Our first night in Melfi with "the girls" Janet Allen's family.
This is taken outside the castle in Melfi with the town behind
us.
This was the draw bridge going into the castle.
The moat outside surrounding the castle!
We are over these twin lakes just outside of a Monastery.
From left to right: John & Carla, Mariada (Italian cousin),
Norris & Tori, Fred & Janet, Amalinda & Annibele
(Italian cousin)
After two days in Melfi we left for Torre Canne to
meet more family and enjoy the sea. This is my new
friend Aurelia. She is 24 and currently in Medical School.
She is so sweet and treated us with so much kindness
and love. We miss her already.
One of the highlights of our trip was staying in this
1000 year old Masseria, which is a renovated old farm
house that sits on a working olive tree orchard. It was
a magical place with a warm & friendly staff and
wonderful accommodations.
This is where they served us breakfast every morning! Wow!
Right outside of where we ate breakfast is a working
pizza oven . . . more ideas for our next home, right!
On the property of our Masseria is the oldest olive
tree in the world. Have you ever seen an olive tree
this HUGE?
The Italians took us to this awesome little town called
Alberobello, the city of the "Trulli". The town is filled
with these beautiful structures that are completely
built of stone, using no mortar or timber. We felt like we
had entered a fairytail.
So romantic!
This was to be our lunch the next day! Yikes!
Another charming city, Ostino, the white city. From
the bottom row left to right: Carla, Janet, Fred & us.
Next row: Gabriella, Adriano, Giovanni, Mariada & Nino.
Top row: Niko & Annibele.
Another magical evening!
From left: Francesco (he did alot of
the cooking and yes, in his speedo
with an apron,it was AWESOME!)
Nino, Annibele, Giovanni & Pina.
This beautiful young woman with her son was selling
pareos and jewelry right on the beach. Norris bought
me a bracelet and a pareo.
Off to Sorrento:
We took a boat from Naples to Sorrento. This is
taken as we are approaching this beautiful city.
Great view from a nearby bridge.
This is the view from our balcony of our hotel room,
not bad, right?
Positano - wished we had more time here. We only took a day
trip to this wonderful city. It is just like you see in movies.
Off to Rome
The colosseum.
The Trevi Fountain.
This picture is taken outside of Castel Sant'Angelo.
So far on this post I have failed to mention that this trip would
have been perfect had it not been for the miserable heat and
high humidity. We are atop the Castel here and my expression
says it all. The Vatican in the the background though is quite
lovely.
Janet wants to take accordion lessons so when we return to
Italy she can earn a few extra bucks to help pay for the trip.
She got a few pointers from this local artist.
Our last night at Campo di Fiore having yet another
meal. To console our irritation with the heat we just
ate our way through Italy.