Category: Eat & Drink

**Lots of great pics coming on this one – once that damn WiFi re-engages!

I remember Mom telling me how much she loved the Amalfi Coast.  So, when I told her we would be visiting the Amalfi Coast for a few days on this trip, she said “you have to stay in Positano”.  Well Mom – you DID NOT steer us wrong!  To top it off, we ended up at the “top of the world” (or top of Positano anyway) in the little hamlet of Nocelle (it’s one of the 10 principalities that make up Positano).  Check it out – it’s an UNESCO world heritage site and is right on the Walk of the Gods trail that spans the high mountains of the Amalfi Coast.  BEAUTIFUL is an understatement.  (Note: I’ve tried to include as many pictures of the views, but it was a little foggy so they are not as clear as they could be.)

Well . . getting there was interesting.  So quickly after leaving Pompeii, we find ourselves in a small town with VERY small, narrow streets.  Thank God the drivers weren’t as crazy as Napoli – but they do drive fast & don’t really follow any traffic laws that we could tell.  We later found out that we were in Sorrento and once we got to the top of Sorrento – we started to “hug” the coast on even narrower, winding roads filled with hairpin curves AND tour buses (and mind you, we’re in off season here). 

We have to WIND on those roads for about 35 minutes until we reach this sharp left hand curve to turn off to reach Nocelle.  And then, the real fun begins.  I truly don’t know how we made it up this narrow road that must have truly been built for donkeys – NOT cars!  At one point, we come around this very blind & sharp curve and I have to slam on the breaks to avoid side-swiping a car coming down the mountain.  I have to do about a “5 point curve” to back up & then a nice guy on the side of the road came over & directed me to a safe spot.  The other car passed and we were on our way again!  6 km total and we finally arrive at the Nocelle parking lot where our host is waiting for us with a donkey.  This is the last point that cars are allowed in the village and she was not going to have us carry our own luggage – good thing, cause it was about ¼ of a mile to the B&B, up & down so many steps I stopped counting – and if you remember, I still have ALL THAT LUGGAGE!!!  (Note:  On the way in, I have my first meeting with Agnello {aka Boyfriend #1}– the cutest blue-eyed, somewhat toothless “70 or 80 something” year old man – who reminded me of my grandfather.  We fell in love instantly and he kept telling me how beautiful I was & kissing my hand.)

We arrive at this lovely 2 bedroom villa with a balcony that looks at the sea & Capri.  It is stunning and Sherine says I’ve done really well in picking the spot and that she’s fine if we stay here for the rest of the trip.  Of course, our host Amolia (who I started calling the “hostess with the mostest”) had left us SO MUCH food in the fridge, including a bottle of Prosecco and wonderful hors d’oeuvres, which we gobble right up.  Amolia made us a reservation at the local restaurant up there in Nocelle and we had a huge dinner with a full bottle of wine and limoncello (on the house) – and we stumbled home to get some much needed sleep.

**Note to my “Zia Em-Meh” (that’s Auntie M) – the rooms were HUGE and gorgeous.  I took some pictures for you.  When we come back together we will stay here and you will feel like the queen you are!  No worries about the steps – we have the donkeys!!

The next morning, Amolia suggests that we walk down the hill to Positano.  It’s 1800 steps!  It’s OK – after the last 2 days of driving, I’m perfectly OK to leave the car right where it is!!

It takes us about 45 minutes – as we keep stopping to snap pictures and talk to people (locals, Americans, Germans, even a few Chinese . . and Agnello!).  This picture of me & Agnello was taken after he told me I was a model who belongs in the movies – and kept giving me endless hugs!!!  We also come down to this gorgeous villa that has a magnificent swimming pool built into the steep hillside (these Italian men are superior & amazing craftsmen).  As we sweep around the bend, we come to the front of the house with magnificent gates and a gorgeous entry garden – and Boyfriend #2.  He had the same bright blue eyes (these Southern Italians all have gorgeous blue eyes), was charming and while he was OK to have me take pictures of his hard work – really didn’t want to be in the pictures – too bad, he was very handsome.  He told me I was beautiful too and gave me those great Italian air kisses!

We arrive in town and head to the beach for lunch; Amolia says we must go to Tre Sorella and have seafood.  I am to ask for Salvatore or Guare and tell them “I am the granddaughter of a fisherman, so I know fresh fish. . . none of this tourist seafood for me”!  We order wine (it’s hot, so we go for Pinot Grigio) and a wonderful seafood pasta.  They bring us limoncello on the house and I ask if Salvatore is here.  The waiter says, “yes, that’s him over there”.  Salvatore comes over and we find out that Guare has been serving us all along.  Then Fabio comes over too (women traveling without men get a lot of attention you know?).  We all start talking and I tell them about Amolia’s comment and they just laugh and say, “you got the best”.  I wouldn’t disagree!

We wander through town and find “THE” bakery!  Of course, it’s got gelato too – so finally, my first gelato of the trip.  I order a bunch of pastries to take home from Boyfriend #3 – Pepino!  Now, Pepino could have been a model for a Roman statute.  He’s probably mid-60s and really handsome and really charming!  I find out later he’s the boss.  He packages it all up so pretty with a gold tray, paper & string and comes out from behind the counter to deliver it (as I’ve now moved on to the gelato counter for my cioccolotto & pistacchio gelato – DELICIOSO!!!).  I give Pepino a big “grazie” and we do a double European kiss to say goodbye . . he tells me to be sure and come back again!!!

We take the bus back up (we are full & a little tired) and decide to have light dinner at the villa with our pastries and all the food we have left over from breakfast.  I guess I forgot to mention that Amolia & her staff come into our room each morning and COOK us breakfast.  Whatever we want and believe me, the choices are endless (cause she’s stocked our fridge with even more treats while we were traversing the steps of Positano . . this time, it’s fresh strawberries & tomatoes from her garden and more meats & cheeses . .  I love this woman . . really, a woman after my own heart!).

Next day – we’re going to take the bus to Amalfi town, walk around there, take another bus to hill town of Ravello, take bus back to Amalfi, transfer to another bus and go to Bocalinga (the head of the Walk of the Gods) and walk back to Positano.  Now, despite really planning & looking at bus schedules, Italian buses are sort of on their own time schedule, so it’s Sunday and by the time we go to the Tabbachi to buy our bus tickets for last leg of this journey, the clerk tells us it’s too late to do the walk but we can do it tomorrow (we can’t, we’re driving to Sicily tomorrow).  He was right, we wouldn’t have gotten to trail head until 3:45 and it takes 3 hours and we didn’t have flashlights or trekking gear – so while disappointed, we opt instead to drink Aperol Spritzes and sit overlooking the harbor to wait for the next bus back to Positano.  Aperol was refreshing until we boarded the most over-crowded, HOT bus and it was standing room only (would NOT have been prudent to wait for next one – as it was the last bus of the day).   I end up sitting on the back step area with an English couple from Cambridge and Sherine (who gets worse seasick than I) stands with a German gal and they are leaning on each other for support.  We’re all getting sick and anxiously waiting for each stop so the driver will open the doors and let in some fresh air.  By the time we get to Positano – we’re all wanting to puke.  It took about an hour and some lemon soda to “sober up” – because remember, we have to get on another bus to Nocelle (6km up that winding, narrow road!).

We arrive in Nocelle to find Amolia excited to see us.  She said she’d been worried all day that we wouldn’t make it back and kept telling her husband to watch out for us (of course, we hadn’t met him at this point).  We lay down for a bit and then join Amolia & her husband, as well as some other guests (Russian couple) for dinner at Amolia’s.  Her husband, Natale (no he wasn’t born at Christmas, but his father was, and after all, he’s a junior) made this stuffed “tart thing” with fresh tuna (he caught) and escarole encased in really good “pie-like” dough and she made pasta with fresh mussels.  Of course, the limoncello came out again and we drank that after the prosecco the Russians had brought and wine that Amoila served.  Our contribution was a big tray of Martorana Reale (marzipan candy shaped & painted like fruits & vegetables) but everyone was full, so Amolia sent them home with us for our travels.  I kiss & cuddle Big Jim (Amolia’s cat who I’ve fallen in love with – and he with me) and we have an early night so we’re fresh for the drive to Sicily in the morning.  We tell Amolia not to worry about cooking breakfast, as we’ll just have leftovers.

The next morning, she knocks on the door to deliver fresh, buffalo mozzarella and croissants and checks to see that we really DON’T want breakfast (it’s killing her) but she agrees that we can go “light”.  The donkey arrives at 8am for our luggage and we pack up our stuff to hit the road.  The drive down is a bit easier as most of Nocelle is still sleeping or preparing for a late start at work.  We head back to Sorrento on an easier route that the GPS arbitrarily decides to select and we’re on the autostrada in about an hour headed to Sicily. 

Three Days Close to Paradise . . . undeniable & amazing!

So, I’m writing this post about 36 hours AFTER the experience of driving in Napoli (Naples, for those of you that aren’t familiar with its Italian name).  Thankfully, I’ve had a LOT of alcohol this evening and can find the humor in it all – but truly – I don’t know how we got out of Naples without a single “ding” to the rental car . . or a visit to the emergency room. .or the morgue!

These people are CRAZY!  I’m not talking on the scale of a little risky or aggressive – I mean 100%, certifiable CRAZY.  These people don’t drive – THEY ASSERT! 

So after a VERY pleasant experience with AutoEurope and an upgrade to a nice, new car – we easily find our way out of Rome Airport and begin our journey south.  While we’re on the autostrada, it’s still beautiful with the green of Spring blooming everywhere & loads of mountain ranges framing the drive.  The GPS says we’ll be there around 1:45pm and we’re cruising along.  We are warned by the GPS of speed cameras and slowdown at appropriate points to avoid tickets.  ALL GOOD!   We manage to figure out the ticket “road toll” machines (which seem to keep popping up with requests for money) and even stopped for water at one of the really nice servico (rest stops) stations. 

All of a sudden, we’re taking the turnoff to Napoli Centrale.  We hit a ticket booth and struggle with payment, then the real fun begins.  We merge onto a major city street that is brimming with cars going very fast.  There are really no lane markers and people are just driving wherever they feel like it – sometimes, right at my tail – sometimes, 2 inches from my side fenders and doors.  But what really FREAKS ME OUT every time I look in a mirror – is there are vespas coming at me from every direction!  Weaving, cutting me off, barely missing me as they change lanes, darting between stopped cars, making U-turns through the small openings in the cement barriers that separate the direction lanes.  Add the pedestrians that are crossing the streets, at random, from every direction and it feels like you’re in a car wash with fire hoses pounding you from every direction.  THESE PEOPLE ARE NUTS!  My blood pressure is rising, I’m using way too many 4-ketter words and the GPS had sent us twice around the same set of streets & we still don’t know where the hotel is.

**Note to self . . . the GPS had told us it would be about 6 minutes to the hotel once we exited the autostrada and at this point, we’ve been driving around for over 50 minutes!  What the f&$#?

Finally, Sherine spots the hotel down a small alley and we have to circle the same route AGAIN to get back.  In the meantime, I have old men flipping me off, people openly swearing at me as I go by, and others marketing types trying hard to get me to turn into their parking garages or hotels . . all while those damn vespas are darting in & out of everywhere!

All the while, I’m dying to pee and wondering if I can hold it much longer.  When we finally pull in, I send Sherine in to quickly access whether we can park in front of the hotel.  When she returns with the manager, he decides we can stay inside the stanchions in front of the hotel, rather than driving further to the secure parking lot.  Since I’ve insured the car for EVERYTHING and at this point could really care less if someone were to just “jack the car”, I toss him the key & tell him he can park it where he likes – cause I’m off to find a bathroom!  The gal at the desk directs me to the bagno (toilette) and I must have released about 2 cups of urine.  I decide the volume must be tied to stress relief . . and Sherine agrees!

Once up in the room, I tell Sherine I MUST meditate – and I do.  16 minutes later – I’m good to go!

We decide to hit the Eat, Pray, Love Pizza Place . . Pizzeria Antica de Michele and once we finally find it, we wait a few minutes to get seated.  We wait another 10 minutes to order and another 20 to get our food.  These guys don’t care about service – they have plenty of business and could care less if you’re happy!  The pizza is good – but not the best I’ve ever had – but I did get some interesting pictures.  The check finally comes after trying for 5 minutes to get our waiters attention and he tells us it’s 11 Euros with NO service – but service is up to us.  Sherine hands him a 50 and he says, “if you give me a 5 too, I can give you some change”.  Of course, he brings back bills and 4 one Euro coins and says, “how much for me”?  We give him the 4 Euros and he gets REALLY nice – cause of course, he’s just gotten a 40+% tip from the “sucker Americans”.  All good – we’re off to the museum – walking through some interesting neighborhoods along the way (this is where we found the puppies & their mama).

It’s dark when we come out of the museum, so we decide to take the metro, rather then walk back.  We even stop at the marina stop to see the port at night, but after trying to find a route to the water that won’t get us killed, we decide to turn back & just return to the hotel.  Getting back is definitely an exercise in programming the GPS and following its instructions – but we manage to get there after stopping for a gelato at a bar close by.  All good – we’re safe & sound and Sherine’s off to bed.

I find a wonderful library & bar off of the lobby and park for the evening – checking in with Scott & email –  and writing blog entries.

I finally fall into sleep only to get up around 3am and open the window to let in the cool air, as our room is stifling & hot in the humid Spring of Napoli.  Strangely, all is quiet. . the CRAZY of Napoili has gone to bed too!

The church bells begin to ring at 7:30am . . . not sure what’s significant about this time of day or why they have to ring them so many times (seriously – doesn’t 30 rings seem a bit excessive?) – but I know one thing for sure – CRAZY TOWN is awake and ready to start another day!

My husband takes great pictures!  Really, this pic of Lady Liberty could generate lots of money from postcard sales!

Me – I’m all about the MEAT!  Those are prosciutto hams hanging at Eataly – Mario Batali’s Italian Food Emporium.  The cheese, the meat, the bread, the pasta . . that’s just the beginning!  I could literally live in this place for the rest of my days!!! 

The older I get, the less I want “stuff”.  So for this last Christmas, Scott promised to not buy me any presents – and he didn’t (for those of you that know him – that was a really hard for him, cause he loves buying & giving presents). Instead, we had an experience, made some memories & visited somewhere neither of us had been before . . Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Not to bore you with historical & interesting details – but there’s some pretty cool stuff I didn’t know about Santa Fe.

1. It’s the oldest state capitol city in the US – yes, really!  Of course, you have to count the years that it was inhabited before New Mexico became a state . . but whatever.
2. It has a cool, old, city plaza that has buildings dating back to the 1600s.  Of course, they know cater to the rich with tons of jewelry & clothing stores, as well as more art galleries that I could begin to count.
3. They LOVE (and I mean LOVE) the chile . . red, green, yellow, a mixture – they don’t care.  They put them in, on, next to, over, stuffed into & underneath EVERY type of food they eat.  If you go – bring along a heavy stash of TUMS, Rolaids, Alka-Seltzer to cut the heart burn.  Or do what I did and eat a LOT of ice cream!
4. They are at the heart of Pueblo Indian territory . . and that’s where we spent most of our time.

We visited Taos in an attempt to see the Taos Pueblo.  Unfortunately, one of the elders had died that day (so we were told) and they had an unscheduled closely.  Taos was not what I expected AT ALL.  It must be more quaint in the winter with snow . . in February, it just looked old & dirty.  Oh that’s right – February IS winter.  None the less, their snow had come & gone about a week earlier and I was still unimpressed.

We did see a herd of mountain sheep on our drive along the river (suggested by a local guy we met that morning at breakfast – where we were eating red chile pork stew & tortillas – who said we had to get off the highway and hit the dirt road along the river – A REALLY GREAT suggestion by the way!)  . . AND a really cool suspension bridge that’s like 600 feet above the Rio Grande River Gorge (again, we were told we had to go there – but found out that it’s a huge site for suicide jumpers – there’s actually call boxes along the bridge that are direct lines to the suicide hotline – kind of sad, but there’s also graffiti messages all over the boxes telling people they’re loved & have value in the world . . kind of nice if you think about it).

So the next day, we go to Bandelier Museum.  This place is really awesome if you’re in to seeing how the Pueblo Indians lived – and we were.  After climbing from the “floor” of Santa Fe, way up in to the mountains (covered with snow – so you know we had to be much higher than Taos), we drove about 2 miles DOWN into this huge valley, ravine, cavern – I don’t know technically what they called it!  There we find the ruins of an entire city – yes, city . . partially on the valley floor and the other built into the hillside (these were we told, made up kind of a “high rent” district of the time!).  Amazing to see & crawl around them.  The picture of Scott & me below was taken at the top of cliff – it was the ceremonial site and we had to climb up FOUR ladders (and back down again) to get there.  This was a bit gnarly for a little chicken shit like me – but I did it and was pretty proud of myself!  

We also got saw a small herd of deer (about 7) that were NOT afraid of us humans at all.  The buck was just laying down by the tree watching “his herd”.  We saw them twice while we were in the park.  We walked a path of about 2 1/2 miles and they had moved about an 1/8 of a mile in the same time frame.  Oh well, we all have our own priorities!!

So of course, the rest of the trip was spent looking for the best places to eat (we actually did some other touristy things – but honestly, food is always MY priority)!!  If you go – there are three places I highly recommend: 

1. BEST BREAKFAST – Plaza Cafe  . . chilaquiles (Mom & Amy know I’m kind of a crazy woman for chilaquiles), pork carnitas covered in green chile & blue corn pancakes with pine nuts were all outstanding.  YES – we ate all of these in ONE MEAL (no judgment please!)  **Sue – they don’t make a bad fish taco for dinner either – yes, even deep in the desert, you can get some pretty tasty fish tacos!
2. BEST BREAKFAST #2 – Sage Bakehouse.  The reality is I really can’t rate one of these restaurants over the other – cause they were both EXCELLENT – just different.  Sage is like a great, French bakery.  The breakfast tatines (kind of sandwiches, even though it translates to toast) were outstanding on fresh baked bread with eggs & serrano ham & avocado & cheese . . accompanied by house made pickles & really good olives.  They’re lattes – both coffee & chai tea – were served in big cups with saucers and were yummy!  We had to get a big, old crown thing – that was like the BEST bear claw I have ever had – and a yummy, almond croissant to go – cause I never could pass up an almond croissant!  Of course, we needed some picnic supplies, so a loaf of bread to go was our last purchase!  Scott loved it so much (and it was like a 2 minute walk from where we were staying) that he went the next morning while I slept in.  Of course, he brought me an almond croissant for the road!
3. BEST DINNER in all of NEW MEXICO – La Boca!  Yes, a Spanish tapas place that was hands down the BEST tapas I’ve ever eaten (of course, I’ve never been to Spain).  We loved it so much – we went back 2 nights later – cause we couldn’t stop thinking about it.  Even though the dishes & drinks we had the first night were all wonderful, we MADE ourselves order all different dishes – and they were ALL FANTASTIC!  The wait staff, the bartender (who entertained us because there were only seats at the bar) and the flight of 3 sherries with the most fantastic chocolate-almond-fig cake I may have ever tasted (and must duplicate) rounded out a great close to a second, magnificent dinner. . delicioso!!!  **What’s the word in Spanish, Amy??

Scott picked up the crud the last night we were there – but persevered though another Pueblo Monument & the drive back to Santa Fe on Sunday – only to arrive to a flight that was delayed by 3 hours.  I have to say – he held up well – but as usual when traveling with Scott – something happens!  That kind of stuff just follows him – makes for interesting travel stories (at least after the fact).

All in all – a great Christmas “present-experience” – that I only wish would have included my parents (since we’d all talked about going together for years).  Oh well – there’s always another time!