the smart car

ciao i tutti!

so now that we are safely back, its time to come clean about our adventures of the past four days...

yes we took the plunge and hired a car from sorrento, to travel down to puglia (the 'heel' of italy) for a few days. it was an experience that was scary at times, but overall we adapted very well to not only driving on the right, but to the italian style of driving with a few exceptions (i.e. only 110 on the autostrada, instead of 200!). it was a little smart car, a two seater, which as you know is quite narrow, which was good as our first route planned was from sorrento to salerno, via the amalfi coast!!! lets just say it was great fun. em drove most of the way along the narrowest roads to amalfi, with great dexterity and calm. we landed at ravello, a gorgeous town 7kms inland and uphill from amalfi, with great views over the coast and beautiful hills surrounding. we enjoyed lunch at ravello, but chose not to take a walk through the gardens there due to the 5 euro pp entry fee!! sim took the wheel after lunch, and took the rest of the winding roads (which included being stuck behind two of the buses described in the previous post) to salerno, at which point we had our first taste of the italiano autostrada.ù

we motored along nicely until about 8pm, where we decided to rest our heads overnight in Martina Franca, a charming town just north of Taranto, or west of Bari. we ended up having to stay in a deluxe hotel, centrally located in the middle of parklands, within the city centre, because we hadnt booked anywhere and tried to wing it last minute style.

was actually quite amusing as we couldnt find the entry after a few laps around the hotel, at which point, em suggested that sim take a right into a big gate (which em maintains looked like a driveway), which turned out to be the aforementioned town gardens!! we drove in, did a u-ey australian style around the round about which was actually a garden bed, the only reason we made it was cos the car was so tiny!! we completed the turn, only to find ourselves pointing towards a now firmly closed gate, with the guard in front, about to call someone on the mobs. we both leapt out of the car at the same time, trying pitifully to explain in broken italian that we were australians, it was an accident, and we were really looking for the entrance of the hotel ducale. fortunately for us, he was a friendly man, smiled, and let us through, with a few correct directions. later when we parked in the real driveway, he came up and had a joke with us.

that night we headed out close by, and went to a pizzeria called don giovanni, at the start of the old town. just had to mention this as sim had previously sworn off pizza after napoli (ugh!) and this place was fantastic - crispy bases, and fantastic toppings (still italiano style not australiana). apparently they have different schools of pizza makers in italy... crazy but true. they take food v.seriously here we think - nice because we take eating very seriously too! one other interesting thing about italy is that most of the waiters are male, and the cooks female, unlike australia. the waiters are always fantastically helpful, and v.charming.

the next day we tripped past the trulli houses of puglia (see photos to come), we got to see inside an older trulli house made in the 1400's - it was amazing that 6 people fit inside!! apparently 4 sisters slept upstairs, in a space equivalent to a 3 man tent. from here, we hit the adriatic coast, found our place for the night, and then headed to ostuni, the so called white city, a gorgeous hill town with characteristic small cobblestone walkways, about 10 kms off the coast where we enjoyed what had to be one of the top 5 meals in italy so far... all hand made, and so well priced. the owner was great, and ended up telling us about a place he rented out in town that we will probably check out on our eventual return.

day three, we spent a lazy day at the beach, in a beautiful nature reserve. it was fantastic - white sands & crystal clear warmish water. we set up a little shade McGirlver style, and read, swam and ate fresh rolls for lunch!

we packed up around 5 and headed to Matera, our base for the next mornings trip back to sorrento. although we didnt get to spend much time there, it is def. worth a visit and interestingly, was used as the set for Jerusalem in Mel Gibson's the Passion of the Christ, and you can see why - the town was originally comprised of cave like dwellings housing about 15000 people up until the 60's, where the residents were forcibly removed and rehoused nearby by the Govt due to poverty, disease (maleria and other) - basically third world conditions. we walked through the old town and enjoyed a great dinner on a terrace overlooking the Sassi houses, as they are called. a little spooky to walk through late at night as the renovations are still in progress, and many of the cave houses are still empty and open (though most of them are renovated hotels/houses/restaurants etc which are neatly hidden to preserve the look of the old town).

an early morning today then - 6 am start to get the car back in time, and to potentially meet Em's brother Phil who had just arrived in italy last night, although this is now prob not likely. we are planning to finish up here, have a relax down at Marina Grande for a couple of hours, then head to the station to catch the long train to Pizzo (on the calabrian coast - the toe of italy), our destination for the next three nights.

following this, we will head to sicily for a day and a half - the plan so far is to check out the volcano Mt Etna which apparently still has snow on it, Siracusa, site of greek ruins, and possibly taormina. an overnight sleeper train from messina on the 15th will see us back in roma on the 16th for our last few days of adventure!! the time is going too quickly - we are not really focused on it though, as the travel adventure is still v.much in progress.

thanks for all the messages, and hope all is well in melbourne.

love em and sim xxx