OUR TRAVELS

One of the three amazing Greek Temples – in Paestum, Italy!

PART TEN

A great thing about our travels is the flexibility – we have a plan, sometimes we stick to it, we often adapt it and sometimes we change it completely. Our leaving Manfredonia (see Part Nine) was just such an occasion.

We’d planned to go to Gallipoli, further down the Adriatic and in the ‘heel’ of the boot of Italy. We’d read that there was quite a lot to see, the town was interesting and that there was at least one campsite open during the Winter. However, second thoughts, for a number of reasons (though mostly because it would be a particularly long drive to Sicilia which we wanted to visit. to see what it would be like for next Winter) decided us to go back across Italy to the Med coast once again, though further south than we’d been before. We ventured beyond Napoli, land of the original Pizzas!

I’d never heard of Paestum – once run by the Greeks, whose presence we were to find out is marked by three of the best-preserved temples anywhere – but it was on the way to Sicilia, sort of, and hopefully a little warmer.

The thrill of dining out – the only diners in the campsite restaurant, our table by the glorious open wood burning fire!

Well, it was warmer – but not at night time!

Camping Villaggio Dei Pini is right on the beach at Capaccio Paestum and it was such a wonderful location we stayed for about 4 or 5 weeks – so this is the first of two blogs about our time there. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon, the owner, a touch stern-faced, to be honest, took our details, as well as our temperatures, and told us we could choose any available pitch.

There were three only taken and the one that we really fancied was free – bingo, we were set up in a short time and went straight the beach, but a few metres away! Idyllic just about sums it up!

In the distance, the Amalfi Coast, seen from our deserted beach!
Sunset, same beach, different angle, showing the beautiful Isle of Capri!

The following day we went to retrieve our passports from the office where we met the great young guy, Daniel, who became our friend in no time! Speaking German, Italian, English and Spanish – he’s worth his weight in gold at Villaggio Dei Pini, for that reason alone. However, that’s not all that makes him such a great guy to have at reception – he’s so friendly and willing to help. Add to this that he is a musician, playing the guitar, as well as an ex-professional footballer (having played pro footy in Uraguay, Italy and Switzerland!) and a lover all natural foods and, wait for it – wine!

He’s half German, half Uruguayan and his lovely wife is Italian – their sweet little girl, Celeste, therefore a mixture of the lot! And – when we arrived, Ana was over 8 months pregnant, so a small family about to become a little larger!

Clockwise – Claire, Celeste, Ana, Daniel, Fri and Lalla!
Bringing Paella to the land of Risotto – a small Paella Party, chez nous!

Also, we were delighted to meet Fri (pronounced Free) and Lalla – fellow travellers staying on the campsite, who were such good fun, with Fri another guitarist!

We all hit it off perfectly – one of the greatest pleasures of camping!

Claire and I were also invited to Daniel, Ana, and Celeste’s nearby apartment where we watched Daniel make homemade fresh pasta, also using Ana’s mother’s home grown and pressed tomato sauce and home grown and pressed olive oil. We chatted and played with Celeste and had a lovely time. One highlight was when I told our new friends that Claire is an Classical/Opera singer – and, I managed to convince her that she should give a little ‘taste’ of her wonderful singing.

Celeste, following the conversation, but probably expecting just a little sing song, was looking at Claire when she started on an opera aria, from memory, and seeing the little girl’s jaw drop with her eyes wide in astonishment, was priceless! Indeed, so moved was she, that she asked to leave the table and dance with beautiful balletic movement, following her year or so of ballet dancing classes. What a wonderful night!

It’s a man-thing!

Another great benefit of ‘our’ beach was the fact that, although deserted of people, there was a good amount of driftwood. This, coupled with the fact that the campsite had plenty of Pine Trees (it’s in the name!), spelt Beach Bonfire BBQ to me!

This was our first – we had several. The weather great, the wine good and the food, well my usual 5o shades of black!

We went to see the amazing temples, though Covid restrictions stopped us from visiting, but they are plainly, magnificently visible from the road. We also went to the nearby town of Agropoli on Scoots, which enabled us to climb the narrow and steep road to the deserted, but well preserved medieval castle, where we were enchanted by the occupied dwellings which surround it, many of them built at the same time!

So, we were lucky yet again – and there’s more: (don’t miss Part Eleven, where I take up a new hobby; we, inevitably, I guess, visit a winery; and when our lovely daughter Rosanna comes out to play!)

Thanks for reading!

OUR TRAVELS

PART NINE

Manfredonia, Puglia.

Looking back at the history behind Manfredonia, where we arrived after Pompei, I see that the modern town was founded in the mid-13th Century by the eponymous King Manfred. The Greeks had owned it, the Romans after them, others, then the Normans, but I cannot find any reference at all to the rumour that it was the inspiration behind the name of the ’60s Pop Group, Manfred Mann (Ha Ha Said the Clown, and more such classics!). Odd that!

We needed to hotfoot it out of of Pompei as the area was going to be re-classified as a Red zone. We’d always intended to see the Adriatic coast, so why not go to a Yellow zone there? Our journey was interesting, quite mountainous, with misty, rainy weather and a curious motorway services stop where we were the only people there apart from the pump attendant and the guy running the cafe and shop. Once sitting with a panini style lunch the mist and drizzle seemed to close in on us obscuring everything outside, causing us to wonder if we’d moved into a parallel universe, or perhaps into a ghost story!

We left sharpish!

Once near to our campsite destination the roads took a dramatic turn for the worse, causing us to wonder if it was true that Northern Italy has the lion’s share of the country’s finances. Poor Campy didn’t like them at all!

Our campsite was great, just a 25m walk to the beach which was deserted apart from an amazing collection of shells – which were really beautiful.

Our Private Beach!

There was a slight issue with wifi, which is crucial to Claire’s teaching online, of course, but having arrived at the weekend we were surprised to see that on the Monday several of the campervans had left – locals who’d been there just for the weekend. Thus we were able to change our pitch and have better internet service. One great thing about it being a sort of weekend resort was the fact that the the closed restaurant advertised takeaway pizzas on the Saturday night – it would have been rude not to have ordered one! Scrummy!

Manfredonia was quite charming – an easy Scoots ride away, a small harbour, a small castle, though not open due to Covid, a few pizzas and some shopping possibilities (oh great!). We easily found a lovely restaurant where we were made so welcome as we were trying to speak Italian which was appreciated.

The tiny harbour.
Excellent fishy starter!

Manfredonia reminded us a little of the Azores, it had that sort of ‘feel’ about it. We went again to explore a little more.

Our nearest neighbour, another campervan in the next pitch in fact was a pleasant Italian who helped us out one day when it really was raining heavily. However, he must have been cursing us later that day!

We’d put out our awning – and forgotten to take it in because of the rain. Water was gathering as we were sitting inside, oblivious to the problem. We heard some shouts, but didn’t really take notice until there was a knock on the door – which is one of those No-No’s really in camping, respecting privacy, unless there’s a problem, of course.

I leapt to my feet – well, if you’ve seen me move recently, you’ll know that’s not true, two ruptured discs in my lower back, one dodgy knee, the other largely useless have rather impacted on my leaping anywhere! So, by the time I’d reached the door, 1.5m from where I was sitting, our kind neighbour was already trying to solve the problem by lowering one of our awning support poles to make it angled so that the lakes of water that had formed simply drained away.

However, he mistimed it, just as I opened the door – to see the contents of both lakes empty themselves on his head, knocking off his glasses and completely saturating him and his clothes.

“That’ll teach him to mind his own business!” – said Claire. Err, well ok, it was me, and a joke of course, albeit a touch cruel. It’s me brother’s fault, he taught me humour!

Needless to say (when Claire had stopped laughing – err, well . . . . ) we were mortified and very apologetic, thanking him etc. The next day, I went round to his to give him a couple of beers in thanks and a further apology, only to find he doesn’t drink – bingo, great entertainment, and free too, said Claire . . . . . .

In fact it was he who also helped us by telling us that Puglia was going red the next Monday, and suggesting that it might be better if we left while we still could. I don’t think it was because of Claire’s sense of humour!

He very generously gave us a couple of litres of Toilet Cassette fluid (dunno, must be an Italian camping tradition?!) and Claire gave him the flowers I’d picked for her. I didn’t suggest he put them in water . . . . .

“Early morning yesterday, I was up before the dawn.

Well, I really have enjoyed my stay, but I must be moving on.”