Lynn Stott: Living Savory

Sailing to Capri

The day of the Capri trip dawned rainy and chilly. But I decided to strike out anyway, carry an umbrella and be ready for anything.

Queuing at the dock waiting for the jet foil -- some people going for the day, others clearly packed for a stay:

Taking the top level for the best views - me and a few other hearty souls braving the winds:

At Capri - taking the funicular to the top of the hill:


View from the half-way point:


Hungry for lunch and having to make choices...


Winding through the old town:


And on up the hill...


My favorite kind of shop window!!!!

Fancy hotels:



More rain:



Sheltering from the rain with other tourists:




What must be the most beautiful location for a post office in all of Italy (It's the building with the yellow signs):

Headed back to the marina to catch the return boat:


The marina at Capri...


Sunny top deck for the trip back to Sorrento:

Another day in Sorrento

6 ottobre 2011

Sorrento is a lovely base for exploring Campania and the islands of the bay of Naples. It is very tourist friendly (in some spots, a bit more British than Italian), and offers breathtaking views of the area.

Sharing a few "postcard" pics.

Where Ravenna and Parma were the cities of bicycles, Sorrento, with its hilly, winding roads, is the city of the motorcycle.

Hotels and restaurants offer views of the Bay of Naples (and cruise ships stopped for a shore visit):

The Marina Grande still hosts a small fishing fleet, a few good restaurants, and "rent-a-lounger" spots to catch a few rays of sun before autumn's chill sets in.

The views from the top of the city are lovely:

Dogs of Pompeii

5 ottobre 2011

Every time we've visited Pompeii, we've seen dogs wandering the streets and begging for food from every tourist who sits down to eat their picnic.  In the past, they've run in packs - skinny dogs of every breed.

On this trip, the dogs were fewer and much better fed; many had collars and tags. We read on a notice that someone has set up an adoption program - do adopt the strays and remove them from the ruins.

Some were still around -- sentinels of the ruins.

... er, well - dozing sentinels, that is. In the basilica...


in the changing room of the Forum baths

... in any shady spot:

A day in Pompeii

Pompeii
5 ottobre 2011

Definite Beauty & Lots of Ruin

We spent most of the day in Pompeii - the best-known of the towns that were buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in August of the year 79.  We've been 4 times now and will probably go again every time we go to Italy.   I find Pompeii endlessly fascinating - and there's so much I still haven't seen.

A mosaic over the water supply in the suburban baths (the baths outside the walls of the city):

Climbing into the city from what used to be the Marina and shoreline:

Crossing a street on stepping stones. When Pompeii was a living city, the streets would have been filled with garbage, sewage, and animal droppings - not some place you'd want to step. The streets in Pompeii are graded downward slightly from the acqueduct cistern. Periodically (weekly?) water would rush through the streets to help move some of the ick along and out to the bay, but most of the time the streets would have been stinky & disgusting.

In some of the houses, the original wall paintings are still carefully preserved. These are from a house known as the "House of the Prince of Naples" because parts of it were excavated in the presence of the prince to show him the beauties of what was being found at Pompeii.

 

Vesuvius is a constant reminder of how this city met its end.

Everyone finds their own way of keeping out of late autumn's heat...

 

A shaded waiting area at the forum baths (Men's section). Men would have mingled here as they waited for space to free up in the warm tubs.

A brazier held a fire to keep the warm room warm

The waiting room - transitioning from warm to cold baths:

Pompeii was an ancient city when the volcano erupted. The streets show signs of centuries of carts wearing down the stones.

On the Circumvesuviana train - headed back to our apartment.

 

Market Day in Sorrento

Sorrento
4 ottobre 2011

Browsing a Campanian market ...

Despite the advance of chain supermarkets and clothing stores in even medium-sized Italian towns, every town still has its weekly market.  We've looked for the market in Sorrento on other trips here, but couldn't find it -- and when we asked Sorrentines about it, they'd point us to the nice shops in the neighborhood, seeming not to know what we were asking for (I really did look up the proper Italian phraseology, so I'm pretty sure I was asking for the correct thing).  We figured it's part of the overall effort to have Sorrento be a terrific tourist town, with none of that messy Italian provincial flavor (not such a great plan, in our eyes).

On this trip, however, one of the maps we picked up at the tourist office at the Foreigners Club had a little square on the uphill side of town marked "weekly market."  The same map actually had the market day listed as well.  Hooray! We figured the era of secrecy must be over.

We made the slow climb up the hill to a large, level parking area - and the market.  There is a part of every market that is basically the same - lots of inexpensive seasonal clothes, bags, shoes, underwear. For most tourists, that's reason enough to visit one or two on a trip, but not to feel any necessity to explore one in every city. 

For us, though, we weren't interested in what was staying the same -- but in what was different from place to place.   What changes from city to city - or, to be more specific, region to region -  is the food -- and particularly the cheeses.  In Campania (the region of the city of Sorrento), the local cheese is the buffalo milk mozzarella -- and it was displayed in its many varieties.

Pictures of the mozzarella and other market snapshots below: 

Fresh (as in made this morning) mozarella - bagged w/ water to keep it fresh:

 

Mozarella Salata - aged - (more like what Americans put on pizza) next to the fresh bread stand:

 

 
If I could've managed to transport it home, I think I would have gotten one of the antique sewing machines:

 

Fabrics and notions:

Sweets by the kilo:

Flowers for your window boxes...

 

Herbs and lettuces for your winter garden...

The season's last tomatoes grown in that rich, volcanic soil...

Cookies by the 100 grams...

And olives, always olives ...

 

Foodie Open-Air Pantry - Hold your envy!

Sorrento, Campania, Italia
4 ottobre 2011

Foodie kitchen extraordinaire!

Food & Beauty together...

On Monday, we were walking down a street in the medieval section of Sorrento.  I noticed the lovely little green grocer set-up on the corner, but then color caught my eye and I  glanced up to the right.



Such a burst of color and a ready-made pantry to boot.

Zoomed in:

The balcony is hung with peppers and onions and all kinds of squash - all looking pretty fresh.  We actually walked around the block to see if this was the kitchen area of some restaurant -- from what we could tell, it wasn't. 

Some lucky foodie has a fabulous seasonal pantry.
Beautiful!

Finishing up the Italy Trip

Now where was I?

Sorrento, Campania, Italia
3 ottobre 2011

FOOD!

We like to use Sorrento as our base when we're in Campania.  Though it's not the closest city to the main ruins, it has other charms that keep us coming back.

We like the views- of the bay of Naples, Mount Vesuvius, and the rocky coasts;
the city government manages to keep out most of the pickpockets and con artists, so we can let our guard down a bit (which you can NOT do in Naples);

Sorrento has great ferry and jet boat access to the islands of the bay and the Amalfi Coast
and though it's not a culinary town, per se, we've found a couple of restaurants that we really enjoy.

We found a new restaurant on this trip - Inn Buffalito has only been open a year or so.

 

They specialize in a range of fresh buffalo milk products (mozzarella in its many forms)  as well as buffalo meat products - though we didn't try those on this first visit.

We had a lovely, simple lunch - We started with a cheese sampler and rosemary foccacia (another flat Italian bread!) and followed it with a nice green salad.

Where I've been all month

 

OK - I know I promised to get the rest of the pictures up from the Italy trip - and a couple of you have actually pinged me again about it (LOVE it that you're interested).  The thing is, I've been involved in a stealth project. I've been participating in November as "National Novel Writing Month."

The project was to write 50,000 new words on a novel during the month of November. I've had a project on a bit of a back burner for a couple of years. Since recent economic events meant that I had a little more time on my hands this month than I might have otherwise, I decided to take the challenge. I got behind early in the month (with prep for a couple of presentations and a bit of "where the heck is this plot going?" - style writer's block).  But I packed in some abundant word days over the Thanksgiving weekend - to finally catch up - and now I've finished a day early.  I've won!!

The thing is, this experiment has given me more to write, so I'll be up and at it again tomorrow.  Instead of being the end of something, this feels like a new beginning. I'm totally psyched!

And I will get the rest of the trip up - in the next few days. It'll be my Christmas card to you.

Below, a clipping from my stats page tonight after I submitted the manuscript for official counting. WooHoo!!

Yes, We're Back

Thanks to everyone who has been pinging me on email and facebook to see pics for the end of the trip.  Yes we're back, and have been for a little over 3 weeks. 

And YES, you're right, we haven't finished posting the pictures.

We both caught a nasty cold in Rome that blossomed on our travel day home and took us both down for several days right after we got back. Since then, we've been in a bit of a whirlwind catching up and taking care of regular business (we're not on vacation any more.)

I've been meaning to get the pictures up, and now will try to do so in the next week - so stay tuned.  (It's been such fun to learn so many of you were actually reading).

Much love,

us

 

Herculaneum - Ruin & Beauty

Orcolano, Campania, Italia
3 ottobre 2011

Ruin, Beauty, Amazing Color

We took over 300 pictures - this is a total geek-fest for us.  I'll spare you the deluge.

A few snapshots:

Vesuvius stands silent sentry behind the modern city of Herculaneum and the ruins of the ancient town the volcano buried.

Every time we visit the ruins here and elsewhere in Campania, we're struck by how much color the ancient Romans lived with every day - interior walls, floors, statues, exterior walls...

The main streets were wide, with arcaded walkways, and gutters and drains and public fountains (you can see two here - one at the end of each block). -- and of course, Mary's lovely entry in the beautiful hat contest ;-)

Fast-food tabernas on every corner - hot food to go ...

I really meant - EVERY Corner...

There are several areas where you can still see the actual wood that was charred by the heat blast. These shutters still hang in place where they were 2000 years ago.

The volcanic tufa they used to build the walls (usually hidden behind the stucco) has worn away more quickly than the Roman-made mortar. (No small irony that tufa is what buried and preserved Herculaneum after the eruption of Veseuvius).

The changing room and clothing storage shelves of the men's public baths. (the stucco has crumbled from the walls, so you can't see the color that was here).

Mosaic from the floor of the women's baths.

 

Grooves in the marble threshold - for setting an ancient door jamb.