Is Alex too white or am I too tanned?
The sea
I hope you have been around Italians when someone NOT Italian has cooked pasta for them. Priceless. Facial expressions and all types of comments about the wrong combination of everything with everything else (did you know paprika could never be combined with tuna?), and of course, how not al dente they are. I think this is a fair equivalent to how Greeks react to shitty sea, and I am no better than this.
The first time I saw the sea in front of the camping at Palinuro, I was deeply shocked. Speechless sort of shock. This beach in Greece would not be exploited at all. If an AirBnB house had such sea in the front, the description would say something like: ‘the house lies by the sea, NOT suitable for swimming’. Or something around these lines. In front of our camping we had 4 rows of umbrellas so close to each other you could not reach the sea (I guess intentionally). You didn’t have difficulty entering just because of ‘some stones’, it was clearly impossible to enter. We talk about tectonic plates of some sort, a real joke.
And then I looked around: no one was swimming. Right. We go to the sea to look at each other and get some tan. *nervous breakdown* To be honest, people made some decent effort to assist our impossible task of entering the sea and dumped bags full of sand, so you could walk without losing your feet in the process. Of course you looked a bit like Jesus walking on the surface.
I tried to hide my shock, especially to not disappoint Gioia who looked forward to the big ‘finally, by the sea’ moment. Everyone that knows me, knows I can never hide what I feel, so despite my sincere effort, I looked depressed for the next 2 hrs.
And then it dawned on me. I have never, ever, heard of a Greek visiting Italy in the summer for sea holidays. I am not saying there is no single one, but I never heard it, let’s say it is very uncommon. You go to Italy to visit amazing cities, culture and beautiful landscapes (bella Italia still holds), but nothing about the sea. Whereas the greek islands are every summer full of Italians #nowiknowwhy. It took me only 36 years to realize, well, better late…
Update: the impression has gone up a bit with the days passing, but not much. Yes, you can find beaches you can enter the sea, yes sometimes (not often) it is not windy and you can also see your feet under water, but overall..home, sweet home. I would say if someone wants uncompromised beautiful sea for the summer, save yourself some effort and just go to Greece (I have received the question: ‘which island shall I visit’ so many times, that I have made an Excel, ready for you to use).
Anyway, we are in Puglia. The supposedly paradise of crystal waters. And seaweed. And black rocks. But we had a fantastic day today, hybernating by the sea in front of our camping. The closest so far to my (I admit) high standards.
About driving
We are three weeks on the road and I can officially state that driving is nice (technically I mean: sitting next to Martijn, who is driving, is nice). Martijn just laughed when he heard me saying this. Because I usually, if not always, complain about how bloody boring it is. (Here comes a discrete ‘ugh’, I mean..’ugh’ again, it is boring in HOLLAND!) If you drive in NL you need a ton of caffeine to not fall asleep. You go on automatic pilot mode, the landscape on the right is exactly the same as the landscape on the left, and this goes on for kilometers long. Ah wait, I see a cow. Ah, another one. And a wind turbine. Gezellig!)
So I mean: ‘driving in beautiful routes with changing landscapes, is nice’. On one condition: that the kids are asleep. Sigh.
You don’t want to know what happens when they are not. One of the following:
– Gioia sings. Not like normal cute childish singing. She is screaming so loud, in either Dutch or Greek, she is saying stories, agreeing and disagreeing with herself and giving us headaches. We need to increase the volume of the music often, because this can go on for very long
– When she gets bored singing on her own, she tries to engage Alex. Well, he is 6 months old, so his capabilities are limited, but he can chip in and add to the craziness. So, Alex produces all types of ‘a-i-o-b-p’ sounds and can also laugh a hysterically when Gioia plays with him and sings TO him. The result is two kids laughing and screaming beyond acceptable decibel levels. Paranoia. And this is not even the worst scenario
– Approximately half an hour before we arrive to any destination, the crying starts. Not sure how they know there are 30 min left, but they are very precise doing this. Next level paranoia. Sometimes Alex gets deeply red from crying and we cannot immediately stop. Not fun at all.
– (Just happened): Gioia wakes up, because of a sudden break stop. Well, better this than ending up killed – see post ‘bella Italia’, on the bottom for driving conditions.
When the kids are asleep Martijn and I can talk. Yeaaaah! So unique to be able to talk to each other! Or we can be silent listening to music! Yeaaaah! So rare to be able to not talk! Earlier we listened to a song (Sandman, from America) that we listened to a lot last time we were in Italy with Martijn’s VW bus of the 70s). Nice!
Live broadcast from the camper:
Gioia: ‘Mooooooom?’
Me: ‘Yes sweety’
Gioia: ‘You said when we were at the waterfall, that you would buy me Chupa Chups’
Sh*t, I said that, when she saw the lollipops she eats in Greece. Crap, I totally forgot.
Me: ‘I forgot it moppie. But we will be soon in Greece.’ Smile from Gioia and we continue driving in peace. *THANK GOD*
From top (1250m) to bottom (sea level)
After the lazy days in Trasimeno we went back to action. That means changing campings and driving every day. We never made it to Marmore, we tried, but the route was not baby-stroller friendly. We moved on slightly disappointed, but everything happens for a good reason. The same evening we arrived at the most original camping of all times (Lo Schioppo), which felt as if we camp at someone’s big beautiful backyard. In a mountainous protected green area with view to a…waterfall! We were 10 people in total in the whole camping, precious.
The day after we walked to the watefall. First time for Gioia, she walked quite a bit! Amazing route, it was also first time in such a setting with the four of us. The last 5 minutes were without Alex (no access to the stroller), so I waited with him and when Gioia and Martijn came back, I went myself to check it out. I thought of my dad, he would have loved it.
After lunch we started driving to the National Park of Abruzzo. Holy crap! Amazing route, with views and trees all over! A bit of a family crisis when I woke up after a short nap to find out we are heading to the hardcore mountains (already at 1200m) with black sky and grey clouds and forecast for a thunderstorm. All normal for a Dutch, who didn’t think it was reason good enough to wake me up and wonder if we maybe – just maybe – should turn around and save ourselves from falling to the cliffs from lack of visibility. In the end we continued, Sissy again holding her breath, and arriving to an amazing camping in the middle of the park. We did not fall in any cliff.
What-is-this-beauty? Gosh! We had to bring back our winter covers and found both kids with freezing hands in the morning, but no one got sick and it was worth it. No Martijn, I was right (as always), we were just lucky.
While trembling in my bed I decided this was it with the mountains, I am done, and from now on I want uncompromised 30 degrees plus, so we started driving south. We are in Pompeii, tomorrow we plan the grande visit. We also hit the camper for the first time in a tree. It was clearly the tree’s fault, it was too short. Jesus! If it was me driving I would have hit not only the tree but everything around the tiny spot we tried to park and I would have a parking trauma for the rest of my life. Martijn just said ‘shit’ and went on to park. #theserationaldutch
Greetings from Vesuvios. If it explodes and we are covered in lava tomorrow, we love you all!
Bella Italia
I have been positively biased about Italy since my very first visit here, when I was 16. Twenty years ago everything was wow. Twenty years later, after many Italian acquaintances, some Italian language knowledge and more maturity, it is f***ing super incredible wow. In many ways it feels like home, but with more elegance, more class, and more protocols. Like Greeks with more procedures and rituals, or like messy and totally relaxed emotional northern Europeans. Not bad at all.
We now pass Napoli on the way to the south. This is the theoretical border of order vs chaos. Let’s see how everything is in the south; what Italians call ‘like Greece’. All we noticed for now is that people drive as if they are drunk (17:00). Hmm.
Update the day after:
It is a miracle we are still alive. Driving conditions here are not as bad as in India (this is a whole different universe), but the closest to India I have seen and definitely the European equivalent. Sometimes it is so scary and funny at the same time, that I cannot react on time and make photos. We have cars literally driving opposite to the rest of the cars, with the driver relaxed on the phone. No one uses an indicator. Cars simply stop in front of you when they feel like it. Like a computer game! God of campers keep us safe!
Lazy asses in lake Trasimeno
(Check section ‘Route’ for where we are)
We have been so extremely unbelievably lazy the last 4 days that it almost felt like holidays in a Greek island before the kids. Almost. The longest distance I walked was to the toilet and back. We would take naps on the chairs after lunch and the biggest event of the day was swimming in the swimming pool. I tried entering the lake, but after 1.5m in the bliah water and more than a zillion mosquitos I could not help my ‘how disgusting’ arrogant Greek attitude and turned around 180 degrees running out.
We also had a surprise visit from Alex C., now we are 1-1 with the surprises. His fight was cancelled, so he was back in beautiful Umbria for another day.
Packing and going again seemed too much effort, so we postponed leaving for another day. Serious laziness alert. Alex (Alexis) swam for the first time in his life, but I guess we thought he is one of us and forgot his age, so soon afterwards he had an ear infection. And fever. Ai ai ai. The sweet little moppie spent long hours in our hugs and it seems he is improving. (Gioia had her first of many ear infections at the same age. I hope the similarities stop here, cause Gioia went on for another 4 months of fever every other weekend).
Riccardo drafted a route for us and Alex C. filled in more details. So we have a route and we are allowed to be over the top lazy, checking only for suitable campings. I love it.
We are on our way to some waterfall (Marmore) and with 33 degrees outside we worship the existence of air-conditioning. A presto!
When I was young – and the beauty of not planning
Do you remember how it was to be young? You would leave home to meet friends at around the time you now go to bed. The day was long and you were rarely in a hurry; everything moved slowly. Now things are different. If I need a millisecond for myself I need to arrange stuff the whole time, so there is some sort of efficiency and the day can fit some ‘me time’. Do not think intense enjoyment during ‘me time’: it is mostly looking at the ceiling, dead, happy that no one is demanding anything from me.
This whole thing with the camper made us young again. So when I received a message from Alex C. somewhere in the north of France, (day 3 of our trip or so) that he would give a party in Italy to celebrate his 40th birthday together with four other 40-year-old friends, we decided to go. Because we are young and because we can. Who cares about the initial idea of travelling through b-roads, coast by coast around France? This is why we have vague plans: to be able to NOT follow them! We started taking the highways instead, and started driving as quickly as we could to make it to the party. It would be a surprise not only for Alex, but also for Riccardo and Domenico, for old Delft’s sake.
To be honest I thought Martijn wasn’t serious when he said ‘let’s go’. Not only because we should all of a sudden start rushing, but also because the party was somewhere in the mountains of Umbria, in something like a forest with something like a building. Google street view showed narrow rural uphill roads: the camper could no way fit. If we could make it width-wise and not fall to the side, we would definitely hit the side trees because of our height. ‘Jesus Martijn, the kids..’ Martijn would have a constant smile and his usual ‘komt goed’ attitude. We also convinced ourselves that if we don’t manage to arrive we would still enjoy Italy for longer than we initially thought. Ok then, let’s do it.
The last 15 minutes of the route I was holding my breath. Mostly because the road wasn’t that bad and I thought it would get bad anytime. Imagine, being 10 min far from the party and unable to reach it. No way.
And then it happened: 50 m from the ‘house’ we could not pass because of the trees. I jumped out to ask for help, with Martijn screaming: noooo, you will ruin the surprise. Alex saw me, hugs, nice to see you etc and then they got right at work: with a ladder and ropes and covers to hold the trees so we can pass with as little scratches as possible. Bingo. We parked in the perfect spot for the kids to be able to sleep while mom and dad party.
Great party, amazing people, lovely location and our beloved friends – what more do u want. Thank you zio for saying I looked the same. Even if it was dark and you probably changed your mind the morning after, it is the greatest compliment I can receive after 10 years and two pregnancies. #zioforevergrateful
I installed an app to check the music level cause apparently louder than 80dbs could create ‘permenent hearing loss’ at (little) Alex. Ups. I did my checks, we were safe. Poor Alex. His first party was a bit loud. He woke up many times and the last dj gave up at around 09:00 am. Which is after we woke up for breakfast! It is nice to be young again!
The day after there were ‘corpses’ spread all over. More chit chatting and more catch ups with great views. We confirmed once again Italians are intensely enjoying life and moved on to enjoy more of this incredible country.
