Blogs from Brindisi, Apulia, Italy, Europe - page 2

7th day - Friday It was Lent and Friday so of course we had a fish fry that evening. We woke up at the crack of 9:30AM and headed with Sara to her fave pescheria (fish shop). We ordered orata fish for the main meal, mussels, and clams. We also went to another shop to order some additional delicacies that were not available at the first place for mostly…ahem, legal reasons. At the second shop, we ordered various items in the crudo (to be eaten raw) category. The first was schiume (sea foam), these are fish hatchlings, it looks like goopy grayish paste when they are all together. Next was some kind of sea snail, some pied di capra (goat’s foot) which I really can’t define for you, suffice it to say that it is some ... read more

6th day - Thursday Today we got up late yet again. It was raining hard and it was dam-p coldish...hee hee hee. No sense in getting out of bed too early! Today's goal was to go to Lecce, do some sightseeing, find an internet point, and take care of a problem with Sam's phone. We departed for Lecce hopeful for a break in the weather and upon arrival it was still raining and everything was closed up for the afternoon break, doh! So we went to a local mall to see if we could resolve some of these issues and wait for the weather to improve - it did! We found what appeared to be the only public phone in the mall and Sam contacted his phone company/European division. Meanwhile Beth and I went looking for ... read more

2nd day - Sunday We arrived in Rome slightly ahead of schedule. In fact Beth and I woke up from our sleep with only an hour remaining in our flight. Yep, you gotta love that. The only major stressor was that our friends' bags did not make it to Rome. Good luck prevailed and there was an extremely helpful individual (we think he was some kind of supervisor) that assisted Sam & Terri. The supervisor type guy pointed out a help desk for us to seek assistance. He came by after a few minutes to check out the situation. This was a good thing because when we arrived at the desk some poor guy was being lambasted by the woman behind the desk. He was Italian and they were arguing with each other, the exchange ended ... read more

Prologue: We just returned from a two week Spring Break vacation in Italy. We went to visit friends, relax, and basically just gad about and have fun. We stayed a week in Brindisi and then another in the Cilento region. Our good friends Sam & Terri accompanied us and were fun travel companions. Prior to the trip I decided to try a different approach to the commentary and took a little finger puppet whom I christened Al to use as a social icebreaker and a 3rd person commenter. I composed these posts in a diary format and tried to catch the highlights of the vacation rather than give a detailed blow-by-blow account. Up Up and Away 1st day - Saturday Our pre-departure routine has become honed to a state of maximum efficiency. The night before our ... read more

Yup...$917 roundtrip airfare from Boise, ID to Rome, Italy! This is close to the record low of $850 we had the year we went skiing at Monterosa. We are headed back to Brindisi to visit our good friends Sara & Vincenzo. They are getting married! We will be accompanied by another set of excellent friends, Sam & Terri. This is their first time to Italy and we (Beth & I) intend to give them the "authentic experience." Our itinerary will be as follows: Spend a whirlwind day in Rome on our arrival day and then set out by car to Brindisi the next morning. Spend 4 - 5 days visiting all of our friends in Brindisi most particularly our beloved Mina (my Italian mother while we lived there). After that we are headed to Castellabate for ... read more