Il Terrazzo Italiano

Sciopero!

2012-01-27T08:57:00.000+01:00

Never a dull moment around here--“Sciopero” is Italian for “strike”. The first strike since we moved that could affect us. Monday started a 7-day strike by the truckers across the Republic of Italy. It’s all about the higher fuel costs and increasing road taxes for all of us--a government austerity measure intended to help the financial crisis. The papers are giving the strike coverage, but television is still focused on the cruise ship debacle. Diesel now is around €1,77/L Benzina(gas) is about €1,82/L

What can such a strike do? Well, if you are building something, you cannot get fill material or concrete because all those big trucks are stopped. Around the country it means no fuel deliveries to fueling stations. It means no deliveries of groceries to the markets.

I topped-off my fuel the day before this started, so will survive if all ends this weekend.

As I started writing this on Thursday we were into the 4th day. In our village, there was a run on diesel Monday night and by midday Tuesday it was gone. Today there is no diesel remaining between San Nicola Arcello and Santa Maria del Cedro. About 25 miles along the coastal highway. In the larger cities, they were running out sooner. Remember the majority of vehicles here are diesel.

Thursday the supermarkets really didn’t look all that bad and if the strike ends this weekend, there will be plenty of food. I found empty shelves with some popular pasta, but some involved goods that had been on sale! If Sicily has a 2-week strike, they are in trouble. People will likely get upset there.

At school Thursday, we learned that the provincial buses have cut their runs in half because of the fuel shortage, and starting this evening, the national trains are on-strike for 24 hours to show solidarity with the truckers. At least there is a little warning before a strike begins and they end on a schedule. A lot of people use those buses back and forth to Cosenza each day so there is an impact that will be felt. Our teacher said she can drive from Belvedere if she has to.

We don’t think this whole thing will have enough of an effect on the public to get the government to budge. Premier Monti wants to go after tax evaders, which is a serious problem here, but those types of change take time. More than one Italian has mentioned that Italians “don’t like to follow rules (related to taxes)”. Eh!

Guido

Strikers stopped this guy who was not playing the game and escorted him off the highway

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

2012-01-20T10:11:00.000+01:00

A chilly exploration of Buonvicino, a hilltown above Diamante--everyone was hiding from the windy weather

I noticed that we don't even have a special category for food so I started one (rather belatedly as I know we have delved into the subject before). First and foremost of the several traits that make us more strange to Calabrians than we would prefer is that I don't like to cook and eating as an art form isn't very high on my list either! I'm not blessed with a metabolism prepared to take that. I'm not oblivious to the fact that our eating life has greatly improved in quality since we moved to Italy--we actively try to keep improving our palates but it's still eat to live rather than live to eat--for me anyway.

Calabrians, however, love nothing more than to talk about food if they aren't actually eating. I have seen nothing brighten our Italian teacher's face more than hearing that we were going to try a recipe we read in class--for Spaghetti alla Carbonara. She told us the whole history of the dish explaining (I think) that it is a simple meal developed by poor folk--maybe coal miners. It is considered Roman, not Calabrian. We liked it because it looked like it could be made simply and quickly. I use the "we" here loosely for all I provided the chef was encouragement and a little help with reading the recipe--Except for special events where my planning skills are required, Guido è il cuoco della famiglia.

Slowly cook the pancetta in olive oil and a bit of added water for 10 min.

Ingredients for 4 people:

320 grams Spaghetti
4 eggs
200 gr. Pancetta
80 gr. Parmegiano Cheese
Olive oil, salt, pepper
Doug added oregano, garlic

Mix grated parmegiano cheese with beaten eggs, add spices

Cook spaghetti very al dente and add egg/cheese mixture while spaghetti is hot

Serve with your favorite wine--shown here is Doug's new fave, but it's not in stores, only restaurants--we might be able to continue buying it, though.
It's a combination of merlot and magliocco which is outstanding.

Our house is in this picture--can you find it? We are the ones eating Spaghetti Carbonara

Ah Italiano!

2012-01-13T08:42:00.000+01:00

The Night of the Incomprehensible Speeches

There's a new blogger who contacted me recently and made me feel err--unmotivated--about my Italian lessons. Sure, in the winter we more or less go to school every night, but we have no organized plan beyond that. I've learned just enough beyond tourist Italian to realize how painfully moronic I must sound. I so well remember those heady days when we were transitioning from tourist to resident when I felt more confident. Now I realize that sure, I can make my needs clear enough but I haven't adequately learned how Italians say things. Expressions, (moda di dire) are very important in any language. You can't look up these up in the dictionary very well. For example, I can translate "Happy New Year" into Italian but Italians here say "Good Year" instead. I can look up the verb "to flirt", but then there's fare un filo (make a wire, really?) that is actually used. Italians would be lost without the verb fare. They make shopping, make a walk, and (what do you know?) make breakfast to name just a tiny few. Tiny few is the operative moda di dire when it comes to my vocabulary.

The folks here in town are scaldingly honest when it comes to ranking our abilities. I have a comeback that I never remember to use (mostly because I get balled up in the Italian way of using double negatives): "Hey nobody here speaks Italian either." It's Santa Domenican dialect. Literally I would be saying something like " Eh, nobody here doesn't speak Italian neither". I'll never forget the night we heard the mayor speak a year ago. We understood nothing, nothing...then we realized he must have been speaking dialect. We hope he was anyway.

All of you dear readers who are already fluent in Italian can (I have no doubt) find mistakes in what I have just explained...a little knowledge is a dangerous thing so don't bother with such an easy target, ok?

I guess I'm inspired enough by Sarah's new blog to go back to my little book of phrases that are probably meant for northerners only for all I know...maybe memorize a phrase a week...see ya in the piazza. Ci vediamo

Brits... (we do love them) give us too much of a respite from Italian

Winter Wonders--the Spice of Differences

2012-01-07T10:19:00.001+01:00

We were surprised to see all the Aeolian islands visible New Years Day--from the terrace.
Clear, fresh air (Stromboli is the active volcano)

We are deep in the heart of winter here and must report that it's not bad, not bad at all! If you, like us, are from winter wonderland-type country, it's not like that. It's different and we can definitely get used to the difference. It's also different from busy summertime. We can learn to love that too. Here's a list of the main differences from our old Oregon winter home and from summer here:

We watch the sea from our favorite bar by the Sea--Bar da Pietro

We will be able to sit on the terrace and eat lunch all through the winter--not everyday (need the sun to shine) and not in the evening, but often enough to never feel the sun deficit we used to suffer so badly from in Oregon.
The haze is gone and views become clearer
There's always gonna be a day when we don't need a coat
The sea goes wild (as wild as the Med here gets) and is fun to watch from the few bars that remain open by the sea--our fave also treats us to WiFi.
We get to know the winter people, the bar owners, we feel like permanent residents.
The rain usually goes when it comes, not always, but usually we can enjoy a storm and then a clear sky afterwards.
People around the towns here learn we are residents, not tourists.
We can enjoy snow in the mountains--at a comfy distance.

Carmello's semi-busy off-season, but OPEN and with a sea view!

The little strip near Dino Island between San Nicola and Praia a Mare. Looks quiet this time of year!!

One of our favorite summer beaches with serious surf.

Natale in Calabria

2011-12-23T11:20:00.001+01:00

Christmas lights in the Piazza

Maybe “northernItalian/European” traditions are slowly creeping south. The TV commercials here related toChristmas are tame and not many. We do laugh every time we walk past amechanical Santa on the sidewalk that is putting out holiday music in English(at least 3 in Scalea). Another sight that brought a chuckle was a youngPakistani lad in Santa suit, without beard, playing jingle bells from some afake keyboard and asking for cash. If he had donned a beard, I might have donated.

Nunzia offers much holiday cheer

Decorations and light have slightly increased in our village, but it's still by far more traditionally centered on the family and food. Please enjoy these images ofChristmas in town, and an introduction to more of our village. We’ve nevercompiled a list of the businesses here, so ecco: 5 alimentari groceries (2 arealso butchers); 2 clothing shops; 6 bars; 2 pizzerie; 1 flower shop; 2tabacchi; 2 small casalinga shops; 1 electric/appliance shop; 1 restaurant(summer); 1 shoe store; 1 hardware; a sporting shop for clothes & air gunsthat we have not been in; and the largest retailer in town is afarm/construction equipment place that also has done most of the ironwork forour apartments. Lastly, the ESSOfueling station. Not bad for atown of 1300.

It is a wonderful village with the greatest people, and weare fortunate to live In Santa Domenica Talao.

Cooler weather, but still no killing frosts here

Myriad Christmas cakes (panattone) on sale in Scalea. Doug has watched people take 6-8 boxes thru check-out for weeks. Each box contains more sugar than Doug could eat in a year! Also lots of sweet sparkling wines and chocolates on sale. Christmas is sweet!!!

Our 2005 tree in Oregon

We have noticed, andEnglish friends agree, that there is slightly more going on here in advance ofChristmas than we have seen before. We refer to more Christmas decorations forsale in stores and an increase of outdoor lighting by families and towns. We think the locals have done alberi dinatale (trees) inside their homes (a lovely one next door) for some time. We, however, have downsized Christmas considerably. On the left is our 2005 tree at Rainshadow Farm, and on the right our current albero di natale:

2011--smaller and not real

A festive farmacia

The flower/plant shop with fish pond

Two generations of same family staff the store

Local fischio (mistletoe) that grows on the oaks

Buon Natale & Buon Anno Nuovo,

Di and Doug

Renault Redux

2011-12-16T09:04:00.000+01:00

Di groaned at my idea to do a car blog this week. As long as I make it more about Italy than about the car I'll be OK says my editor. As you may know, you cannot buy a car in Italy if you arenot a resident. We bought the Alfa Romeo before moving here from Englishfriends knowing it would take 6-8 months to gain resident status. If not forthat deal, we might have spent €7,000 for hired cars. The Alfa was very handy and served us well. It was, however,built for “handling” and not comfort and we and our kidneys wanted something else. There areabout 8 used car dealers in Scalea and one actual car dealer. We went to 3places before finding the dealership Mondoauto that sells Renault, Nissan andDacia cars. Small, compared to an American car dealer, there is the ownerFranco, a secretary, 2 mechanics and a cleanup person.

We found what vehicle specialists tell you to buy – aslightly used car with low use on the odometer after the depreciation is done.We found a Renault Scenic with only 25,000 km and one year remaining on theguaranty. Yes, the French make nice cars too and probably 1/3 of the vehiclepopulation here is French.

Similar in outer dimensions to our Subaru Outback in the US,this car is taller and much more roomy. The rear compartment actually has a couple pop-up seats so you can carry7 people. Amazing leg-room in the rear seat. My old friend Dave Peterson is 6 ft. 4 in, 114 kg and he would fit inside this car with his big cowboy hat!

This car has good windows and visibility, ride, comfort, etc. Some things like Blue Tooth for phones and cruise control will never or seldom be used. Maybe in Puglia we could find a calm enough highway to use cruise control. The auto parking brake is weird, but works OK. The auto wipers are doing well in the rain that has arrived.

xSpecs: 1.5 liter diesel engine; 81 kilowatt engine; 110cavalli (horses) engine; 6 speed transmission. It officially is rated to get 55– 63 miles per gallon efficiency. Since Italy increased fuel prices by 13 centslast week to raise more tax money, diesel in the village is up to €1.75/litre =$8.94/gallon, so this efficient car will be welcome. The Alfa was getting about40 mpg. In comparison, Scenic is amore spacious car than the Toyota Prius -- cheaper and without the need toreplace a hybrid battery. Europe builds incredible little diesel engines. Maybewith FIAT running Dodge, the US will get some efficient engines/vehicles thereeven for pickup trucks.

So what’s the downside? That would be Italian auto insurance. The 10-year old Alfa cost €800/$1200 per year. This nearly new car is €1500/$2505 per year. Imagine insuring a brand new Audi, Alfa, Mercedes, etc. A Ferrari?? Better be friends with Berlusconi.

We shipped the money for this purchase when the euro was selling for $1.35. Of course today it is $1.29, the lowest we have seen since 2005. But at least it was all done in euro and not lira – which still could happen in this EU crisis.

Oh, the Scenic is 10cm closer to the ground at the rear hatch, so Vince will have an easier time jumping in and his space behind the rear seats is larger also.

What did we NOT get with this car? this sexy Peugeot logo. Maybe I can get one from a junkyard and wire it on.

Guido

Rapinato!

2011-12-09T08:53:00.001+01:00

I can't describe life in Santa Domenica Talao as quiet because southern Italians don't live life quietly. There is life in the town nearly every night and firecrackers from the hands of little ones announce the arrival of the many festas--too many to list... Although it's not quiet, we have always felt quite safe. There are no wierd neighborhoods or the uncomfortable feeling you might get walking around at night elsewhere. So we were very surprised at the news that our very own post office was robbed at gunpoint! Doug was able to snap some photos just as the Carabinieri arrived.

It seems two robbers showed up on a motorino and managed to make off with 60,000.00 euro from the post office just as it was stocked with money to deliver to pensioners (Italians get their pension money in cash from the post offices). They left the post office and escaped on foot--leading to suspicion that they might be locals or know someone local.

The crooks pistol-whipped some poor guy in the post office who ended up in the hospital. Apparently no one could identify them because they left their helmets on. The U-Tube story says that Santa Domenica Talao may have been attractive because we don't surveillance cameras in the post office.
Utube Report (in Italian)

I have to admit that part of the reason (other than pure newsworthy-ness)

for posting this story is the fabulous job Doug did capturing the essence of the Carabinieri. These inspectors look so elegant...let's just hope they also are smart enough to catch the bad guys.

Whatever happens, there will be enough to talk about in town for awhile!

Autumn in the Misty Pollino

2011-12-02T07:30:00.001+01:00

The fall color really was beautiful. The landscape reminded us of the Columbia River Gorge with nicer architecture

We live in the Province of Cosenza – a province being equivalent to an American county. In the middle of the province is the largest park in Italy. Our home is actually within the park on the northwest side.

For a long time, I've wanted to drive a certain road that accesses the deeper recesses of the Pollino National Park. This road, SS105, starts in Belvedere on the coast ½ hour south of here, and meanders thru the mountains to the city of Castrovillari. From there you can hop on the A3 Autostrade for a short run to Mormanno, then back west down SS504 to S.Domenica Talao where we live.

As we did the drive and when I was thinking of it after, my mind was comparing things with Wasco County Oregon where we lived. So here’s some stats: Wasco County is 6203 km2 and Prov. di Cosenza is 6650 km2. Wasco County has a population of 28,000. Cosenza’s population is 733,000. Both places have lots of open space and rural countryside. Here, we just happen to have large cities like Cosenza, Paolo, Castrovillari and others. In Wasco, the largest city is 13,000 people.

SS105 has miles and miles of stone guardrail. One of the Italian roads that inspired the Columbia River Highway...

The park map shows some summer trails and some winter cross country skiing NW of Castrovillari that are accessed by good secondary roads into the center of the park. Our 6.5 hour drive didn’t allow for an excursion there. prossima volta (next time).

The SS105 (SS = stradale stato – a national road) is wonderful. It takes you thru some gorgeous mountain areas at a slow speed, and when we drove it last Saturday, there was almost no traffic. So relaxing to watch scenery instead of doing fulltime defensive driving. I wager our average speed on that very windy road was around 40-50 km/h.

Early on, as we entered the forested area, we stopped to let Vince, err...stretch his legs. You can see the white fir trees. It did not dawn on me till I looked at the images that these are some of the bigger trees we’ve seen here other than pine.

It's unusual to this old forester to drive into the woods and mountains and then come across fair sized towns. S.Agata was the first and is known for a big castagno (chestnut) festival. Lovely city and square.

S.Sosti and S.Donato followed. These towns are all along the border of the park, or in it.

Most of these eastside towns have a strong Italo-Albanese culture. The few people we spoke with on the drive spoke Italian, but at one photo stop above guys harvesting olives I heard a very foreign tongue that must have been Albanian or a form of it.

The road stretch between S.Donato and Aquaformosa is very windy and scenic. It reminded us of driving in the Columbia River Gorge of Oregon USA. (SS105 turns). Again, the lack of traffic was just great. I could stop almost anywhere for a Kodak moment without fearing a collision.

Olive Harvest below Saracena

San Agata

San Donato

If you ever follow this route, remember that you have left the tourist zone on the coast and most of the villages have no restaurants, hotels, etc. Bars aplenty for caffe and snacks. We found an eatery in the town of Lungro. L’Oasi del Viale Hotel Ristorante Pizzeria. One thing about the mountain towns is they have a slightly different menu than coastal Calabrese. Here you can get soup which is a wonderful find on a cool fall day! I also had one of the finest grilled meat lunches ever. We found soup in Mormanno during a previous jaunt, so it seems to be a mountain dish.

The mountains of Southern Italy still amaze me with their rugged nature and that there is still so much undeveloped land. Remember I said the province has 733,000 people! The hill city of Saracena is spectacular and demands a return trip because it also has a smaller road giving access to the interior of the national park.

Saracena

Finally, we came to a misty overlook of Castrovillari which I guess has 20,000 people or more.

Castrovillari

This one-way street in downtown Castrovillari surprised us.

Di was the first to notice how wide it was! Not very often we see streets like this in older Italian towns. And there were open free parking spaces all over the place. Very pleasant. The city might be a good base with overnight lodging from which to explore further into the park. I now realize that a day trip for cross country skiing is questionable since Castrovillari itself is slightly over an hour drive from us, then off onto very slow windy roads with snowy conditions??? We no longer have an all-wheel drive car and spending €100 for chains (and having to put the bloody things on whilst crawling in the slush etc)?? Maybe we’ll stay home and read about skiing on our Kindles!

It was a 6.5 hour tour. We all liked it. Vince had a short time when a 2 litre water bottle was rolling back and forth in the curves, smacking him, but he didn’t complain. I still like driving-for-pleasure. Di is not there as much anymore. It used to be America’s top form of outdoor recreation. Even when we drove 140 miles to and from work each day, I enjoyed the scenery. It’s ironic that I took the Italian nickname of Guido (my middle name is Guy) so my neighbors could call me something easier to pronounce in Italian, because when using the verb "to drive" (guidare), to say I drive = "Io Guido".

Sono Guido e io guido...

Ci vediamo, Doug

Thanks Again

2011-11-24T10:06:00.001+01:00

Our hosts MaryAnn and Gordon at the head of the table

I wonder how long I will feel moved to mark our time in Italy with Turkeys Eaten on Thanksgiving. This is our second Thanksgiving in Italy. We cooked last year and had Americans, Italians, and Brits present. This year we were invited to the home of our American friends and a quartet of British expats. Our holiday has morphed into an international celebration of Friendship. Not too shabby.
x

Arthur does the honors

I can't help but think of family Thanksgivings past. Our families are for the most part thinning out rather than growing (lack of plentiful offspring combined with deaths and lack of marriages). This makes us especially thankful for a growing circle of friends. Thanks again Italy. It's always interesting this life we have here.

And Furthermore...

Thank you MaryAnn and Gordon for a great dinner!

Mare Tirreno to Mare Ligure

2011-11-18T08:30:00.001+01:00

Life goes on after floods in Cinque Terre

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We decided to revisit Cinque Terre before the fantastic weather we've been having changed. The plan was to see the flood damage left from the recent deluge there. Suffice to say, we should have been watching Italian TV to learn that the towns of Monterosso and Vernazza were off-limits to tourists and outsiders. Even a woman at our hotel in Levanto said that Monterosso was open via road or train. We quickly found the road blocked by polizia and the train agent told us we could not get off the train there either. The latter proved correct when we spotted the polizia at the train station making sure people had a reason for exiting in Monterosso. I suppose if we were more brazen we might have found a connection but we simply obeyed and enjoyed revisiting the towns that were undamaged and still open. If you haven't been following our Cinque Terre posts, these 5 towns are a very famous tourist attraction on the Italian Riveria south of Genova and just north of La Spezia. They are connected by hiking trails, a rail line and some very tight windy roads. To donate to a fund for helping Monterosso and Vernazzo residents re-build click on CINQUE TERRE AID.
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Doug's only blurry pic taken of the flood damage in Monterosso--from the train!

Maybe we could have found a shovel and blended in...

The region of Liguria and the town of Levanto are heavily influenced by foreign tourists including many Americans. While there, we came upon an international surfing contest that floundered a little given the glass-like surface of the Ligurian Sea.

The Levanto Surfing contest site--note the impressive surf

We were here six years ago but now we were seeingit through the eyes of Italian residents. An advantage for the whole CinqueTerre zone is that they have managed to adapt to modern tourism whilehanging on to their treasured cultural heritage. What we notice when we go“north” is the obvious influence of money. Clean tidy towns, handsome well keptbuildings and people speaking Italian with only the rare dialect discussion–-areal treat for us. Those businesses connected with tourism have morphed into a6-month season vs. the 6 week season we experience in Calabria. This is becausethey have learned to cater to foreigners who take vacations in months otherthan just August! Restaurants were opening for dinner at 7:00 which was also atreat!

Doug noticed though that the people on the streets of Liguria, Toscana and Lazio were not as open or eager to converse. For a while on the trip he doggedly greeted folks in our Calabrian fashion with a good morning or good afternoon and only one old guy of maybe a dozen responded at all. Are northerners more cold as the southerners claim? Are they sick of tourists?

Anyhow, it was a lovely day for a walk on the beach!

This somewhat impulsive trip was bound to be a long one going much of the length of Italy, but we really didn’t know. Turns out to be 870 km and 10 hours from home to Levanto, Liguria via mostly the autostrada. In our old days in the American west, this would have been easy. But throw in traffic, Italian/European autostrade driving, and a car with poor suspension and it was a long day.

Since the two towns were closed in Cinque Terre, we elected to leave there a day early and sight-see on the way home down the coast of Toscana and Lazio. We actually spent two days, 8 hours each, making our way south on highways, small roads, various towns and cities--a 1845 km total trip distance. The backroads of Italy offer some interesting landscapes you cannot see from an autostrada.

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Have to mention that we’ve driven in a lot of Italy this year and the worst roads are right here in Calabria so far. The SS 18 has awful expansion joints on bridges and the A3 autostrade is the roughest motorway we’ve experienced in the republic. AND the roughest spots of the A3 have been built in the last 6 months to 2 years!

Any ANAS engineers out there with an explanation?

Italian Stone Pine - Pinus Pinea

There was an unexpected highlight during our coastal tour. We had planned to stay the night in Anzio, the famous landing site during WWII. It was getting dark and we knew we didn't want to search for a hotel in the dark. As the shadows lengthened, we came upon a frankly seedy section of beach located right after the toney Lido di Ostia. What a contrast! We had just gone through hordes of Romans enjoying the beach and drove through (very slowly) hoping for hotels on the edge of town. No luck there so we drove on to find this deserted place frozen in time (1960's). The only hotel was the Albatros, right on the beach with let's just say frayed accomodations. However--the family that owns it is funny and friendly and just the kind of people who should be running a hotel. It will be a good if funky memory.
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We made it to Anzio the next morning--an exceedingly lovely day. We easily found the Anzio museum and the famous beach. There was a picture of the American landing at a memorial near the beach. Check out the comparison of the old photo with Doug's new photo of the beach. Look for the two domes in the upper left of the historic photo. Very interesting--interesting history too. Apparently the landing went smoothly but the general dug in rather than push on and gave the Germans time to cause quite a loss of life. The goal of the landing was to push on to Rome but the first guys didn't--better stop there, we aren't war historians:
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Historic WWII photo of the Landing on the beach at Anzio--note the round domes in the upper left of the photo

The beach at Anzio today--some of the same buildings

This trip answered one question for us. As we watch the drama about the Italian and European economies unfold, we wondered how Italy could really be the 7th or 8th largest economy in the world as the news has stated. Living in Calabria one would wonder! Well, when we drove into Florence the other day, Doug flashed back to travel in the American midwest. The drive from Florence to Lucca and Pisa was non-stop factories and thriving industry. For some reason we never saw all that from the train in 2005. Yes, the north has a strong industrial base and we have yet to see the “real industrial zone” of Milano!

Il Cliente Ha Sempre Ragione-The Customer is Always Right!

2011-11-04T13:26:00.000+01:00

I’d like to bring up customer service because we Americans are a bit spoiled. I (Guido) have refused to return to only one business around here after they ignored me a couple times. Normally when we walk into a shop we immediately hear something like buongiorno, dimi which equates to “good morning, tell me how I can help you”.

But without further rambling preamble, I am pleased to introduce my friend Domenico Maiolino who is the winner of my Customer Service Award – 2011.

Domenico is an auto mechanic (auto officina) with a small 2-man shop in Scalea. I first met him a year ago when I needed a couple of tires and have since bought more tires, puncture repairs, oil changes, etc. A couple times he dropped what he was doing to help me and since has always been a great man to work with and he and his assistant are both very good mechanics. Domenico is patient with me – he repeats things or tries another way of saying something until I figure it out! I can also roam under the lift, look at work in-progress and ask questions. I like him and recommend him to all.

Domenico’s shop is on the southern edge of Scalea, Via Fiume Lao 164, Tel 0985 939686.

Not far away from Domenico’s garage on Via Lauro is Ranch Motori where I have the car washed. Again, very courteous folks that work hard and aim to please. I like to roam around looking at farm implements and remembering a past life!

The service that has been the most difficult to adjust to is that from the government. Our experiences with immigration and the national healthcare system have been “interesting”. Di hit it on the head saying the medical and immigration folks are not nasty or incompetent, they are just under-staffed and given poor resources to work with. Poor, outdated computers, obsolete systems all around.

One thing we have learned is that quiet wallflowers will quickly be overlooked. The squeaky wheel gets the grease and Italians know how to squeak!! Just this week, we might have spent all day waiting for someone to get us in the hospital waiting room and take us to the doctor Di had an appointment with. They have no receptionists or nurses to come find you….. you basically get into the hall and grab someone to say why you are there and/or snag the doctor himself.

It’s just a new and strange system to us and we are learning. This medical trip was done to try a private doctor instead of one through the health service, so when done I asked him where to go to pay. He took the money himself. Oh. The docs and techs are good, but the other part of this system is strange to us. We don’t know if all of Italy is this way or just Calabria.

We’ve spoken before about queues for everything. Whether government healthcare, immigration or taking a driving test – everything requires a wait. The good news is that if there is not a bar next door, you can be sure the building will have a good vending machine for a caffe.

A cute village story is my visit to the comune (city hall) to drop off our census form. I figured 30 seconds to run inside and drop it at the clerk’s desk. No. The guy inside (hired special to process census forms) spent 20 minutes going over the entire long form, doing some corrections and erasures so it looked nice, then gave me this very official receipt (completely stamped of course) so I would have perfect documentation to prove I had completed the form. In case the Carabinieri come asking?? I think Italians use any excuse to bang a stamp.

Trouble in Cinque Terre

2011-10-28T11:28:00.000+02:00

Vernazza Harbour Was Hammered By Mud Flows Tuesday

Inter-Village Trail Approaching Monterosso Which Was Also Impacted Tuesday

You may have heard that there have been floods in Italy. Our most favorite northern Italian locale, the Cinque Terre (5 Lands) has suffered terrific damage and loss of life...but we first heard of trouble in Cinque Terre before the floods...political trouble. Hopefully we can briefly cover both here.

The Cinque Terre is made up of 5 villages along the steep Ligurian coastline between Levanto in the north, and the port city of La Spezia. In 2005 we managed to visit each of the five villages using trains, cars and of course the fantastic trail that links them. From the north: Monterosso al Mare; Vernazza; Corniglia; Manarola; Riomaggiore.

This past week, Liguria had heavy rains that resulted in flooding and also debris torrents in Monterosso and Vernazza. The area is known for the steep hillsides down to the sea and for the centuries-old farm terraces where grapes and olives are growing. The towns are a mess and it will cost millions of euro to cleanup, but I think the hard working people will dig away the mud and debris and get it fixed quickly. Hopefully, efforts will be made to stabilize remaining steep open ground. The initial quote from the Monterosso mayor was a bit much (scaring us by saying Monterosso "no longer exists"), but here is a LINK.

Near Riomaggiore Train Station -- Hiking Trail Taking off in Upper Left of Image

Terraced Vines and Fields

Doug's First Italian Dream Home Along the Trail

Ancient Gardens Accessed by Inter-Village Trail

The Cinque Terre is threatened by more than erosion. Its status as a UNESCO site and a separate Parco Nationale may not be enough to protect the area. Because of its natural beauty and cultural heritage, it is getting loved-to-death.

We both have seen examples of this in America where great spots attract developers who expand and grow and pretty soon, the original enchanting attraction is gone (aka Colorado). In Cinque Terre those wanting to take advantage of tourism (tourism is supposedly “green” after-all) have also drawn-in the greedy and corrupt to the point that National Park directors and others have been forced out and charged with multiple crimes after stripping-away covenants designed to protect the landscape and cultural heritage that makes the area so special.

Here’s a LINK to a website about two American women doing a film documentary about the development problem in Cinque Terre. We intend to support their efforts and hope that many of you do as well.

We have both wanted to get involved as volunteers for something that called out to us here. The language barrier lives, but is slowly crumbling. Helping native Italians protect their Cinque Terre is something to think about. It is that special.

One regional land-use planning lesson-learned that might fit there –- it is okay to say enough is enough (for hotels and similar developments) and it’s okay if not everyone who wants to come see the place will be able to so when they want. Shoulder season visitation can lessen impacts to the ground while lengthening the revenue season.

P.S. here's a LINK to our post about our trip to Cinque Terre.

Monterosso al Mare Viewed from the Trail -- Lots of Mud Came Down that Valley Above It

Running with the Young Dogs

2011-10-21T15:09:00.002+02:00

Driving is a big part of life in our town--I'd better get with it!

I had hoped to do a post about getting an Italian driving license (patente di guida) about now, but since I have not made it that far, I’ll just tell part of the story.
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I need the patente because when my American license expires, it cannot be easily renewed since I am not a resident of any state in the US. Sounded fairly simple at first. Then I learned that the wonderful Berlusconi administration had done away with English language driving tests as of January 2011. We suspect it is an anti-immigrant ploy, but maybe it’s truly a cost savings attempt.
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The English book with test examples is one we bought with another couple, but I figured I need to focus on Italian only. Hence, I only used an online simulation of the exam which uses very odd, difficult Italian. But, lots of repetition was giving me confidence. I went to Cosenza with a carload of kids to take the exam in September. I scored 80% which doesn’t cut it – 90% is needed to pass. Someday I’ll tell you about the driving habits of the instructor who took us to the Provincial capital. We did use seat belts which is quite unusual for Italians!
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While yakking with a neighbor one day about this difficult test, she went inside and got a 1998 textbook. Ecco, it has most of what I needed to understand the theory of Italian driving rules, highway first aid and liability insurance. I ordered an updated version, but still have not seen it.
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Yes, Italians do need to know the rules to get a patente. Once they have it, they can resume driving like everyone else. I still think Italians are more skilled drivers than Americans. That surely is the case in Calabria where you seldom see accidents. I used to have 3-4 fatals and many more serious wrecks per year on the road I traveled daily in the states. Here, more wrecks occur in the big cities of the north. I found stats indicating the fatal accident rate per 100,000 people is about 12.6 in Italy and 15 in United States.
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Anyway, reading that book improved my scores on the simulations and I thought I was ready for another try this week. Guess what, the same score as before. You know how one little word can change the context of a sentence? Well if you don’t know what a new Italian word means, you have to take a guess and I fell short. An example: abbigliante = high beam headlites. anabbigliante = low beams. When you are up against a 30 minute clock and the pressure, would you see the difference? I did not for a couple months. Of course, in Italian there are other ways of expressing “high beams” and dovete sapere tutti straniero vecchio (you have to know them all, old foreigner)!

Of the 8 teenagers that went on the bus with me, only one passed. Having Italian as their native tongue should give these kids an easy pass, but they must not pay much attention.
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I’ll just keep trying. I only had two chances to pass, so I now start over again for another €300. The money is for the course and lessons, but I understand very little of what the teachers rapidly say and, being very young themselves, they spend a lot of time horsing around with the students – loudly. It’s best that the old gray fox goes off to study alone and maybe he’ll do better the next time he tries running with those pups (left).

Guido

Very Trulli Yours

2011-10-09T13:08:00.001+02:00

Rooftop view from Alberobello UESCO site

We took a short trip to the region of Puglia this week. We bit off more than we were able to chew--we saw all of what we planned to see except for the town of Lecce which we will save for another trip. When we got back and I began checking the photos, I realized that we saw quite a bit of the heel of our boot!
Our plan was to stay around Taranto and head toward Lecce one day and the Gargano area the next after checking out the area around Taranto. Well, we got Taranto and the Trulli country "done" and the Gargano area started. Here's our story:

The Hotel and Trulli Country
Masseria Chiancone Torricella is the albergo we used. It's a 4 Star hotel fairly isolated in the country and is fairly new. We loved it as it gave us the quietest two nights sleep we've had in about 4 years! The place probably makes most of its money from wedding receptions as the patios and group areas are huge.

The rooms were located in a long modern annex on spacious grounds

Just a short walk from the hotel took us to "suburban" neighborhoods of restored and unrestored trulli (the cone-shaped buildings). The largest area of stand-alone homes we've seen in Italy. These are mostly holiday homes. It was cool to see the layouts of the old properties designated by the stone fences. Driving north to Martina Franca on these local roads was a peaceful experience. The bottom picture is from the Comune di Alberobello which has a UNESCO designation for some of the trulli buildings that are now restaurants and tourist shops....still nice and cute.

A trullo we might be able to afford--Maybe

UESCO site at Alberobello

Martina Franca
Our hotel was located just at the "outskirts" of the town of Martina Franca. We were very pleasantly impressed with this town. The architecture was interesting and the historic center well kept and active. Yet another splendid basilica with full baroque style. Lovely local limestone on the exterior and incredible columns and works inside of marble.
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Interior of the Basilica di San Martino

Interesting architecture in Martina Franca--Basilica is in the background

Taranto
Taranto is a city of around 250,000 people. Hence, as a large city, it is busy and seldom cute (being polite). We had a stressful few hours there and in the outskirts. The commercial port is home to fishing vessels and, apparently, the Italian navy. We don't recommend Taranto to anyone for any reason unless you have business there at an oil refinery--although these are at the entrance to the city, you can't really see them from the harbor below. In fairness, we missed the main part of the restored centro.
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The Taranto Harbor is at least photogenic

Trani--on the Road to Gargano
We left the hotel headed for Gargano and the village of San Giovanni Rotondo. Using mostly secondary roads and trying to follow the signage sometimes is a challenge in Italy. Doug goofed and turned right instead of left at one point and we ended up at the port of the City of Trani. What an amazingly fortunate mistake! This is a lovely little city with a vibrant historic district lining the port. Obvious from the photo, it's a recreational port for some verrry nice yachts. When we return to northern Puglia, we will think of a day or two lingering in the historic area and port. Impressive.

Beautiful harbor at Trani

A bit of the Gargano
The Parco Nationale di Gargono makes up a peninsula sometimes referred to as the spur of the Italian boot. It contains the only remnants of virgin forest in Italy, hence our interest. It also has some lovely shorelines and beaches. BUT, we never got into the forests or shorelines given time constraints. Prossima volta.
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Instead, we went to the town of San Giovanni Rotondo where our two neighbors recommended we see all there is related to their patron saint -- San Giussepe--aka Padre Pio.
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It is an attractive town and is obviously doing well with tourism revenue from people coming to see Padre (Papa) Pio stuff. There were at least 3000 people moving about the area when we arrived. Not being catholics, we have no idea what drives people to make such a deal of these things. The priest only died in the 1960's, so is not an ancient person at all. There is a modern hospital in his name that has good credits and they built a modern new cathedral seen below.
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We stopped for lunch in a very busy restaurant. Busy because of the many busloads of people making the pilgramage, then eating. Doug may have experienced a little miracle there; he ordered a veal steak, expecting a thin, overcooked piece of meat. Instead he got a full-sized T-bone steak that had a little pink to it and tasted great. Thanks go to Padre Pio for a fine lunch.
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Photos are looking south from San Giovanni R looking at farmland and the sea. Next photo looks up at the town, then the new modern church facility:

The Padre Pio church site

Home
We travelled 1020km/637 miles on this trip. All was very rewarding scenery to drive through. Doug was impressed with the superb highways in Basilicata and Puglia compared to the roads we have around here. Even the brand new pieces of the A3 autostrade will knock your teeth lose in places here! The roads in eastern Basilicata and Puglia were 2-4 lanes and almost empty everywhere.
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All of the towns and rural areas we travelled were kept litter-free compared to Calabria. We guess there is more money in Puglia than Calabria because there are more people. It is noticeable.
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Gotta mention the fantastic scenery of the Appenine mountains going and coming. The mountain spine thru southern Italy is just great. Many hectares of forest, scattered towns, and in the valleys many hectares of wheat fields, olive orchards, etc. The country north of Bari is flat and old tidal marshes that have been drained for agriculture. Quite different, but still easy on the eye.
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Although we did not stop, the city of Potenza, capital of the Basilicata Region, is incredibly handsome as seen from the highway. Certainly worthy of a day and night sometime in the future.
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The drive from San Giovanni R. (including a detour near Lagonegro) only took 5 hours. On that detour, about 5 large trucks and 15 cars got backed-up behind mom and pop local going home from the garden in their 3-wheel Ape. Those poor folks have lost their tranquil towns whilst the highway bridges are completed on the A3. In comparison, that 5 hours would get you about halfway across the state of Oregon, so not a bad drive at all. We ended with pretty lightning and a little squall coming in from the west over Praia a Mare. Always good to get home!!
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Local SDT Weather Data! OCT 1 – SEP 30 Water Year

2011-09-29T16:10:00.002+02:00

One year of weather data doesn’t allow for trend analysis--butfor geeks like me, it is fun. A few obvious things stand out--like when thesunshine is at its peak. Locals always complain about February and it was“brutto” this year rain-wise. November had more rain, but was warmer. Ourannual precipitation (47 in.) here is not unlike the situation in Portland,Oregon. At our farm in centralOregon, we had only 12 in. per year.

The weather in surrounding towns on the Riviera dei Cedri isvery similar to Santa Domenica Talao. In the hottest months, SDT can be 1-3degrees Celsius lower due to hilltown breezes. BUT, if the breezes are not here, we are usually the same asthe lowlanders by the beach. Average wind in SDT is about 4mph--(see the gust reports for how the squalls behave when they arrive). Wehad lots of dead air in August. The Calabrians always complain about weather,so I felt right at home. Next week it’ll drop to 17 or so and they will be outin their sausage coats!

Our instruments are from OregonScientific. The equipment on the roof has minimal interference from nearbystructures. Like professionalweather services, the temps are recorded in the shade. You hear people talkingabout temps in the high 30’s and 40’s here, but that is in the sun. When wetold you about experiencing 43C/114F in Egypt--that was measured in the shade.Measurements are in both metric and American except for wind speeds.

	Actual Temp L/H	Ave Temp L/H	Sunny Days	Ave % L/H Humidity	Monthly Precip	High Wind Gust MPH	Notes
OCT	10/29C 50/84F	14/23C 57/74F	No data	45/83%	178.3mm 6.93in	34	15% annual precip
NOV	8/30C 46/86F	12/20C 53/67F	14.5	49/88	320mm 12.6in	59.7	27% annual precip
DEC	-2/25C 29/77F	7/15C 44/59F	23	43/85	121.6mm 4.79in	59	2 days snow 100mm
JAN	4/21C 39/70F	8/17C 47/63F	13.5	41/81	69.5mm 2.74in	46.5
FEB	1/24C 34/75F	7/15C 44/59F	18.5	42/80	199.1mm 7.84in	37	16% annual precip
MAR	1/27C 33/81F	8/16C 46/62F	25.5	38/76	139mm 5.5in	47.6	Sunny days returning
APR	7/25C 45/77F	12/20C 45/77F	22	30/69	5.3mm 0.21in	32
MAY	9/28C 48/82F	14/24C 58/75F	29	36/77	93.8mm 3.69in	34
JUN	16/32C 61/90F	19/26C 66/80F	26	42/72	12.7mm 0.24in	28
JUL	18/34C 63/93F	23/28C 74/83F	30.5	39/63	3.1mm 0.24in	38.7
AUG	18/31C 64/88F	21/28C 70/83F	31	31/62	0 0	28	Annual Precip
SEP	14/31C 56/88F	20/27C 68/81F	26.5	30/61	45.3mm 1.78in	65	1189mm 46.82in

FYI, a sunny day is full sun. A 50% sunny day is partlycloudy--so two partly sunny days totals to one day of sun. Complete overcast isa zero.

This was a long hot summer. It felt worse than the datashows as far as humidity. There were a lot of days in Jul/Aug when we had nobreezes, so the heat and humidity (comfort index) worsened. The humidity comesand goes. In comparison, we had more humidity (in the 50-60% range) this yearthan last year. Certainly not as miserable as in the American South—but you getspoiled living in the dry Western US for 40 years.

Oh, and thanks to Di--not only for being the blog queen--Ihave no idea how this gets onto a blog--but also for working hard to make theExcel spreadsheets I use for the weather data. I am in her debt once again. Inthe past, if I ever needed a spreadsheet at work, she would make it at home andI would email it to the office! Now I just have to keep her gin and tonics colddelivered on-time. Guido, a weather geek in Southern Italy

Diversity Returns to Weather Station SDT

2011-09-23T08:51:00.002+02:00

Last week we often wondered about the endless sunshine and heat--greedily awaiting fall and some weather diversity. Suddenly the long range forecast from Il Meteo on the desktop showed dark clouds, rain and much cooler weather for Monday. We watched all weekend and the forecast didn’t change like they often do. Finally, we are in for change.

Sunrise Monday – blue sky all around. Bummer. But wait, by 8:00 things are developing out to sea. Hmm--a double water spout had formed and the dark clouds were coming in from the NW. Down at sea and ground level, the winds were changing around to SW winds and the speed was increasing.

I had a mission that morning to remove a nail from a tire, so left Santa Domenica T. just as this first squall arrived with rain and strong, erratic winds. Windscreen wipers at full speed, I drove to Scalea dodging blowing forest debris coming from the burned-over trees along the road. I just missed a clump of branches that landed in front of me. The entire route to Scalea was covered in bark, leaves and branches. I was unscathed and arrived at Domenico’s garage and they immediately went to work on the tire.

Minutes later, a VW Polo pulled in next to my car and a young professional in tie and coat stepped out to complain about driving to Santa Domenica and meeting the storm. He pointed at the front below the bumper where all the plastic was broken and branches protruded. He then started pacing around, turning in circles and mumbling things related to Dio and Donna. He reminded me of an Italian Woody Allen – very funny even tho’ I couldn’t understand most of what he said. The garage guys were laughing at him too. He pulled the branch and plastic away, they opened the hood and poured water into the reservoir and it of course it poured from the punctured radiator onto the ground. More moaning and pacing, “how will I get to work”, etc.

I left that scene with a patched tire, hit the grocery and went home. Turns out Di had her hands full with the squall here. Many plants tipped over on the terrace and there was broken glass from a candle holder. Other neighbors had large potted trees turned over. Our newly replaced weather station recorded gusts of 65 mph/104Km/h. Later learned that many beach lidos had sustained damage from this first squall. There are many temporary buildings and roofs on the beach along with all the umbrellas. There was also damage to some permanent structures. None of this is like the hurricanes, tornados or typhoons many others in the world have had this year, but we did ask for it!

Midday, more weather rolled inwith fog first, then more winds and rain--the first measurable rain since June.(35mm/0.87in) It brought back the white water steps and showed that yes, fall is here!

I willpost the results of 12 months of weather observations around
Oct 1 when thewater-year changes.

The rest of the week has beengorgeous with a touch more rain, comfy temps
and more sunsets to go with thoseclouds. And the beaches and sea are still comfortable.

For the first time in 8 weeks I am wearing long pants
and even shoeswith socks at times.

Enjoy your fall, Guido

Ah Settembre!

2011-09-17T09:41:00.000+02:00

You are looking at the site for a big new recreational boat harbor in Scalea--plans were in the paper

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Can you tell fall is on the way? See the clouds? We love to see them return along with sunsets over the sea visible from our casa. Notice in the photo above, it was around 7 PM on the beach in Scalea and there were NO people out there? We admit it, we are unabashed fall lovers. Of course, we are glad to see spring and summer arrive as well, but nothing can beat fall. It can last all the way to December here too. The summer theme was socializing. I'm not sure what the fall theme will be. For me, I think it will be exercise and fitness and other self improvement items like improving my Italian. It's easy to say that while I'm sitting on the couch in the den on the computer, isn't it? Maybe I should make a public spectacle of it so that I can't give up. Post my weight and muscle mass every week?...nevermind, not a good idea. See you later, gotta go out and enjoy the day.
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I don't know about you, but I prefer lots of clouds around my sunsets...

Hopefully, this is the last "smoke" of the year--Vince is voting for that too. Rain is due on Monday.

Fire Ecology--Calabria

2011-09-10T08:21:00.001+02:00

Not fall color!

According to the University of Ohio, Fire Ecology is a branch of ecology that concentrates on the origins, cycles, and future stages of wildland fire. It probes the relationship of fire with living organisms and their environment. Three concepts provide the basis for fire ecology:

1) Fire Dependence: This concept applies to species of plants that rely on the effects of fire to make the environment more hospitable for their regeneration and growth.

2) Fire History: This concept describes how often fires occur in a geographical area. Fire scars, or a layer of charcoal remaining on a living tree as it adds a layer of cells annually, provide a record that can be used to determine when in history a fire occurred.

3) Fire Regime: Fire regime is a generalized way of integrating various fire characteristics, such as the fire intensity, severity, frequency, and vegetative community.

4) Fire Adaptation: This concept applies to species of plants that have evolved with special traits contributing to successful abilities to survive fires at various stages in their life cycles. For example, serotinous cones, fire resistant bark, fire resistant foliage, or rapid growth and development enable various kinds of plants to survive and thrive in a fire prone environment.

Very often these types of definitions sidestep the human element and the use of the term "wildland". Living in Calabria makes this pretty clear. Pesky folks in America always bring up the fact that for centuries, American Indians burned vast acreages on purpose to stimulate food production. Does that make it natural? Does it matter? As far as we can tell, humans in Calabria light fires and have done so for some time (think sheep).

The following pictures are photo points we took to check on the fire adaptation of the burned vegetation in our neighborhood. We will compare these pictures with pictures taken from the same points next spring to see what survived, thrived, or died. Are the fire intensity and severity out of sync with the evolution of the vegetation or has the vegetation changed and is no longer fire resistant? We won't be able to answer these question with our small study--but it will be interesting and we'll let you know what we find next spring. Our hypothesis is that the oaks will benefit, but that all depends on whether the fire severity was within "natural" bounds--flame height, etc. Looks bad now, doesn't it?

The only green right now on this oak is mistletoe (or similar plant parasite)

If you look closely, you can see previous fire patterns (shorter versus bigger green trees)

Something Fishy in Old Town Scalea

2011-09-03T09:12:00.005+02:00

Nice balmy evening in Scalea

Besides the beaches, the best spot in Scalea (the town downhill from ours) is Centro Storico (Old Town). We had our friends from Oregon here for a few days and they were in time to see one of the last festas of the season in Scalea. It was in honor of fish and fishing and they fried up some tidbits for everyone to try. We elected not to eat here given the fish types they were frying and the music sound level was too much! We ate in a small pizzeria instead--but we were happy the fish lovers were happy:

A very big vat of boiling oil!

Friends from Brighton, England who have a flat in Old Scalea. What were those kids thinking??!

Standing -- Our friends from Oregon, USA

Summer Ebbs

2011-08-27T10:30:00.005+02:00

We have been busy. Another excuse (reason?) for not keeping up our blog schedule is that we had a computer problem. We had to go to town for a week and use the WiFi (Wee Fee in Italiano) at a local bar. Very noisy in
August. Ah, but August is on the wane, and with it, most of the hazy, crazy days that make one want a vacation from all the vacationers. We have house guests due in a few days and are looking forward to seeing them--but after they leave, we hope we will be in a nice quiet, cool place where going to the gym sounds reasonable again.

We will be returning to Italian language school soon and I know our teacher will be asking us what we did during our summer vacation. Here is my list that I will have to mentally convert to Italian:

Went to the beach and snorkeled alot--found a peaceful beach for August in Cetraro.
Tried and partly failed to include more night-life. We are still morning people.
Went to Sorrento and environs
Met a lot of new people and got to know people from last year better.
Doug started passing his driver's test computer simulations (he has to take it in Italian).
Di started understanding Italian films.
Watched a whole lot of fires.
Heard a whole lot of fireworks.
Ate less because of the heat.

We didn't study Italian the way we planned, but we did make more efforts to talk and listen to people and films. Studying is a winter thing anyway eh?! All in all, it was a blur.... We do remember those two cute girls playing in the sunset at Lido Paradiso. The adults were dancing under a pergola at the same time.

We're Burning Up!

2011-08-12T09:32:00.000+02:00

The view from our terrace at midnight

Just 1/2 mile from our house, the crackling noise of close-by fire made for a restless night of sleep. This whole week has been filled with fire and fire aircraft. This fire burned all Wednesday night pushed by strong winds. Other fires burned on the road to Scalea and up into the hills.

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I used to love to fly in or work around aircraft related to wildfires in America. I figured I would miss that part of my job but lo and behold, there is more than enough fire aviation around me here to keep busy (with a camera anyway). Someday when my Italian is better I’ll look into begging a ride on a Canadair tanker with the fire service, Protezione Civile:
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Vince hated the planes flying so low over the house

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Vince the dog has become neurotic about fireworks and low flying aircraft in his old age– just all of a sudden, so for four days he shook and panted and followed us around till we were all crazy. I suspect at least one plane will return today for further mop-up since they don’t use many ground crews.
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It looked a bit less scary at daybreak

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Monday afternoon I saw a fire was burning on both sides of the highway about ½ mile away. This is just below a small park-like stand of eucalyptus and pine trees and I figured that someone had started another fire to promote mushroom growth. Earlier the same day I watched a small fire east of here started along a road probably by a cigarette. Remember that 99% of the fires in Calabria are human caused. Many people smoke and many of those are careless. The bulk of fires (I’m told by locals) are arson. They are fires started by rural folks to promote mushrooms or to improve grazing for the goats and sheep. American Indians did the same thing, but burning someone else’s land is not nice these days.
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Seldom does anyone takes ground action because apparently they have no decent equipment or training. Here, they wait for the air tankers who perform the role of incident commander and initial attack force. They do it all. Two Canadair tankers were the first to arrive at 1800 and I walked up above the cemetery to watch. The fire was creeping downhill toward the village. We have very light, flashy fuels everywhere which means the pine trees and even many eucalyptus remain alive while brush and grass burns. There is no intense concentrated heat from these fires overall.
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The tanker pilots are extremely good and gutsy as witnessed by their proximity to powerlines, houses and the ground.

This is the first time I’ve seen Air Tractor planes in action. In the States, these are called Single Engine Air Tankers (SEATS), basically a turbocharged crop duster configured for fire fighting. These have pontoons to land in the sea like the Canadairs. The website http://www.airtractor.com/at-802f says they can gather 800 gallons in 30 seconds, but I think they have to land, stop and drop a tube into the water since they sit a ways above the water, and their turnaround time was about 20 minutes compared to 7 min for the larger planes. Anyone know how they fill?
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Lots of low level flying. That close to the tankers, I discovered a cool thing.

Fluffy stuff was in the air after a water drop and I determined it was foam from sea water. I think the agitation of sucking up the water must create the foam that floats down after the water. A little landed on my arm so I could taste it.

US Forest Service aviation managers would not like helicopters carrying water buckets right over our terrace in town, nor maybe the tankers at 2-300 feet over homes and downtown Scalea.

The same Americans would likely frown on this separation between a climbing helicopter and a descending air tanker. Shoot, there must have been at least 200 meters – no sweat for Italian pilots!! I wish I could listen to the chatter between the aircraft when there were 4 tankers and a helicopter running around together.
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On Tuesday they returned at 0600 and worked fires until 1930 again. A full day of flying. The planes worked till dark. A single Canadair returned Wednesday to mop things up. Total burned area I estimate at 1,500 acres.
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Wednesday night mother nature took over and switched the winds to the north and increased them to 20 mpg with gusts to 35. This pushed all the existing fires back downhill and chaos was made overnight. The big fire reached the edge of Scalea 3 miles away and stopped around the Bellavista Restaurant if you know where that is. 2000 more acres. The suspected cigarette fire mentioned about was never dealt with, so it took off and damaged about 2000 acres as well. There were 4 other fires in sight.
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Fortunately these fires did minimal property damage. In a recon Thursday morning I only found 6 shipping containers (full of merchandise) that were burning in our business park. This added another day of flying for the Canadairs. I wish I could hear the comments from the first pilots that arrived to find a basic war zone in the Lao River basin – “OMG, where do we start?”

Vince and I need a break. Di pulled me in Thursday PM and closed the shutters against the ashes that were coming into the house. Yes, there is a plane here this morning, but maybe they can finish early and give us back some peace and a sane dog. But hey, this is part of life in Southern Italy.
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Guido

Crowds, Critters, and Construction

2011-08-05T11:30:00.004+02:00

An Italian bumble-bee struggles with a broken wing on our Terrazzo--our Agosto hideout

Crowds
It's Agosto and most of our summer visitors will be fleeing the Italian crowds soon. The population of Scalea truly triples with vacationing Italians returning to their holiday apartments. We are planning to photograph the teeming night-life in Scalea before the month ends--but normally we quietly avoid crowds and go to select events in our village. Even here, things can be hopping until 1:00 AM on a week night. How do we avoid the crowds? Some tips for all of you who may be planning to tour the Calabrian coasts in the high season:

Get up early. By 9:30, it's already too late in the stores. (Italians stay out late and tend to not get up early unless they have to).
If you want to be at a beach in relative peace, go where there are no big hotels within walking distance of your beach, and show up when the Italians leave for lunch and a nap (1-4 PM). (Although we arrive early to get a good spot, and just enjoy the time between 1-4).
Drive back roads and find routes around the main corsos.
Arrive for lunch right at 12:30 or 1 and beat the crunch at 1:30.
Find places to eat on the back streets. We find few people eating out for lunch this year (economy?) and more going out at night. If you get to a restaurant at 8:00 you beat the main gang that arrives to eat dinner at 9:00.

It's more fun (now and then) to be with the tourist crowds here because at least they are Italians, but because they are Italian, the driving is absolutely nuts and supermarkets are crazy.
Critters
Doug's been busy with his long lens on the terrace. We have a pair of lizards who live there. (Liz and Zard). Pictured below is Zard. These critters are all over Calabria and are so very cute! The bumble bees (first picture) here look at first glance like giant flies. Not as cute--although they do have a bluish glaze on their wings. We also have hummingbird moths that are smaller than the ones in Oregon. Butterflies also look for a drink here--mostly swallow-tail relatives.

Zard was kind enough to pose long enough for Doug to change to a long lens.

The swifts are gone for the season, but the dove family is still looking for accomodations for a third brood. We tolerated the first two but Doug came up with the idea of blocking their efforts with a big ugly rock that I changed into a little lamb.

This critter is an Ibis from Egypt but I keep thinking a bird landed on the table.

Construction

The neighbor's house is coming along very nicely! I have to say that I like real terra cotta roof tiles better than these modern look-alikes but you can't beat those hefty ceiling beams!

Seven Links: Oh So That's What it is!

2011-07-28T16:31:00.003+02:00

My favorite photo--it shows the beauty and age of the Calabrian natural and cultural landscape

Doug noticed an entry on Facebook from Sue of Pownall Chronicles concerning something about "7 links" and nominating this blog. We had no idea what it was and forgot to ask. Then I noticed that some of the blogs on our blogroll had titles starting with "7-links". Thanks to them, I found the root webpage explaining that this was an idea to spread the good word about our own blogs and about others. So I'm belatedly addressing the questions listed. But first, I'd like to nominate some other blogs:

Great bloggers I’m nominating to share 7 links on their blogs:

1) Irene from An American in Padua because I connect with her writing.
2) Suzie from Palazzo Pizzo because she connects me to my love of art and architecture.
3) LuLu from Calbrisella Mia because of her love for Calabria.
4) Barbara from The Expresso Break because of her dedication to a first class blog.
(She left Naples so she no longer updates her blog but perhaps if she sees this, she can point us to her 7 links).
5) Jo from Joe Bloggs for her dedication to the art of writing and her wit.

Back to our Seven Links:
1) Our Most Beautiful Post:The Question--I'm interpreting beautiful as revealing the beauty of Italy through Doug's great photos.

2) Our Most Popular Post: So Many Restaurants, So Little Time--Go figure, I guess a lot of people go to Italy or think about going there just to eat.

3) Our Most Controversial Post: Calabria's Reverse Immigration--Nobody responded with any anger, but it's the closest I can come.
4) Our Most Helpful Post: House Hunt Italia--as far as I can tell.
5) A Post Whose Success Surprised Me: Beaches--for similar reasons as the restaurants--people looking for information about where to go...I guess.
6) A Post I Feel didn’t get the Attention it Deserved: Sicilia for a Day.

7) The Post that I am Most Proud of: In Memoria di Francesco--because it seemed to touch people just as I'd hoped it would, and as a writer, the writing just flowed (I like it when that happens).

Not by Bread Alone

2011-07-22T09:13:00.006+02:00

Here is a display at a large supermarket. The sign says you can find over 20 styles of bread here

Our American friend Aleris and her husband built a wood-fired bread oven at their home in Oregon (forno legno). Before moving to Italy, we had discussions with her and others about little bakery shops in Europe. Then, I told them that in our area there are no quaint little shops selling baked goods – just quaint little shops selling a variety of groceries and sundries.
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I know more now. Almost every small town in the area has a bakery (panificio) --but they wholesale their products to the small stores and the larger supermercati. A few still bake with wood, but most have modernized with electric ovens for more control and increased outputs for the sake of making some money. A local guy I met (Stefano) started with wood.
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These are images of Stefano’s new, state-of-the-art bakery here in Santa Domenica Talao. He makes some traditional hard crust breads you see in the photos. The other bakery in the village specializes in softer French breads, panini and rolls. I also buy a ciabatta type bread made in nearby Orsomarso that is between a hard Italian and a soft French.
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Owner Stefano works on a focaccia bread. He employees three other guys. These shots were after midnight. They work all night to make dough, bake it then wrap it in plastic. It gets delivered to the local small and large stores early the next morning 6 days a week.

Cravings for Cheese and Other Foods – It’s funny that the only material things I have missed from the US so far are things to put in my stomach! We are lucky to have friends in the US and the UK who are willing to bring me goodies when they come to their holiday homes.
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Last spring an Irish friend brought excellent Irish cheddar. In June, our friends from New Jersey – in addition to all kinds of clothes, pills and “things” – actually brought us a kilo of Kosher corned beef and pastrami, and even some Jewish rye bread. Guess what I had for breakfast and snacks for the next week! Next, my Welsh “brother” Mike Jones showed up with 4 types of English cheddar to try. Di and I both liked the Vintage Reserve West Country cheddar and Mike thinks he can bring a couple kilos when he returns in a few weeks. I love the cheddar for its flavour and because it cooks nicely without turning rubbery.
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A typical deli stand in the Mercatissimo in S. Nicola Arcella with plenty of cheese to choose from

I have found an Italian cheese that cooks well. Few Italian cheeses cook well for me. So far I have found Valgrana to be tasty and a good cooker – an Italian cheddar. Of course, fresh ricotta is good for cooking, as-is mozzerella, but they are both very mild. Eborianato is a very nice blue-type cheese that is firm and dry vs. the Gorgonzola that tends to be too soft and gooey for my liking – nice to snack on or for salads. Another tasty formaggio just for eating is Grana Padano. If you like French Brie, you would like Italian Camoscio d’Oro – a soft, creamy, flavourful cheese that’s a bit more expensive at €14,90/kg. There are only a few Italian cheeses that I avoid.
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Good eating to you, Guido

Summer is Sizzling

2011-07-15T09:23:00.000+02:00

Summer has really kicked into gear now. Two weeks of hot weather, more people in the stores of beach towns, brushfires, evening concerts, club events and festivals.

The brushfire across the valley today is almost 600 acres, but a layer of marine air overhead is keeping it from really exploding (hey there old colleagues--I remember some fire behavior details) The temp today is 32C/90F with 53% rh. It’s a typical arson fire done by someone who likes mushrooms or other plants that do well after fire. I can see the line the guy walked this morning to expand the fire, perpendicular to the wind direction. Costly to the government, but the tanker planes are entertainment for me. 12 seconds for those planes to scoop-up 1400 gallons of sea water as I watched thru binoculars. Check last summer’s posts for photos of the Canadairs.

Last weekend a local jeep club held a rally here.

Most of the 4x4 rigs had huge aggressive tyres and some were equipped with snorkels for fording deep streams. They went mud “bogging” below the village where we walk sometimes, and they had other competitions later in the day. Suffice to say, there is no Tread Lightly ethic in Calabria! Several were flying American or Confederate American flags. Hmmm, is there an influence from the outside? At least it was not sponsored by Bud Light beer. Come si dice “Bubba” in Italiano?

The newest bar in town, just 58 steps from our house, has had live music twice already and it is relaxing to get a cold drink or gelato and listen to the tunes. This was a jazz trio.

The nice thing about these summer nights is that all ages are represented. It’s refreshing to see kids that are not glued to an electronic game and who play together outdoors.

The middle of July is when tourists start arriving in Scalea and you do notice the change. Monday, the main supermarcato in town was overwhelmed at 8,30 because they had not boosted their staffing. Only 3 resisters open and queues with 20 people waiting in each. Today they had it going with 6 of 12 registers. Come August, I try to be waiting outside at 8,00 when the doors open to beat the rush.

Scalea is a great town for vacationers in that you can walk to everything. Being a watcher-of-things, I have picked up on the habits of the beach crowd. First out the door in the morning around 8,30 are the Pakistani beach vendors. The Pakistanis are the majority with a few other nationalities. We ran into a vendor while swimming the dog who had been in our Italian class. Very nice fellows and they trudge up and down in the hot sun all day selling trinkets, beach toys, jewelry and clothes. Hard way to earn a living.

Next on the streets between 9 and 10 AM are lines of people headed to the sea with their chairs, towels and umbrellas. I could not help but put a label on them – they are the morning migration of the lemmings headed to sea. Hence, watch for lemmings crossing the road.

All towns around here have festas and things happening all summer. The companies that lease the lighting displays to each town must do well. The Scalea displays went up earlier this week and the same company is erecting displays in our town today. There is more money spent on such things in the summer than for Christmas or New Years. I suppose because more people are around and a festive environment can encourage the spending of money? Saturday is a big Madonna festa of some sort with fireworks. We always watch them from the terrace here.

I have a tendency to whine about humidity now and then, but one member of the family likes to soak up the rays wearing a heavy black coat.

Buona estate tutti, Guido

Fun July 4 on the Beach

2011-07-08T10:05:00.000+02:00

We love Calabria because it mostly hasn't been discovered by the "expat community" in the sense of a bunch of people who just want to live by the sea shore and soak up the sun and generally not really care what country they happen to inhabit. We are surrounded by Italians and Italian culture.

However, there a two days of the year we like to celebrate our birth country--and try to be respectfully low key about it. Thanksgiving and July 4.

Too bad the Italians don't happen to have a corresponding festa on the 4th because they wrote the book on fireworks displays--by government entities and well as by anyone who wants to send some up. We opted for a fun day at our favorite beach at the Lido Paradiso.

We gathered with a small group of American friends and just enjoyed the day. That's it--sunning and snorkeling and lolling in the surf. Great day. Happy Birthday USA.

From SDT to Paestum, Sorrento and Ercolano

2011-07-03T12:26:00.000+02:00

A view of the landscape in the park around the temples. We liked the peace and quiet.

Since the whole world revolves around Santa Domenica Talao, let it be known that you could easily stay here and take the train as a day trip and see these sights. Or, take the train and stay one night in Sorrento. We chose to drive in order to bring our friend Vince (the dog). We drove north on SS18 thru Sapri and Policastro. Traffic was fairly light in the mountains and it was a stunning drive worth your time.

Paestum is off the beaten track, but there is plenty to buy or eat

Paestum is an ancient Greek site we found just 2 hours north of SDT and just south of Salerno. The 2500 year-old site contains some of the best-preserved Doric column structures in Italy. If you took a little Latin, like Guido, you are likely to pronounce this “ae” as pye-stum. Howard Hillman’s website says pest’m. We stopped at a bar in Paestum for a rest on the ride home and when I asked the owner, he said pastum. If you mumble a mix of peh and pah, you’ll make it. Above, plenty of tourist facilities surround the site.

Pretty pics are Apollo (also Temple of Neptune) and is the best preserved of the 3 temples. Interpretive signing was getting pretty beaten in the elements, but at least they had some. Interpretation in Italy is sketchy.

Di stands by temple Hera.

View of Sorrento on the way to the town center

Sorrento, aka Little America of Italy

In the image above are the villages of Castellamare di Stabia,Vico Equense and Meta with Sorrento at the top. They all blur together and the traffic is something to experience. We'd like to back just to take a boat tour along the Amalfi coast and Capri, but when we return it will be via treno!

We make the crack about Americans because the majority of the people on the busy streets, on tours, at bars, etc were speaking American. Just blew us away. Just a handful of UKers and some Germans. We had to get deep into the side streets of the historic area to hear Italian and to speak it. The storico is very nice with many, many shops and little restaurants and pizzarie tucked away all over. A handout states Sorrento has 100 hotels. We stayed at the Plaza in the next photo which accepted the dog in our room. Warning, Sorrento is highly developed with no vacant lots and the parks are fenced to keep dogs out of vegetation. We had a pet friendly hotel in Sorrento but what we didn’t know is there is not a single place you can walk a dog other than the pavement (we and Vince are pretty unused to that scene—besides the place was wall-to-wall tourists day and night so it was hard to be discrete….)

Not the best town for a dog the size of ours!

Our hotel--the Plaza--not our fav

This is one of the hotels where we wished we'd stayed. Next time

Nice frescos in this domed space in the historic district.

Although we saw some sandy beaches, the bulk of the sunbathing and swimming seems attached to these constructed piers.

Once in Sorrento, all you have to do is take the train to Naples and get off either in Pompeii, or Ercolano. The train is easy and gives fair warning of the stops. You can walk to the station from Sorrento centro storico.

Ercolano-Impressive!

Ercolano (Herculaneum) is a 50 minute, € 2,00 train ride from Sorrento. No AC on the train, so try to grab seats out of the sun. There are lots of cool tunnels...

Ercolano was a Roman resort for the elite that was buried under 20-30 meters of mud and debris that flowed from Vesuvius in 79AD – the same eruption that took Pompei. Pompei was covered more by ash and supposedly was easier to excavate. We skipped Pompei after reports of huge tour groups, but then learned that the excavated ruins at Ercolano are in better condition and, because of the wealth of the Roman users, contains some lovely tile work, engravings and paintings that can be seen now. Hardly anyone to share the 5 acre site with. It was a good choice. Just imagine the effort to clean-away 20 meters of debris from all that you see in that image. It is a great destination and they have done a good job with interpretive signs and self-guided recorded tours.

Below, old streets. They actually had a sewer system running under all of this which carried waste to the nearby sea. Some of art on the walls is amazing and somehow didn't get trashed by the mud. Same with mosaic tile floors.

Having seen the solid stone columns that the Egyptians created, we found this Roman construction interesting. The columns and some walls have an internal structure of brick, then an overlay facade made from cement or similar material. Don't know how the got the fluting in columns so perfect. There were also curved or domed ceilings that had an overlay that looked so good I thought it must have had a corrugated form of sort to create the surface.

Next you see modern Ercolano which is built on volcanic fill all around the historic site.

One fascinating item is that the seashore used to be about a mile closer before the eruption. In this photo the wet area represents what used to be nearly sea level, so the walkway and everything to the left is part of the debris flow that covered the resort.

Last night in Sorrento
We discovered this nice hotel, dating to 1880's, where we made dinner reservations. We didn't walk thru the place, but given the dress of staff and the "look" of some guests (yeah Americans), the rooms are probably in the €4-500 range. It and several others perched over the sea have romantic views and are away from noisy traffic too. We enjoyed that Sorrento sunset and our meals.

Can't you imagine Grace Kelly and Cary Grant here? Ah, but also Di and Guido.

As always, we were glad to come home to Casa del Tramonto and our own piece of the Med.

A Local Resort at Terme Luigiane

2011-06-24T09:13:00.000+02:00

Next week we are headed to Sorrento and famous places like Capri, Amalfi, Pompeii, Herculeum. This week we took a look at a fairly unknown resort just a little south of us. Terme Luigiane is a village set back in a canyon just a kilometer from the sea and the SS18 highway. A place we have driven past numerous times without knowing it existed. We zipped down for lunch with a friend and neighbor who’s husband is the Maitre ‘d at the largest hotel, Grand Hotel delle Terme.

The resort has 7 different hotels and they are all there to take advantage of hot mineral springs. They offer various spa treatments and pools. Naturally none of the pools was open when we were there with a camera!

It’s an amazing little niche in the canyon complete with lush vegetation surrounding the village and nicely maintained streetscapes. With the hot springs, of course, there is a steady odor of sulfur in the air.

We have never made use of developed commercial hot springs other than a swimming pool in Glenwood Springs, Colorado where we lived once. We were more into the natural springs found in the woods and mountains of the west where you stripped down and sat in a pool, often with complete strangers. Several were popular stopping spots after cross-country skiing. There’s nothing more enchanting than soaking in a hot pool with snowflakes drifting down on you. Bah, enough with the snow talk. It’s gonna be 30 today at the beach!

Ciao a presto, Guido

Niche Finding-What's in a Name?

2011-06-17T10:57:00.003+02:00

These birds have problems but they probably don't know it. First of all, they found a niche--seem very self-satisfied about it--but it is not without inconvenience--mostly to their human landlords--Guido and I. Second, they have an image problem. Third, they can't be, well, pigeonholed.

Their first problem is most likely the least of their worries. They picked the right humans to inconvenience. Suffice to say that we are not bird-haters. These two have picked our little window for the laundry room as their nesting niche. Nevermind that there are holes all over town, these birds have taste. There will not be either natural light or direct ventilation for the laundry room unless we want to hazard babies falling onto the washing machine.
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We all know about their image problem. Guido calls these birds pigeons with a certain distaste that can only be said to come from prejudice. If you check out this website, you will see that labeling them pigeons is just not exactly a scientific moniker. The italians here call them colombe (doves) not piccioni (pigeons)--but that's not the only problem. It seems they are both (all?) from the dove family and the distinctions are mostly made by irrational judgment--doves are white and live in peace and pigeons are rats with wings. Then why do the Italians call these doves? I'm not smart enough to figure it out so I'll just call them colombe. Remind you of any human problems?

In Memoria di Francesco

2011-06-10T13:41:00.000+02:00

Franceso would probably have been surprised to know that he played a big part in our decision to live in Santa Domenica Talao--we found out he loved his home town to the exclusion of all others.

It was his friendliness that mattered in our decision. Guido and I had recently lost the last of our parents. We were motherless and fatherless children about to embark on a brand new life in Italy. We were welcomed so warmly by Franceso and his wife Pina, that we momentarily felt that feeling you have as beloved children. Everyday life changed that feeling--but their importance in our life remains. You know in the brain that life is fleeting but you always hope each day that the people near you will be there.

Francesco left us more alone that we expected today. He was 86 years young. He walked up the more than 50 stairs to the piazza each day of his life to his last. We often stopped to chat with him there and understood his strong Santa Domenican dialect more and more--though we still had times when we had no idea what he was trying to tell us! I wish we knew more about him but it seems like we know what was important. The last time I saw him he tapped me on the shoulder and asked where Guido was. He always asked me that. Where are you Francesco? I'll keep my new grape vine tied and trained just as you showed me.

Ci Vediamo.

The summer of 2007--Francesco listens to my traveler's Italian--gotta love him for that!

Francesco and Pina watch as we get our wood delivered by mule. He never missed a thing.

Francesco hated the heat. I was looking forward to our summer chats on the steps...this is the saddest picture for me--there is the grape vine he tied to a stake for me.
Silly American letting it grow wild!

Spilling Beauty

2011-06-03T05:40:00.001+02:00

We pass this bougainvillea every day on the way to Scalea--it blooms 10 months a year!

Life is a challenge. The main challenge is to appreciate it and be one with it at all times. I can be not very good at that...I let things get to me (whatever they may be--for example, yesterday we found out our neighbor is in the hospital). Then all of a sudden, as I'm lying there feeling sorry for the world and myself, one eye opens and all the love and light of life re-enters my being.

Guido and I feel better, our body's fight with Egypt is finally over and I'm just now back in awe of the sock-o beauty around here. Most of you know that I love plants. I love how folks do plants in this country. They love veggies and flowers and don't give a hoot about lawns. Give them space and they'll make their own olive oil and wine, thank you very much--but mostly the place is spilling over with the beauty of flowers from window boxes and terraces--everywhere. I mean everywhere--including at my house. I wanted to capture some nice window planters that I finally got going well. I also snapped some pictures of other people's efforts. Enjoy:

The planter outside the window of our study

My neighbor Pina's window plants

Our kitchen window planter

The Question

2011-05-27T10:10:00.001+02:00

Going through my photo files to find my best shots and organize them, I thought I could share with you my favorite images of Italy so far. The most frequent question we get when we meet people is why did we chose Italy and why Calabria. The simple answer is that we fell in love. Maybe these pictures can help illustrate it. Since we have moved here, like any lovers, we have had our spats with our adopted country...but we have gotten through the adjustment period and now feel at home.

We visited for the first time September 2005. A terrific time of year to travel. First stop was Venice. It cost more to land at the airport servicing Venice, but it was worth it to arrive by water-taxi. OMG, what a sight for a couple of bumpkins from Oregon, USA. Our first night in Italy was at the quiet trattoria above.

We love dogs and enjoyed the white one on the deliver boat. Di smiles from the hotel room ... a hotel that is nearly invisible. You all have seen St. Marks from various positions - the image at night was good.

A must-see destination is the Cinque Terra in the Region of Liguria. Here you can walk a trail between five villages perched above the sea. Trails that have served people for centuries. What a feeling of history. What gorgeous views. We’ll return while we can still walk!

Couldn't pass on the dog. The image of Riomaggiore's stazione includes a piece of the hiking trail in the upper left.

The town of Vernazza below with boats - as seen from the trail - is memorable. We took shelter from rain in a bar there which had pictures of Hemingway from the 1950's and the place had not changed.

An introduction to gothic architecture in Florence. Just amazing. I remember what really blew me away was that the hotel we stayed at was part of a building 700 years old. Americans just do not understand a lot because we have not been exposed to all the world’s history that’s been around so much longer.

The Tuscan countryside was beautiful of course, but it did not grab us--probably because Oregon and Washington State have so much pastoral beauty that we were a bit jaded on that. The architecture was stunning. Left is Montepulciano and right is the famous piazza at Siena where the annual Palio horse race is held.

We discovered Santa Domenica Talao in Calabria in 2007 and what a beautiful find. Mountains, sun, sea and friendly neighbors, right at our doorstep--just like our dream. I leave you with these (which I'm sure some of you have seen before) and hope you understand the answer to the question now. Later, Guido.

On the Wings of Summer

2011-05-20T11:41:00.002+02:00

We are so enjoying a beautiful Spring in Calabria. It is the spring you think of in the dead of winter, not a sudden onset of summer (as we had last year) but a real SPRING with lovely days interspersed with rainy days. Some of our snowbird friends were disappointed in the weeks they chose to spend here this month--because we are having spring this spring and not an early summer.
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Summer is on the way, though. I can tell because the population of my favorite bird, the Swift is on the rise. This is one of those phenomenon that you actually have to see to enjoy. I tried very hard to capture them for you, but it is not possible. They frustrated my attempts to photograph them in any real defining way, almost as if they were camera-shy. As soon as I put down the camera, they came in droves, screeching, dive-bombing and showing off--looking like fighter pilots on a lark.

Swifts are very unusual birds as I learned by watching them and at Avibirds European Birdguide Online. They spend most of their day in the air, usually mate in the air, and catch insects on the wing. They winter in Africa and breed here in late spring and summer. People often mistake them for swallows but they are much more accomplished flyers. They are a pure delight to watch in action.

After trying so hard and largely failing to catch the spirit of the Swifts, I was grateful for more sedentary creatures to portray:

Tourists on the Nile

2011-05-14T08:15:00.002+02:00

We left Vince with friends in Praia a Mare who drove us to the Scalea train station. We had tickets for an Alitalia flight from Rome to Cairo, Egypt. Initially, we planned only to see some ancient Egyptian sites along the Nile and catch up with our American friends who are both archeologists and the masterminds behind the trip. By the time we left, we were just as curious to see modern Egypt after the January Revolution—once we decided it was safe enough to go ahead.

Cairo

Cairo is just 2.5 hours from Rome--an easy hop. Not shown here are scenes from Cairo because we saw it from a Toyota van careening through traffic and were not able to shoot photos. Cairo drivers might defeat Rome cab drivers in a competition. Although pre-warned, we were astonished at the poverty and squalor in that city of 20 million. Yet, there is opulence scattered around too–like our hotel, the Mena House Oberai. We stayed there a night coming and a night after our Nile cruise. It is by far the most posh place we have ever stayed in our lives. It’s the former hunting lodge of the king until 1890 when a 30–something British couple bought it and created a hotel that has evolved into a huge facility with delicious food and good service. Incredibly, the Great Pyramid is just 700 meters away and looms above the hotel grounds.

The Nile

From Cairo, we flew south to Luxor to start a 7-day River Nile cruise with lots of historic sight-seeing. We were booked on the M/S Stephanie, a boat with beds for 132. Our room was just behind the bridge on starboard side. Our friends had a suite immediately under us.

Cabins on the boat were just fine. The buffet meals were nicely done, but the food we rated a C. Lots of sunning and cruising the first day. Over the week we shared the boat with two English groups, a German group and even some Italians were there for 3 days. There was little mingling amongst groups--mostly because of a rule about eating with your own group to facilitate billing for drinks.

Our Ship

The riverboat trip down the Nile took us past a landscape of irrigated green with a desert backdrop.

Sugar cane is a big crop as is wheat and animal forage. We watched agriculture being carried out by hand as it must have been for millennia. We spent most of our time on the top deck watching the landscape go by. Your eye leaves the irrigated floodplain of the Nile and sees the mostly parched desert.

We went through some locks on the cruise which are guarded by some police or soldiers. There are armed men all over the country. Some in a uniform and many not. I asked our quide who the guys in civilian clothes and guns were at one stop. “They guard the museum now that the old corrupt police are gone”. Doug asks: So how do you know if they are legit?

Just because they have AK-47’s? “They are good because they guard our treasures”. I dropped the questions. You cannot believe how old and worn are the pistols and rifles of all these police and guards carry. Also, we were all asked for money from various Tourism Police for minor chores like posing for a photo. The revolution empowers them to hustle for money too.

Our Captain

Many workers on the boat, at tourist sites and the hotel asked us how we felt about their revolution. This includes our guide who is nearly finished with his PhD. Of course we told them all we support them and are proud of them. They went on all the time to praise Obama who had nothing to do with their revolution, but it was calming to us (pro-American talk) after the bin Laden event that went down whilst we were there.

Very old traditions, but even these river people have digital technology

The ancient art and architecture of Egypt date back 4-5000 years. I was just open-mouthed to see works with colour that have survived so long.

In the south, near Aswan, we visited the sites flooded by the dam in 1960’s where the famous statues were moved about 100 meters higher and still face the rising sun--just amazing. Here too we encountered two days of 45C/114F temperatures. Hellish on the land tours. Even on the ship you had to take many dunks in the pool to remain comfy outdoors. Imagine a conservative Muslim woman wearing a full burka in these temps. We did see them wading in the river with the robes on. This southern country can reach 135F in the summer! We were there just after the main tourist season. Our guide said in summer months, only the crazy Spanish and Italians go there in the heat. Hmm, the Italians I know would not tolerate those temperatures.

Ramses II– the Donald Trump of 2000 BC

Cairo II

We visited the pyramids the morning before our flight left. This apex shot has probably been done since the time of Brownie cameras. In this case, a cop put down his AK, took the photo, and I gave him a Euro.

Italy
It is nice to be back to beautiful Italy. We were amazed at how lovely it looked after Cairo. We will probably not ever again take a guided tour or a cruise anywhere–we are too independent and more interested in the kind of information you get sitting in sidewalk cafes--but it was a good experience to have once. One dare not try Egypt on their own -- too dangerous with bandits et al. It was super to spend laughing times with our friends, see the trip through their eyes, and have a chance to see some wonders that we might never have seen on our own. To you photographers out there, I apologize for the spots on my DSLR sensor. Should have cleaned it before the trip.

Peaceful Travels, Guido

Ci Vediamo-Off to Egypt!

2011-04-29T17:22:00.003+02:00

We have had quite a week of socializing and getting ready for our trip down the Nile River. Just wanted to let you all know that we won't have a computer while we are there and won't post next week. Have a great May Day and enjoy the spring weather. We will be sweltering--we hope! Supposed to be 40C/104F in Luxor next week this time. Quite a change.
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We promised that this blog would only be about Italy so I guess we'll have to report on our trip as a great place you can visit quickly and easily if you live in Italy!
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Ciao, Ci vediamo! Guido

PHOTO CREDITS go to our friend and Photoshop expert, Ron Kikel in Oregon USA

Verbicaro

2011-04-23T12:19:00.000+02:00

A small part of the older section of Verbicaro

If you read our post from a couple of weeks ago, you remember that Verbicaro is one of the hilltowns listed as part of the Riviera in the Park. Verbicaro is locally famous for its wine and getting known for that to wine experts around the world. There are wine festivals here in September and October. But right now, wine takes a back seat to festas and processions relating to Pasqua (Easter).
You may also remember that these towns are beginning the long road of self-promotion based on each of their unique histories, traditions, and architecture.*All we knew about this connection at the time (between our invitation and the promotion of the town) was that we were invited on a tour in Verbicaro by a friend of a friend. This is the story of that tour.

On the old town tour (Photo by Mike Jones)

First let's talk about expectations. Wine and eating was mentioned along with some traditional Easter processions. We were told that we didn't have to stay late unless we wanted to. A "bus" would be leaving early if need be. Since we left Vince at home, there was no way we could exceed 6 or 8 hours gone max.
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We were to meet our friend at a bar in Scalea at 4 PM, from there transfer to the "buses" which turned out to be ancient vans (seat-belts removed). There was a group of about 15 of us, mostly from the UK as our friend is Irish. We thought we were going to a famous vineyard/winery and eating there. To be fair, there was no real reason to expect this other than the fact that others in the group also expected this.

Long story short (as they say), we were given a nice little tour of the Verbicaro old town followed by a meal. The Verbicaro old town is interesting because it is more abandoned than others around here. It seems everyone who was still in town fled to the new part in the 1960's. We did see the beginnings of restoration, so I am hopeful that someday all will be restored.
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We ate a traditional meal in a garage (Calabrians often use party houses for big groups--they are not necessarily posh). It was a really fine meal. Zucchini or fish fritters followed by traditional hand-made Calabrian pasta followed by some very delectable goat meat followed by dolce (sweets) and fruit. The wine was not unusual (local unfamous, not local famous) but not what we expected. It would be a very good experience for tourists who have never experienced these type of local get-togethers. I was cold but that's my fault as I often underestimate the temp change from afternoon to evening in the spring.

Salvatore on the left, our tour guide (photo by Mike Jones)

Next came the surprise that the processions would start at 11 PM (which means midnight in Italy) and keep on to well into the wee hours. There was no "bus" leaving early. Doug and I and some others had to beg for ride back after dinner.

Thankfully, due to the remarkable patience of Calabrians, the leader made a special trip with a van full of us light-weights.

Much, much later that evening (photo by Mike Jones)

Vagabond Cuccioli

2011-04-15T08:13:00.002+02:00

Halcyon Days at Rainshadow Farm--Vince and his cat, Buzby

All of our pets used to be vagabonds. Vince and his cat "Buzby" started life homeless and ended up with us. Vince is still with us here in Italy at the ripe old age of 15. I wanted to start this post reminding you that the homeless are everywhere because I notice that Americans and Brits are very critical of the animal situation in Italy. I tend to think that the difference is only one of visibility. Americans round up the vagabonds and give them so many days to be saved or die. We still have problems with people neutering their pets, especially cats. What is so different here? I haven't run into anyone who could explain it to me exactly. I can only give you my impressions.
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In Santa Domenica Talao, I have met a few vagabond dogs. I got attached to one or two of them, looked for them, fed them when they came by--then they were gone. It was a hard lesson. I have no pictures of them, nor do I know for sure what happened to them. There are periodic "sweeps" when these dogs are picked up. I assume by the city. I have heard too many stories of what happens next to be able to tell you. I have heard people pick them up to sell to research facilities, that they live out their lives in a terrible "shelter". I don't think I have the strength to know for sure. I do know that the difference here is that we get to know the souls of the creatures before they meet their fate. Animal lovers here don't have the cushion of a hidden reality. It's all out here to see. I'm not wise enough to tell who is being saved by "humane" shelters. I have to say that I suspect we are saving our sensibilities, not the animals themselves. They are killed so we don't have to worry about them.
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An old survivor on the streets of Scalea

Here some dogs are saved from getting picked up but these are not necessarily taken in to homes as would happen in America. They simply have found a way to survive and some minimal level of human protection. I also hope that a few get taken in for real.

A dog we knew well enough to photograph but never saw again

We haven't humanely solved the problem of human homelessness as yet, so I guess it's not a surprise that animal vagabonds are still out there breaking our hearts and also bringing us joy. You can read what some others think about this issue on the Scalea Forum.

This is Dino, he was rescued in Calabria and brought to California!

Vince contemplating his long and lucky life