The Strawberry Farm

Chance meetings leading to new friendships and the kindness of strangers are already among our most treasured memories from this trip.  You may recall in the last blog how we met Giovanni and his friends in Sperlonga and spent a delightful evening with them.  Well, our next planned stop was Naples and the surrounding area and when Giovanni heard this he was most insistent that we come and stay on his parents’ strawberry farm.  So along with Hendrik, Jacqueline and Frankie (our Dutch travel buddies and their little green motorhome) we accepted his kind offer and made our way to the farm.

Getting there was an adventure in itself with at least two signs telling us Harvey wouldn’t fit.  However the old chap can suck his belly in when required and after walking through to check we wouldn’t get stuck we squeaked through without damage to any extremities.

After a tour of the farm that evening we were treated to a feast which Anita has firmly stated is one of her favourites experiences of the entire trip so far.  With 7 of us around the dinner table, our hosts Salvatore, Patrizia (Patty) and Giovanni treated us to the most amazing Italian home cooked meal.  First course was classic Italian, spaghetti carbonara made with pancetta, pasta, egg yolks, parmesan and herbs.   Next (and we weren’t expecting a ‘next’) was antipasto including an entire bowl of fresh, (local specialty) buffalo mozzarella, olives, ricotta, salami and plenty else besides.  And of course an enormous bowl of strawberries for dessert!  Each course was paired with local wine made by one or other of Salvatore’s winemaker friends and your author cannot overstate what a pleasure this evening was - to be treated like royalty by our new friends who served up the most authentic Italian feast is adjective-defying to say the least!  Bellissimo!!!

The next day it was time to explore Naples and again, our hosts were kind enough to drop us off at the nearby train station for the short commute into Italy’s third largest city (population around one million).  The first thing that struck this correspondent was the flags, banners streamers etc in support of the local Napoli football team.  At the time of our visit they were 14 points clear on the Serie A points table, an almost unassailable lead, which will be the first time in 33 years the Napoli team has claimed the title.  In fact last time they did, a certain Diego Maradona was the club superstar and images of him abound throughout the city.  [a few days later your author and young Hendrik were able to visit a local bar to watch Napoli take on Juventus, the locals scoring the winning goal in injury time so all VERY exciting and now they are 17 points clear with 7 games to play!]

Italy is a country of contrasting fortunes between North and South, those closer to mainland Europe being by far the more prosperous.  Naples itself was definitely symptomatic of that divide, best being described as gritty, working class and utilitarian.  We didn’t feel at all unsafe walking the streets, however the city lacked many of the airs and graces that most European cities have.  It generally felt very chaotic and there was quite a lot of rubbish around the place – you also saw people doing jobs that would be automated elsewhere, showing that we were now in a low wage economy.  For example you had traffic policemen at many busy intersections rather than traffic lights.  As is often the case, we Travelling Woodies decided to do a walking tour however this one was a ‘food tour’ involving several stops to taste local street food.  For both of us, but in particular foodie Anita, this was an excellent way to get a feel for the city and also taste some of the most famous local specialties.  The most unusual of these was a stall selling… there’s no nice way to say this… offal!  Yes they had slow cooked the innards of pretty much an entire beast which was cut up and generously drizzled in lemon juice before participants were invited to partake.  Which (with a small amount of trepidation) we did.  The verdict?  Definitely edible, nicer than expected, flavour good, texture definitely strange!  Next was a ‘seafood cone’ containing a variety of deep-fried delicacies including sardines, calamari, prawns etc then a little way down the road we were treated to freshly cooked deep-fried pizza.  At the end to wash down all that greasy goodness, we were treated to a small glass of the famous local pallet-cleanser: limoncello!  Too much fun!

Your author had been battling a heavy head cold for a couple of days and so the next day the lovely Anita headed off on her own to explore Herculaneum.  This was a resort town for the Roman elite which, similar to Pompeii, was destroyed when Vesuvius erupted almost 2000 years ago.  However this place was even better preserved than Pompeii as the town was covered in ash within hours of the eruption.  It was discovered before Pompeii but as it is only small is not so well known.  The frescos and buildings here were quite remarkable.

We were very sad to leave the farm, our Italian friends had been unbelievably kind, we sincerely hope they will visit New Zealand one day to allow us to reciprocate.  On departure they insisted on giving us the following homegrown bounty: a flagon of oil from their olive trees, strawberries, honey, eggs, citrus, walnuts & hazelnuts plus leftovers from the dinner party to fill Harvey up.  Oh and that was after taking us out for breakfast and then to the local mozzarella deli for some goodies.  We felt very spoiled and grateful to have had a genuine Italian immersion.

Most people have heard of Pompeii, a Roman city which was buried by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79AD however, at least for your author, that was about the extent of his knowledge.  Not for the first time in this blog, suitable superlatives elude me.  Firstly, the site is more than enormous, covering some 65 hectares (around 170 acres) and is an astonishingly well preserved ruin.  The reason?  It took only minutes for the ash cloud and poisonous gasses to kill all the 10,000 inhabitants and less than 24 hours for the entire city to be buried under several metres of ash and rock.  Archaeological exploration didn’t begin until the 18^th century meaning you have a genuine time capsule almost 1700 years old.  In almost all cases the rooves and upper stories of buildings collapsed due to the weight of the ash but the remainder of most structures was intact.  This means that archaeologists and researchers have been able to piece together a huge amount of detail, largely because of how well things were preserved.  The colours in the paintings, mosaics and frescoes are still as they were in 79AD, and at the time of unearthing, the contents of peoples’ pantries and food/beverage storage vessels were also preserved.  Along with a great deal else.

However the most famous aspect of Pompeii and the one which most impacted your two kiwi travellers was the plaster casts.  Let me explain…  During the 15 minutes or so it took to die, inhabitants tried everything they could to survive, including covering their faces, curling up into a little ball etc, however of course it was all in vain.  People died and were then covered in the aforementioned layer of ash, which solidified over time.  As further years passed, their bodies decomposed leaving effectively a person-sized hole in the ash layer.  Sometime in the 1800’s a clever scientist discovered that you could make a small ‘hole in the hole’ and pour liquid plaster into the cavity – this would then harden over several days, the ash would be chipped away, and you would be left with an exact model of the deceased, in-situ, exactly as they were as the life left their body.  Check out the photos below, these models are truly sobering and provide a unique insight into the human aspect of this disaster.

However, the treats didn’t end with Pompeii because next day it was off to the Amalfi Coast!  One of the few things Italy has in common with New Zealand is that both have a significant public holiday on 25 April, theirs commemorating liberation from the Germans in WWII.  Like NZ this year, this meant many people took the Monday off making it an extremely busy 4-day weekend.  The gateway to Amalfi Coast is the town of Sorrento which is only a 30-minute train ride from our Pompeii campsite however sadly that was the end of the public transport efficiency.  From Sorrento most people take the bus along the coast to Positano and Amalfi (although you can also go by boat) however because it was so busy, the queue for the bus was almost 2 hours.  Then once aboard, what is ordinarily a slow trip along a precipitous winding road became even slower due to traffic jams and other hold ups.  Thankfully we had Hendrik and Jacqueline to keep us company however it took us until mid-afternoon to actually arrive at our first destination, the town of Amalfi.  This area is famous for its lemons and, as mentioned earlier, limoncello and every shop you walk past is adorned with all things coloured pale-yellow!  A little like Cinque Terra, the coastline is rugged, steep and really beautiful.  The towns themselves are larger however there are dwellings, hotels etc clinging to the cliffsides.  The day we visited it was overcast, windy and cool with the odd rain shower however this did little to dampen our enjoyment and the special treat that was a visit to the Amalfi Coast. 

The drivers on these buses are legendary for their skill and ability to squeeze these huge vehicles through gaps into which they have no right to fit.  The queue for our trip back to Sorrento remained lengthy however we were able to squeeze standing into the front stairwell which gave an extraordinary insight into just how skilful the driver was.  Motorhomes are banned from this particular piece of road and with good reason, the one sinful motorhomer we encountered caused the bus to stop for 5 minutes and ended up with the 2 vehicles scraping down the side of each other in order to pass.  We jumped off at Positano, the other large coastal town, walked down to the waterfront (quite some distance downhill) before procuring a much-needed thirst-quencher, visiting a few shops, including the purchase of a souvenir t-shirt for the lovely Anita, then back up the hill for the bus to Sorrento and the train back to Pompeii.  As we removed our shoes and plonked ourselves down on Harvey’s couch, the clock read 9.30pm!

We’ll finish up for this edition in the small town of Maratea, a little way down the coast as we head our way for the southern tip of Italy. 

Getting to Maratea was a challenge – there was some skilful driving required with many hairpin bends, suicidal Italian drivers and roads of varying quality.  Harvey struggles a little on these roads but with lots of encouragement from the co-pilot and plenty of snacks we got there in one piece.

After a night there on our own who should rock up into our carpark the next day but Frankie and his occupants so again, it was lovely to spend an evening hanging out with our Dutch travel buddies (who refer to us as their Kiwi parents 😊).  The weather is finally starting to warm up, so we spent the day exploring the old town, then walking/riding the 3km or so down to a lovely little beach where books and puzzles were dealt to and work on our summer tans commenced.

The old town dates from the 15^th century and has 44 churches and several beautiful piazzas.  Being spring all the flowers are out, in particular wisteria and poppies, but also all the fruit trees in blossom. Standing guard from the very top of the hill is a Christ the Redeemer statue.  Slightly smaller than the one in Rio but still very impressive, your author and Hendrik cycled up to the top to check out the vista.  Thank goodness the bikes are electric!

Thanks once again for your interest in our adventures – we love hearing from home as well as our friends elsewhere so don’t be shy to drop us a line to say gidday 😊.  With much love as always…

The Travelling Woodies 

someone is quite a fan of fresh strawberries!

row upon row of fat juicy strawberries at Giovanni's farm

the most amazing dinner party, put on my Giovanni and his parents Salvatore and Patricia!

... including whole buffalo mozzarella to feast on!

a short stop in the town of Gaeta, the most famous landmark is this grotto

the whole town of Napoli is going crazy because their team is about to win the league

Harvey and Frankie hanging out together at the strawberry farm, along with Giovanni's camper

Patty decanting some of their home-made olive oil to send us on our way with.  in addition the insisted on giving us strawberries, honey, eggs, citrus, walnuts & hazelnuts plus leftovers from the dinner party to fill Harvey up

a shrine to Diego Maradona, Napoli's favourite son!

street food, Napoli style - yes, this is indeed offal!

our Naples food walking tour 

the Naples catacombs

Anita's visit to Herculaneum, another Roman town buried by the Vesuvius eruption in 79AD

Herculaneum mosaic

artwork inside Herculaneum villa

one of the many wide Pompei thoroughfares. notice the ruts in the flagstones in the foreground, made by Roman carts and chariots

plaster model of a fallen victim of Pompei #1

plaster model of a fallen victim of Pompei #2

Pompei villa

looking back over the city of Pompei

a Pompei retailer selling her wares

Positano on the Amalfi Coast

the town of Amalfi

Amalfi waterfront

Positano on the way home

check out the size of these lemons!

coffee and a croissant in the town square at Maratea

the Maratea waterfront, overlooked by the 'Christ the Redeemer' statue on the hilltop

starting work on the summer tan - this is Fiumicello beach, just a short walk from our Harvey par at Maratea

it was a public holiday in Italy - these gentlemen invited us for a small drink to celebrate with them

Hendrik kept me company for a bike ride up the hill to check out 'Christ the Redeemer'

view from 'Christ the Redeemer' looking south

Anita made a delicious caprese salad entre, buffalo mozzarella, tomato and basil

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