Monthly Archives: August 2023

I remember vividly learning about Pompeii and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in school. The images of people in their final moments stuck with me. I wanted to know all about it. Fast forward to our travels and the opportunity to take a detour to visit the city. I absolutely had to see it. It was a fiercely hot day and we were on our way to Rome for a couple of days so we had Maizy and Dottie in the car with us. We did our research and found out you can take dogs inside if they are small and you carry them. That was convenient, otherwise we would have had to go in shifts.

As I was walking, I was thinking to myself that this incredibly detailed, sophisticated Roman city was covered in about 20 feet of ash and volcanic residue after Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. I was looking in people’s homes and could somewhat envision what life was like then. You can see paintings on the walls and in front of some homes, you will see the word ‘have’ which means welcome.

There is no known death toll. In some of my research, I discovered that 75-92% of residents escaped when they could see Vesuvius erupting but it is not known how many of them survived. They do know that around 2,000 people died in Pompeii and 300 died in the nearby town of Herculaneum. The people who stayed behind were, most likely, poor and/or had no place else to go. Some scientists say that there were at least 16,000 victims.

The people back then had no idea it was a volcano since it hadn’t erupted in 1,800 years. Before Pompeii, there wasn’t even a word for volcano. Following the devastation, a volcano got its name from the Roman God of the Flame and Metal Forgery named Vulcan.

The following is taken from a plaque next to the Orto dei Fuggiaschi which is the Garden of the Fugitives. That’s the of the photo where there is a glass case enclosing 13 casts, the one where there are numerous lights overhead:

“In this vineyard 13 victims of the eruption were found including adults and children, as well as masters and servants who lost heir lives as they sought salvation whilst running towards Porta Nocera, running over the blanket of pumice which would reach 3.5 meters in depth. It was possible to create the plaster casts due to the unusual nature of the eruption of 79 A.D. for between 18 and 19 hours, a volcanic rain of pumice covered all of the open spaces of the city, the streets, the Forum, the courtyards and the gardens. Then, clouds of ash and gas overwhelmed the city and proved lethal for those who had survived thus far, causing the instantaneous death from thermal shock of anyone still in the city. The bodies of these victims remained in the positions in which they had been struck by the pyroclastic flow, and the solidified ash preserved their imprint. Pouring a mixture of gypsum and water into the voids, caused by the decomposition of organic substances, is possible to preserve the body, shape and position of the object or body that had been buried within.”

I think these are fun. I try to capture random moments – nothing staged or choreographed. I don’t have the time, energy or patience for that. Ha!

I tried to get a video of how narrow the roads are in some cities, but the video doesn’t do it justice. Sometimes you have to back up to let a car go through, sometimes you have to wait indefinitely for a bus to snake its way down – it’s crazy. You are literally centimeters away from other cars, bikes, buses, pedestrians and vespas! It is like controlled chaos. I love it!

Also known as the Amalfi Nativity Fountain and the Donkey’s Head Fountain.

This fountain was for donkeys who made their way down from Pogerola carrying fruit, vegetables, and wood to Amalfi.They drank here. Apparently, in 1974, someone started putting little figurines in it and now the Infante family maintains it. It’s pretty fun. There’s a lot to take in.

We rented a small boat for 6 people for the entire day and it was so fun! We took turns driving around to different cities, beaches and cliff-jumping sites.

When we were trying to dock the boat in Positano so we could get off, the water was crazy choppy, the boat did not want to stop moving and Michael was trying to hold tight onto the metal ring to keep us steady. He may be thin, but that kid is strong! We were all able to get out. We made a spectacle out of ourselves in the process (as usual) but whatever! We spent the afternoon walking up to see the views and stopping for minestrone, pasta and gelato.

When Jesse went to swim back to the boat with Lennon, the boat was gone! He had anchored it, but they couldn’t find it anywhere. He walked up to a man on the beach and told him our boat was gone. The guy didn’t speak much English and said that it was not his problem. Jesse talked to him for a bit and asked for help. The guy radioed a co-worker then told Jesse “your boata moveda.” Somehow the boat unmoored itself and traveled closer to shore. Jesse, Lennon and Michael went to get it and Lennon got hit in the head with the anchor as he and Michael were pulling it up. But everyone survived! Jesse navigated the absolute mayhem well. There were tourists upon tourists! Boats coming and going. I have to say these cities are beautiful but the amount of people is outrageous and a scoop of gelato costs a small fortune. Give me an old village with good coffee and friendly people and I could walk around for hours. Anyhoo – all’s well that ends well! We got back in the boat and went searching for more fun stuff to do and see.

When you travel, it is not always sunshine and rainbows. Of course that is what people post, but the gritty stuff, the sweaty days, the trying to communicate in a different language, trying to find food everyone wants to eat, the fighting, the exhaustion, wearing the same clothes – I like all of that, too. Maybe that’s why I can live the life we live. You have to let things unfold and be ready for anything.

This day was not easy. It was hot, people were hungry and there was a lot of time spent together in small spaces. While traveling or living life in general there are times when you fight, times when you’re hungry, times when you’re tired, times when you’re absolutely over it and then there are the absolutely glorious times when you look around and it’s a beautiful night and your people are with you and you’re laughing like hell at stupid stuff… that makes it all worth it.

So I heard a couple different stories while we were visiting Ostuni. One was that many years ago they did not have a way of warding off possible invaders. Because the city wasn’t really planned out and buildings were just built on top of each other in no strategic manner, the inhabitants hoped that intruders would simply get lost trying to navigate the city. Then someone had the idea to paint all the buildings white with a mixture of limestone mixed with water. The plan was for the sun to reflect off of the white city and blind enemies. This also proved advantageous when a plague devastated Puglia in the 17th century. Only a few villages survived. Ostuni was one of them. They discovered that white lime had antibacterial properties, so there was less illness in the houses painted white. Some people thought that the people being saved was a miracle brought about by the patron saint Sant’Oronzo who they honor every year from August 25th through the 27th. They continue to whitewash the city to this day.

Matera is an ancient city. Its history goes back about 30,000 years. It is on the border of Basilicata and Puglia. It is worth a visit to see all the caves, winding pathways and amazing views. I thought the caves were called sassis, but I read that sassi means stone. Most of the structures look as if they are made of stone. When you go into them, you realize a lot of them are caves. They were inhabited since prehistoric times! Apparently, Matera did not have a modernized plumbing system even as recent as the 1950s. The government had a plan to evacuate all the people living in the caves because of poverty and diseases and destroy it all. Academics came in and found evidence that people had been living in the caves since 7,000 BC. Neolithic tools were found as well as a 150,000 year old skeleton. People moved back into the caves and many have been renovated into restaurants and hotels. In 1993 it became a UNESCO World Heritage site. UNESCO is an acronym for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. So that pretty much means that the city is legally protected for having a cultural, historical or scientific significance to the world. Pretty cool!

Dottie has become Jesse’s little sidekick. She is always up for an adventure with him when other people are tired or over seeing historical stuff. 🙂

There is a town in Puglia called Alberobello. It has super narrow streets and everywhere you look, there are Trulli cones. I had never heard of them before. They are Apulian dry stone huts. I felt like I was walking around a fairytale. There was a full moon that night, a guy in the piazza playing a grand piano and this wood structure thing that I think was art that people could just hang out on. Italians know how to live life well. Spending time with your people in beautiful surroundings, listening to good music, dancing and eating yummy food!

This was a fun day of swimming and getting caught in a rain storm. The photo of me wrapped in a tablecloth is from a restaurant where a waiter noticed I was cold. He draped it around me. So kind and resourceful. 🙂 We were stopped by police after I took the video of us driving into the city square. Whoops. All’s well, that ends well.

This beach was fabulous! We went there to celebrate Lennon’s birthday. The town is called Polignano a Mare. I had never heard of it. Not sure if a lot of people travel to the heel of Italy, but we are so happy we did. The people were amazing. It was super hot, so everyone went cliff-jumping then we walked to another beach. There are beaches everywhere and they are packed!!! You have to search for a spot – we have never had a problem squeezing in somewhere. 🙂 We went to a restaurant where the elderly waiter reminded me of my Grammy. She was such a live wire! This guy was so cute, funny and full of energy. Made our experience that much better! I hope to live to a very old age, have lots of laugh lines and make people smile when they’re with me.

If you are ever get to Dubrovnik, I would highly recommend you go to these two places. Bellevue has a cave to swim in and explore, plus some fun cliff jumping spots. Buza Bar is crazy. Tons of people drinking and jumping off of varying heights. As a mom and one of the older people there, I kept worrying about people getting too drunk, too confident and then hurting themselves. I may have done similar things back in the day. Anyhoo- when we were there, everyone was safe! Some of the cliffs are so high, they call jumping off of them “tombstoning.” Yikes!