The Visit - Days 1 & 2

Pranzo 

Our daughter and her BF flew out on Saturday to spend 5 nights with us at Il Sogno. Flight landed 10 minutes early, so we were back home by 11 pm.  Being typically English, the kettle went on for a cuppa as soon as we walked through the door, the suitcase was thrown into the second bedroom & we all sat out on the terrace so that Flik & the BF could be introduced to Cupcake.  Normally wary of new people, Cupcake obviously sensed that Flik is a 'cat person' & within 5 minutes she was lying in her lap, enjoying all the fuss.

Sunday morning & we started it slowly, cuppa to wake everyone up, breakfast on the terrace,  La Torretta for a coffee - the place was heaving, as usual.  Back to Il Sogno for R & R, a leisurely lunch 'fuori', followed by another cuppa & an afternoon spent reading.  It was agreed that we'd go into town for dinner - Flik & the BF needed to go see Natalino at Cilento Sub to arrange the 4 dives they hoped to do over the next 2 days.  Dives were sorted - kitting up would take place at 9 am Monday - & we took a
passeggiata down to Lo Sparviero to enjoy a marvellous dinner (see my last blog).

Castellabate viewed from San Marco 

Monday morning meant an early start to be at the Dive Centre for 9 am. I was going to go on the boat trip with them but hubby doesn't 'do' boats so he planned to go for his Monday morning yoga lesson as usual. Kit sorted, we hitched a lift with Roberto, one of the instructors, down to San Marco port, boarded the boat, waited for Natalino to arrive (probably made a 'pitstop' to buy more cigarettes) & eventually set out to sea. The more experienced divers were to make a deeper dive first, out beyond Punta Licosa, then we headed back closer to shore for Flik & the BF to make their 15-20m dive.

Wet suited & ready to dive

Wet suits were donned, weights sorted, flippers & masks put on as they sat on the edge of the boat, tanks put on backs & entries into the water were made. Natalino was last to enter the water, ran through the hand signals once more & they slowly descended into 'il profondo blu'. When they eventually surfaced, Flik had the hugest grin on her face - she really does love her scuba diving - they'd seen a huge jellyfish & held a sea anemone. Verdict was it had been a good dive & they couldn't wait for their second dive at 4pm that afternoon.

Lo Sparviero

Our daughter & BF flew in on Saturday evening for a 5-night stay with us, landing at Naples 10 minutes earlier than their scheduled 8.25 pm arrival, so we were back at Il Sogno by 11 pm & sitting on the terrace having a cuppa & making introductions to Cupcake. It was a late night for everyone (except for me, the insomniac of the family) as we all saw midnight before hubby turned in, closely followed by Flik's BF &, finally, Flik herself. I was last to go in search of Morpheus, as usual.

Sunday was set to be a lazy day - apart from a quick dash to La Torretta for a coffee, we spent the day on the terrace, chatting, reading & having a leisurely lunch & planning our evening. Flik & the BF are big on scuba diving so we'd got to go into town to see Natalino at Cilento Sub dive centre & check that they'd still be OK to dive on Monday & Tuesday, so the plan was to go in just after 7 pm, see if Natalino was about, then head to Lo Sparviero for dinner. Lo Spaviero is the newest fish restaurant to open Santa Maria(apologies for calling it 'La Cuopperia' in an earlier blog, we didn't spot the high level sign on our first visit & the menu doesn't have the restaurant's name on it) & has a lovely location on Marina Piccola, ideal for watching the summer sunset.

Linguine, zucchine e scampi

Having had a bit of difficulty finding somewhere to park (always a nightmare in August), we walked down to the dive centre to find it in darkness so carried on to Marina Piccola & Lo Sparviero. Yet again we were the first to arrive & could have the pick of whichever 4 seater table we wanted. Sitting upstairs affords a better view of the setting sun, so we duly chose a table by the huge floor standing fan - bliss on a hot August evening!

There ensued great debate over what to order from the menu, asking the waiter for his recommendation and my stipulation that we each try a different dish so that I'd have 4 dishes to photograph for my blog. I decided to 'play safe' and stick with the linguine dish I'd had on our first visit. Hubby & I both love swordfish, so he went with the waiter's recommendation of Spada alla Cilentana - swordfish cooked with olives & tomatoes in a bain marie.

Spada alla Cilentana

Flik chose Orata al Limone - sea bream in lemon sauce - & her BF was persuaded by the waiter to try the Scialatelle e Scoglio - handmade fresh spaghetti-like pasta with a selection of shellfish.

Orata al Limone

Peroni & a glass of vino bianco to hand for the BF & myself, 2 bottles of acqua gassata for all 4 of us to share, we sat to chatting & waiting for our meals to arrive. The wait seemed interminable; after a while a complimentary dish of zeppole was placed before us (deep fried batter 'puff balls'). Of course, the long wait was down to the fact that everything is freshly prepared & we had each ordered a different dish - the sign of a good restaurant.

Scialiatelle e Scoglio

A huge basket of fresh bread & a plate of grilled zucchine e melanzane arrived at the table, another Peroni & a glass of wine were ordered, 'buon appetito' was said by one & all and we duly tucked into what we all agreed was one of the best dinners we'd ever had.

The Storm

The clouds began to gather mid afternoon - some white, some grey & menacing - but we weren't totally convinced the forecast storm was going to happen. However, just as hubby began to dish up dinner, the first rumble of thunder could be heard out beyond Ogliastro Marina. We took our meals & our drinks (a glass of rosé for me, apple juice for hubby) out to the dining table on the terrace & I dashed back inside to grab my camera. It has been ambition of mine to capture a lightning bolt on camera for a while now & I was hopeful this evening I might be lucky.

The thunder rumbled louder and after a few minutes the lightning began to flash out at sea. During dinner I picked up the camera more than once but wasn't quite quick enough to 'bag' a great shot. I was prepared to persevere however, and after a while I knew I'd finally 'ticked the box' on my Bucket List.....not just one lightning bolt captured on camera, but three within 5 minutes. How excited was I? (Very, as hubby can vouch for if asked).

My first ever lightning bolt shot

My 'perfect moment' pic of the day

Final successful shot

The storm raged on for more than 5 hours, rumbling around the valley, the lightning flashing above the menacing low clouds beyond San Marco & Castellabate, affording me this atmospheric shot to end my day......

Ferragosto

Ferragosto is officially 15th August, which is also the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary,

and here in the Cilento, it is celebrated on a grand scale. 

Most businesses close for the whole month, excepting those that rely on the tourist trade, and fireworks

are a daily occurrence, as the countdown to the 15th begins.

Each paese celebrates on a different day in the build up to the day 

itself and this evening it is Giungatelle's turn. We've had a week's 

worth of 'countdown' firecracker salutes at 8.00 pm each evening & tonight the street illuminations have

been turned on, the brass band has marched up the main street & there have been some spectacular fireworks. From our vantage point at Il Sogno we are fortunate enough to be able to see the whole valley, although most of Case del Conte is tucked in at the foot of the mountain & therefore out of view. However, Giungatelle is in full view and we have been afforded the  surreal feeling of watching the fireworks from above. At 8 o'clock we had the usual countdown firecrackers, set off in a string through the valley; we could hear both the brass band playing and the rest of the entertainment 'warming up' before the fireworks began in earnest. And boy, do the Italians love their fireworks.....not for them the insipid Catherine Wheel or puny Rocket which fails to perform; these are huge boxes, each cell triggering the next in a spectacular display of red white & green, combined with a cacophony of ear shattering bangs, which echo around the valley. After several minutes of awesome yet simple pyrotechnics, calm returns to the valley. The dying strains of the brass band can be heard and then silence as the villagers must be gathering together for their joint evening meal - everyone will have contributed 

something towards the meal and copious amounts of wine will no doubt be consumed before

the entertainment begins in earnest.  Even as I sit here typing
my blog, we can hear the strains of the open air disco starting up. Oh joy, another sleepless night lays ahead for us at Il Sogno.

Never Thought I'd Be Excited About Potholes

Much as we love life on Leila's mountain, the road leading to Il Sogno is anything but smooth.
When the FIL visited in October 2011, he went
back to England and said he'd never travelled on
such an awful donkey track in all his life (a slight
exaggeration - the road is actually tarmaced). It is owned by the Comune, who are responsible for its upkeep, but it's pretty
obvious that they hadn't bothered repairing it for quite some time (the pic above is one of the smaller potholes).

Back in February, on his return from the supermarket run, hubby noticed one of the local Polizia Municipale and 3 other guys inspecting some of the potholes further up the mountain, so he
went to find out what was going on. 'We're going to be repairing all the potholes next week, we're just working out how much cement we're going to need'. This was exciting news - not just for us, but also for Sven & Hella, who own the restored ruin above Il Sogno & use it as a holiday home about 4 times a year.

The first week of March came & activity was heard beyond our boundary wall.......but all that happened was that the verges were strimmed (rather haphazardly this year). A few days later a truck with a mini digger stopped outside Il Sogno, but that was only
Gerardo having trouble keeping it stable as he transported it from A to B.  And so March ended with no road repairs having happened at all. Sven & Hella had arrived for a few days, hopeful of a smooth ride up the mountain & were disappointed to find nothing had changed since their Christmas visit.

April, May, June & July came & went....still no road repairs, and as we are now officially in Ferragosto, we really weren't expecting anything to happen until at least September (a lot of businesses
close down for the whole month).  So hubby was pleasantly
surprised when he set off up the mountain  to go to the Posta this morning, only to find his way barred by a cement lorry & a gang of workers making a start on the road repairs. He turned round, drove down the mountain & went the long way round to Montecorice, hoping to get back home before the cement lorry barred his way lower down the mountain.

And so, it's all done - we have no potholes! This is cause for celebration indeed; we have had 2 harsh winters since we came here & the weather has eroded the road surface more each year; in some places the potholes were more than a foot deep & negotiating them in our previous car (Ed, a Suzuki SX4) had been a nightmare. We've been for a walk up the mountain this evening to inspect the repairs and, whilst they are not perfect, they are a vast improvement.

It's a pity the Comune didn't see fit to do a
'proper job' with tarmac but a road with no potholes is preferable to the state it was in before.

Oh, & we e-mailed Sven
& Hella to let them know that the repairs had finally happened and they are VERY excited! They'll be back in October to see for themselves.

Benvenuti a Castellabate

 Castellabate is the 'sede' or 'capo luogo' to its 2 neighbours, Santa Maria & San Marco, so they both have  'di Castellabate' after their name. Castellabate itself is a UNESCO World Heritage site & lies within the
Parco Nazionale del Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni & sits atop a hill
known by the Lombards & the Benedictines who converted them to Christianity as 'hill of the Holy Angel'. San Costabile Gentilcore, the IVth Abbot of Cava, began the construction of a castle atop the hill on
10th October 1123 but died shortly after building work started. The
castle was completed by his successor, Abbot Simeon of Cava, and
the town grew up around it, tumbling down the hill, houses seeming to cling to each other in an effort not to slide down it.

It is a town of beautifully cobbled alleyways, twisting their way away from the castle in all directions, the upper floors of some dwellings forming 'bridges' where
you seem to tunnel your way through & then suddenly break out into a sun filled
piazza. The main piazza, La Piazza 10 Ottobre 1123, featured heavily in the film
'Benvenuti al Sud', the Post Office supposedly being at one end of

the piazza. For the many Italian tourists who come in search of the film locations, there is one big surprise: there is no Post Office in Castellabate - the building used for the outdoor shots is actually a bar & the main Post Office is down in Santa Maria. However, the piazza does afford stunning views across to San Marco, Case del Conte & the bay of Ogliastro Marina. In fact, we can see our house from the piazza, so, technically, it did appear in the film (if you know precisely where to look).

Needless to say, such a stunning location is very popular with couples wishing to get married here - Civil ceremonies can be held in the castle courtyard & La Basilica Pontificio sees many a local bride marry in front of the huge crowd of relatives they all seem to have. The campanile straddles the flight of stone steps that take you from the castle to the Basilica, and when you are in precisely the right spot, you can glimpse the sea through the central tower arch. Turn right once through the archway and follow the road back up towards the castle and you'll find yourself in La Belvedere, which offers wonderful photo opportunities for 'birds eye view' shots of Santa Maria, such as this one of Marina Piccola & La Torre Perrotti. As you stand there & look down, that's when you truly become enthralled with the magic that is Castellabate.

Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita

2 months ago today we awoke in Grotta 8 at the Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita, Matera. We'd travelled down the afternoon before, so that we could wake up in this stunning setting for hubby's birthday, and it truly was an amazing place to be.

The journey down had taken a little longer than we expected, as 

the Autostrada was closed for major roadworks & we diverted 

through some of the beautifully quaint countryside towns & 

villages that southern Italy is famous for. On our return journey 

we discovered that we could've re-joined the Autostrada at the 

next junction, but then we wouldn't have seen some of the pretty

little places we drove through.

Once we reached the centre of Matera the sat nav did its usual trick of trying to take us the wrong way round a one-way system; being English we, of course, try to abide by the 'No Entry' & 'Right Turn Only' signs - something no Italian driver ever seems to do! After a renegotiation of the centre, we finally found ourselves at the foot of the stone steps to the Sextantio & we were about to be 

'wowed' beyond our wildest expectations.......

Behind the simple wooden doors in the picture above lay this

absolutely awesome cave, just over twice the size of Il Sogno, 

simply furnished with huge dark wooden medieval furniture

and littered with beautifully scented candles. I was totally blown

away the minute I entered & the 'little girl' within me, did a happy dance, ran back outside squealing (much to the amusement of the

guests staying in the next suite who'd just come back from a walk)

and then ran back in to give hubby a huge kiss & a hug. OK, it was hubby's birthday weekend, but hey, I was going to be helping him celebrate big time!

Having laid the HUGE door key on the dining table, I went to check out the bathroom. It had 

one of those wonderful free-standing baths I've

coveted since forever, a huge scented candle burning to one side & handmade bubble bath/shower gel, soap & shampoo that all smelt

absolutely divine - boy were we going to enjoy 

birthday bathtime!

I really couldn't get over the sheer size of the suite, the height of the cave, the underfloor heating in the bathroom or marvel at how they'd managed to wire in all the electrics with barely a channel to

be seen. The whole ethos of stepping back in time to experience a 

way of life long lost was not wasted on either of us.

The caves of Matera date back to Palaeolithic times & the view from our suite was across the valley of La Gravina to the original cave 

dwellings of that period - not a bad view for a landlocked city, although we did miss our stunning sea views we've become used to over the past 2 and a half years.