I love Austria. 47% of the country is covered in trees. They harvest and use them of course, but that doesn't mean that they are planted in rows with massive coupes harvested all at once. They do bits and pieces here and there. From what I saw the biggest coupes would have been around 5 acres. I wish it made sense for us to copy them…
We went for a walk with our Austrian friends through forest and field, by tiny chapels with amazing views. Parts of the walk were through farmers fields, and that is totally ok. We walked past smells; dairies that simultaneously please and offend, windfall apples and pears beginning their demise, a pile of pulpy remains from other apples and pears that had been pressed and cidered… I’m a country boy. There were copious amounts of acorns on the ground – apparently a bumper year. Our host told me he makes faux-coffee with them…something I would like to try with your acorns Pa?
Sitting around the table in the evening and the reasons we are friends with these people are obvious. Getting out in nature, making produce with the lands’ bounty, music, travel, making things yourself rather than buying an ok ready-made product… We have our differences sure, but so much in common. While we are chatting the home made drinks start to come up from the cellar. Schnapps-like drinks made from a certain pine cone from above a certain altitude. Medicine. I found it dried my throat out… Then a yummy “girly” one came up made mainly from walnuts but also a lot of other things. They assured us they don’t drink much, but we had a bit that night…
Anya really enjoyed being with a family. She was adored by everyone, and picked up a new nickname. She is our little ‘mousey’. We enjoyed a few times when Anya was happy to be carried or looked after by our friends. A little chance to hold hands again, and look around at the lakes, mountains, autumn colours… A beautiful land. Maybe one day I will plan a multi-day hike in the Tyrol.
So although Austria borders Italy we took a flight from Vienna down to Rome as we are exploring a few places south of Rome. Rome airport was fine albeit packed with people. For a budget airline, WizzAir did a decent job. They didn't try and charge extra for our mountain of luggage. They were on time. We did have to take buses either end to get on and off the plane but that all went fine.
We picked up a hire car at Rome Fiumiccino airport and had our first tantrum when tomtom began his instructions by telling us to head south-east. Who knows which direction is which when they're on the other side of the world, driving on the wrong side of the road, and trying to ignore complaints from the backseat? Not to worry, we managed to fluke this 50/50 decision, and then spent the next 2.5 hours trying to spot someone using their indicators...
I have a theory that when so many cars have smashed indicators, maybe it's best not to bother using them and give drivers any false ideas. It's nothing to create 2 lanes in 1 here. 4 lanes in 2. Overtaking seems to be favoured on blind corners. Speed camera signs on my right coincide with vehicles overtaking speedily on my left. Intersections are a free for all. U-turns can be done anywhere, anytime and in front of anyone. Tomtom does not necessarily direct you the best way... There may be a shorter road directly up the mountain between buildings, scooters and cats which explains the scratches on our Fiat Panda's mirrors... Sometimes it's best just to wind your way up with the rest of them. I don't know. I'm not Italian.
We spent a few lovely days in the seaside town of Gaeta. The beach was lovely, water warm enough and beautifully clear. The sand was good for building Gothic cathedrals very similar to what can be seen in Cologne. Unfortunately my daughter is more destructive than an approaching tide...
We explored the park and old town that reside on a knobbly bit of land at the end of the beach. In Germany I had my wild boar, now I'm getting my fill of Romans... I got a little excited at mtb'ers going up, down and around, but I think I just have to wait patiently for home for that. Heaps of tunnels and circular pits and things that I believe were artillery placements in a war sometime. It was very cool to explore some of these with the pithy light of my phone and try not to clear the cobwebs with Anya's head as she was perched up behind me in the pack. She was pretty happy when we stopped at a 2000-odd-year-old circular tomb for whatsisname on top of the hill. She got to eat all the sultanas from our fruit and nut mix and then play with the gravel on the floor. Romans had good gravel it seems.
While walking in the old town through alleys, and down stairways we did see a gelateria but didn't go in. I am so keen to have some icecream as there were thousands of eiscafes in Germany and Austria but we held off thinking we'd be eating real Gelati here in Italy. 4 days later and I'm still to experience a cool smooth Italian icecream on my tongue. Pizza however, we have had. In Gaeta they had a local specialty which is pretty much a Pizza-Pie. It was good, but I'm not really a big octopus in pizza man I guess. Here in the hills above Pompeii where we are currently, we had the best pizza yet. Cappricciosa which probably isn't pronounced the way you have been saying it for years... Just saying.
While on the subject of food I will talk about our adventure to get to this little place. Imagine all the things about driving I have already mentioned, and then go up a windy mountain road with buses and trucks, dogs and scooters, and even Nonna pushing GreatNonna in a wheelchair. Fun. Then realise that your directions don't really lead you to a place, just a vague area. Great. We drove our little rental through gaps a lot narrower than our driveway. We got hot and shitty. We have no data, no credit and no italian. What to do?
After finding somewhere to park eventually, we walked to a pasticeria and ordered some very nice pastries. I had sfoggliatella, which just happens to be a local specialty as well as the best thing I have eaten in a long time. No exaggeration.
Anyway, as we pay the bill which is ridiculously cheap considering the impact on my taste buds, the lady serving asks what our go is. (I think. No Italian for us, and no English for the locals, so all dialogue here is possibly wrong...) We explain we aren't ok and are looking for our Airbnb. There follows a long and voluminous discussion with the other patrons, some who are sure they know where we need to go but are ignored, and others who just point and be noisy... Eventually someone recognises the owner of the flat we have rented and has him as a contact of course. A lot of this I have figured out in retrospect. I had not much idea at the time, after all I'd just eaten sfogliatella! A friendly got us to follow him in his car the 3 minutes up the road we had to go, and there it was. We would never have found it.
Italy is a lot more stressful than where we have been previously. All three of us are wound so tight that we fit in a bit better with the locals. Driving requires all your attention and you still sometimes don't see a bus coming right at you, not to mention the scooters doing all sorts of manouvres. When your toddler has a bedtime of 19:00, you realise that dining out for dinner is not going to happen without some leeway as restaurants often don't open until 19:30. However we are still loving the willy-nilly of it. Anya gets sweets in every shop we go into. Our little troupe gets whistles of admiration. Cheeks get pinched and conversations misunderstood. This place is alive
No comments:
Post a Comment