14 NAPLES TO SABINA
This week marked Cam’s departure from the trip. If I were honest, I found the last few days it a little tricky. Having spent so much time together - over 2 months constantly (emphasis on constantly) in each other’s company - to go then five weeks apart was going to be strange and a little sad, regardless of how much fun I knew we were both going to continue to have on our separate trips. Time has flown by so quickly I often feel like we should only been on week 5. Instead, it was the time I had imagined to only exist in the distant future, so I was a bit blue (even though I had known he was leaving to visit friends in Zimbabwe for over 6 months). Anyhow…lets move on before I start sobbing!
We began the week in Gaeta, north of Naples, reading our books on the beach. I finished Fahrenheit 451 which I did enjoy and I did appreciate the concept, but I ultimately found to be quite an unexciting read (sorry Barack Obama who recommends it). We then drove back to Naples (via a MacDonalds) to do a short hike around the summit of a tiny volcano - Cratere di Monte Nuovo. Despite the overgrown path, it was a nice walk and at the end of the day, I can now say that I’ve walked around a volcano (the fact that it’s been extinct for over 500 years is irrelevant…).
After surviving our dangerous expedition, Cam and I made our way to a nearby hotel that I had booked to celebrate his last night. It had really good reviews and so did the restaurant on the ground floor. Unfortunately - just my luck - the restaurant was shut ! Instead, we picked up some pizzas from a local pizzeria and had a really nice evening accompanied by a stunning sunset from the balcony.
In the morning, we had our complimentary breakfast before making our way to the airport. I waved Cam off at departures and no more than 5 minutes later (thankfully, I did have a 5 minute time slot to shed at least 3 tears in the toilet cubicle), I picked Hannah up from arrivals. Although I knew I was already excited for Han to arrive, it became more apparent the minute we started chatting that I was really thrilled to have her join me for my Italian leg of the trip. I assured her that my blotchy eyes were not caused by her arrival.
We headed straight to the beach Cam and I had visited two nights previous in Gaeta. I thought it was a good start for Han because the beach was nice and sandy, and the town had plenty of places to eat to celebrate her arrival. We ticked off both those activities with no hesitation: a few hours on the beach, followed by a lovely evening meal at a local pizza/pasta restaurant called Ké Eat which was super tasty. A wholesome first day!
The following day we spent in Sperlonga, a beach town just north of Gaeta recommended by my family friend Sally (you will be hearing more about Sally this week!). After spending a couple of hours on the beach, we had a little nosey around the village of Sperlonga itself. To our surprise, we found a village not dissimilar from the Greek island villages I have seen in pictures; narrow streets, whitewashed walls and wooden blue windows. It was really cute and provided a nice relief from the heat.
We then decided it was time to leave the coast and find a camp spot for the night. The weather had began to climb into the mid-thirties once again, so it became a requirement to camp near some water so that we could spend tomorrow not frying in the heat. Following some research, I found lago Bracciano, 50km north of Rome. Once we arrived, we found a camp spot and made dinner. Unfortunately we ended up leaving the spot because we hadn’t been made to feel very comfortable; a man had come towards the van and stared at us for 20 minutes (classic men) and then we heard some strange rummaging in the nearby bushes (though in the end, we concluded that the noise in the bushes was probably a wild boar or just a cat - same difference).
The campsite was lovely however - very welcoming and wholesome with fairy lights guiding us around. It was also right on the lakefront, meaning in the morning we were able to jump in right away. In fact, we spent the whole following day by the lake and it was incredibly refreshing given the heat.
By the evening and satisfied from the lake, we made the journey an hour east to Sally’s house in Sabina. Sally is the daughter of a neighbour of mine back in North Wales. She has lived in Italy for over twenty years and as a tour guide who works exclusively around Italy by coach, she is immensely knowledgeable about Italy’s highlights (and lowpoints) and was able to recommend places to visit (and avoid) which has been extremely helpful.
Arriving at Sally’s, I felt an overwhelming jealousy because it neatly summarised my dream Italian villa. It was absolutely beautiful. Her house was surrounded by greenery including lots of colourful flowers and ripening fruit trees. There was also a swimming pool, which would be well used over the next couple of days. On top of all that, there was an incredible view! Sally greeted us with fruit and wine, and we were incredibly excited to be in Sabina. At around 9pm, we walked down into the centre of the village. For the past week, the locals had been a celebrating a religious festival, with that particular evening’s festivities involving a very talented cover group who were incredibly entertaining and got us all dancing along. Despite being the youngest people dancing by at least 25 years, we had a lot of fun.
Given that the temperature was on the rise again, Han and I spent the following couple of days dipping in and out of Sally’s pool as well as soaking in the Italian culture. Sally drove us to a local river and we were very grateful that she did, because not only was it a beautiful natural sight, but because the pools were super cold and therefore extremely refreshing.
Sally also gave us a tour of some local villages - Firstly Toffa, which had the classic narrow Italian streets; secondly Farfa where we got to see a little bit of a pristine Abbey; and then finally Fara in Sabina which, perched at the top of a hill, had a beautiful view. All three were lovely to visit and whilst I’m not quite sure what the locals do in these pretty little towns, I was surprised at how active they were. It was nice to witness given that a lot of villages in Wales of similar sizes often seem desolate.
We also went to another village to attend yet another festival. At the festival, we were greeted with a school dinner-type tray with homemade ravioli made by the local ladies of the village, as well as a dessert and a starter. Accompanying the food was a local band, who, due to an ambulance emergency of some kind, were delayed by an hour. Once the emergency vehicle was out of sight, the music started again, all the locals resumed their dancing. It was very wholesome.
Sally had been an excellent host. Leaving, I felt like I had genuinely learnt a thing or two about the Italian culture and it was nice to have seen the local community at its best. We will be back !
Regrettably, we left on Sunday morning and visited the town of Orvieto, which, I can comfortably say has the most striking Cathedral of any city I had visited. Truly breath-taking. We sat to recover from the heat with a gelato, before heading to Lago di Bolsena to completely cool down before setting up camp in a carpark just by the water.
SUMMARY
Han has enjoyed her first week…I hope. We haven’t argued or wanted to strangle each other yet so that’s a win. It has been a varied week - from sea to lake to river to lake which has been a welcome change since I was beginning to feel that I had abandoned the notion of visiting lakes. Spending time with Sally in her natural Italian environment was really lovely and I will not hesitate in returning as soon as I can! Join us next week when we visit more of Tuscany and make our way North to Turin!
