Come back to Sorrento - 10/14/15

I came back! And so did Lou. After a stressful day, we're now safely tucked in to the Grand Hotel Capodimonte in Sorrento.

Our day got off to a decent start. Antonietta told us she would drive us to Anacapri to get the bus to Marina Grande. Our plan was to attempt to book an island boat tour. If they weren't running again (winds were pretty high up at Al Mulino), we would get on an earlier ferry back to Sorrento.

The boat tour was a no-go so we dashed to dock 8 and boarded a (larger) hydrofoil heading towards Sorrento. We sat up top in the back corner. (I saw one of "my brother's" ships, the Wind Surf, in the distance.) we pulled out a few minutes later. Rocky seas! White caps, big waves. One so big that up where we were sitting we got wet! Not a little sea spray. Seriously wet!

"Oh, no! We forgot to buy the limoncello shot glasses that we wanted," I cried out. Lou assured me we could get shot glasses in Sorrento. So what if they said Sorrento instead of Capri.

There were two ships in port when our ferry arrived in Sorrento. P&O's Adonia and Azamara's Quest. I expected massive crowds, but I guess all the cruise passengers shuttled over to Capri. The port area was fairly empty and we quickly found our way back to the garage and our car. We even got to our hotel pretty easily.

We had a message from Elisabeth, our pizza tour travel agent, and Lou asked directions to the nearest laundromat. I was going to contact Elisabethand we were going to head out to the laundromat together. It's supposed to rain - heavily - tomorrow in Naples. I hoped she wasn't calling to cancel. It is a walking pizza tour after all. Our driver wants to pick us up early in case of weather. Whew. That's fine.

As we start to gather the dirty laundry, Lou's expression was that of a person who had just lost his best friend. He'd left his insulin in the minibar fridge at the hotel in Anacapri. After several frantic calls to Antonietta, it was confirmed that she had the insulin and she graciously agreed (well beyond what was expected) to meet Lou at Marina Grande in Capri. I headed off to the laundromat and he waited for a taxi to take him back to the port in Sorrento where he caught the next ferry to Capri.

I love the authentic moments of our trip. Figuring out the toll roads, going to the supermarket... and doing laundry. I hadn't planned on going to the laundromat without my translator but in the end, it worked out fine. I muddled through the how-tos of the process with an Australian couple who'd gotten there minutes before I arrived. They watched my laundry as I went to the convenience store on the left to buy something that would leave me with €4 in coin. Tomato flavored potato chips were purchase #1. The Aussie husband and I sat outside talking while our clothes washed, rinsed and spun. In order to get €4 more in coin for the dryer, I went to the convenience store on the right to purchase something else. I've been on the lookout for a pistachio Magnum bar, but there were none to be found. It probably would have cost more than one euro which would meant I wouldn't have had change for the dryer. I purchased a bottle of effervescent water. Aussie husband and I sat outside talking some more as the clothes dried. Then, an Italian woman arrived - and she needed our help figuring out how the machines worked. Our help! Imagine that. As I was folding our clothes, I had to help her with the dryer. A few words of my Italian and her load was on its way to being dry. She seemed so happy when I said, "Arriverderci," on my way out the door.

I'd only been sitting in the hotel room for about 20 minutes when Lou returned from Capri. With the insulin. "You didn't happen to pick up those shot glasses, did you?" He said he'd thought of it but was more anxious to get on the next ferry back, especially as the day trippers were starting their mass exodus off the island.

We are able to walk from this hotel into the historic center so after a bit, we walked to a restaurant I'd found online called Inn Bufaloto. It specializes in buffalo mozzarella and buffalo meet. We ordered the mozzarella tasting as our antipasti. As we ended up with burrata envy, perhaps that wasn't the wisest choice. But it was good. Lou wanted to try the bean soup. It was delicious. But seriously, €10 for a small bowl of bean soup? Lou had a buffalo steak which is nothing like our buffalo/bison meat at home.

Strolling back to the hotel, we did some shot glass window shopping but there were only 3 of the glasses we loved. We'd like 4 for when we invite friends over to taste our homemade limoncello. We'll keep looking.

No rush to get out of here in the morning so we can sleep in a little bit. Gaetano, our driver, should be here between 11:30 and noon. Lou's bet is that the pizza in Napoli is going to be a big letdown to me. We shall see.

Buona notte.

Full day in Capri - 10/13/15

Plus of Al Molino - Antonietta bends over backwards for us. She drove us to Capri Town this morning and into Anacapri this evening where she helped us find a restaurant.

Con of Al Molino - it's pretty far from everything. The only things nearby (relatively speaking since they're still a far walk) are the bus and a restaurant that's closed on Tuesdays. Today is Tuesday.

Plus of being on Capri in October - it's only very crowded. I can only imagine how crowded it is in the summer.

Con of being on Capri in October - it can be really chilly.

When we arrived yesterday, it was brilliantly sunny and warm. With that it mind, I put on a sundress when I got dressed this morning. It was cool and overcast this morning so I wore a sweater when we went to breakfast. It was so chilly that when we came back to our room before leaving for the day I put on my winter jacket. We'd planned to take the 9:30 bus to Capri Town, but when Antonietta offered us a ride we were glad to accept. She dropped us off at the one (totally insane) rotary on the island. Shops were just getting ready to open and there were no crowds. And the sky was getting brighter. A promising start to our day. We walked around the main areas first. Lou wanted to stop for a coffee. Nope, we'd only just begun. We needed to explore a little more.

Then Lou said, "Let's see where this takes us," and for the next or so I followed him around walking up one hill and down another. We were kind of sort of lost. However we knew we weren't that far off the main tourist areas so climbed up and down until we'd find the crowds. After that adventure, when Lou suggested a coffee, I was totally agreeable. Instead of coffee, we stopped for an early lunch.

After lunch, I got to pick the route. I stayed along the shopping streets until we reached a map that said we were 5 minutes away from Giardini di Augusto. The gardens themselves were nothing special. The views of the surrounding areas were magnificent. What a great spot.

By now, the weather was gorgeous. Jackets were put away. We decided to take the funicular down to Marina Grande to see if we could take a boat tour of the island. The first ticket booth said no. We could only go to the Blue Grotto. A man approached us. Did we want to go out with him on his boat? The licensed company wasn't going out so we were a bit leery about going out with an illegal boat captain. Time for some gelato while we thought things over. While eating our gelato, an Englsh-speaking couple sat down a few tables away and were relaying to friends how much they didn't enjoy the boat ride to the Blue Grotto. There was too much bouncing around time waiting to get in. It was clear if they ever did get in, but the overall feeling was that of disappointment. After our snack we approached another boat company. Blue Grotto or nothing. We got back on the funicular up to Capri Town.

The crowds had multiplied while we were at the marina. We started walking back towards the rotary and entertained ourselves for quite awhile watching the crazy drivers manipulate around this thing. It made the rotary at Citrus Hills that we're always complaining about look sane!

Lou hates crowds but I'm not too fond of them either. We decided to skip town and take a bus to the Blue Grotto. Naturally it wouldn't be the same as going in, but we could have a look. For the second time since we've been here, a young man gave up his seat on the bus to me. Sack, I must be old! Lou thinks it's just what Italian young men are taught to do for any woman. I tend to doubt that. After walking most of the day, I was grateful to be seated on the bus. We weren't sure if the bus we were on was going past the center of Anacapri to the Blue Grotto so we got off and got on another that we were sure of.

The ride alone was pretty special. We got off at the last stop and walked down towards the Blue Grotto. Lou hung around at the snack bar while I climbed all the way down. Because of the way the entrance is angled, short of jumping in the water and swimming in, I wasn't going to see what it looked like inside. We walked the long way back to the bus stop. We took the bus back to Al Mulino.

We'd both noticed a sign for a ristorante up the same street of the hotel so we started to walk over to see if they were open. We kept walking and turning, turning and walking. How far away was this ristorante? Finally it was in view. Down a long hill. "What if we walk all the way down there and it's not open?" We headed back to the hotel. As we were walking Lou reflected, "Do we really want such a long walk back after dinner? That's what's wrong with this place. There's nothing close!" I had to agree.

Back in our room, we checked restaurants on Trip Advisor and Yelp. The "nearby" restaurant isn't open on Tuesdays. We couldn't make heads nor tails of the maps we had. We figured we'd take the bus back to Anacapri Center and look for a restaurant. If we couldn't find one, we'd go back to where we are last night.

As we were walking out to the bus, Antonietta asked us where we were going. When we told her, she offered us not only a ride but assistance in finding another nice place to eat. The first place she drove to was closed. We had better luck at the second spot. The bonus was that La Tablita was just a short walk to the bus back to the hotel.

The only thing that marred our dinner was the young couple at the next table. They were obnoxious young Americans. Spoiled, loud, foul-mouthed. They give young Americans a bad name and sure left an ugly taste in our mouths.

Uneventful trip back to the hotel. I hope tonight's limoncello night cap allows me to sleep as soundly as I did last night. Buona notte.

Cars, ferries and buses - 10/12/15

After more yummy bread for breakfast, we got on the road with TomTom as our guide. In less than 800 meters, we made a wrong turn. As we were trying to figure out where we could make a u-turn when possible, TomTom recalculated. We'll never know if were supposed to be on a narrow windy road (badly in need of repaving) through kiwi farms and lots of nothingness for over an hour and a half before getting to the autostrada. Nearly four hours after leaving Nettuno, we were winding our way through the streets of Sorrento. Nothing can compare to the first views of Sorrento from the road. Magnificent! And we hadn't seen anything yet, road-wise or vista-wise.

• Mistake one: I never investigated ferry schedules from Sorrento to Capri (although I recall checking to make sure they ran regularly and that reservations were not required.)
  
• Mistake two: I didn't look into parking in Sorrento. What was I (not) thinking!

We made several wrong turns making out way to the port of Sorrento. It was easy to decide to park at the closest garage to the ferry even though we're probably getting ripped off. It was a rather hairy walk to the place to purchase tickets. Crazy curves, cobblestones and no sidewalks make for treacherous walking.

What ferry to take? We went to one window and he sent us to another window with a ferry leaving earlier. Who can keep track of the ferry companies? We were instructed to wait at dock 4 for the 2:45 ferry which was sitting there. At about 2:50 we loaded up. As we were pulling away, a couple approached the dock and the ferry returned for them! The ride to Capri was rockier than expected but we made it. We were rushed off our ferry for some unexplained reason. "Get off quickly!" Okay... Once headed to the street, we were faced with a wall of people. I wish I could have gotten a photo of that. Literally a mob of people trying to get on one ferry leaving Capri. Complete chaos with ferry personnel yelling. At first I was following larger than myself with a suitcase larger than mine, allow her to create a path through the crowd. Eventually, I lost her so had to make my own way. Typically I'm shy in situations like this but I knew Antoniella from our hotel, Al Mulino, was coming to pick us up and I didn't want her to have to wait. I just kept walking, running over with my wheelie suitcase the feet of people who wouldn't move over to the side. If I'd been my normal polite passive self we'd probably still be at the dock.

While we were waiting for Antoniella (who was driving around wondering if we were late), I looked up into the mountains and saw what looked like a road. "Lou, do you see that thing up there that looks like a road?" He felt it was definitely a road. Yikes. Were we going to be driving up there? Yes, in fact, we were.

The road from the grand marina to Anacapri made any other road we've been on so far look wider and straighter. Talk about hairpin curves with crazy drivers heading in the opposite direction on roads that at home would be considered narrow for one way! Lou could have reached out and hugged passengers in the buses we were barely slipping past. All the while Antoniella was pointing out the sites and telling us about Capri and Anacapri.

Lou isn't thrilled with the remoteness of our hotel. I'm not sure I am either. Too soon to say. I think we'll be gone before I've come to a conclusion.

• Mistake three: I didn't come up with a sightseeing plan of any sort. Which probably explains why we were walking back and forth and round and round on the same walkways and streets for nearly two hours this evening. We also quickly realized that we won't even see one quarter of what we'd hoped to see.

We walked to the bus stop to take the bus back to the center of Anacapri. We thought we were being smart by taking a photograph of the bus stop sign s we'd know where to ask the driver to stop on the return trip.

Anacapri is smaller than Giada made it seem on that show that landed us here. Not a whole lot to do here. Yes, we're close to the Blue Grotto but with everything else we want to see, it's looking doubtful that we'll make it there. We did see the guy that made Giada handmade sandals while she waited.

Snack bars closed before restaurants opened. We hadn't eaten lunch and were both cranky rather than hungry. Lou suggested coffee. I barely slept last night. Coffee was not what I needed. In the "Hey, life's short" fame of mind I figured I could eat dessert first. So when Lou ordered his coffee, I ordered gelato. Then he ordered some too. We walked around a little bit more and returned to the restaurant that we knew for certain would open at 7. A few minutes before 7 and we were in.

And yes, I did have to have a caprese salad on Capri. (Just like I have to have a Brooklyn bagel every time I go to Brooklyn.)

After dinner, we walked back to the bus station, not 100% sure which bus we even wanted. Lou asked, "Do you stop at.... [whatever we'd taken a photograph of earlier]? Duh! Every sign said the same thing. We think it means mandatory stop. Luckily the bus driver asked us which hotel we were staying at and then let us know when it was our stop.

Enjoyed a limoncello nightcap and now it's time for bed. Buona notte.

Family day - Sunday, 10/11/15

After a good night's sleep last night (hooray!), we woke up bright blue skies. We stayed at this hotel five years ago and I had memories of the best bread of that entire trip. The bread this morning, while different, was delicious. Yum!

I'd read on Trip Advisor that the number one attraction in Nettuno (presumably calculated based on reviews of Americans was the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial. Off we went. What an awe-inspiring memorial to our troops who were involved in the liberation of Sicily and Rome during WWII. A place of peace and calm. So many lives lost. So many boys lost. After spending the week in Val d'Orcia, I added the book War in Val d'Orcia: An Italian War Diary, 1943-1944 to my reading list. Now I'd like to find a book about the liberation of Sicily and Rome! If you have a suggestion, let me know.

Remembering the missing

From the cemetery, we drove to the home of Lou's first cousin Angela and her family. We've spent time with Angela, her daughter Cathy and Cathy's husband Claudio both here in Italy, in New York and in Canada. Cathy and Claudio's sons and nephews whom I'd met briefly before were there. I met Cathy's brother, Rosario, and Claudio's father for the first time. We had a delicious Sunday dinner prepared by Angela and Cathy. At times like this I wish I could speak Italian or understand more than the little I understand. Cathy and Claudio are fluent in English. And once I had Angela alone, she and I chatted about her fantastic garden in her faltering English and my even more broken Italian.

I like the silly photos better

Lou wanted to get back to our hotel in Nettuno before dark so soon it was time to leave. We arrived back in Nettuno shortly before sunset. The same town that seemed broken and tired last night in the rain was alive and thriving. I guess the rain was what made it appear as it did last night.

All the free hotel parking spots were full so we parked in a pay parking spot. Lou said he put €4 into the muni-meter. What's really interesting is that it gave us the 2 hours we needed tonight and the two hours we'll need in the morning. We're good to park until 11am. Nifty.

We dropped some things off in the hotel room and then went back down for our passeggiata along with hundreds of others who were doing the same thing. What a fine social custom.

Returning to our room, we repacked for our trip to Capri. I gathered together my few items that I'll need for our two nights. Lou said, "Is that all you're bringing?" which prompted me to pull out my Capri pants to possibly wear in Capri.

Long day of travel ahead so it's time to say buona notte.

 

Blog-worthy dinner - 10/10/15

I was only kidding earlier. Because of the heavy downpour we decided to eat right across the street from our hotel, Asturo Palace. The place looks like a snack bar from outside. I expected to be ripped off and disappointed.

You know how when you're eating out with someone you get "dish envy" when your dining partner's dish is better than yours? I haven't had that once this trip. Even when Lou is eating something I'd eat. Tonight was no exception. My dish was head and shoulders above his. I was neither disappointed, nor did I feel ripped off. The waiter up sold me, so I had no idea what my main dish cost. But it wasn't bad at all. I think my dinner was a better value than Lou's, too.

But that's not what made dinner blog worthy. We walked into the restaurant and were seated in the back, in a nice dining room which in better weather would be overlooking the Mediterranean. We were seated along the edge of a huge family party. Large. Like 100 people or more. Possibly a baby christening. With live entertainment (singers) plus being entertained by the universal dysfunctions of large family gatherings. I saw the love between a Nonno and his grandchildren. Reminded me of my kids with my dad. And I saw cousins greeting cousins they hadn't seen in a bit. Made me wonder how many of my cousins are gathered together to celebrate our little cousin Eli's Bar Mitzvah in Philadelphia today.

Buona notte.

 

Stress day, rest day - 10/10/15

Today both Americans and Italians write the date the same way.

Dark, rainy skies greeted us when we woke up this morning. As a result, the goodbyes to our new friends at Cretaoile were brief. I brought our leftover food to Sharon and Giacomo who are staying in a house in Orvieto this coming week. The only thing we kept was the olive oil and the chocolate bar.

Driving from Pienza to Nettuno in the pouring rain was stressful for me - and I wasn't the driver. You know how I hate walking downhill? I'd rather walk downhill than drive or be a passenger in the rain.I'm not sure which route we actually took here but it was raining nearly the entire way. There are two different types of payment on the autostrada. Sometimes on one type of pavement, the visibility was drastically reduced. Some drivers do slow down in the rain but some just keep zooming along. The speed in the fast lane is pretty intense, rain or shine. The tailgating and lane switching is quite different from home.

We took one of these routes, not sure which

A highlight of autostrada travel is the rest areas. Today we each had a small sandwich and an espresso. A visit to the very clean toilettes and we were back on the road.

My vegetarian sandwich on the right

I think this is what Luigi ate

That's when the craziest thing happened. We'd gone to pay the toll before pulling off at the rest area. Our card was unreadable. A live person from somewhere starts yelling at us from a speaker next to the machine where you insert you entry card and pay your toll. Eventually we realized he was asking us where we got on. I navigate, Lou drives. He wasn't even sure where we'd gotten on. I have no idea if the "toll man" understood that we got on the A1 in Chiusi. Our toll was over €10 which seemed a bit excessive. That's not even the crazy part. We exited from the rest area (always through a store, just like a Disney ride), walked through the parking lot in the pouring rain, got in the car, and got back in the road. TomTom had us exit shortly after and then do something like a u-turn on a rotary. Rotaries were everywhere when we were here five years ago, too. We approach the highway and see a toll barrier. I realized sooner than Lou that this was an exit barrier, not an entrance barrier. And we had no ticket. We'd already paid! What road did they think we were getting off of anyway? At my suggestion, Lou pressed the help button. We heard some muffled voice come through the speaker. Lou was trying to explain that we'd already paid. We couldn't tell what the person on the other side was saying. Lou started cursing, I started yelling and then I heard, "Arriverderci." I saw the gate go up and off we went.

It was still raining when we arrived in Nettuno but it looked like the sun was trying to come out.

The view from our room

The rain slowed to a drizzle and then stopped so we went out for a walk. There's a small ancient fort - or something like that - right on the water so we walked over there. Compared to the charming walled cities we've explored during the past week, this one seemed rather tired. Unkempt properties with lots of graffiti, something we hadn't seen at all up north. Many properties for sale. And many businesses closed. The latter could be because this is a beach resort and the season is over. It's hard to tell. It was too early for dinner, even by our American standards, so we returned to our hotel. Lou is napping and I'm blogging. We'll go out for dinner at a proper Italian time, probably around 7:30. The parking situation is a bit tight around here so we'll probably just walk to the restaurant across the street. (The hotel has space for 4 to 5 cars on the street outside. I'm not sure how they keep track of who is parked there. The rest of the street has muni-meter parking. In October, it's from 9-13 and 16-20. If we move the car to have dinner, not only will we probably have to pay to park until 10pm, but most likely we'll need to be up by 9am to pay to park again. It's just easier to leave the car and settle for what's close.)

Unless something blog worthy happens at dinner, this will be all for today.

The Cretaiole Tuscan Bible - 10/9/15

Isabella (and co) have gone to great lengths creating a travel guide, Discover Hidden Tuscany. We've used it to get from here to there but today was the first day we followed an almost complete itinerary. We followed Scenic Backroads to Montepulciano.

The first stop of this itinerary was Sant'Anna in Camprena. Isabella and Carlo are friends of Ornella and Stefano who manage the agriturismo located within the monastery. That sounds different, doesn't it? Sant'Anna in Campreno is an ancient monastery built in a primitive Lombard fort that was given to the Olivetan monks in the 14th century. The bell tower, the church, the convent, and the cloister were all built in the 15th century. This setting was also used in a scene in The English Patient. I think I saw that movie but can't recall any of it right now. I believe it might have been Ornella who drove away as we walked up to knock on the door. We weren't able to get inside, but even if someone had answered our knock, we wouldn't have been able to enter the church because it was closed due to a fire. The outside, especially the views, were lovely

From Sant'Anna in Camprena, we headed to Castelmuzio. We've been hearing about Catelmuzio all week. The Moricciani family owns property in Castelmuzio as well as owning Cretaiole. Guests from that property have been joining us for excursions all week. I was curious to see this little village with only 250 permanent residents. Castelmuzio is an ancient village dating back to the Etruscans. It's built on a volcanic limestone hilltop overlooking Val d'Orcia. You can see part of what was a fortified castle. After walking through the medieval arch, we followed windy streets until we reached a gorgeous viewing area (a belvedere in Italian). We continued following the same road and eventually arrived in the very small main piazza. There's only one restaurant/café in the whole town and it is right in the piazza. We stopped in for espresso and to use the facilities.

It was recommended that we visit Pieve di Santo Stefano a Cennano before heading to the next village, Montisi. Not only did we we miss the turn-off, we missed finding the recommended parking area in Montisi and couldn't find parking in the next area. So much for visiting Montisi. (I think that might have been where Antonella, our guide from Siena, suggested we go to have gelato or pastries at a shop run by a man from Sicilia.

The directions from Montisi to the next village, Montefollonico, were interesting. Between Montisi and Montefollonico, you will discover a gorgeous hidden back road that very few people ever use... There are no signs, but as you cross the road you will pass on the left side a tiny chapel (reddish in color). In approximately 0.5 km the paved road becomes a dirt road. Simply enjoy the country drive along this road for 4.7 km. Stop, take photos, drive slowly - you probably won't see any other cars along the way. We bounced along a bit and decided to stop and take some photos. When Lou went to continue on, we stalled. It's like our cute adorable Fiat 500C didn't have the oomph to get started up a hill on a gravel road. Although we passed two more very scenic spots, we decided it was best to keep moving and not stop.

Both of us loved Montefollonico, our favorite stop of the day. It's so off the beaten path that until we were eating lunch, we saw no other tourists. And they were Giacomo and Sharon, following the same itinerary we were following. It's like we had stepped back in time.

When we first passed through the entrance to this walled village, we smelled something delicious. Returning to our car, we smelled it again. Our guidebook suggested we stop at "13 Gobbi" for a delicious, traditional Tuscan lunch. It was 12:30. Why not? Great decision. We were the only ones there and got plenty of attention. You'll have to wait for the food posts to know what we ate. For now, I'll say that we split three very different primo piattos. Delicious and special. As we were eating, I saw Sharon come to the door, look in partway and walk away. Lou ran out to get them. They came in to eat. Since we so enjoyed our lunch, they ordered the exact same things.

Rather than take another "hidden road" to Montepulciano, which I'm sure would have been quite scenic, I set the TomTom for the coordinates for the parking lot outside the walls of Montepulciano. We followed a crazy windy road instead. Once we started to walk into the village, I realized I'd forgotten the Rick Steves guide I'd brought along from Cretaiole in the car. We'd just have to wing it. We knew Montepulciano would be big. That's where the area high school is. It's the big farming center in Val d'Orchia. We walked up the main street and Lou stopped at a leather/souvenir shop. Right outside was an olive wood spoon he's been looking for since his mother first expressed wanting one in 1982. It cost €20, but hey, if you have been waiting for over 30 years to find this special spoon - and then you find it, €20 doesn't seem so high. We'll think of Lou's mom - and this trip to Italy - every time we use this spoon.

Continuing up the main drag, there were tons of shops, tons of tourists and way too much traffic for the very narrow streets crowded with pedestrians. Fellow guests from Cretaiole, Ken and Carol, were leaving Montepulciano as we were heading in. Carol was very excited about seeing a Dustin Hoffman movie being "filmed" in the main piazza. She told us to take the direct route rather than the panoramic route. The climb got steeper and steeper. We passed a few wine caves, a theater where we heard a woman singer practicing scales. And then I saw my first 14th century character. I knew we were close.

Talk about cool. We walked about the piazza for a few minutes until we were shooed off to the side. We hung around the barrier for a bit just a asking it all in! It was fascinating. I decided then and there that I'd go see this movie when it comes out. It doesn't hurt that I'm a huge Dustin Hoffman fan.

Since we couldn't explore the area of the main piazza and we had no interest in seeing the wine caves, we headed back the way we came. I did realize while walking up this steep road that if have to walk back down s-l-ow-l-y, I'm not so sure Lou realized this until we were actually walking down. Remember my fear of falling and my sore knee?

We turned off the road twice. Once because we saw a beautiful view when peeking through a vicolo. You might be wondering what a vicolo is. It's a tiny covered alley way, super steep, most often used as a shortcut between levels of the town. The reason they are covered was to connect the buildings on both sides, strengthening the integrity of the structure of the town. Seriously? It must be working since centuries and centuries later, the town still exists. The other time we turned off was to use the bathroom.

At nearly the bottom we stopped for some gelato. After all, we'd climbed the equivalent of 36 flights of stairs already.

Once in the car, we tried to find an agriculture center or society on the TomTom. Lou would like to try to buy some tomato seeds. It seemed as though each place I found was in the restricted zone. Lou was driving while I programmed the coordinates for Cretaiole. We were heading in the wrong direction when we passed a nursery. We made a u-turn and stopped in. Wrong season for tomato seeds, we were told. We probably can't find them anywhere.

Time to take the direct route back to Cretaiole. The drive back was all of about 20 minutes.

Once we returned, Lou swept the dust off the roll top of our car while I waved to Jennifer who was sitting, reading, relaxing and enjoying the view. After dumping things off in the room, I returned outside with my camera. Jennifer was standing near the building. Her relaxation ended as a wolf approached her. A wolf!

I took a few more photos. First we went to the garden to pick a tomato and some fennel for dinner and then we headed inside to pack, clean out the fridge and eat our final home cooked meal. Tomato salad, leftover pizza and some fennel.

Lou had gone to sleep and I was in bed in my pajamas when there was a knock at the door. It was close to 11pm. Luciano for a late final night grappa fest? We didn't answer the door so I guess we'll never know. Our stay at Cretaiole is coming to an end.

Buena notte.