Category: Europe Fall 2022

In September and October 2022 Duke and I are travelling through Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania and Greece.

Policoro to Picerno

We are now on the way back to Naples. This morning we left the coast at the ‘instep’ of Italy and headed inland and northwest in the Basilicata region of Italy. Along the way we stopped at the town of Matera. It is the oldest continuously occupied town in Italy. According to Wikipedia the area has been occupied since the Palaeolithic (10th millennium BC). The town is built around a canyon and is famous for its cave dwellings. We parked and walked.

Cave dwellings in Matera
Behind us is the Duomo in Matera.

The cave dwellings in Matera were a slum in the 1950s and were then abandoned. Now they contain shops, B and Bs, and a knitting shop! The first I have seen in Italy.

Knitting shop in Matera
Knitting shop in Matera

After leaving Matera we found a great spot for Duke to record his YouTube review of our Fiat 500X. It will be posted on our YouTube channel soon. If you follow the channel you may have seen that we are now up to 115 subscribers. Thank you all! We have named the channel Boomers Without Borders.

Getting ready to record Duke review of our Fiat 500X

Tonight we are staying at a hotel overlooking the town of Picerno.

Picerno from our hotel.

We played cards in Brian and Jo Ann’s room. tomorrow Brian and Jo Ann will head back to Rome as they start their trip home. So tonight was our last game of 500. The final reckoning for our two weeks of card playing found Duke in first place, Brian and Jo Ann tied for second and me in last place. Our nightly card games were a lot of fun.

Our last card game

Agriturismo Trappeto Vecchio to Policoro

This morning after breakfast at our Agriturismo we went to see the Archaeological Park of Sybaris. Three different cities have existed on this site. The Greek city of Sybaris was established about 720 BC. Another Greek city, Thurii was established about 444 BC. And the Roman city of Copia was established about 194 BC. We visited both the archaeological site and the associated museum.

The ruins of Copia and Thurii
The ruins of Copia and Thurii
Inside the Sybaris Archaeological Museum

Tonight we are staying at a beach resort. After we checked in we went down to the beech to swim in the Mediterranean.

Duke and I ready to take on the Mediterranean
Swimming

Then we went back to the hotel to play cards outside our room.

Playing cards

For dinner we went to a nearby restaurant.

Seafood grill
The pizza that Duke and I shared.

Scilla to Agriturismo Trappeto Vecchio

Today we drove up the heel of Italy to a wonderful Agriturismo near the instep of Italy.

But first we decided to drive up to the top of the highest mountain above Scilla where we stayed last night. The brochure we picked up at the hotel made the drive and hike sound relatively easy and there was supposed to be a Christ the Redeemer statue at the top.

The road was very potholed. We stopped to eat the melon we bought a few days ago.

Eating our melon

A bit farther up the road we stopped at the sign for Montalto. Duke and Jo Ann made it to the top of the mountain. We didn’t find the statue but there was a great view.

The view from the top
Duke and Jo Ann on top of Montalto

I think Agriturismo Trappeto Vecchio where we are staying is the nicest Agroturismo we have stayed at. The owner greeted us and offered us beer made by a friend of his. The setting is idyllic. We are surrounded by citrus and olive trees.

Our welcome drink
Agriturismo Trappeto Vecchio
Where we ate and played cards

We had a wonderful dinner ending with fruit from his trees.

Selfie at dinner
Dinner
Dessert

Agrigento to Scilla

The roads we have driven on in Sicily vary dramatically. We started out today on back roads that were in very poor condition.

Guard rail where the road used to be

We ended as we were leaving Sicily on excellent four lane highways.

Autostrada with Mt Etna in the background.

We left Sicily by ferry.

Ferry from Sicily to Calabria

Tonight we are staying in the picturesque little town of Scilla. It is on the Calabrian side of the Straights of Messina directly across from the extreme eastern tip of Sicily.

After checking into our hotel we visited Castle Ruffo on the strategic tip of the headland

Ruffo castle
Duke and Marion at Ruffo Castle

Then we had gelato next to the beach.

Gelato break
Ruffo Castle from Scilla beach

Our hotel is 310 feet above the beach. They have an elevator from the town center down to the beach. We walked down to the beach but took the elevator back up.

For dinner we hiked down to the beach again and ate at a lovely restaurant out over the water with the waves crashing around us.

Dinner in Scilla
Stuffed anchovies
Mixed seafood grill
Puffed pastry with figs.

After dinner we again took the elevator up to the town center and then walked to our hotel.

From west of Agrigento to north of Agrigento

This morning we had breakfast at our Agriturismo then went for a walk in the vineyards.

Breakfast
Walking near our Agriturismo

Today was a bit of a rest day. We only went about forty miles. Tonight we are at Agriturismo Tenuta San Giovanni Casale Leto, it is a lovely place on the top of a hill with a 360 degree view.

Brian and Jo Ann in the pool

On our way here today we thought we might find a laundromat and do our laundry. We found what might be one on Google and followed Google’s driving directions. This is where we ended up

It’s a car wash!

As we were driving through this town we followed the garbage collector for a while. It was interesting that people hang their trash from their balcony on a hook and the garbage man takes it and tosses it in the truck

Garbage collection

This afternoon we rested and played cards by the pool.

We ate dinner at our Agriturismo. It was a great dinner. We ate outside, started with antipasto, then had casarecca pasta with mozzarella and pesto then had pork and mozzarella rolls with fresh green beans. Then we ended with fresh melon.

Antipasto
Pasta