Southward Bound!

The sunset in Soverato, Calabria

So then! After by good friend Brooke left Roma, I spent two days in my new apartment and then I was off again. My friend Amy and I were heading south to the region of Calabria and then to Sicily.

Amy with our fierce ride....the FIAT PANDA

A word about Amy. She just might be the coolest ever. I met Amy in Berlitz teacher training and we immediately clicked. We both have a mid-western sense of humor (whatever that means) and we spent a lot of the training cracking each other up. It seemed that we were living parallel lives for a little while there with our work experience, travels abroad, and just general interests. Amy's got this awesome energy. She's admiringly honest and truthful and incredibly generous. You can't walk into Amy's house without getting wine, cheese, or a meal. So, when Amy even uttered the words road trip I jumped on board.

The Panda comes with many features such as the spacious back seat, great for  a night's sleep

Amy took the front

We rented a Fiat Panda, a little car that not only got us where we needed to go, but also provided lodging for us one night when we decided not to spend the money on an over-priced hotel room by the sea. We also met up with Amy's friend, Sara, in a little sea side town called Davoli near Soverato, and got a chance to swim in the beautiful Ionian Sea, hang out on the beach for a little while, and do some line dancing with some old folks--you know the usual.

Miz Amy and our awesome guide Sara right before we joined in the dancing

Calabria

From there we were headed along the coast to Locri, another seaside town in Calabria. Some of the towns we drove through seemed like really cool places, but once we got to Locri we found that we weren't all that impressed so we kept right on moving and headed up the mountain until we stumbled upon the medieval village of Gerace. It was like no place I'd ever been before; small, with everything made of stone, and most streets barely big enough to fit even the smallest car. You get the feeling that Gerace in present day isn't all that different than it was hundreds of years ago, that its preserved its most important features in a way that many other towns and villages have lost. Gerace is basically perched up on a rock-hill made of what used to be sea fossils and has a fantastic view of countryside, mountains, and the water. Determined not to spend another night in the Fiat, we found a really awesome, quaint place called Il Giardino di Gerace. The man who runs Il Giardino, Fernando, was a linguist, a historian, and a teacher who told us everything under the sun about Gerace. He was so helpful in fact, that when the internet was down, he sent me to his son-in-laws house (just a few confusing, winding streets away) with his wife as my guide. I would definitely like to spend more time there.

The view from our hotel in Gerace

Gerace

Porta in Gerace

We then followed the coast to the toe of the boot where we dropped off our beloved Panda for the ferry to Sicily and then the train to Palermo to meet our wonderful friend, host, and Sicilian native, Antonino. We also met up with Erich as soon as we got to Palermo since he couldn't sit home and let me have all the fun!

Sicily was such an amazing mix of cultural flavors. It's been invaded by the Greeks, the Normans, and the Arabs among others, and for a long time has felt both pulled to the unified pride of Italy and disenfranchised from it. It still has a large mafia presence (I probably referenced The Godfather about 10 minimum each day we were there) and some of the richest food to be found. I saw a man in Messina eat a piece of lasagna as big as your head in three huge, quick bites and then immediately ask for another with cheeks still full of pasta. That's love.

Dessert night with our great hosts

Erich and Amy in Palermo

As soon as I planned this trip to Sicily, I knew I was going to be in Cannoli Heaven, but I had no idea just how good they were going to be. It was like a little bit of heaven on earth. One night we went out with the sole intention of trying Sicily's best and most typical desserts. It was like my birthday times a thousand. My favorite, however, is still and forever will remain Cannoli. When I think of my "happy place" it always includes a Cannolo. Among my favorite things about Palermo was the diverse architecture, the brilliant sea, and the amazing food (of course). Antonino did such a great job showing us the best of Palermo and even endured a pretty vicious encounter with a jelly fish just to show us the best seaside views.

The Norman Catedral in Palermo

Abandoned, earthquake stricken building

Behold the beauty and wonder of The Cannoli

Took a visit to Monreale outside of Palermo

The clouds slowly crept down on this mountain

Although the trip southward wore me out, I couldn't have asked for more, and can't wait to go back to Sicily for more exploring.

Allow me to back up....

Me and Brooke in Pompei

Beautiful Capri

Me and Erich on the island of Ischia

One of the petrified people in Pompei

Brooke and Tim in Pompei

At dinner in Napoli

Okay. So that was a long break with no writing. After receiving the appropriate amount of flack from family and friends, I am now ready to resume writing. Sorry y'all.

I have been "on vacation" for the entire month of August now. Although I understand how lucky I am to have an entire month vacation in Italy, I gotta say I am BEAT! You know how you always feel like you need a vacation from your vacation? That's kinda how I feel. Traveling is tiring and expensive and I feel like I just need to be stationary for a while. In the midst of all these travels we've moved apartments, yet I haven't been in my apartment for more than 5 days in the entire month. Therefore, I'm looking forward to actually making it feel like home, getting to know the new roomies, and dare I say it--I'm actually excited to go back to work.

So what have I been doing? The month started out great with my amica Brooke and her boyfriend Tim coming for a visit. It was really nice to see and catch up with Brooke and even better to be able to have new travel companions. With them, Erich and I traveled to Naples and it's surrounding hot spots; Pompei, Ischia, and Capri. Naples kind of gets a bad rap, I think. Even mention that you are going to Napoli and you will have 10 Italians on your ass telling you to watch your bags, beware of pickpockets, don't trust anybody, BUT PLEASE do enjoy the pizza. Naples considers itself the birthplace of pizza and as a city it is very proud of its culinary traditions, so we took full advantage of not only the pizza but also the seafood while there. Brooke and Tim were as fearless eaters as Erich and I, so between the 4 of us we got to try everything. I headed back to Naples later in the month with my family and at that point I determined, not only did I think all the negative comments about Napoli were a little overdone, but that they were also unfair and misleading. Yes, in and around the central train station is a bit sketchy as are some select other areas, but get outside of that and you can find the best that Italy has to offer; a proud and vibrant culture, awesome music, delicious food, a unique dialect of the language, friendly people, strength in the face of poverty and adversity, rich heritage....okay okay, you get the picture, needless to say I really loved Napoli. I read something in my guidebook before we went that said something to the effect of, "stay in Napoli one day and you will hate it, stay two weeks and you will love it, stay one month and you will never want to leave." I can definitely see this to be true.

Brooke and Tim weren't only great travel buddies, but they were also EXTREMELY helpful. When we returned to Rome they helped us move all of our stuff (which has been accumulating at a faster rate than I had anticipated) across town to our new place. I don't know what we would have done without them! But, I also just had so much fun hanging out with Brooke. I think she brings out my inner untapped indulgences driving me to dress up once and a while and wear make up just for the fun of it. She's just a fun person altogether, so you can't help but have fun when she's around. As soon as Brooke left, I immediately wanted her to come back.

I didn't have too much time to sulk however as two days later I was heading out on a mini-road trip to Calabria and Palermo with my friend Amy.....

Me and Brooke up on my roof

The four of us got all gussied up and went to a nice dinner. Brooke let me borrow this lovely dress!