ROME
This is my last hoorah before getting on that 11 hour plane trip home. I arrived in Rome on Friday, a couple of days early because I just could not take being constantly cold at Massimo's home with no where to go to get warm. Massimo and Janne understood. I do not know how the four of them live being so cold at least 2 months a year. At the very least you'd think they'd just start burning the wood furnace for the heat and hot water sooner than 4 p.m. each day. They have lots of wood!
But I get to spend my last days in Italy in one of my most favorite cities anywhere. Even though I was here 7 years ago, I have forgotten so much that this trip on foot through the city feels very new.
I actually got lost and ended up at the Pantheon yesterday.
My first trip here in 2005 was by bus so to all the major sites we were brought. No maps to decipher needed. Now with the city being a huge maze of streets, I have to find my way around. Most street names are not marked. Even though I have a street map with all the street names, if you don't know what the name of the street is you are on--you're lost---a lot. That was the case yesterday. With very wet feet from the rain I trudged along determined to find some points of interest on my wish list while here. I ended up at the amazing Colosseum which I could visit every day. I love that old stuff. And by the way, the Pantheon is the oldest, firmly intact building in Rome. No other building is as complete and in full form as that one. Everywhere you go here, every turn in the road presents another 'piece' of amazing, ancient architecture. I saw pieces of stone pillars laying on the grass on the side of the sidewalk! This kind of stuff is what you get to see when lost and not on a directed tour. So there are good things about being lost.
Many people speak English here which helps in the 'being lost' category. And I know I'm always a 5-7 Euro cab ride back to the hotel.
MORE LATER.....
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
NOTO and my new farm
NOTO is a hillside village which was one of the many towns totally destroyed in the late 1600's by an earthquake. So its' buildings are about 300 years old. It looks like it sits on the southern coast of Sicily but you have to drive about 5 miles out to reach the sea.
The farm where I am staying is owned by Massimo, Janne (yonni), son Mattias (22) and daughter Sophia (17). It is mostly a citrus farm with a few olive trees thrown in. Fruit trees are abundant also but not in season right now. He has about 100 acres here set in a valley where 2 streams meet, flowing into one. It is very quiet and peaceful here almost like a garden of Eden. There are a few villas where tourists come mostly in the Summer to rent. I'm staying in one of the apartments used for rental. It is one half of the walkout basement to their house. It consists of a large room (bedroom), a fully equipped kitchen and full bath (no bathtub). As soon as 4:30 p.m. comes and the sun goes down below the peak of the mountain to one side, it gets very cold. Janne does not start the wood fired furnace that supplies heat and hot water until 4 p.m. And even then, the one very small heater in my room cannot possibly heat the whole place. So I am very cold most of the time. The down quilt on my bed is my saving grace.
Mattias is home from college until Feb. 1st. He goes to a university in Denmark. Janne is from Denmark originally and remains a dual citizen of Denmark and Italy. Being of Danish citizenship, Mattias gets all the perks and attends the university for free and gets 700 Euro/month living expense from the government. It's enough for rent and food. And he is allowed to attend college for 7-10 years under these conditions.
The whole family here is Macrobiotic. They eat no animal food. Except the wild rabbit we ate the first day I was here. Don't understand that but so be it. Janne and Massimo both are excellent cooks. The food is amazingly good even without the use of any herbs or spices. It is jaw-dropping to see the amount of food they all eat. And they are all very thin. Beautiful skin. Beautiful hair. And they all get along like they're not related at all.
The tasks I do here is: gather and carry with a wheel barrow as much firewood as I can find to fill a little hut for that purpose. Also I have picked lemons and oranges. I have pulled weeds out from between the stones in the walkways and fished out small round stones from the stream for Janne to use in her trench which carries water down and away from the house. But the biggest and most tedious of all is fixing the loose stones set in sand that serves as a driveway/parking area. This means I have to take a small flat-ended ax and chop up sand around the existing loose stones (about 10x12" ea.), add more sand and then pound it into the space between the rocks with the blunt end of the ax. Sounds complicated. It's not-just hurts my back like picking up olives one by one like I did in Carovigno.
The farm where I am staying is owned by Massimo, Janne (yonni), son Mattias (22) and daughter Sophia (17). It is mostly a citrus farm with a few olive trees thrown in. Fruit trees are abundant also but not in season right now. He has about 100 acres here set in a valley where 2 streams meet, flowing into one. It is very quiet and peaceful here almost like a garden of Eden. There are a few villas where tourists come mostly in the Summer to rent. I'm staying in one of the apartments used for rental. It is one half of the walkout basement to their house. It consists of a large room (bedroom), a fully equipped kitchen and full bath (no bathtub). As soon as 4:30 p.m. comes and the sun goes down below the peak of the mountain to one side, it gets very cold. Janne does not start the wood fired furnace that supplies heat and hot water until 4 p.m. And even then, the one very small heater in my room cannot possibly heat the whole place. So I am very cold most of the time. The down quilt on my bed is my saving grace.
Mattias is home from college until Feb. 1st. He goes to a university in Denmark. Janne is from Denmark originally and remains a dual citizen of Denmark and Italy. Being of Danish citizenship, Mattias gets all the perks and attends the university for free and gets 700 Euro/month living expense from the government. It's enough for rent and food. And he is allowed to attend college for 7-10 years under these conditions.
The whole family here is Macrobiotic. They eat no animal food. Except the wild rabbit we ate the first day I was here. Don't understand that but so be it. Janne and Massimo both are excellent cooks. The food is amazingly good even without the use of any herbs or spices. It is jaw-dropping to see the amount of food they all eat. And they are all very thin. Beautiful skin. Beautiful hair. And they all get along like they're not related at all.
The tasks I do here is: gather and carry with a wheel barrow as much firewood as I can find to fill a little hut for that purpose. Also I have picked lemons and oranges. I have pulled weeds out from between the stones in the walkways and fished out small round stones from the stream for Janne to use in her trench which carries water down and away from the house. But the biggest and most tedious of all is fixing the loose stones set in sand that serves as a driveway/parking area. This means I have to take a small flat-ended ax and chop up sand around the existing loose stones (about 10x12" ea.), add more sand and then pound it into the space between the rocks with the blunt end of the ax. Sounds complicated. It's not-just hurts my back like picking up olives one by one like I did in Carovigno.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Siracusa
This post will probably be a lot of random thoughts of the last farm (Paolo and Pia) and this wonderful place where I am now in Siracusa. There is the OLD Siracusa on an island connected to the NEW Siracusa by a bridge. The OLD Siracusa is called ORTIGIA. Because I love all that really old stuff, I am loving being here on the sea. I have walked every street here on the island a few times with the help of my trusty map with all the street names. But it's being right on the sea that I love best.
The food here on the island is mostly seafood. And most of that is shell fish; octopus, squid too. But mussels and clams and shrimp is abundant. The 2 kinds of fish I see mostly are swordfish and sea bass.
There is a market every day on the street where all the food stores are. So they set up on the street just outside their store every day. And the whole fish there are amazing. Some names I cannot translate.
The cheese venders are more than generous in giving out samples. Fresh ricotta and baked ricotta are quite popular. Samples of fresh mozzarella made every day are given out freely. So one day Tunde and I went there and asked if they would make us each a sandwich with the fresh ricotta and olive mix and tomato pesto and thick balsamic. It was 2 Euro and quite delicious.
Zafferana and Paolo and Pia
Zafferana Etnea was a lovely town about a 5 mile walk from the tiny village where I lived in Pisano which is a part of Zafferana. Downtown Zafferana is called Zafferana Etnea. No matter where you turned, Mt. Etna was right there steaming away and gorgeous. So I could look up to my left and see Etna and look to my right at the sea. I really love Sicily!
The main street in Pisano had 3 stores. First a very small grocery right next door to us, then a Tobacchi which sold you know cigarettes, lottery tickets, coffee, alcohol and pastries and cookies. That was the bar. And 3rd there was a Pasticceria that sold pastries, mostly cookies, wonderful bread and rolls baked every day right there and then there was the PIZZA! Really good pizza. A 12" margarita pizza was $2.50. We'd always make a joke that tonight we'd visit all 3 stores in Pisano!
My room at the house was right on the main street. My window was seperated from the street by a narrow sidewalk. Now these streets that wind through all the villages here are quite narrow. And yet, just like all of Italy that I've seen so far, the drivers are CRAZY! They drive unbelievably fast. So fast the shutters on my window would rattle quite loudly. I still don't know how I have not experienced an accident this whole time.
The house that I live in was built in the early 1900's and architecturally is absolutely beautiful inside. It's got the original wall paper and many of the original furniture. Paolo and Pia have done nothing to change anything here. This house was given to Pia about 10 years ago by her parents. I didn't feel comfortable enough to ask Pia any questions about the house. She was not friendly to us at all. It has 6 bedrooms downstairs and4 bathrooms. Upstairs I think has the 2 bedrooms and a bath that the family uses. I never went up there. Like I said they were not friendly to us and did not ask us anything culturally about our lives. WWOOFing is supposed to be culturally exchanging. They were not.
Tunde (WWOOFer from Transylvania (Hungary)) and I were counting the days when we would be leaving Paolo's house. We couldn't wait. The tension between Pia and Paolo and those 2 kids was almost unbearable at times. We just wanted to get out of the house as much as possible so opted to go out back within the 10+ acres he had and clean away the bramble bushes. It was easy work and pleasant being outside in the sun and cool breezes and off in the distance was the sea. None of this work was required of us. We took it upon ourselves to do this. Being in the house with the screaming, biting, hitting Giuseppe was never easy.
But seeing Paolo always on the computer, in a room you could barely walk in to being more cluttered than imaginable, was disturbing. What was he doing? It was a question Tunde and I always asked each other. Then there was the transport slips that were filled out in a way to make it look like Paolo was selling and transporting many, many more avocados than we had ever picked. And then the ominous question "How is he making any money"? And then there were many times he would just leave in a fury and Pia saying she didn't know when he'd return. And then of course looking at the burned grape vines in his field out back brought up many questions too. It was just a really good thing to leave there. Tomorrow I will travel by bus to NOTO to my next farm. I'm always apprehensive about what the unknown will be like. I don't know what I will be required to do at this next farm. All I know is they practice macrobiotics. The man is Massimo and his wife is Janne and they will meet me at the bus stop in NOTO.
The food here on the island is mostly seafood. And most of that is shell fish; octopus, squid too. But mussels and clams and shrimp is abundant. The 2 kinds of fish I see mostly are swordfish and sea bass.
There is a market every day on the street where all the food stores are. So they set up on the street just outside their store every day. And the whole fish there are amazing. Some names I cannot translate.
The cheese venders are more than generous in giving out samples. Fresh ricotta and baked ricotta are quite popular. Samples of fresh mozzarella made every day are given out freely. So one day Tunde and I went there and asked if they would make us each a sandwich with the fresh ricotta and olive mix and tomato pesto and thick balsamic. It was 2 Euro and quite delicious.
Zafferana and Paolo and Pia
Zafferana Etnea was a lovely town about a 5 mile walk from the tiny village where I lived in Pisano which is a part of Zafferana. Downtown Zafferana is called Zafferana Etnea. No matter where you turned, Mt. Etna was right there steaming away and gorgeous. So I could look up to my left and see Etna and look to my right at the sea. I really love Sicily!
The main street in Pisano had 3 stores. First a very small grocery right next door to us, then a Tobacchi which sold you know cigarettes, lottery tickets, coffee, alcohol and pastries and cookies. That was the bar. And 3rd there was a Pasticceria that sold pastries, mostly cookies, wonderful bread and rolls baked every day right there and then there was the PIZZA! Really good pizza. A 12" margarita pizza was $2.50. We'd always make a joke that tonight we'd visit all 3 stores in Pisano!
My room at the house was right on the main street. My window was seperated from the street by a narrow sidewalk. Now these streets that wind through all the villages here are quite narrow. And yet, just like all of Italy that I've seen so far, the drivers are CRAZY! They drive unbelievably fast. So fast the shutters on my window would rattle quite loudly. I still don't know how I have not experienced an accident this whole time.
The house that I live in was built in the early 1900's and architecturally is absolutely beautiful inside. It's got the original wall paper and many of the original furniture. Paolo and Pia have done nothing to change anything here. This house was given to Pia about 10 years ago by her parents. I didn't feel comfortable enough to ask Pia any questions about the house. She was not friendly to us at all. It has 6 bedrooms downstairs and4 bathrooms. Upstairs I think has the 2 bedrooms and a bath that the family uses. I never went up there. Like I said they were not friendly to us and did not ask us anything culturally about our lives. WWOOFing is supposed to be culturally exchanging. They were not.
Tunde (WWOOFer from Transylvania (Hungary)) and I were counting the days when we would be leaving Paolo's house. We couldn't wait. The tension between Pia and Paolo and those 2 kids was almost unbearable at times. We just wanted to get out of the house as much as possible so opted to go out back within the 10+ acres he had and clean away the bramble bushes. It was easy work and pleasant being outside in the sun and cool breezes and off in the distance was the sea. None of this work was required of us. We took it upon ourselves to do this. Being in the house with the screaming, biting, hitting Giuseppe was never easy.
But seeing Paolo always on the computer, in a room you could barely walk in to being more cluttered than imaginable, was disturbing. What was he doing? It was a question Tunde and I always asked each other. Then there was the transport slips that were filled out in a way to make it look like Paolo was selling and transporting many, many more avocados than we had ever picked. And then the ominous question "How is he making any money"? And then there were many times he would just leave in a fury and Pia saying she didn't know when he'd return. And then of course looking at the burned grape vines in his field out back brought up many questions too. It was just a really good thing to leave there. Tomorrow I will travel by bus to NOTO to my next farm. I'm always apprehensive about what the unknown will be like. I don't know what I will be required to do at this next farm. All I know is they practice macrobiotics. The man is Massimo and his wife is Janne and they will meet me at the bus stop in NOTO.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Still Christmas on Dec. 30th.
On Dec. 30th I decided to walk. And walk and walk. First I went up to Fleri at the top of the hill. Lovely little town with a pasticceria, a pizza shop, a bar and 2 meat stores. And then the honey store. This whole area in and around Mt. Etna is famous for its' honey. Then passing through Fleri I came to the town of Monterosso. Very small as well with 2, yes 2 gas stations!. Then on the very top of the furthest hill was a church with its' very visible steeple. So up I went to Trecastagni. At first it seemed just like any other small village but as I got further into the town and saw all it had to offer, it fast became my favorite little town in this area. In the center was a small town fair going on. Being Sunday, it looked like a place where all the families came after church. In the center of the town square were set up little booths with crafts for sale. 2 guys with chain saws were carving an ice sculpture. It was about 60 degrees out. And as I approached this craft fare I heard music. American music (and in English) sung by Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. Christmas music. It was wonderful. There was an elderly man roasting chestnuts. There was a cheese booth with free samples. Then the song "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" was played. So I sat in the sun, ate chestnuts and olive mix and watched (because it was now 1 p.m.) as everyone closed up their booth for the daily siesta.
This was my cue to head on. So I went down, down, down through the very beautiful town of Via Grande. Stopped and had a coffee and then on back home through Monterosso again, through Fleri and on home to Pisano. I walked for 7 1/2 hours with probably about a total of 2 hours at the most in sitting. I must have walked about 20 miles. My feet are still recovering.
This was my cue to head on. So I went down, down, down through the very beautiful town of Via Grande. Stopped and had a coffee and then on back home through Monterosso again, through Fleri and on home to Pisano. I walked for 7 1/2 hours with probably about a total of 2 hours at the most in sitting. I must have walked about 20 miles. My feet are still recovering.
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