Friday 23rd October 2009 - Acireale, Sicily, Italy

Another warm and sticky night but no thunderstorms and we woke to see blue sky with small white clouds. With a bit of luck the wind, the first that we have had for a few days, will bring fresher, clearer weather.
I wrote the paragraph above too early as it clouded over, started to rain and thunder rumbled as soon as I had put the computer down. The remainder of the day was overcast for most of the time and there was the occasional light shower.
We caught the 09:40 bus up into Acireale and then the 10:30 bus to Catania, a major town one hour's slow bus ride south. The lady in the Tourist Information Office yesterday went into huge (unnecessary) detail about the buses throughout the day, whether they ran on Saturdays, Sundays, Festival Days, or on school days only and told us exactly where we could catch each one (some varied during the day). Unfortunately she neglected to tell us that there was another bus run by a different operator that only took 25 minutes to get to Catania. We discovered this only after we had bought tickets for the slower bus and watched the faster bus drive past us!
The journey was interesting with the first part especially spent in very narrow street often with only two or three inches between the bus and parked cars. On four separate occasions cars parked in ridiculous positions blocked the bus and we had to wait until a driver appeared to move it. Once a car parked opposite a junction prevented the bus from turning left. Coincidently a Municipal Police car arrived at the same moment and took control, one policeman blowing hid whistle to attract the attention of the car owner. He had his notebook out and I was sure that the driver was going to be booked. However, after about five minutes, the driver appeared, said a few words to the policeman, got in the car and drove off without any form of punishment being issued. The Italians are amazingly tolerant of bad driving and parking. When we were waiting for the bus in Acireale I saw a ship's captain in full uniform and it made me wonder whether the Italians steer and moor their ships like they drive and park their cars. If they do, reminder me not to take a cruise with an Italian shipping line! Pedestrian crossings are a great place to park cars; pavements are blocked by parked scooters; stop signs on the road are totally ignored; cars just edge forward onto major roads until there isn't enough room to get around them; cars often overshoot red traffic lights or anticipate them changing so that the traffic with priority has to swerve around them; cars continue driving down the road even when it is obvious that the traffic ahead is stopped and they will block the road to on-coming traffic. I could go on and on and on. I must say that Italian driving is bad but Sicilian driving is absolutely terrible.
Arriving at 11:30 and leaving at 16:00 gave us enough time to whiz around the town visiting the Duomo (cathedral), a couple of impressive churches, the Roman theatre and odeon as well as touring the centre admiring the architecture. We also managed to fit in a four course meal and twenty-minute walks to and from the bus station. We thought that we did quite well.
Much of Catania's architecture is in that very elaborate Baroque style and this is echoed throughout much of Sicily. There is a good reason for this as Baroque was the fashion at the time of the huge earthquake and volcanic eruption that destroyed much of the island in 1693. Acireale was covered by a lava flow from Etna and the city rebuilt over the old one. Catania was destroyed by the earthquake and the town redesigned and built in the modern style. Everywhere in churches you find the year 1693 mentioned and it is surprising how quickly the churches in particular are rebuilt. Thanks from those who were saved or protection from future disasters? Who knows?
One further thought for the day. Are we going to be the only people to spend three weeks in Sicily without seeing Mount Etna? Low cloud is still obscuring the view and we are not convinced that it actually exists!
Photos: The Roman Theatre at Catania. Some houses incorporate the theatre in their fabric but up to the 1950's there were houses occupying the whole of the theatre and set out in tell-tale semi-circular pattern.

Thursday 22nd October 2009 - Acireale, Sicily, Italy

Happy Birthday to Simon!
I was woken by a gentle rumbling noise at about 06:30. It got louder and I decided that it definitely was not Jane's stomach rumbling. Could it be Mount Etna about to blow? No, it was a thunderstorm – not surprising given that the outside temperature when we went to bed was as high as any time during the day and it was very humid. The storm didn't pass directly overhead but we were treated to an hour of spectacular lightening and accompanying thunder (in a motorhome you feel the thunder as well as hearing it) together with plenty of rain.
We caught the bus up to the town of Acireale high above the campsite and enjoyed the interesting town. There are some lovely churches and architecture and the fish and vegetable markets were interesting. One fascinating feature of the Duomo in Acireale was the Meridian line surrounded by the signs of the Zodiac built into the floor of the apse. This seems to have been a fashion in Sicilly as there are other churches with the same feature. This one also shows standard measures including the French metre, the English foot and the Sicilian and Neapolitan hands – it appears that the Neapolitans have larger hands than the Sicilians! The rain held off until we started on the walk back down to Santa Maria La Scala and up to the campsite. Fortunately it was quite short lived.
We very reasonable Internet access (€3 per day) at the campsite, we spent the afternoon catching up with emails and the blog.
Photos: Jane was struck by this cupid in the municipal building in Acireale; Standard measures in Acireale's Duomo; The beautiful ceiling of the Duomo showing a celestial choir complete with orchestra and conductor; Anyone for half a pig?

Wednesday 21st October 2009 – Acireale, Sicily, Italy

Warm again this morning and sunny. The views were much better and we could make out towns on Sicily.
Having no bread, we were just about to sit down to cereal for breakfast when Jane heard a shout of “Pane” from outside. Sure enough there was the local baker's van, rather surprising given that there were only two vans in the campsite! The bread was that tasty long load with a hard crust. Jane decided to cut it and, aware that it would be difficult, attacked it with vigour. An expletive, mild of course, escaped from Jane's mouth as the knife slipped and she carved her finger. I was sent to find the plasters in amongst our extensive medical supplies and found it in the last of three containers. Fortunately, the patient hadn't lost too much blood so I was able to apply the plaster and continue cutting the bread without further mishap.
It is olive picking time in this area and many olive groves, including the one in the campsite, have nets spread under the trees and white plastic bags full of collected olives scattered around on the nets.
We drove for an hour to reach Villa San Giovani, the port from which we caught the ferry to Sicily. The cloud was building and the area that we were heading for looked decidedly dark. The crossing is very quick (20 minutes for €60 return) and we were soon driving off to brave the Messina traffic on the way to the pay motorway. The motorway was quiet and the driving easy. Soon after leaving the city we started to see evidence of the catastrophic floods that hit the area with considerable loss of life. Tunnels were reduced to a single lane and the brown stains on the road showed that they had been covered with mud. Every dry gulley had either been recently cleared or workers with diggers and bulldozers were working on them. In one place wrecked cars were still upended in the mud and in another the wrecks were lined up in the school car park. Further on we passed vast dry river beds – very wide and shallow but designed to take very large amounts of water. These obvious coped with the floods whereas those closer to Messina were much steeper and narrow – unable to cope with the continuous torrential rain.
The Michelin map showed the non-motorway route from Fiumefreddo in green (picturesque) whereas the motorway lost that status. We decided to leave the motorway and follow the picturesque route – a mistake. All I can say is that the person who decided that this section of road was 'picturesque' has very poor taste! The road is almost entirely urban with one run-down, uninteresting town following another, and it was very busy leading to tortuous driving. If you are doing this trip, stay on the motorway.
We headed for Acireale and 'International Camping La Timpa' and found it quite pleasant. We chose a pitch overlooking the sea again but this time the sea was crashing onto the rocks directly below. The rocks here are all volcanic, the outflow from Etna which we are close to, so there is no beach just slabs of lava that provide an area for swimming from. The campsite even has a private lift that takes customers down through the rock to the platform. I tried to use it but it wouldn't respond to the buttons, probably because the sea was too rough and the platform too dangerous. It certainly wasn't the time to be swimming or sunbathing there!
We walked down to the harbour of Santa Maria La Scala just below the campsite. The boats were quite attractive but the village is somewhat scruffy, like most of the towns that we passed on the journey. In fact we both agreed that we were struggling to see the attractive Sicily that we had expected.
Photos: The view from Henrietta of the volcanic rock ledge that forms Camping La Timpa's 'beach'; Moving a boat by committee; Santa Maria La Scala FC playing by the harbour.

Tuesday 20th October 2009 – Taureana di Palmi, Italy

A much warmer morning with the outside temperature at 15°C at 08:00 and no need for heating in Henrietta. We walked up into the town and did some shopping and attempted to use the WiFi Internet in an Internet café. Unfortunately it was one of those cases where I could connect to the café's network but couldn't access anything on the Internet. The café reset their Internet connection and I rebooted the laptop but all to no effect, so we just enjoyed the cappuccinos.
The short hop down the coast turned out to be quite exciting. It started to rain as we started to climb the long winding hill out of the town to the higher land behind and then the heavens opened. Torrential rain followed for nearly an hour. Rivers of water ran down the hill disappearing off at the hairpin bends and as the road levelled out we drove through standing water sending curtains of water up on both sides. And then it suddenly stopped – from pouring rain to nothing and the roads were totally dry!
Palmi is to be our last stop before we take the ferry over to Sicily. The San Fantino site in Taureana di Palmi is located on high land shaded by pine and olive trees and is an ancient Greek and Roman site. The facilities are basic but this is compensated by the position. We chose the pitch on the edge on the hill – there are no signs of ancient remains but this must have been a temple site. High above the beach, there are lovely views up and down the coast and out to sea with Sicily, Stomboli and other islands.
We chose a sunny spot for lunch and then continued to follow the sunny spots whilst planning the rest of the trip. We ended up sat on the edge of the hill overlooking the small fishing harbour below. A constant stream of small fishing boats set off with the deep 'phutt, phutt' of their engines drifting up the cliff. And then we watched the sun set in a blaze of colour over the tip of Sicily – magical!
Photos: View south from Palmi; View north from Palmi; Sunset over Sicily.

Monday 19th October 2009 – Tropea, Italy

Just a two and a half hour drive this morning, mainly along the A3 motorway. We had spent part of the journey on this road yesterday and saw various stretches being improved. However today the first forty miles on contraflow sections with a speed limit of 60 km/hr (35 mph). They are doing an incredible amount of work on the motorway, new tunnels, replacement bridges and widening sections. It is a mammoth project and must be costing multi-millions of Euros. It is difficult to understand the justification for it. The South is undoubtedly poor but a dual lane motorway was already there and I can't see that the improvements are going to bring more wealth to the area. However, I suspect that the Mafia-run construction companies will be benefiting considerably. The roads are generally in a very poor state and I think that the money would have been better spent in a general road resurfacing programme.
We had rain in the night and more followed today although it started to brighten up and the sun shone at times. The A3 took us higher with mountain peaks around us and deep wooded valleys between. Last night's rain had fallen as snow on a couple of the highest peaks, there may have been more but swirling cloud often obscured the mountain tops and spilled down into the valleys. Is was very attractive scenery and well deserved the 'green road' status shown on our Michelin map.
We arrived on the coast at Tropea in the middle of a heavy rain shower and water was running down the narrow road with hairpin bends that descends from the town to the coastal road when the two campsites are located. We booked in at Camping Marina Dell'Isola where we had stayed in April 2008. The campsite is right next to the beach and, as it was very quiet, we were able to get a pitch next to the sea. The view out of the left side is over the sea to Stomboli and its smoking volcano whilst to the right, perched on volcanic pumice cliff is the town of Tropea. It really is a lovely position making up for the fact that the campsite facilities are rather basic.
After the heavy rain had stopped, I plugged into the power and as the skies started to clear we decided to explore the town. Last time the steps up to the town from the campsite had been destroyed by a flood caused by a massive thunderstorm. They had just begun to rebuild them and now they were completed giving us an easy, if steep, route into the town.
Tropea is a fascinating town, pretty is not the correct word as many of the houses are very run down and there is obviously a lot of poverty. However, the mixture of architecture and higgledy-piggledy appearance gives it real charm. We wandered around the street, finding where the Madonna had intervened to stop an American bomb exploding during the Second World War and just gazing up at the houses or to the lovely view out to sea.
In a tiny backstreet shop that I remembered from our last visit, we bought some local wine in a crown-top litre bottle for €2. Nearby was one of the many Pizza restaurants that advertised 'Forno a Legna', a wood-fired oven. I was intrigued by it last time but it was closed. This time we arrived just as he was lighting the oven ready for cooking that evening. The restaurant is dominated by the oven and preparation area with only four small tables available for eating. I watched the chef lighting the fire and managed to explain that we would return at 7 o'clock to eat.
After shopping for a few more provisions and a little more sightseeing we returned to Henrietta. Our table at the appropriately named 'Vecchio Forno' (Old Oven) had a good view of the oven but the pizza preparation was being done out of view so I couldn't get any tips from that. I showed the owner pictures of my partially completed wood-fired oven - “piccolo” (small) he exclaimed and it was compared to his! The oven must be two metres square by a metre high and his peels had handles that were about 3 metres long. Round baking dishes hold the pizzas and these are placed and turned occasionally using the peel. A pitchfork-type tool is used to move the wood around in the fire that is kept in the oven during the baking. The instructions on my oven suggest that it will only take about 90 seconds to cook a pizza, so I was surprised to find that here it took 10 minutes. Having said that, the larger oven and much higher roof would mean that the heat would be less intense than in mine. All the same, 90 seconds may be a little optimistic.
We had a dish of peppers cooked in the oven and served warm with lots of olive oil and then a pizza each to follow. It was very good, the pizza being slightly thicker and more bread-like than I remember the Neapolitan ones being but still delicious. Probably another reason for the longer cooking time.
Photos: Henrietta's pitch next to the sea; The entrance to Vecchio Forno isn't ostentatious; Lighting the fire in Vecchio Forno's old oven; The latest fashion in bathrooms for exhibitionists or those who simply want a loo with a view!

Sunday 18th October 2009 – Padula, Italy

Jane had requested that we drove no more than two and a half hours today and I agreed that a less taxing day would be nice. Fortunately, I had already spotted an agroturism site just off the motorway on our route and the sat nav told be that it would take 2 hours 35 minutes – ideal. We were more confident of the aire (Aia Antica at Padula) this time because, like Ai Cuivin, it is at a restaurant and the Italians (like the British) like to eat out on Sunday lunchtimes.
The weather was worse than yesterday with more rain and it was decidedly chilly. We arrived at 12:15, delayed slightly after having to take a slight diversion after the sat nav attempted to take us up a 1 in 2 hill – at least it looked like that and Henrietta's wheels started to spin! Sure enough, the restaurant was open, yes we could stay overnight and they had a table for us. By 12:30 we were sat down and were presented with vast volumes of food. A Lazy Susan held all sorts of antipasta, my favourite being chopped liver and onions in a lovely rich sauce, which went very well with the savoury doughnuts, well dough balls to be totally correct. After that came cheese lasagne and an unidentified type of pasta (there must be thousands of varieties) with a simple tomato sauce. The meat course came next – pork chops, roast chicken and a small piece of goat (?) on the bone, served with a green salad. A sweet of a very pleasant cake and coffee finished the meal that was, off course, washed down with oodles of red wine and water. All of that for €20 a head and a free night's stop!
I would like to say that we finished every course but, although we very nearly finished the antipasta, the pasta and the meat defeated us even though we made a valiant effort. We were now stuffed and Jane suggested a short stroll.
We wanted to find out why there were a number of coaches parked just up the road, so we walked the short distance to the car park and found an information board that showed that we were very close to one of the most important religious sites in Southern Italy. The Unesco protected Carthusian monastery of St. Lawrence is a very impressive building and is well worth a visit if you are passing. It is massive, has wonderful frescos and superb architecture. The guided tours were in Italian and were totally incomprehensible but they seemed to be happy for us to wander around at our own speed. Only the ground floor is open but that is fascinating with many chapels, cloisters, courtyards and monks cells. Particularly impressive was the monks kitchen and, it must be said that it appears that the monks must have had quite a pleasant life. The airy nature of the rooms and the many outdoor spaces in amongst the building would be ideal for the hot, dry climate of Southern Italy. Having said that, today it was damp and cold.
Within the monastery there is an archaeological museum and entrance to that is included in the €4 charge for the monastery. The museum was excellent, showing finds from ancient cemeteries in and close to Padula. The finds date mainly from 10th to the 6th centuries BC (before the Greeks settled here) but some date to the Greek and Roman periods up to 6th century AD. There are many very informative boards in English and we were given an excellent English museum guide book consisting of over 50 pages of information and superb pictures of the finds.
We spent two and a half hours in the monastery and museum – an excellent afternoon's entertainment and just what we needed to stop us falling asleep after all that food and wine! We returned to Henrietta, made a cup of tea, put the heating on and tried to get warm again. What has happened to the blazing heat of Southern Italy? Having said that, we can't complain. The restaurant had a television on all of the time we were in there, mainly showing the Italian X Factor and other game shows. However at one point there was the news, from which we were able to glean that there had been a minor (3.1) earthquake in Frosinone (we shopped at a supermarket there yesterday), snow was falling just north east of Rome, L'Aquila had suffered more aftershocks from its devastating earthquake and buildings had collapsed, and they were still cleaning up after the mudslides in Messina, Sicily. Rain and cold weather we can cope with, after all we are British and used to it!
Photos: About to start the antipasta in Aia Antica; A bride and groom relax during a gruelling photo session at the monastery of San Lorenzo; The choir stalls with exquisite marquetry; Jane inspects the monks kitchen; The main cloister of San Lorenzo; Aia Antica under lowering skies.

Saturday 17th October 2009 – Benevento, Italy

A reasonably early start on a cool and overcast morning saw us soon on the ring road around Rome. We came off at junction 18 to join the SS6 (the Roman Via Casilina) but discovered that Saturday morning is not the best time to travel on this road through many miles of the suburbs of Rome. Everyone was out shopping, markets caused traffic chaos and the driving was atrocious, even by Italian standards. Still it was an experience and the Italians seemed to take it all in their stride even though a few gasps of astonishment did pass my lips!
The journey was uninspiring at the beginning but the scenery improved later even if the weather didn't let us enjoy it. Rain and very low cloud obscured most of the mountains and we found ourselves repeating that British landlady's mantra of “the view is lovely from here when it's clear”. The lack of campsites and aires had us driving quite a long distance today but we had identified an aire that was in our Camperstop Europe (2007) guide, the latest Guida Camper book and the April 2009 Agri Plein Air (agrotourism) booklet that we had just acquired from our Italian friends at Ai Cuivin. I am sure that you have worked out what is coming next! We arrived at the specified coordinates and found nothing, so Jane checked with the owner of the village garage. “Chiuso”, closed he said, as in “closed for ever”. We looked at our options and decided to head into Benevento, another 40 minutes further on. This worked well and we soon found the car park and, although both guides said that a payment was required (€5 according to one of them), the barriers were up and there was nowhere to pay.
Photos: The Santuario dell'Addolorata dominated the valley south west of Isernia on the SS17.