Napoli, Torre del Greco, Cameos and beyond!

This trip all started a couple of months ago when Mark flew back from the states and sat next the a kind gentleman who had been in Las Vegas for the jewelry show. His name is Gino DiLuca, and his family has been making Cameos in Torre del Greco, Italy for years. http://www.diluca1929.it/en/collezione.htm
He gave Mark some information and said "whenever you want to come visit...".  Well, that's all our friend, Martha, needed to hear. She has a wonderful collection of cameos from her mother. One of them her father bought in Torre del Greco about 50 years ago! She wanted to buy more for her 38 nieces and nephews!  (she's Lebanese, almost as big of families as the Italians!)
Many emails ensued and our girls trip to Torre del Greco was planned. Gino suggested a fabulous B and B, Villa Patrizia http://www.villapatriziabnb.it/b&b/GB_USA/default.htm run by a charming young couple, of course, friends of Gino.
He picked us up at the Naples airport on Saturday morning, holding a sign "Martha".. and off we went.
Here is a picture of the view from my room.

After getting a little settled, Gino suggested we take the train to Naples and check out the "old" section, and spend the day. Then he insisted we join he and his family, and some friends for dinner and that they would pick us up at 9! 9?? OMG, we were up at 3:30a to catch our flight, but hey, "when in Rome".

Off we went for a wonderful day in Napoli, churches, beautiful narrow streets, pizza, gelato, pasta shops






and the released white doves



Center of the square

We spent a lot of time in this store sampling Limoncello!

Pizza for lunch



Cannolis !







Delicious Gelato for dessert

by the Napoli coast

Our host Gino and his beautiful family

Enjoying a fabulous dinner



Linguine and Clams after appetizers of THE MOST DELICIOUS PIZZA EVER!



Gino and his wife and adorable children picked us up at 9p, we didn't dare lay down for a nap beforehand or we'd not see til morning... We went to a fabulous "local" restaurant,

 Gianni al Vesuvio, and were joined by

10 other friends and family.  More food and wine and the most delightful company. At midnight, one

of the friends suggested karaoke, but the "kids" were tired, thank goodness, so we were taken back

to our B and B with promises of "next time"

We awoke around 10a and took Gino's advice to visit Sorrento and Pompeii... an easy train ride from Torre Del Greco

It was a gorgeous day, and we decided to take a bus to see the sights. Sorrento is a "port" for the big cruise ships, lots of restaurants, shops, resorts and tourists.. but a beautiful place

\

The Isle of Capri

Olive Groves

Our bus took us on a visit to a Limoncello Factory, and villa, once owned by the Laura Family (shipmakers)

After our bus ride and walking thru the narrow streets we stopped for lunch, and of course, had to have more of the famous Napoli Pizza. A quick coffee and we were back on the train for Pompeii

The train took us past Mt Vesuvius, the volcano responsible for Pompeii's demise centuries ago.

It is still consider "live" ! and beautiful

Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, its sister city, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning two days in 79 AD. The eruption buried Pompeii under 4 to 6 meters of ash and pumice, and it was lost for over 1,500 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1599. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire. Today, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Italy, with approximately 2,500,000 visitors every year.

We got to Pompeii late in the afternoon and were only able to spend about 1 1/2 before it got really dark. It's a massive site, one could explore for days. Walking on the stone streets you can totally imagine what life was like.. a thriving city, destroyed by nature.
Mark wants to see it so we will definitely be back.
Caught the bus back to Torre Del Greco, arriving in the midst of a downpour. Thank goodness there are coffee shops on every corner. A cup of cappucino and hot chocolate warmed us as the rain abated.
A nice walk back to our Villa and an early night ended a delightful day.

My stab at creativity...and the rewards

My seashore



Painting!

 Our TWIG Board President is an incredibly creative women, who use to be an art teacher, of 4th graders, just my speed.. She talked me into coming to the class. I was nervous at first, but then thoroughly enjoyed it.  We practiced strokes with the different brushes and then began to paint.  I was really happy with my first endeavor.. She gave me a book and I hope to buy some supplies when I'm in Omaha.
After class we were invited to an Ocktoberfest Lunch, hosted by Lucie, our German TWIG friend. We enjoyed a fabulous lunch of Brats, Pork Chops, potatoe salad, homemade saurekraut, strudel, and the most delicious home made pretzels.. yummy dipped in mustard.. Then to top it off she had beer delivered from the bar down below her apartment...

Our hostess, Lucie

blue and white and brats



Beer and Pretzels




G'suffa




She made us sing the Hofbrahaus Song...



Good thing everyone had a driver or walked home. A good time was had by all.. I heard later

that all the husbands wanted to join us for the festivities...oh well...

Saturday and Sunday...

Yes, I've been too busy to write everyday.. But I'm posting some pictures from our trip to Berat on Saturday..Fabulous day spent with 2 other friends, Mike ( our neighbor) and Sarah (a TWIG women who's here for 2 months working on a grant from GW University on domestic violence)
I'll explain in more details about this fabulous place..

The walls

a view of the orsom river

guess who?

us again

more walls

pony rides?

The Trail of Lord Byron in Albania

Lord Byron

Letters on Albania

British poet, Lord George Gordon Byron (1788-1824), set out on a grand tour of the Mediterranean in 1809, in the course of which he visited Spain, Malta, Albania, Greece and Asia Minor. His visit to Albania in the autumn of that year made a lasting impression on him and is reflected in the second canto of the poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," that catapulted him to fame as a writer in 1812. The first letter here, written to his mother from Albania, betrays much of the excitement he felt on his first journey to the "Orient" and, in particular, at his meeting with the formidable tyrant Ali Pasha of Tepelena (1744-1822), the so-called Lion of Janina. The second letter, written to John Cam Hobhouse (1786-1869), describes his encounter with Veli Pasha, son of Ali Pasha.

 http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts19/AH1809_1.html 


An interesting program at TWIG tonight.. A gentleman from Albania, now
oranizes tours along the same path Lord Byron took.. Rupert Everett is the narrator of the film. A large amount of time was spent on the fact that Lord Byron was bisexual and so was Ali Pasha.. A young woman from Bosnia Herzogovnia got up and said it's the British' fault that they have limited visa mobilization. According to her, the Brits described Albanians as "savages"..and not easily civilized..
Well, that was 200 years ago, some things have changed, but not all in many villages out of the major cities.

After the evening ended, the rain was pouring down.. so much that it flooded the patio area of the bar at the Rogner Hotel.. so the only thing to do was go inside and drink til the rain stopped. 2 glasses of wine later, we were all safe to walk home.

Weekend...

Not much to report over the past weekend.. The weather turned out to be nice, so Mark and I walked to a section of town we'd never been before..  Nice median in the road, fairly clean, spotted with newer hotels and old businesses. The city is such a mish mash of stuff, I'm sure if we spent enough time we'd find some real treasures of stores and memories. Quiet evening at home, after another delicious lunch at Taiwan Center.
Sunday, shopping day.. Drove out to the Mercator in City Park. A new Auto City store just opened. We didn't go inside, but it's a really nice building with what looks like every kind of auto available. We saw Nissan, Subaru, VW and Chevy signs. You do see a few new cars around, but mostly old beaten up Mercedes.  Mark said most of these kind of stores are drug money supported..
We decided to cook the turkey roast we picked up on Saturday. Finally have a roasting pan that holds a small roast. Ok, so the turkey's here are probably no bigger than our big chickens. Note to self, stick with chicken breasts.. The turkey was mostly dark meat, and not very juicy. I fed leftovers to a couple of feral dogs in the hood.
Have I mentioned our selection of movie channels?? Well we have 4.. thriller, drama, komedi and hits..
These people must really like blood and guts, cause even the komedi is often gruesome. I'd say the majority of the movies are "B" rated, with stars in it, but movies that flopped. We do spend a lot of time surfing, cause they all start and end at different times.  Mark's looking into other options, but this may be the best bet.. Oh well.. guess I'll get more reading done...or go to bed earlier :)

Friday...

Kind of a slow day today.. Gracie and I laid around and read most of the day, oh and of course, did laundry. It was a beautiful night.. We walked to the Amsterdam.. a good bar/restaurant known in the past to be the place for "shady deals" so off limits to the Americans.  Now, I guess, those guys moved on to someplace else, so we are free to go and the Brits love to go and heckle at people walking by. Mark and I got there a little early, had a beer and glass of wine and waited for "the guys".  3 Brits and 1 American who's family lives in Serbia!  Let me tell you, these guys are hilarious.. not just the way they talk, but their sense of humor and Mark says sense of "egos" about how great the UK is..My somber mood was quickly changed and the evening was spent listening to then jab each other, trying intently to understand every word they said. Where is Mark's translator when you need her???
My most memorable line was, "What are you going to do now that YOUR country is Tits Up?"
Pretty much describes how they feel about us, and probably how most of us feel as well.
The night ended early, one of the guys had to get up early 3a for a flight to the UK, then on to the Canary Islands for some R and R.  He promised to cook his fabulous Indian Dinner upon his return. Now that will be fun night!
Here's a pic of Mark and I, he's trying to not laugh too hard.