Treitman Travel Testimonial

I love visitors and I love them even more when they agree to my request of writing a guest blog post! My most recent guests and I hadn't seen each other in over 3 years, but like with all great friendships we picked it up right where we left of...just thousands of more miles traveled! Although they were taken on the Standard Katie O. Tour I was amazed how that "Naples factor" kicked up the surprise factor making the tour even more memorable. Thank you both for heading to southern Italy to see me and getting a feel for my life here in Bella Napoli, I hope you loved it as much as I do.

Hello Readers,

I’m Tyler, and recently my wife Lexie and I stayed at the Oropeza B&B just outside of Naples. Our train from Rome arrived mid morning on Saturday and the Katie, the proprietor of said B&B was gracious enough to provide a shuttle service from the train station in Naples to her establishment in Monte di Procida. I highly recommend this service as navigating the Italian freeway system requires a higher level of understanding than this tourist has.

The B&B was located in a lovely neighborhood that is close to the coast but also on the highest point of the point at Monte di Procida. Accommodations were more spacious than we had imagined and very tidy. The other guests were nice folks as well. They were always quiet and reserved, tip toeing around like cats as to not disturb the serenity that come from time spent enjoying the view. That view alone is worth the visit, rooftop terrace has 360 degree views of Monte di Procida, Naples and the surrounding isles. You could really while away the hours there with a bottle or two of your favorite libation, as you soak in ancient vista, and contemplate the “bigger picture” or what ever that may mean to you.

What followed our tour of the accommodations was what I would call “hands on traveling”. We found ourselves slicing, mashing, roasting and frying. Indeed this was work on our vacation, how perverse! At least it was work till our task master provided us with wine to drink. At that moment perspective shifted as I realized I was in a cooking class that was hosted by a top local chef. We were taught how to shop for the right ingredients to make some delicious local meals. I do not recall how many courses we made as I may have eaten myself into a euphoric state between the 2^rd and 3^rd courses, or maybe I became overwhelmed and slept through a course somewhere…I can’t quite recall. We made a lemon and muscle pasta, eggplant parmesan, and a pear and ricotta tort. Learning can be delicious. 

Day two was a busy one. We started the morning at Vietri Sul Mare which features a beach that is often covered with broken and wave tossed colored ceramics from the local craftsmen. This sounds like it might be an awful form of pollution but it actually makes for a dynamically colorful painted pebble beach. We filled our pockets with potential mosaic components before hitting the road. The spaghetti noodle that is the road linking the cities along the Amalfi coast brought us to our second course of the day. An aromatic dish Sorrento was. Famous for its production of lemoncello, Sorrento is a city that is best understood once you have walked through the lemon orchard in the middle of downtown. Once you see some of the lemons that are the size of [American] footballs you can understand why the shops and restaurants are so proud of their relationship to the acidic fruit.

The last scheduled stop on our journey, was Herculaneum (and I mean “scheduled” as I don’t count the coastal bicycle race that closed the freeway down for about half an hour). Herculaneum was very important to me being that I have a degree in Archaeology.  Herculaneum, if you don’t know, is the other Roman city to be covered/preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Pompeii is the city that everyone knows of as it was discovered many years ago. My last trip to Italy was regretfully lacking due to the fact that Herculaneum was not open to the public at the time.  Herculaneum was by many accounts a more aristocratic community than Pompeii. The tour starts at what is called the ancient beach which is where the shore line used to be prior to the volcanic eruption. The first thing you notice is how many stories down and inland this beach is. I’ve seen many ancient monuments and so far in my travels but Herculaneum has been the most exciting.

 

As you make your way up from the beach you see alcoves built into the dock typically used to store seafaring items and cargo. From there you walk up a long ramp as the city appears to rise up out of the sea for several stories. Once at the top you find your self flanked by rows of multi level buildings on each side. A quick peak into a few of the buildings generally rewards you with clues as to its intended function. To the left there was a building that had a long table with giant amphora pots embedded in it, this was a restaurant. Down the road was a bath house with changing rooms and robe cubbies and hot cold rooms. Around the corner is a lavish house with several rooms and fountain next to a temple, a wealthy priest’s house. A large two story building with several rooms, this was an apartment building. Another large multi roomed building with common areas, this was a hotel. A building with a mill and a giant brick oven, this was a bakery. There was even a building with a large press at floor level, this was a laundromat. Togas apparently needed pressing too. Actually the typical roman laundromat would wash clothes with ammonia derived from human urine. There you have it, next time some one pisses themselves you are equipped with some fun facts which might lift their spirits, no guarantees.

 

 After an hour or so of walking the ancient roads the city will start to transform. At some point it transcends its condition, it ceases to be ruins and becomes a community. Herculaneum is so exciting to me because it is infinitely relatable in the way the Roman Coliseum or medieval castles are not. It takes no effort to imagine the people who lived there, no effort to see the city as they did, and no effort to sympathize with their fate. 

On August 24th 79 AD Mount Vesuvius began to quake and fume intensely. Some may have tried to evacuate through the ash raining down across the Bay of Naples, but several remained in what they through might be a safe place. Remember the alcoves at the docks I spoke about earlier? Some 300 of the inhabitants of the town hid inside these niches built into the rock. Young and old, rich, and poor, baker, blacksmith, and priest were likely praying to their gods for safety. On August 25^th around 1:00 the mountain erupted and Herculaneum would be hit by the pyroclastic flow, a wall of hot gasses burning at 932 degrees blasted the town at 100 mph. Our huddling townsfolk’s blood instantly boiled and their teeth popped like popcorn kernels in their heads. This happened 6 times before the ash settled and entombed the skeletons in the docks. I hesitate to call them “skeletons” because the word is too hollow, at the end of the day they became neighbors with lives and stories to me.

I can’t finish this letter on a somber note, let’s pick it up a bit... 

We got back to the Oropeza B&B and rested our weary feet from our long day. Soon though, our stomachs had a craving that can only be alleviated by pizza. “When in Naples, eat pizza,” I just quoted myself. Katie had a great idea to host a pizza tasting competition, which is a challenge I’ve never turned down. We ordered 4 pizza’s for the 3 of us and started eating like it was August 23, 79 AD (too soon?). There was one margherita pizza, one prosciutto pizza, an eggplant pizza and a weird non traditional one with arugula and corn. We all lost count of how many slices we ate for science.   In the end the margherita pizza from our host’s favorite place was the clear winner. I’d like to think the Herculanean baker would have agreed. 

Tours By Katie O: Eat & Shop Your Way Through Southern Italy!

Another visitor, another guest blog on the same trip! Enjoy taking a look at my Zia Janet's photo-blog as she summarizes her trip to Italy.

My title for your tour would be "Eat and Shop your way through Southern Italy!"  I really enjoyed the food aspects, as you can tell! 

Katie demonstrating the proper hand gripping the steering wheel when meeting a large bus on a curve along the Amalfi Coast. 

 

"Why are those people in my road?"

Hanging out in Positano

Seriously, it was an incredibly fun little adventure and haven't had so many laughs in quite a while.  My ceramics made it home in one piece and I'll have them to always remember our little adventure and your great hospitality.

When in Italy...

As most you know, in an effort to add to blog entries I encourage my guests and my travel adventure buddies to write an entry. It not only gives me some time off from writing (ha, I've been slacking lately) but often I'm reminded of events I've already forgotten about in the inevitably different take on the situation.

This blog post is written by my grandma, just back from her whirlwind tour of Italy with my 2 aunts- including a jaunt around Naples. Many new memories were made, but I want to have her tell you all about it. So, here's my grandma's debut guest blog, her take on the trip, and our monthly family letter (slightly edited so you don't get all the family details) penned by her. 

Is it time for a Family Letter? Katie says it is! I will review my notes, and write before my memory fades! I will probably remember this trip just fine, it was great!

Janet and I drove to Portland Tuesday evening to stay at the Radisson, left the car there. We worried about meeting up with Sandy in Chicago, she was coming from Los Angles, but it worked great, and soon we three were on our way to Frankfurt, Germany, on a Lufthansa flight. Not much room, our long femurs made our knees touch the seat ahead, but we survived. Didnʼt sleep much though, and arrived at midnight our time, six am German time. The trek across the Frankfurt airport was long, up and down escalators, from one end of the airport to the other, plus passport check. We barely made our Venice flight. Janet ran ahead to hold the plane, and they were looking for us!

Venice airport gave me another new experience. As we looked for our airport transport to the island of Venice, I saw a guy holding up a sign reading GUFFY, MANGIN, BITTER. It was our boat guide, so we loaded in and sped across the water to the Grand Canal of Venice. The driver stopped, pulled up to a concrete wall, and we were to unload. Sandy made the leap to the dock, followed by me, then Janet. It was like a four foot jump. Pretty good for an old lady! 

We walked to our hotel, about six blocks, maybe, but the streets are so narrow, no cars there. Cobblestones, and steps leading up and over the many smaller canals. We were dragging our suitcases, and I need to add that Janet insisted on picking mine up and carrying it when there were steps, sure helped. Since it was about 9 am, we werenʼt sure the hotel would let us into our room, but they did, and since weʼd been up for 24 hours, we rested for a couple hours. We were on Formose Square, a real happening place all day. Small outdoor cafes, a fruit market, and lots of people coming and going. We enjoyed it. We walked to St Marks square, the main square where the big cathedral, the Doges Palace, and other historical buildings are. 

The next morning we set off for Murano, the glass factories, where Venetian glass is famous. The island of Murano has the glass factories, and we enjoyed that, I bought my souvenir rooster. Then we got back on the boat and went to the island of Burano, my favorite. All the houses are painted different colors, a charming place. We had memorable pizza at lunch, we walked a lot, and then returned to Venice and our hotel. People eat late here, so after dark we walked to the Grand Canal area, for dinner. Janet said we needed to have our veggies and fruits, and weʼd only had pizza for lunch so...we sat at an outside cafe and the spritzers looked so attractive (an orange drink with Campari) that we decided to order those. They had a slice of orange in the glass, and they brought potato chips, so we had our fruit and veggie. We did eat healthy on this trip, and all lost weight! That walking will 
do it! Linc even lost weight, he missed me and my cooking!
! 

We left Venice and took a high speed train to Florence,
 then to Siena. Our one experience with the Roma (gypsies) was 
at the Florence train station. We found our car, and was going 
to get on the train when a young man and girl grabbed our
suitcases, and swung them aboard the train and into the 
luggage rack, then held out their hands! We gave them one
 euro each bag, although he said he wanted five! We met an 
interesting lady at that point. She explained that she didnʼt mind
giving them the euro, they “worked for it” instead of begging.
 She was an English woman artist who had lived in Tuscany 30
 years. She had just returned from a trip to the Seychelle Islands, 
off the East coast of Africa. She and artist friends were there
 painting. She told us about the various hill towns we passed 
until she got off before we reached Siena, our destination. 

We 
taxied to our hotel in the Old City, near the famous Il Campo 
square. Every town has a square, a cathedral, and a dome...The 
churches are beautiful, huge, richly decorated. I never saw a protestant church, but I know there must be some.We spent 4 hours in the Siena cathedral, Janet and Sandy climbed to the very top of the tower, but I stopped about sixth floor. I had a new soup for dinner, bread soup! It was good, beans, some savory broth, and chunks of coarse bread. I will say we never had bad food in Italy, the bread was wonderful, and we had wine with lunch and dinners. The wine seemed a bit watered down, but good.

On Monday we had booked a private tour in Siena, and the guide arrived in her van and it
was pouring rain! We saw the hill towns, wonderful old ruins of churches, built in 1100 and 1200 AD, and saw the sword in the stone. Ask me about that!! We ate lunch in a small village in a cafe where the guide knew the people, then visited a sheep
farm , again a personal friend of our guide. He owns 120 sheep, which he said was the number that his 3 dogs could protect from the wolves. He milks them and makes cheese. Showed us all his equipment, took us into his kitchen and gave us wine and his cheese with bread. Interesting to get to go into a localʼs house
! 

The next day we caught the bus and went into Florence, where we went to the museums, shopped.Walked a LOT. We all bought scarves, aprons, etc here, then bussed back to Siena before dark, Passes a US military cemetery from WW II just outside Florence. Remember, the Allies invaded Italy and fought their was up through as a second front, and we lost lots of soldiers there. More good dinners, ravioli for me. We also enjoy the gelato. Better than ice cream!

Onward to ROME! I think we walked more in Rome than anywhere, to the Coliseum, all over the Vatican Museum and St Peters Square, and church. There must be thousands of sculptures and paintings in the museum, the Sistine Chapel. All those things I've always read about, Iʼve now seen. The coliseum is huge, but I canʼt believe the cruelty of the Romans who enjoyed watching slaves, Christians, being torn to pieces by lions. They had Gladiators (costumed men) who wanted you to pay to take a picture with them. We didnʼt! Ha! 

We were disappointed to find St Peterʼs church was closed that afternoon due to a special mass. That night I thought about it, and got everyone up at six thirty am and said, “St Peterʼs opens at seven am, lets get up, take a cab, go see it, and come back for breakfast” so we did, and we were all glad we did! No crowds, got to see the most famous church in the world, the Swiss Guard, etc. You notice my offer was to “take a cab” I was learning that I didnʼt want to walk everywhere! Cabs were good, and only about $15 each way to the Vatican. Walked that evening though, to the Trevi fountain, the Spanish Steps other sites Iʼve read about in novels and movies. (Remember Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn?)

We left Rome and trained to Naples. Southern Italy is different than northern. Dirtier, less neat, but a charm of its own. Every apartment window has laundry hanging out of it. Katie met us outside the train station, and we drove to her home in Monte di Procida, about a 40 minute drive. I was so impressed with her home. Three levels, at the top of the building. Views from her balconies of the Mediterranean. Capri, other islands just off the coast. 

I was just as impressed with her driving. I havenʼt said much about Italian streets and drivers, but, crazy! People drive small cars, mopeds, scooters, and fast! I couldnʼt drive here at all, but Kate is an expert! I was in awe! Katie took us to her favorite local cafe, Mariella's, where the specialty was chestnut soup...chestnuts were everywhere, roasted on the street vendor carts, and on menus. All Italian dinners begin with antipasti, appetizers, then follows a pasta course, called first plate, then a second plate, or meat dish, then ensalada, or salad, dessert and espresso. Of course wine and a plate of bread. We left the next morning to drive south, Vesuvius, Amalfi, etc. We went to the Herculaneum ruins instead of Pompeii. Both Katie and Kristen said it was better. Fascinating, and grim to think of all those people buried in the ash from the volcano. 

Then we went to Vietri, wonderful ceramic shops. We all bought something to remember it by, then North along the Amalfi coast. All I can say is “beautiful.” Villages clinging to the cliffs, been there for centuries. Colorful flowers and painted houses. All Italians seem to be good gardeners, terraced up the mountain are small plots.This area grows lots of lemons, olives, tomatoes. We stayed in Amalfi at a charming Hotel Amalfi. The highlight there was that I got to ride with Giuseppe who backed Katie's car into the hotel garage. Clearance about 2 inches...ha He was their resident hotel employee who did that. The 
rooms we had there were in the
 garden, each with a balcony or
 courtyard. There were kitties all
 around, so Kate loved that. I loved
 the lemon trees and flowers.
 Again, gelato! We drove the 
coast to Sorrento, shopped,
 picked up bits of tile and shells on
 the beach, and then arrived at 
Kateʼs at dusk.

The next day we 
rested in the am, followed the
coast to a seaside cafe for lunch, 
and shopped in a French
 owned equivalent of Super WalMart in the 
pm. That store was huge, and very interesting. Very different from our markets, lots of pasta, frozen foods were displayed different, etc.

Our travel home was long! Good from Naples to Munich. At Munich we were delayed over 2 and 1/2 hrs due to an AC problem, so sat on tarmac , no AC, stuffy! Of course that made the plane late to SF, instead of an 11 hr flight, it was almost 14. We missed our Portland flight and were put up in a airport hotel, booked for 6 am, so got to the hotel at midnight, up at 4 to shuttle to the airport. Glad to pick up my car and drive home to Roseburg!

I surely am glad to have gone. I had fun, it was wonderful being with Katie, Janet and Sandy. We were compatible travelers, liked the same things-I liked taxi rides! Ha
!

Jammed Packed 48 Hours

In the past several months I've discovered many things about how I travel.

I travel light.
I travel cheaply.
I'll sacrifice a meal if that means I can fit another site in and a gelato stand is located.
And if I'm traveling- I'm definitely a go getter. I'm going to climb the towers, check out the churches, visit shops, spend time in a museum...well, you get the point.

Turns out my cousin is very similar with her methodology so when I picked Tink up with one of her friends early on a Saturday morning at Port of Bari telling them our itinerary, she didn't even bat an eye.

Maybe that's because she was being too entertained as I talked back to the GPS  to get to our first destination of Alberello as I heard all about their Croatia travels in the week prior. We finally found the part of the town we were looking for, hit up my favorite trullo for some fabulous liquor samples, and explored the church. The trulli neighborhood isn't all that large, so once our arms were full of shopping bags we found a place to grab lunch.

They were healthy.
I wasn't.
They ordered salads.
I ordered fries.
They got a huge bowl of green lettuce.
I got fries.

We then proceeded to cut across to my side of Italy. Our route looked something like this and let Ravi explore a bunch of new roads. I can only say something like that too because whenever I thought I was going the right direction, somehow it turned out being incorrect. Oh well. It's all part of the adventures and the girls got to experience first hand drivers in Southern Italy. We stopped in Positano for a break in driving, a touch of shopping, and gelati. When in doubt, gelato is the correct answer.

After ending up in downtown Naples on a Saturday evening, Ravi kissing the bumper of a car in front of us, and fighting a ton of traffic...we finally made it home to Nico. He was a little wary of the extra two people walking in with me, but a peace offering was given and all was well with the world. From that point on he was a goof and decided he could hang out with us as we enjoyed 4 pizzas prepared for us (by Joe of course) over hearing about the latest neighborhood drama.

A few short hours later, rested, showered, we trekked back out to Ercolano, another community destroyed by Mt. Vesuvio. It was a treat to have someone else telling me about what we were looking at, even if a lot of the Italian was Spanish sounding. Once we explored every nook and cranny within the escacvation site it was time to head back to Naples for the speedy tour around the Old Town.

We may have sat and ate for some time, but so much of the Italian culture is built around the tradition of eating and sharing meals, it seemed appropriate. As far as specific reactions and some of the crazy experiences, well I'm going to let Tink share those with you. Why? Well, at this point I think I'm immune to some of the craziness of Naples so it's more fun to read about a first timer's reaction than mine.

Sea Kayaking

So it took me nearly 4 months, but I finally put my toes (okay, more than my toes) into the Tyrrhenian Sea! I had to laugh when I realized this was the case, but then recalled that I never really went to the beach back at home. Sure I was by the beach all the time but after the age of 12 realized that I'd lose a toe if I was in the water for all that long. (Apart from when I would chase Drake into the water down at Carmel...good times.)

About a month ago I signed up for this sea kayaking trip through the NOR Center in the middle of my "I'm in Italy so I want to see Italy but have no idea where to start" phase. It just happened to be on the same day of the opening day ceremony for the Blue Dragons, my all star soccer team. Although I was little sad I didn't get to see how they'd do just after 2 practices the text from Coach Scott saying they won 8-1 re-assured me that the 2 "C"oaches had it under control while I was out paddling around the various bays filled with the most amazing blue water.

There were 6 of us on the tour. 5 guys and me. 5 married men that all left their wives at home while they took a day trip. I apparently didn't get this memo but whatever, they were entertaining and all but one had lived in California so we had lots to talk about. I also found out about a few hikes and a karaoke bar in Arco Felice. (Side note, Italy has now been "blessed" with my karaoke skills. Yep. That was Friday night.)

After our 1.5 hour drive (with a stop for coffee) we made it to our launching point. We started off in Punta della Campanella on the Bay of Salerno. The water was perhaps the clearest and deepest sapphire blue I've seen my entire time in Italy. While we were close to the marina you could see rocks and vegetation through turquoise water and there was so little trash in the water I nearly forgot I was in Southern Italy. Heading out around the peninsula back towards the Bay of Naples Capri was straight ahead. This of course confused me to no end since I too can see Capri from my patio. After looking at a map though, I'm looking at the other side of it and yes, from my patio it's much further away than the 6km it was from us on the water.

The waves were a little different than kayaking in Elk Horn Slough or in Still Water Cove but nothing my t-rex arms couldn't deal with. Granted I was the one "enjoying the view" but  honestly think that was due to my inefficient stroke. Plus, it was not a competition and I was really in awe of the rocks and their steep slope dropping right off into the ocean. We followed the coast line (some us more closely than others) and saw towers and other buildings left from WWII and a tad before. One guy commented that these buildings weren't old at all. I just reminded him that they were "old" by American standards but no, not by our new standard with all things being from a long, long time ago.

As we turned the final point that would put us back into the Bay of Naples, the wind really picked up. We continued on for a few minutes but then decided to head back to the beach area in one of the coves to eat lunch and hang out. Well, this was the point that my kayak decided it wanted to skip the bay all together and head back to our starting point. Ray, the guide laughed and suggested that my kayak needed a saddle since it was acting more like a horse, knowing the way back home. I had the same issue on the way out, but just figured my right arm was out muscling my left arm. Well, now that I was pulling right I figured it really was the doing of the current out muscling my weakly arms.

Our kayak gang stormed the pebbly beach with a sprinkling of older locals roasting in the sun. Once free of my lovely kayak skirt and life jacket I told Stanley we were going for a swim. The water felt perfect. Apparently it was a little cooler than it had been in the summer but really any warmer would have been gross feeling. The water was super salty. How salty? I kept spitting the salt taste out of my mouth even when I wasn't getting water in my mouth. So probably not quite Dead Sea salinity level but plenty enough for me. If the taste didn't give it away, my increased buoyancy sure did. I propelled myself around a little while before realizing that I should probably head back to the beach and coat my blinding white body (minus my arms) with more SF50.

While we all hung out and chatted an English speaking couple totally picked up that we weren't Italian. Not sure if that was due to our (lovely) matching tops with English writing or the fact that we were speaking English so I chatted with them for a bit. They were just visiting the area but were curious about Naples so I gave them a little info. The group then took a mini hike up the hillside to go see a rock mining area from WWII. (These were those not so old buildings.) We didn't have enough time to head all the way up the hill to the church, but on the drive out of town they pointed out where the trail head was. We all laughed that we won't remember how we got there, but thanks.

On the way back to the beach where we started the day I guess we went faster than planned because we had a little more time. Most of the group continued to dodge the boats in the marina as we headed out towards Positano. Well, more like just wrapping around a few more curves of the coast to possibly Nerano but that's a pure guess as I sit here with my map. We didn't actually see Positano based on our position, but we could see all the way to Praiano and were told it was another 2 hours by kayak to get there. No grazie, my arms had had more than enough at this point and my hands were having issues holding the oar but maybe next time?

Out of the sun, in dry clothes, arms already feeling achy I loaded back up to the back seat of the 9 passenger van. Although I fought hard to take in the windy road, olive trees, buildings, and views of the water I fell asleep for a while. By the time we arrived back to Carney Park I was questioning if I could turn my steering wheel enough to be able to drive home on my windy road.

I made it.

Just don't ask me to open any twist top containers or carry anything more than a coffee mug because it's not happening.