October has been a busy month for us, but the best part was the time spent with daughter Kate Milde, son-in-law Lane, and grandson Frank. We didn’t see them on our trip to the States in September because we knew they would be coming soon to see us. They live in Ledyard, Connecticut, and it would have added several days to our already long trip. It was special to have them come to us. Skip to photos here.
They spent three days in Rome, hitting all the high tourist spots, before renting a car and driving to Abruzzo. Rome is a city everyone should visit at least once. Busy, lots of traffic, and always crowded. They say they loved the sites (Colosseum, Basilica, the fountains, the Borghese….), but the crowds were tiresome. So, they were happy to escape to the tranquility of Abruzzo and our little village Casalanguida.
Mike and I met them at the exit of the Autostrada. Otherwise, they never would have found our house, it’s so rural. They had only two full days in Casalanguida, so I planned carefully. Ha, ha, that’s a joke. Actually, we did what we’ve done for all of our other guests. First evening we had a barbeque for our neighbors to meet the Mildes. Mike and Paul brought Paul’s big grill over, I made a yummy pasta with vodka sauce and some finger foods. Mike and I bought hamburgers from a butcher in Vasto, and of course, we had arrostocini. It was really fun, with 14 people, and the weather was perfect for sitting out on our patio. Giuseppe pushed Mike away from the grill and took over cooking the burgers, which I thought was cute. Our neighbors are the best.
Visiting Abruzzo, one needs to see both the mountains and the sea. So, our usual plan is to one day take people to the mountains to see the castle at Roccascalenga and have lunch at Civico 20, and then drive to the charming hill town of Tornareccio to walk through the outdoor mosaic museum. The second day is a visit to Vasto to see the old town and the Adriatic. That morning, Lane and Frank rented bicycles and rode the new bike path along the sea while Kate, Mike and I walked around Vasto. We met up at our beach club, relaxed a bit, dipped our toes in the Adriatic, and went to lunch at our favorite trabocco, Trabocco Trimalcione. It is always a delightful experience and Mario makes it special.
Thursday we (literally) packed the rental car and took off for Naples. It was a 3-plus hour drive. Kate had done an amazing job of booking hotels for us. In Naples, we stayed in The Spanish Palace, built in 1738, and has been featured in movies. Our suite had 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, a large sitting area, and a big kitchen. Elegant.
Since Mike and I had already seen Pompeii and Herculaneum, we waved goodbye to the Mildes the next morning as they took off for their day of touring the ruins. Mike and I had tickets to the archaeological museum at 3:00 p.m., so we decided to first take the hop-on, hop-off bus. We found a bus stop walking distance from our palace, but it’s location wasn’t clear when we arrived there. After about 20 minutes we saw the bus arrive on the other side of the street, waved at it, and the driver graciously stopped and waited for us to illegally cross the street. These buses are in every large city we’ve visited. They usually have two or more different routes. In Naples, there are two routes, one in the city, one that goes around the bay and back. Since we had time, we took the long ride. I’m glad we did, because we got to see a side of Naples that is quite nice. And clean. It was lunch time when we got to the starting point, so we walked around a bit until we found a restaurant with outdoor seating. Lunch did not disappoint. Then we got on the other bus route, hopping off at the museum a few minutes before meeting up with our museum tour group.
The Naples Archaeological Museum was exactly what we expected it to be. Many of the artifacts recovered from Herculaneum and Pompeii are displayed there. Because the towns were buried so quickly, everything is still intact. No nose-less faces, no broken arms, and the artwork has been meticulously restored.
I was very surprised and impressed to see the original fresco of Proserpina. I have a print of this, which I bought in Florence when my sister Carol and I were there in 2001. I bought it because I liked it, not because I knew what it was. Now I know the story behind it. It’s in our storage locker in Chicago, waiting to be moved back to Italy.
We met up with the Mildes about 5:00 p.m. We shared our day’s experiences and since I was pooped, I opted to take a nap. The others found a fun bar across the street where they were introduced to limoncello spritzes. We found a really good restaurant and had a nice dinner.
The next morning, we took off for Maiori. Thank goodness Kate was driving and Mike was navigating. I don’t think I’ll ever drive in Naples. But Kate loved it. This is a side of her that I never knew.
I give Kate huge KUDOS for making Maiori our last stop. It was the highlight of our vacation. Yes, we had a wonderful time with friends here in Casalanguida, we had a great experience in Roccascalenga, we had enjoyed the Adriatic coast and the trabocco. But. The hotel in Maiori was really nice. The boat rental was amazing – we saw the Amalfi coast from the sea rather than those crazy winding roads. We had lunch and shopped in Positano. And we had the most delicious experience at the Torri Normanni Ristorante, housed in a medieval tower on the water’s edge. You must see the photos. It was a seven-course tasting menu and each course was a work of art. Then, after dessert, fireworks from the beach. (Kate says she didn’t order that, but I can still think she did.)
The next day we had breakfast at the hotel, a real American breakfast (yum). We set off for Naples. The plan was to drop Mike and me off at the bus station, then the Mildes would continue on the Rome. They’d booked a hotel by the airport to be close by for their flight home the next day. Luckily, we arrived at the Naples bus station a half hour before an earlier than planned departure, and we were able to change our tickets. Timing was everything. Three hours later we were in Vasto and our neighbors Maria and Robert picked us up.
Here's the link to our photos, some of which have been added by Kate.
Back home and back to reality, we’ve spent a week doing laundry, catching up on sleep, and shopping. Now we must focus our attention on finding a new home. Stay tuned!
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