Took a drive to go snorkeling in the Adriatic and stopped for lunch at this restaurant with a view.
Sent from my phone. Please, excuse any typos.
Lunch in Otranto
Galleries
Matera
What can I say about Matera that will begin to describe the wonder of this place? It is one of the most interesting places I have visited in my life. I will do my best to convey some of the magic this place holds for me.
When you first arrive, it seems like any other Italian city, a mix of new and old, lots of gelato, trinket vendors and street musicians. But it is so much more. I was really unprepared for what I would discover.
It has the distinction of being one of the longest continuously inhabited human settlements in the world. Its history dates back to the paleolithic period. There are still caves that were inhabited millennia ago and subterranean Roman ruins. Then there are the Sassi, ravines leading down to the river where the original settlement was established.
The Sassi are filled every imaginal type of structure. Some dug right into the rock, some built around the rock and some freestanding. When you are in them, it is so easy to imagine that you have traveled back through time. So much so that many films use the location to depict ancient cities. The latest of which was Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ”.
These areas have not been without their difficulties. They had been allowed to deteriorate into squalid slums, where some people had squatted without any access to utilities or sanitation. Finally it was realized that something had to be done and in the 50’s the government stepped in to clean things up. Now it is a place with restaurants, hotels and B&Bs: all nestled into these ancient structures.
We took our first trip with our same group of friends (sans the two teenagers) with whom we went to Alberobello. Holly and I liked it so well that we took train there to see more. We have barely scratched the surface of what is to be seen among the layers of human history to be found there and will probably go back so we can stay for a day or two.
When we arrived, we strolled around the city, saw the entrance to the subterranean roman ruins and then one of the many overlooks to the first of the Sassi. It was breathtaking. As we descended into this ancient tangle of streets and buildings, it finally dawned on me how special of a place this is. We came back up for a wonderful lunch and like many meals in Italy, it was not fast food. When we came out of the restaurant it was getting late and in December that means that it will get dark soon. Our Italian friends started hurrying us along so we could see the rest of the city. The first Sassi had been remarkable in its antiquity and charm and so I was surprised when Maurizio said we needed to hurry as we wanted to see the “old” part of the city before nightfall. Are you kidding me? Well, he wasn’t. We descended from the plaza outside of the 11th century cathedral (was that a humble brag?) into the next warren of streets, buildings and caves. We finally arrived at another plaza that overlooked the river along whose banks the original inhabitants settled, but we had no time to descend to it or ascend to the caves we could see on the other side. Some of the caves are natural and were inhabited in the Paleolithic era and some were dug of the rock by early Christians and others as the centuries have passed.
On our return rip, Holly and I did have time to descend to the river, but did not have the time to explore the other side. That will need to wait for another time.
The cast of characters.
The city.
The city up top
The start of what is underneath
Il Duomo
Inside Il Duomo
The Sassi
Looking up from below
Built around the natural rock
Glowing in the evening
Carved out of the natural rock
Ancient rock carved buildings
The way down
The bridge
The canyon
From the bottom
The bridge
Next up, the Republic of Malta.
Ireland
Ireland has always been on my list of places I wanted to visit, but it seemed out of the way and hard to get to. However, once we decided that we would need more time in the US to get everything together for our Italian visa application (just turned everything in yesterday) our itinerary opened up.
For those of you that have been following along with this journey, you will remember that we met a delightful couple from Dublin in May and had a wonderful night of conversation and pizza on the steps of a 17th century church in Lecce. Cooleen and Padraig encouraged us to stop through Dublin if ever our wanderings allowed. This seemed the perfect opportunity and I am not sure I can express how delighted I was with this choice. Whatever you have heard about how beautiful Ireland is and how friendly the people are, it was probably understated.
Cliff walk from Greystones to Bray
Our first outing was to take the commuter train south from Dublin along the coast to Greystones. There is a cliff walk from there north to the village of Bray. The day was cool, a little overcast, and a great day for a walk. There were great views of a storm on the Irish Sea, what appeared to be a seal in distress and the coast as a whole. With the seal, after scratching his back on a rock, he swam off. Who would have the seal-in-distress hotline on their quick dial list? The lady next to us and she used it to call in the incident. They do that here.
Outing along the Dublin harbor jetty
Our hosts, Cooleen, Padraig, and their wonder dog, Harvey, took us for a walk on one of the jetties for the Dublin Harbor. The day ended with a family dinner of the best burgers I have ever eaten.
They actually do swim in these waters on these cool days. We went swimming with Padraig in the Bay of Dublin (Holly went once and I went twice). He actually swam as he does almost everyday and we jumped in and back out about as fast as we could. The waters are cold.
Belfast
Next on our Irish adventure, we took a day trip on the train to Belfast in Northern Ireland. The scenery out the train window was worth the trip. Not too long ago I probably would not have made this trip. I grew up hearing nothing about Belfast but the conflict between the Protestant Unionists and the Catholic Nationalists, “The Troubles”, as the Irish so understatedly call it. There were constant bombings and terrorist attacks. However, a few years back it was realized by both sides that they were only doing damage to themselves and their economy. No businesses or tourists want to put themselves in that much peril. With a somewhat uneasy peace, they are getting back on track and it was a pleasant place to visit.
With not much time available to us on the ground, we walked through the town to the Titanic Experience. A museum right next to the site where the Titanic was built and launched. If you are in Belfast and have an interest in that ill-fated ship, it is worth the effort.
Trip to Galway, the Aran Islands and the Cliffs of Moher
At Cooleen’s urging (thank you Cooleen for pushing us out of the nest), we decided to get away from Dublin for a few days and see more of the country. We took the train to Galway on the west coast facing the North Atlantic and the next day (this maybe the only time you will hear this from me) we took a guided tour to the first of the Aran Islands, Inisheer, and the Cliffs of Moher.
The Aran Islands take the brunt of the weather coming in from the Atlantic and they are rugged and spare. I am told the crossing can be very rough and they cancel the trips several times a month. Our crossing was calm. We rented bikes and went around to the four attractions on the island: the cemetery, the castle, the shipwreck and the light house.
The Cliffs of Moher are where the Irish mainland is melting into the ocean. The water always wins. With the changeable weather we had and the natural drama of the place, it was a spectacular afternoon.
Drive back across the country to Dublin
We then rented a car and started off across the country driving on the wrong side of the road. Once you are on the road, driving on the left is pretty easy. Getting out of parking lots and looking the correct direction at intersections is the hard part. I drove and Holly only had one or two heart attacks. Again, I was in awe of the lush green we saw in all directions.
The war that won independence for Ireland got off to a rather inauspicious beginning with the Easter Rising in 1916 and the centennial of that event was being celebrated everywhere we went. We stopped for lunch at an inn in the small town of Granard. We noticed what seemed to be several seeming alters to the Irish revolutionary, Michael Collins. The town was the birthplace of his fiance, and our choice of eating establishments had at one time belonged to her family. Although there is still some controversy about who and the exact reasons why, Collins was later assassinated while on an inspection tour following the signing of the treaty establishing the Irish Republic and leaving Northern Ireland with Great Britain. The conflict over the treaty led to the Irish Civil War and later to “The Troubles”.
One last stop on our journey back to Dublin was the Hill of Tara, the ancient spot used to invest the High King of Ireland. On top of a windswept moor, you could easily believe that an ancient society felt it was an appropriate place of power to crown their leader. The mounds there date back to the 5th millennia BC, making them the oldest site of human activity I have visited.
The Walls of Lucca
One of my daughters, Jamie, told Holly that she had not seen enough pictures of the walls of Lucca to really understand what they looked like. So being the great dad that I am, here is my best attempt to give you all a feel for them.
One thing to understand is that the total circumference of the wall is about 2 1/2 miles so without hovering over the city in a helicopter, you just can’t get a picture of the whole thing. To help with that I have included a map.
Not the walls but a sunset taken from our apartment. I couldn’t resist
The map showing the whole thing including the bastions and the green space outside of the wall. The red circle is where our apartment is located.
Holly giving me the whim whams.
Sunset from the wall
Jamie, I hope this helps.
Ravenna
Last week we took a day trip to Ravenna. It took over 3 hours by train each way, left at 6 am and got back at 9:30 pm. Like most of the cities we have visited, its history goes back to at least Etruscan times around 900 BC. Julius Caesar gathered his forces here before he famously crossed the Rubicon. It was chosen by Caesar Augustus to be his major naval port on the Adriatic Sea. It followed Milan as the imperial city of the Western Roman Empire and was its last capital when that part of the empire collapsed in 476. It was recaptured by the Byzantines who oversaw the construction of many of the most interesting sites in the city. It has been controlled by various empires for the last 1500 years.
Ever since I used them for research as a theater student in college, I have been fascinated by the magnificent mosaics that cover the walls and ceilings of the ancient architecture found in Ravenna. This was my first visit and there is nothing like standing in these ancient buildings and seeing these works of art in person.
There are 8 UNESCO World Heritage sites in this city. In one day we couldn’t visit them all, but we filled our day with some of the highlights.
Basilica of San Vitale
This relatively small building houses some of the most beautiful mosaics in the world and is a vital resource of anyone doing research on the mode of the era.
Others including the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo
The new winner for the best dish we have had in Italy; mussels in Ravenna!
Next up: Siena
The Move North
No matter how hard we tried, we have already started accumulating more stuff: a keyboard for Holly’s teaching, a moka coffee maker, a water pik, books from Italian school, a Linkem internet modem (it is bigger than you might think and wouldn’t work in Lucca as we had been told), etc. We were then faced with the problem of how to get all of that stuff to Lucca and/or what to do with it. Since the idea of carrying it on to a train was not a pretty picture, we decided to rent a car and pack it all in (left a small box with Gianfranco) and just kick the problem down the road a month.
Other than hurrying North to arrive in Lucca in time for our landlords to watch the Germany vs. Italy EURO 2016 soccer match (they are Germans living in Italy and were somewhat conflicted), it was a rather long and uneventful, if at times beautiful, drive.
There was one highlight I wanted to share. As anyone who worked with me at Serengeti knows, for 11 years I worked closely with Fran Russo from American Express. Several times during those years we discussed her roots in small hill town in Italy. As it happens, the beautiful little hill town of Cansano was only a few miles out of our way and we decided to take the side trip and have lunch there. We had a delightful meal while a thunder-storm rolled in the distance. Fran tells me her father’s house was just off the town square. I have the picture, but can’t tell you which house.
We arrived in Lucca in time for everyone to watch the game. Even if it took a shootout to do it, Germany beat Italy for the first time ever in a major tournament!
The End of Chapter 1
Our first two months in Italy came to an end on Friday, July 1st. We rented a car on Saturday and moved our base to Lucca in Tuscany, where we will stay for the month of July. Before we left Lecce, we signed a one year lease for an apartment in the “Centro Storico” and we will be returning to the United States in August to apply for our long stay visa. We obviously like it here.
After finishing up our four-week Italian class with a group of students from Ohio State, we stayed an extra day in Lecce at the insistence of the manager of the apartment we lived in, Gianfranco Miglietta, because he wanted to throw us a party. He is building a place in the country by himself and he invited not only us but many of his friends to join in the festivities. He had his daughter, Camilla, and her boyfriend, Simone, drive us to and from the party (have I told you how warm and hospitable the people here are?). In addition to the half built house, there is an entrance arch and a small external pavilion (where the party was held) with Gianfranco’s pride and joy, the wood fired pizza/bread oven he built. With the assistance of several others, he made pucce, the local puff bread for sandwiches, and pizza. All of which were delicious and we all ate until we could eat no more.
We have had several remarkable experiences since we arrived in Italy, but this was one of the very best. The warmth of Gianfranco, his wife Paola and his daughter Camilla made us feel like we were truly special. We look forward to reconnecting with them when we return.
We didn’t get home until after midnight and then had to wake up at 5:30 to finish packing and head out for Lucca.
Tel Aviv / Jaffa
Before we set out on this adventure, our friend (and real estate agent/manager), Loren Chotzen, invited us to his son’s wedding in Israel. We have heard stories about Michael from Loren for years and had the privilege of working with him when we were renting our old house out. It was an honor to be invited and an opportunity Holly and I just could not pass up.
It was such an amazing trip and I am going to break the story and pictures into three parts: our time in Tel Aviv (this post), the wedding and our one day trip to Jerusalem.
As Tel Aviv was founded in 1909, the ancient city here is Jaffa. Those of you who know me, understand the old port of Jaffa was where I chose to spend most of the few hours we had before being transported by bus to the wedding later in the day.
All along the edge of Tel Aviv and Jaffa is a promenade abutting the Mediterranean Sea with beautiful beaches and restaurants flanking the whole route. As we strolled the mile or so from our apartment to the old port, we found ourselves needing to be very careful not to get hit by one of the small electric bicycles that were zipping to and fro.
I always think I am going to study up on places I visit before I go, but I never seem to be able to discipline myself to do it. Once I have seen a place and walked through its 3 dimensional reality, I can’t seem to read enough about it. This is true of Jaffa. The history here goes back 3,500 years and it is mentioned in ancient Egyptian texts. It is where Jonah set out to sea, David and Solomon landed the cedar from Lebanon to construct the first temple in Jerusalem. It has been conquered and reconquered by a multitude of empires throughout its history. Saladin took it before Richard the Lionheart conquered it. Richard and many of the crusaders used it as their major port of debarkation in the holy land. Napoleon took it and since his emissaries had been killed by the Turks, he slaughtered the entire Turkish force after they had surrendered. As the Jewish state of Israel was being founded, it was again a place of struggle between the various factions.
Standing on top of the rock outcropping the old city was built on, I could not help but imagine what it would have been like to have been standing there when the first sails of a conquering force were seen on the horizon.
Brindisi
Yesterday, Holly and I again got the wanderlust and decided to take a train to Brindisi, a town 30 miles or so north of Lecce. It is a very active port, the site of the regional airport and yes, it is the historic end of the Appian Way (Via Appia) known in Roman times as Brundisium. For those of you who are fans of the old Kirk Douglas movie “Spartacus”, it was the place they were to be met by the Silesian pirates to be transported beyond the reach of Roman authority, only to be betrayed and left to their fate. 6,000 of them were crucified along the Via Appia, between Capua and Rome, as a reminder to other slaves to toe the line. I don’t think the pirates have shown up yet.
We wandered around for several hours and had lunch right on the waterfront. The restaurant got the prize for the best dish we had had so far in Italy, “il Nero”, black pasta with a mix of seafood (see picture below). There were a number of pleasure craft backed up to the bulkhead whetting my fantasy of getting a boat and sailing around for a year or two. For a beautiful June day, there was very little traffic in the inner harbor.
Overlooking the harbor is a site with one complete Roman pillar and one base. There is a bit of a story here. At one time two pillars existed and it was traditionally regarded as the end of the Via Appia (a tradition not backed up by much fact). At some point, one of them collapsed. In the 17th century, after some wrangling and seemingly some controversy, the collapsed remnants were sent to Lecce to use as a pedestal for a statue of Saint Oronzo, patron saint of Lecce, in the town square. I posted a picture of that monument earlier, but have included another here for comparison. Notice the metal rings holding the collapsed pieces together. Why they needed that column as a base will forever be a mystery to me.
The Melting City: the Story of Lecce Stone
All of the magnificent baroque architecture here in Lecce is built with a type of limestone they call Lecce stone. When it is new, it is white-to-honey colored and incredibly beautiful. If you remember when I talked about the sculptor whose studio we visited earlier and how he worked the stone with woodworking tools, you can probably imagine how soft the stone actually is. You can literally dig into it with your fingernail. That characteristic makes it easy to carve the intricate detail visible everywhere here. It also makes it extremely vulnerable to the elements.
I cannot walk around the city without being struck by how the stone in places just seems to be melting away. The erosion is definitely worse near the street, making me believe the acid from automobiles splashed up on the walls quickens the process, but you can also see the damage high up on the buildings where the stone is out of reach of the spray from the street.
Reading up on the subject, I have found there is a push to preserve the monuments and architecture and it really kicked into gear about 20 years ago. But much of the damage has been done.