Sant'Agostino Paola

... stay. Beware though :) the population of Scalea doesn’t have any idea that the English language exist, so you have to learn a few basic words in Italian before you exit the hotel (The reception of Hotel De Rose speaks a good English).
Get ready to say “vino” (wine), when you are in South Italy you really need that word! Have a nice trip!

... weeks. Carpineta is up a mountain and overlooks the Mediterranean. Needless to say, the view is amazing. I spent most of my time at Susan's house sitting on her balcony. We spent our time reading, going to the beach, and taking the dog for walks. What a hard life. Jesse even learned how to drive a standard. The house is quite high up on the mountain and the roads are steep with sharp curves. This is ...

... The town is situated on a debris fan between two steep rocky cliffs. Due to the drastic slope of the ground, we could walk around the side of the water house and right up onto the flat, gravel roof. We had a killer view of the town, flat dry ground and our own private patio deck. It was so nice we decided to take a rest day and spend a second night. An 8 o'clock departure the following morning gave us the opportunity to cover some ...

... tiny pizzeria in town and got a calzone each. The hotel was cheap as - 35 euro for the both of us! The only downside was that the owner was a muso and played jazz piano for half the night. Ah well... you can't have everything. Calabria is an amazing place! It really opens your eyes to how the other half of Italians live. Especially after coming from the north. It is a rugged mountainous landscape with concrete ghettos, gypsies living under bridges, etc. The poverty ...

I write this on the airplane home from Copenhagen to Seattle where my mother and brother will meet me. Nope, didn't go to Bracciano for the big wedding-figured if Oprah wasn't going, I wasn't going. Nope, didn't see Jlo or Jim Carey or Will-they were over by the Spanish Steps and I was by the train station so I could catch the train to the airport. The last event I want to write about probably sums up this trip for me: I have written about ...

I have been told and read about the Amalfi Coast in Italy-its charm and beauty-- so I was prepared to be disappointed. I wasn't. Without a doubt this is the most beautiful place in Europe, perhaps the world, I have traveled to. I took the train from Naples to Sorrento and had forty-five minutes before my nearly two-hour bus ride to Amalfi. I decided to eat some lunch ...

... by the mad tea party-like meal by this time, she turns to me and asks, "Is this a starfish or a cookie?" As tempting as it was to watch her try and eat the starfish in full view of all the other diners who thought we were quite crazy, I told her that the waiter had, in fact, just handed us starfish for no apparent reason, and it was probably time for us to go now. As this was the night the World Cup was starting, I think the atmosphere of the town was ...

... this greatly amusing and can NOT stop laughing. Our sides are sore and we can no longer sit up straight. We ask for the bill and realize that we had inadvertently ordered three first courses instead of two. We laugh harder. It dawns on us that we just put away a hell-of-a-lot of food and we are laughing like fools. We have't been served any wine, so they probably think we are stoned out of our gourds. We find this even ...

Hello Again Everyone!! It has been quite a while, but we've been so busy that we haven't gotten a chance to write for almost a month. We wanted to update you on our trip to Calabria, when we traveled (12 hours!) south to visit Matthew's family for Easter. We spent three days with them and had a great time getting to know his nonna's sister, nonno's brothers, and their families. The trip started with a looong train ride south, where we met some very ...

_______________________________________ ____________________ 31 Oct, Monday Start point: Agrapidochori, near Simopoulo End point: Ferry from Patra to Brindisi (Italy) Via: Odom(Km): 40.0 Moving(hrs.mim): 4.20 Ave(Km/h): Total Ascent(m): Max Altitude(m) Max Speed(Km/h): I had a boat to catch and plenty of time to take the scenic route through the hills to the coast road. The villages on the way don't get tourists and I had ...