Getaway to Italy

I sit at the bedroom window sipping my coffee and this is the view that greets me. I sip slowly as I watch the buzzard rising up through the gorge. This is our first day in Italy.......and wow, what a place to be staying!
Maiera. Set on a ridge finger of a dramatic gorge that opens up towards the sea down below. This is real Italy. A village where we can be greeted by the villagers from each shady door we pass. Where the only sounds are sounds of nature and the singsong of the Italian language carrying through the narrow streets and up their steep steps......streets where no car may pass! Oh and of course the sweet bells that wake you and bid you goodnight at the beginning and end of the day, as if closing each page of the holiday!
On our first day we didn't travel too far. Visiting the ruins at Cirella. From here you get great views of the coastline and can appreciate how the village of Maiera sits on its ridge opposite neighboring Grisolia.

This was a scorching hot first day and the turquoise sea below looked so inviting! Later we wandered around the cool streets of Diamante.......it was a strange place mid afternoon, no local goes out into the relentless mid-day heat!! But it makes it a quiet place where you can wander the streets unseen as if in the middle of the night when people are sleeping! The walls of Diamante are painted with murals and frescoes depicting scenes of history and Italian life.

It was here that I discovered the delightful flavor of the Cedro fruit in the form of wonderful Italian ice-cream........lashings of it, scoops galore!! There are beaches around Diamante and for our first lilo day we found one North of the town.
Sandy and water, luke warm like a giant bath tub! The only tourists were Italian and there were few of them as it was near the end of the holiday season! We spent the day here before heading into Diamante at night to see it come alive!
Being in the apartment was great...Well equipped and perfect for cooking up romantic meals with the local produce. The tastiest tomatoes I have ever eaten, bought fresh from a local man in the plaza of the village. Podding beans freshly picked. Saying that, Diamante was a great place to eat out, sitting along the promenade watching people parade up and down and studying those Italian hand gestures that accompany all conversations!
The Pollino National Park is a vast expanse of pine covered mountain cut up with ravines and gorges. We took a route passing Papasidero. This was a perfect place to stop and take in the views.
This village overlooks the river Lao and is home of The Sanctuary of Constantinople (17th-18th centuries). It's nestled into the cliffs down below the village. The hike down is worth it...you can be refreshed by the cool water of the river....and maybe catch a frog or two!!We then followed the winding road through the Pollino, it's slopes covered with wild herbs and pine and then huge cacti growing in more arid places......now bare from recent natural fires! The park covers 750 Sq miles!! Unique to the area is the Pino Loricato which is only found here and in the Balkans.

Next stop was the town of Mormanno. A medieval town with a maze of narrow streets to get lost in! Its a good base for those who enjoy climbing and offered a good place to sit and enjoy our lunch of fresh tomatos and melon!After a pleasant wander around, being helped by the friendly locals we left this still very much lived in place for the abandoned village of Laino Casatello. This place, though in a beautiful location had a creepy feel.
Booming thunder somewhere in the distance just added to the atmosphere. The people left after an earthquake in the 1980's destroyed many of its buildings.
It seemed as if they had just left yesterday. The streets are lined with straw and mysteriously look as if they are still being used. The font in the church rests on the floor where it fell.

A fire plane flies right above us on the beach of San Nicola Arcella. Swooping down to collect water from the sea. This plane made several trips before putting out the fire. We saw many small fires in the area....their smoke drifting up to the hills in the evening. It must happen frequently through out the summer. All the Italians on the beach took this in their stride. How ever it was quite exciting being out on lilo as the plane passed so closely above! This was our favorite beach, in a wonderful location, almost hidden. A perfect place to swim and with rocks that offered the opportunity to see fish swimming below!
Half way through the holiday and refreshed after another lazy beach day was the perfect time to head North and to Pompei. We rose early, for once earlier than any of the villagers and went unseen without the familiar Buon giorno!
It was exciting nearing Naples, navigating on the busier roads and finding Pompei. I was really looking forward to the visit, having been mezmorised by images I had seen in an old history book as a child. Ruined city full of strange shapes of people once covered by falling ash hundreds of years ago only to be unveiled years later, there last moments captured forever.
How strange then to be walking into this city. Along the roads where it's citizens trod. And it's all so clear. Worn grooves where the charitots passed, Columns of the important buildings, doorways leading into the simple dwellings, it's so clear how these people lived. But it is also so clear how they died. For twist and turn. Visit the villa and the dark rooms of a merchants house, try and become lost only to find there she is. Hauntingly, there she towers, so close, a gigantic reminder of how it all came to an end. There is no escaping...Vesuvius!












Street after street. Home after home, it all comes to life. But what I really liked were not the obvious walls and alleys. It was the hidden little secrets here and there. The personal touches that were preserved and tell you so much more about the people who lived here. It must have been a city of such colour and creativity, full of passion. The little painting hidden here and there, beautifully done. It really touched me to see these murals, by the hands of those who lived here, allowing us in a manner to see through their eyes! They took such care to make there homes comfortable....though not all murals were just to please the eye. The phallic doorway paintings were all about status and protecting the home!
And then in their gardens full of fruit trees and also in the temples were statues of the gods and animals that they honored and that were a part of every day life!Wandering around Pompei in the heat was tiring...thankfully there are water fountains dotted around the city where you can splash in the cool water. Shady gardens offer places to rest a while and take it all in! Before long we discovered the arena. This place had real atmosphere. With little imagination I could feel and sense all the Gladitaors who passed along its cold dark tunnels before entering out into the oven like arena, being blinded by the blazing sun.

And yes, the eruption that destroyed Pompei happened a long time ago but Vesuvius is still an active volcano. It last had a major eruption in 1944. Naples shall always be at risk, though modern equipment would allow plenty of time for people to evacuate. We climbed to the top knowing we'd have plenty of time to enjoy the view!!!!
How ever, Etna and Stromboli constantly spue Lava and smoke and more recent earthquakes are a constant reminder of how Southern Italy shall always know the power of the earth!

It was nice to spend some time in Maiera after that long day out! Chilling in the apartment, wandering about the village, meeting a few folk and experiencing village life. It wasn't until late afternoon that we thought we ought to pay a visit to the nearby Scalea!
Sat on a tiny hill overlooking the beaches. 'Scale' means steps and there are plenty of them here in the historical center. It's worth following them up and around, passing attractive restaurants to get the view from the top. Down below are more modern streets full of great cafes some that serve the delicious chilled coffee moose drink!
Italy is a very catholic country. Saints and pilgrimage sites are well honored. Every town has it's own saint and throughout the year many festivals are held. We were lucky enough to be in Scalea at the time of one such celebration, though to to me it was a perfect sight of Italianess!!! The main street was covered in pretty images made from coloured sawdust.
Sensing something was going to happen we hung around and before long all was revealed.
We saw the procession leave the church and bumped into them again as they trailed around the old town, climbing higher and weaving aorund passing all the churches on the way! This time a huge crowd had joined them and trailed behind as they went!

We left them to it and went to the more peaceful beach to jump in the waves and watch the sun set! We had seen other crowds earlier in the week at San Sosti.
Coach loads of people coming to pay some kind of homage to the Madonna. Religion is still a very serious business here in Italy. I kind of found it rather ironic though that inside the church it was packed to the walls, people kissing and touching the statues and outside in the street were shops selling all kinds of religious paraphernalia....Spirituality or money making?????
An all together diffferent festival, and more to our liking....the festival of the Chilli in Diamante! In every town, every street and from every balcony, no matter how small, hang chillies, peppers and tomatoes, drying in the sun! We spent our last day joining the crowds to celebrate this hot little veggie! I couldn't beleive the varieties from long and sweet to tiny and dangerous!!! We tried some of hottest and just about saved face by leaving the stall quickly before tears began to roll down my burning face and lips that were on fire....numbed in fact by the power of the Chilli pepper!!!







Not far from our favorite ice cream seller we headed off to buy our favorite flavor....ahhhhh the coolness of Cedro!
To work it all off the following day we treked down into the gorge and up the other side to Grisolia.


The steep sides of the gorge keeping us from the sun. From the gorge we were well able to appreciate how Maeira perches right on the edge of the ravine, clinging to the rocks. There were plenty of pretty flowers and loads of wild fennel and the biggest yellow butterflies flitted across our path. After a walk around Grisolia and a refereshing drink at the local cafe we headed back....a 3 and half hour round trip! The afternoon on the beach was well deserved after that.....never have I enjoyed lazing on lilo so much!!!
We finished off our last night by watching the sun set and taking a last walk around the village, passing the little shrine in the cave and it's flickering candles. I'm not a christian, but I gave a small thanks all the same!