Advertisement
Published: July 28th 2006
And she,s back... :-) How is Canada, my darlings?? I,m almost half done my trip and I feel like I,ve been gone for months. I,m having such a great time, but I do miss the familiarity of home and the comfort of family and friends. Know that I am thinking of you (and hoping you will all decide to move to Italy so that my life will be easier!)
Sorrento and area was FABULOUS, and Janelle and Neal and I had such a good time together...more days of incredible experiences (and more bearable weather - I just got back to Milan and it,s just too hot!) I,m having trouble picking my favourite place (or even narrowing it down to say 5 or 6) in this country full of fantastic towns, beaches, mountains, and churches - they make me feel like crying they are so beautiful!!
I will take you back to the Como Weekend...
We left Colico and went to Morbegno for a little shopping. It is SUCH a lovely little town (probably a bit smaller than Sidney) with cobblestone streets that wind around seemingly with no pattern, a lovely small old square with a fountain, cafes with
lots of seating outside for people watching, and glorious shops of Italian shoes!! Teo and Angela took us to Ciapponi,s which specializes in wine and cheese. Teo got permission to show us the underground caves they use for storing wine and cheese. Wow! They were dank and smelly (especially the formaggio part! *erk*) cellars connected by stairs carved out in the rock. Amazingly vecchio (old) cheeses and wines - many specialties made just in the Morbegno area. An older man (Ciapponi?) invited us into a special cheese room and explained about many of the cheeses, and gave us a sample as well. It was such a great time. He told some stories which I would love to repeat, but will have to ask Kim and Shane to help me with the details... Matteo was a great translator, and is very patient with us :-)
The day at Colico beach was also my Dad,s birthday. I don,t know if I,ve ever missed his birthday before! Matteo helped me by going to several stores looking for an international phone card and we finally found one. We raced home, as we were late to drive to a little village for dinner on
Morbegno's Beautiful Church
Can you see the tiny people??the way to their cabin...in the Alps!!
Somehow, there was a miscommunication, as I thought I would be able to call my Papa from the restaurant, but we ended up going straight to the cabin and I missed his birthday!! I couldn,t believe it! Dad - I,m so sorry :-( I feel terrible about it and hope I can make it up to you when I get home.
We left to drive up a mountain behind Morbegno (we brought our rental car as there wasn,t enough room for everyone in their SUV). What an experience!! I didn,t get to see much because the road became more and more scary (frightening, exhilarating, exciting!) The road became so narrow in parts that two cars simply could not have passed, we had to honk before going around some corners as they were impossible to see around. We passed through tiny villages where people were sitting out enjoying the evening, and some wild bikers who were going either up or down the same road *unbelievable* On either side of us were other mountains, and we criss-crossed our way up one mountain, moving across to another. After about half an hour of this
amazing journey (up an Alp!) we came to a small village and Shane helped me park the car precariously at the side of the road. (Here,s where we thought we were going for dinner.) We were invited, however, to pile into the SUV as they said the rental car wouldn,t make it where we were going! Sure enough, the road was made of rocky and rough terrain, and we jostled about back and forth, Matteo shoved in the back with our bags, and poor Felicita having to sit on my lap in the front. It was hilarious! After 10-15 mins (?) of this we parked the SUV and began to hike. Oh yes, here,s me... having walked/hiked a bit in Hazelton before I left... thinking I was in pretty good shape for hiking... trying to keep up with the mountain goats aka our Italian friends! They are in amazing shape (no wonder they are so skinny even though they live in gelato-land) and even carried some of my stuff (how humiliating!) Kim and Shane are in fantastic shape as well (Kim didn,t even break a sweat!) We hiked for maybe 30-40 minutes through beautiful trees and meadows, stopping to eat
wild blueberries (ok, ok, pretending to eat blueberries so I could catch my breath!), and came up to three once-wonderful stone buildings - crumbling stone, wild grasses growing up around the outsides, missing and broken windows, a shrine with a painting more than 200 hundred years old - and we were a little worried that this would be our stopping place. However, just beyond...through the trees, past more berries, up a stone staircase...
A heavenly, gorgeous, big, new cabin! They had building materials brought in by helicopter, furniture brought up the mountain on Giovanni,s motorbike, and the views came included (you could look across and see a couple different towns perched on the mountain side - we could even see their grandmother,s cabin on a different mountain!) Giovanni and his brother had spent months creating this wonderful 3 storey building, with a side for each of their families. There was a full bathroom in the bottom floor (aaaahhh..the luxury), a big open kitchen and dining area with a fireplace on the main floor, and an open loft on the top floor (with real beds!) I cannot describe how charming it was - we stood on the porch looking out
and shook our heads in disbelief.
We had a wonderful dinner outside at a great big table (oh yes, my dream of Italia!) We had cheese made only from the milk of cows on a particular part of their mountain (and don,t even try to find it elsewhere they told me. They sell it in China, but it,s not the real thing!) We had pasta with freshly made pesto (Cheryl, you would have loved it! We,ll have to try making it), and dipped into an enormous jug of wine made by Giovanni,s friend, which Giovanni had hauled up the mountain (goat!) that very day.
Oh, but it was good.
We crashed for the night and slept and slept.... oops, that was just me. Kim and Shane were up early as the flies were gathering around their carcasses. However, this just means they had more time than me to enjoy :-)
Around 10am people started showing up for a family BBQ (more than 20, I think). It was so much fun (and hardly any English)! Everyone seemed to bring some kind of gorgeous food - fruit torte, a special zucchero (sugar) pie traditional to the area, elk
stew (yes, Dad, I ate elk stew - but it was in Italy and I didn,t know it was elk when I first bit into it!!) Giovanni spent over an hour stirring a huge pot of polenta on a special stove outside reserved just for polenta-making, uncle filled a metal tray over a fire with sausages, steaks, all kinds of meats, and Felicita made a huge pot of special stew to go with the polenta - funghi, pomodoros (tomatoes), onion, etc - delicious! There were slabs of wood with cheeses and slices meats artfully arranged, fresh pane (bread). It was awesome and we gorged ourselves! I remember sitting across from Kim partway through the meal and she said, " This is surreal." That was the theme of the weekend, the three of us just wondering if we could be certain this was happening.
We spent the afternoon lazily in the shade, chatting, laying on the grass, dipping our toes in the little pool that also served as a fountain and fridge, Kim and I helped cut up herbs Angela had picked to make tea (delicious tea!) We left late afternoon (going down was much easier) and got home in
time to lay around some more and eat plums from the tree in the garden.
In the evening Matteo and Felicita took us to Piagno to see the ruins of a more than 1000 year old Abbey. Set against the green of the grass, and the coming night sky, it was stunning. The stone work was so intricate - patterns carved in stone, a large bell tower, the remains of living quarters. There are sometimes concerts at this site, and I would have loved to be able to go to one. We ended the evening with gelato in Morbegno (of course).
The next day Kim and Shane and I set off for Morbegno for shopping, but as most of the stores were closed for the morning, we ended up going earlier than planned to Varenna on Lake Como. What a sweet little town of steep stone staircases and tall beautiful houses with wrought-iron balconies and colourful shutters. We had a great lunch of bruschetta and pizza on the water,s edge, and, after Shane had fed some baby ducks (so cute) we walked along the lakeside exploring. We could see Bellagio across the water, but decided to stay in
Varenna and have a relaxing afternoon. It was great fun - and Kim and Shane are hilarious, so I laughed a lot.
We went home and had arranged to take the Polas out for dinner in Colico (the swimming place) at the Hotel Risa (they recommended). They snuck off and paid and we were too slow to catch on. We felt so badly after all they had done for us. However, it was good to be together, eating yummy food, taking lots of pictures, joking in English and in Italian. Giovanni had a lot of fun teasing Kim - she said "mi piace the" (I like tea) which happens to sound the same as "I like you" and he had her repeating it serveral times!
The next (sad) day I drove Kim and Shane to the airport, we had one last delicious lunch, and they left Italia. I will see them on my way home.... and I,m sure they will be back to Italia.
Stay tuned for the next installment of "As Italia Turns" when Melanie ventures on her own to the Cinque Terre to take in some beach time, hike between the little towns, read, and
relax. Will her pale skin give her away as a traveller (or will it just be because she,s hauling around a massive backpack)? Will she run out of money? Will she find true love?...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.173s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 11; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0515s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Joslyn
non-member comment
a fly on the wall
Oh my oh my to be a fly on the wall, wait, forget that to be with you during this exciting time! Nice to know that the blueberries tasted so good (HA Ha) and glad to know that you are having so much fun! Mom and I can't wait for the next installment of "As Italia turns". Continue having so much fun and can't wait to hear more!