Ok, so you probably forgot that I went to Italy last year, but I did. And I’m just now finally wrapping up all my posts about it, almost a year later. That’s what I get for being lazy and just not getting around to writing about my trip having so much fun in Italy and taking so many pictures that I have a hard time choosing which ones to show you.
Here are all my posts on Italy if you’d like to catch up from the beginning. I’ll update this post when I finish everything (I think I have two or three more left) so anyone interested in a trip to Italy can find everything in one place. If you have any questions about anything, let me know.
When last we left off, we’d just spent our day in a wonderful state of relaxation. Followed by an equally relaxing and delicious dinner. So we thought we’d continue with that theme. Here’s a little visual “taste” of our delicious dinner.
Due to some pre-dinner wine, then being required to try both the red and white house wine at dinner (so we could decide which bottle to buy and bring home with us…of course!) we were already having a great evening. I’m not exactly sure how the timeline went after dinner, but I’ll try my very best.
We wandered back into the town square after dinner, with no particular destination in mind. As we wandered, we stumbled upon a bar/restaurant with outdoor karaoke. So we stopped to watch.
We had so much fun singing trying to sing along to some Italian songs we didn’t know and some English songs we did, we decided to have a seat.
We got hooked with this song Sara Perche Ti Amo by Ricchi E Poveri. Sorry I couldn’t find a better video for you.
Some of us decided it was time for limoncello and some of us decided on gelato. Really there’s no bad time for either in Italy.
But having a seat turned out to be a bad idea. The karaoke MC spotted us right away and decided we needed to sing a song. So after a little prodding, the four of us got on stage. We needed to sing a song we all kind of knew, and that the Italians would probably know too. We suggested all kinds of things. Spice Girls. Michael Jackson. They didn’t have any of it. But then they found a song for us.
Spoiler Alert. This does not turn out well.
What did they pick you ask? A Whitney Houston song. We were thankful it wasn’t I Will Always Love You. But what they picked was almost worse.
I Believe The Children Are Our Future.
Did you know that song is 800 minutes long? Well it’s not, but that’s about how long it feels when you are on stage howling it out at the top of your lungs, slightly drunk from dinner. And none of us can really sing so it was reminiscent of the song that never ends.
We settled our bill as soon as we hopped off stage, and high tailed it out of there. Embarrassing as it was, I’d say it was one of the most fun memories I have from our trip.
We wanted to try the famous Calabrian granita place Cherrye told us about, Bar la Torre. (Seriously, it is so awesome to have a local friend/travel advice giver.) What we didn’t realize is that we’d actually stopped there the night before for Linsi to get some gelato. But this night was all about the granita (sort of like shaved ice and made completely with fresh fruit.) I got some berry flavored granita.
We even met the owners of the place and the inventor of the granita!
After getting our granitas, we decided that we should play on the playground. This shot of me was taken only moments right before I realized the spring on that thing was super loose and I fell on the ground. I didn’t spill a drop though!
Jane stayed on though.
Then right after that, a guy recognized us from karaoke and offered to give us a free ride at the carnival that was just on the other side of the park. So we couldn’t say no. I can’t quickly find the picture of myself in the carnival ride, but I here’s a picture of Daniella and a short video I took. It was so awesome!
After that, we were pretty much done for the night, and we had to get up a little early in the morning to catch the train to meet up with Cherrye and Peppe. And to go to our cooking demonstration! But that didn’t stop us from finishing the rest of the wine when we got back to the hotel. So we didn’t have to carry it with us, of course.
If you don’t, you will end up like our Italian friend, who we affectionately nicknamed, Skeletore. (Pronounced with an Italian accent like Ske-le-tor-ray). From far away she is a specimen to behold. But up close, you see what many years of excessive tanning will do to you.
Friends don’t let friends not wear sunscreen. Trust me on this.
(PS These photos are courtesy of the fabulous, sly photography work of my friend, Linsi!)
This particular day started out with sleeping in, followed by hours of lounging at the beach, pizza and beer for lunch
and a couple hours of souvenir shopping before we cleaned up and headed out to dinner. (Or maybe it was: sleeping in, lunch, souvenir shopping-we had to buy beach towels, lounging at the beach, more souvenir shopping, dinner…I can’t remember now?!)
Since it was a little bit early for Italian dinner, we decided to explore some of the famous mosaics Cherrye had told us about, so we headed in the general direction after briefly looking up the directions online.
We found the restaurant, and it was right near where we were supposed to turn to go to the murals. So we started up the road.
We figured it couldn’t be too much further when the dog at a house down in the valley barked at us. (The house was almost entirely hidden from view, but we could see tons of tomato bushes.)
So we kept going, until we finally saw something. (We think it was a tunnel that had something to do with the trains that pass through the mountain.)
It was super creepy, and the wind was blowing very hard through the tunnel. I did my best not to be scared. Haha!
So after that, we decided we weren’t going to find the mosaics on that path, so we descended back down the hill, past the barking dog, and back to the main road. Where we saw a sign pointing into the old part of town that said “mosaics”. Ha!
We still had plenty of time to kill before dinner, so we headed into the old village, excitedly waiting to see the mosaics. We climbed up and up and up lots of small, musty stair wells, just like this one…
…only to never actually find the mosaics. Yeah, that’s right. We still never found them. Once we got to the plaza of the old village, we stopped to take a few pictures of the beautiful view, then decided we were starving, and again made our descent.
It was just breathtaking up there. Not only the view, but to walk where it was nearly impossible for cars to travel. Where people built their homes way up in the mountainside, hundreds of years ago.
Stay tuned for the adventures to follow after dinner!
Ok ya’ll. I know I’m taking forever at writing about my Italy trip. I’ve been busy, but also somehow I think that once I quit writing about it, I won’t think about it as much. Dumb I know. But, I’ve got plenty more to share. Rome and Florence were great, but the next two stops on our trip were really the best.
Scalea was my favorite place. I think the other girls would agree, but I won’t speak for them. We had so many fun times there on our trip. It’s a small coastal town on the western coast of Italy, south of Naples and even more south than Amalfi. (Google it for a map.) We picked it, because we wanted to do something less touristy but beachy, and my wonderful friend Cherrye recommended it to us.
And what’s not to love about this?!
Honestly, Scalea was awesome. We were only slightly pissy at each other when we first got there because a local pointed us in the wrong direction of our hotel, so we walked for almost an hour longer than necessary, in 100 degree heat, just to get to our hotel. Waahh! I know. Once we got to our hotel though, it was bliss for the next two days.
I’ve never taken a beach vacation, but this place made me want to book one immediately.
On our sightseeing day, a guy opened the gate to Talao Tower just for us.
The views from the top of the tower are just awesome.
And lets revisit that first photo…
Um. Yeah!
Our first night there, we killed time until the recommended local restaurant opened. We even waited (creepster style, right across the street, where they could see us) until way after 8PM because the hostess wouldn’t let us in. We killed A LOT of time. What can we say. We Americans aren’t used to eating that late.
We got hollered at by some Italian boys cruising the main drag, and told them we’d meet up with them later. NOT!
Before going into dinner I caught a spectacular sunset shot.
Finally, at dinner, we ate for what seemed to be hours. I had a steak.
And I even tried clams for the first time. (We were right across the street from the ocean!) This is Linsi’s Frutta di Mare plate. I wish I could tell you what everything was.
We tried cake made from the locally grown Cedro fruit.
And after several liters of wine, and complimentary limoncello, I played banker and paid our bill.
Then, we joined the locals for a little passeggiata (stroll through town) before calling it a night.
