now they are still a cute mystery to us.

One last batch of La Massaia del Salento.

Today was a pretty quiet day, but yesterday we were treated to a nice sunset, today the sun set on the other side of the peninsula from our beach, but instead we were treated to a nice moon rise.

The moon rising over the ocean at our campground tonight. We were going to go to the beach to get a prettier picture, but the mosquitos drove us back to François.

September 27, 2023 Gallipoli IT

Today we caused a bit of an international uproar in the town of Gallipoli. Gallipoli is an old city that was originally built on an island just off the mainland. Today it is connected to the modern part of the city that grew up in the 20th century on the mainland by a causeway, but the old city has maintained its old feeling and is a charming place.

The causeway on the left connects the old fortified city with the modern city that grew up in the 20th century.

We decided to time our visit for lunch as Ton had read about a seafood soup that was supposed to be delicious. There was a place that served it near the fish market so that was our first stop of the day.

The restaurant we chose did not have a menu instead there was a table in the center where you went and selected from what was fresh caught that day. It had a large selection of fish that you could pick from. We told the guy fish soup and he took my name and told us to find a table. It was an interesting way to do things. We sat down and a couple of white wines showed up which were part of the meal, and then a few minutes later the fish soup showed up.

Our fish soup for two. A whole fish, 4 or 5 nice prawns, 4 or 5 small octopus, and some of the local mussels.

We were duly impressed with the meal presented and it more than met our expectations for freshness and size. It showed up with a large spoon for ladling out the fish that you can see at the top of todays blog, but when we opened up our silverware packs there were no individual spoons. So we flagged down a waiter and asked for a spoon he said Si, and set off to the kitchen. Meanwhile I had tasted the broth and thought it could use some seasoning, so when a different waiter came by I asked for a lemon. He said Lemon? , and just to make sure he understood I pointed to a big basket of lemons by the fish display. This set off a loud and indignant burst of Italian directed at me, the only thing I could understand was the occasional Lemon said with disgust, he did not appreciate my attempt to alter the taste of their soup base. All of the tables around us were kind of taken aback by his reaction, (particularly because squeezing lemons on fish is very common throughout the mediterranean.) but I found it amusing and Ton was too busy tucking into her soup to be bothered. Seeing our reaction everyone else started smiling too. He finally left and we did not get our lemons. He then returned and told us we had our spoon pointing at the big serving spoon in the middle of the fish. I was not sure if this was revenge for asking for lemon or some other problem. At this point we decided to just go with the flow so Ton used the giant spoon for tasting the broth and I dipped the bread that came in the soup to get my broth, which might have been the point he did not bother to explain. Anyway we made a dining faux pas which caused a bit of an international incident, but it was actually funny as his reaction was almost out of a movie and certainly a bit dramatic. I was also thinking about asking for some Tabasco, but I suspect he would have had a stroke. So Ton took one of the red peppers from the plant which was the center piece on our table and secretly added it to the soup.

While the fish soup was a little bland for my taste, the ingredients were fresh and we did enjoy it as you can see from the picture. You can see the little pepper plant that Ton used to add some spice to the soup.

We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying a stroll around the island. It is surrounded by a sea wall on sides so we walked along the wall to get our bearings.

The sea wall facing the gulf of Taranto. The beach was still pretty busy as the temperatures were in the low 80’s.

Then we dived into the center to walk down the street with all of the shops. The nice thing is except for the street that runs next to the seawall there is no car traffic on the rest of the island, except for one miniature garbage truck that was making the rounds of the streets collecting the locals garbage bags.

The main street thru the center of Gallipoli.

This region was also famous for underground Olive Oil presses. As we were walking down the street in town we saw a sign for one and took a look. About 2o feet below street level there was a large mill for pressing the olives. The cave included a mill, a stable for a horse or donkey to pull the mill, storage for olives, and a fresh water source. It was kind of interesting to see, though none of the ones on the island are still being used.

The olive oil cave under the streets of Gallipoli.

We headed back to the campground, and noticed there was a large grocery store only a couple of hundred of meters away. We have been looking for two things for the last week, windshield washer fluid, and paper cone filters for our pour over coffee. The paper cone filter situation was getting critical as we were down to our last three, and we have been looking since we arrived in Italy. The Italians consume coffee very differently than we do and we were beginning to wonder if the paper filters were not for sale here. Ton began walking around the grocery looking for alternative devices we could use but we did not come up with anything. I did find what appeared to be washer fluid, and went to confirm it with an employee by doing a pantomime of windshield wipers moving back of forth and making spraying sounds, he looked at me flapping my arms and making spraying sounds with amusement and said in excellent English, yes the water to clean the window of the car. We noticed an appliance store next to the grocery and went in there, and found paper filters next to a new Mr. Coffee machine on sale. They are not quite perfect and were a bit expensive, but they will work and our coffee crisis is over.

Our dual quests for coffee filters and windshield wiper fluid completed we were rewarded with a wonderful sunset on our walk back to the campground.

September 26, 2023 Otranto IT

We have been using the Road Trips Italy book published by DK books to help guide us. It has been in François since our first visit to Italy. It had a small mention of the city of Otranto as one of its stops, and since we were only about 40 kilometers from Otranto we decided to head there before moving on to our planned stop for the day in Gallipoli.

Looking back at the old city walls from the pleasure boat marina.

From the description we did not expect much of Otranto, maybe a small fishing village with a cute waterfront. So we were pleasantly surprised with what we actually found there. It turns out Otranto has a very nice old town dominated by a castle built when it was part of Aragon in Spain. The fort is very impressive and well preserved. We did not tour the interior because we have turned into castle snobs and will not pay an entrance fee for just any castle. But we did enjoy walking along the walls.

One of the entrances to the castle with a modern stair case.

The old town had lots of shops and restaurants and was fairly bustling with a mixture of tourists, but here it was mostly foreign tourists, not Italian. We were hustling thru town because when we arrived I did not expect the town to be this interesting and I had only put 2 hours on the meter in the parking lot. Also, we were on the edge of a thunderstorm and it was raining a bit.

Looking down on the town from the castle walls.

About 20 minutes into exploring Otranto I told Ton that I was enjoying myself more here than I did in Lecce. She agreed, Lecce is a far more important city both in the past and today, but it did not connect with us the way the little backwater town of Otranto did.

One of the streets in the old town. We really enjoyed wandering around in Otranto.

Our two hours were nearly up so we had to hustle back to François. We stopped at one more interesting art piece near the port. It is a monument to displaced persons commissioned by the town in the early 2000’s. In the 1980’s an Albanian naval patrol boat with about 100 people on board was trying to defect to Italy. Before it could safely reach Italy it was sunk, and over 80 people died. The boat was salvaged and brought to Otranto where the town commissioned a Greek artist to make it into a monument to refugees. It is a very interesting work that we both enjoyed.

The salvaged hull of an Albania patrol boat sunk while trying to defect to Italy during the communist era. The glass represents the sea. It is a memorial to refugees, and seems appropriate given the current times.

We were pleasantly surprised that our 60 kilometer drive to Gallipoli was almost entirely on freeways. We arrived at the Agritourismo which is a campground on a farm earlier than planned, but almost immediately decided to stay 2 days instead of the one planned because we liked the vibe of the place.

The front of the agritourismo is a cactus garden which Ton loves.

We were planning to go into town today, but there was a big thunderstorm brewing off in the distance so we decided to wait until tomorrow. Of course the storm blew out to sea without touching us or the town. But we did get a nice sunset from the campground to reward us for our caution.

September 25, Torre dell’Orso IT

Even though we have been following the coast of the Adriatic we had not been down to the ocean so we decided to fix that today. Our campground is about 2 km from the beach and Luigi will shuttle you down there, so we planned to go down there after siesta today.

But the morning priorities were saying goodbye to all of our new friends at the campground from both Italy and Switzerland. No one was in a big hurry to leave and so everyone kept finding excuses to strike up one more conversation. Finally about 11 am the last person rolled out and Ton and I had the campground to ourself with Luigi. As I am writing this no one else has checked in, so we have the place to ourself.

This sign says that this is a mandatory kiss point. Ton reluctantly obliged me.

The other priority was getting laundry done. We knocked it out quickly as we had all of the facilities to ourself and it was perfect clothes drying weather with a strong sun and a brisk wind.

The beaches here are often private. You were supposed to pay an entry fee to use this portion of the beach, but this offended our Oregon sensibilities where all beaches are public property, so we just walked on in.

We headed down to the town about 4 pm and the tourist season is definitely over here. Most of the beach resorts and all of the other campgrounds had closed up for the season. There were a few people around and the beaches had a light crowd so it wasn’t desolate, but it was very quiet.

There were a few people on the beaches, but the town was extremely quiet.

One of the things we have adjusted to over the years is how on and then off tourism is in Europe. The places are mobbed for the summer, then almost no one comes during the fall and winter. As a result when traveling in the shoulder season we have to pay particular to whether the campground we are planning to use is open year round as most are not. By November only around 25% of the campgrounds are still open even in places with warm weather.

The two sisters rocks. It is much more beautiful in Italian.

The beach is famous for the Two Sisters Rocks or Le Due Sorell in Italian. It is a rock formation with two nearly identical rocks with a sheer narrow channel between them. The ancient story was that two sisters climbed on top of the rock, and one of them dived in, but was immediately in trouble because of the rough seas. She cried out for help and her sister dived in to help her but they both drowned. The gods were moved by the story so they cut the rock in half to honor the two sisters.

After a quick turn thru town we headed back to the quiet campground hoping that someone else had showed up, but unfortunately we are the only guests. So it should be a quiet night for sleeping.

Tons wonderful pasta, with the Primitivo wine which was included as part of the price for the first campground.

September 24, 2023 Lecce IT

Lecce is another 2000 year old city with a history going back to the Trojan war. Today it is the second largest city in the area and a major tourist attraction. After our late night we were a little slow getting going. But finally we packed up and headed in late morning.

One of the major attractions in Lecce is the Church of Santa Croce.

We found a place to park François and walked to the Duomo which was initially built in the 1150’s and rebuilt in the 1600’s. It was a nice building, and like a lot of the buildings it had a very Rococo facade. Rococo is a style that was popular in the late Renaissance characterized by very intricate and elaborate forms. Lecce is famous for its Rococo buildings.

I am not a big fan of Rococo as it seems a little busy to me. But the skill of the artists and tradesmen responsible for the construction is very impressive.

The detail and the intricacies of the stone carving is really impressive.

Lecce was conquered by the Romans in the 3rd century BC, and while there are not a lot of Roman ruins on display there is a very impressive amphitheater below ground level today. It was built in the 2nd century and could seat 25,000 people. It was covered by newer buildings over time which is why it appears to be below ground level now. A large section has been uncovered right in the heart of the city, and a smaller section is visible a hundred yards or so away to give a sense of the size of the original building. It is still used occasionally for special events and religious services.

Part of the 2nd century BC Roman amphitheater in the center of Lecce.

Having spent a couple of hours walking around Lecce we decided to have a coffee and settled on a cafe on the edge of the tourist zone. As we have traveled around Europe we have noticed a fascination with the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Every where we go there seems to be pictures of her in the more artistic districts of cities. We picked this cafe because it had a picture of her, the coffee was good as was the people watching.

Frida Kahlo seems to have a fascination over here that we do not have in the US.

After our coffee we decided to head back to the campground before the crowds got too big. We headed back to the train station parking lot where we had parked François and paid the €3 to bail him out.

These matching balconies were on an old home on a back ally on the walk back to the train station.

Ton’s second favorite thing is to go to grocery stores. As we were driving back we passed one and stopped. Ton was in heaven looking at all of the different fruit, vegetables, cheeses, and cuts of meat. She loves Italy because they have an incredible variety of fresh pasta on sale. We had spent about 40 minutes just poking around when a security guard came by and pantomimed that the store was closing. At this point we were only about 1/2 way thru, so Ton has something else to look forward to.

These are a type of cucumber that Ton has recently discovered. She loves them and they are widely available here.

We headed back to the campground to relax and prepare for another one of Luigi’s family meals.

In Europe you often see locks attached to bridges. Lecce doesn’t have a river, so no bridge, so the local lovers have improvised this place by the Roman amphitheater to express their eternal love.

September 23, 2023 Torre dell’Orso IT

I try to post every day but sometimes life gets in the way. It unexpectedly did yesterday. Yesterday we needed to get some shopping in and shift south about 150 kilometers to Lecce. We were up early and got on the road with a plan to stop at a grocery when we saw one. Well about 40 kilometers from Lecce on the freeway we still hadn’t seen a grocery so we stopped and asked Greta for her advice. She said there was a Lidl 6 km’s away as the crow flies so we told her to take us there. 15 km’s of driving later we arrived at a very busy Lidl. Shopping done we continued south.

I had picked out a campsite that was very well reviewed on Park4night our favorite camping app. We arrived about 1 pm and the owner Luigi guided us into our spot. He then gave us a tour of the place in Italian which we understood a bit of, and ended at the bar where he gave us a taste of his homemade wine. While we were tasting our wine a Bulgarian couple came by and gave Luigi a hug and kisses as they were departing, we thought that was interesting, but later we would understand why. While we were sitting and trying the wine he pantomimed if we had had lunch yet. When we said no, he insisted we join him for lunch because we were family. What a welcome!

Throughout lunch Luigi continued to converse with us in Italian and occasionally German, while Ton and I tried to latch onto words we knew to follow what was going on. At the end of lunch Luigi told us he was going to have a family dinner and we should plan on attending, but we weren’t sure we understood correctly as it seemed too good to be true. He then also announced it was time for a nap and headed into his house.

We spent the afternoon relaxing, and during one of my walkabouts I struck up a conversation with our Swiss neighbors and they confirmed Luigi was hosting dinner around 8pm. Then about 7 pm the Swiss came by and announced dinner was ready, but Luigi says to bring your own plates, silverware, and glasses because he is not running a restaurant.

We were joined at dinner by the Swiss couple, a French couple, and an Italian couple plus Luigi and a friend. Only the Swiss could speak more than one language so they ended up being the translators for what was a wonderful multi-lingual dinner of mussels and grilled fish with lots of wine.

Just as we thought the evening was breaking up, Luigi brought out his guitar and we spent another hour listening to him play and trying to sing along. Luigi is a very good guitar player. Ton and I bailed out when two other Italian couples turned up from town and it looked like a lot more wine was going to be consumed. We need to be fit enough to go into Lecce tomorrow.