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  • Dag 48

    Travel day to Sciacca

    30 april 2023, Italien ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Today we are going to drive to the town where my great-grandmothers family is from. It’s called Poggioreale. We stopped at a local bar to get some sandwiches and snacks, and my Dad asked if they knew any Cangeloses. Sicilians actually spell Cangelose with an i. They said the mayor is a Cangelose! So we went to his relative’s house and then he came over. My Mom said that Aunt Paige had told her the mayor had come to Texas for the family reunion. The mayors name is Memo Cangelosi. And he remembered the reunion. He brought us a book on the history of Poggioreale. We were very grateful for the family to have us over. Their son was there and he spoke English. We all sat in the dining room and they gave us some Cokes to drink. After we said our goodbyes, we drove to Sciacca. We got to our amazing hotel and had a snack. Andrew took a bike went exploring and we got settled in our room. Mom and Dad went to the spa, The spa has salted thermal pools and a huge steam room. This spa wont let anyone under 18 go in. So Andrew and I cant go. The gym is outside and they have fitness classes. The resort has golf, basketball, tennis, pickle ball, water sports, a teen club. It’s awesome! But the weather isn’t great…..Andrew and I relaxed in our room until they got back. We then switched rooms so we could be more closer together. We didn’t make a reservation for dinner, so we had room service dinner.
    My Mom and Dad went to dinner at the seafood restaurant by the ocean. My Mom had pasta with shrimp and pistachios and my Dad had lamb chops. They of course had Bietola for a side. We asked for them to bring a dessert but they said they didn’t sound very good.
    We are hoping to do some activities in the ocean tomorrow. Buona Notte, Renee
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  • Dag 47

    Cefalu Day 1

    29 april 2023, Italien ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    After a restful night sleep, I got dressed to go to the store to pick up a few things. Gabe took the car and went to pick up Guy from his place in the country. We are going to all walk around town today. We saw the “Long Beach”, the Duomo where Gabe’s family were baptized and married, we got aranchini, some granita and cannoli. All started in Sicily.
    After our long walk around the city, we decided it was time for an afternoon rest back at our really nice apartment. Guy came and even took a nap. Gabe drove him to a birthday party before he headed to the train station. When he got back we got changed and walked over to the entrance to the climb up the mountain. There is a Greek temple high up above the city. The views are amazing, I’m sure. However the park was closed and wouldn’t let us go up. So we got our swimsuits and headed to the beach for a sun set swim. Renee said the water was colder than torch lake. Gabe stopped and got the kids some dinner from the restaurant on the corner. He and I went to a cute bistro near the Duomo for some sea bass. The food choices so far are very seafood focused. There is not many choices on the menus of dishes that don’t have seafood on it. My Mom and Dad would love all the anchovies! I may have to give them a try at least once. They have fried anchovies, and sea urchin pasta that sound interesting to me.
    Ciao!
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  • Dag 46

    Arriving in Sicily

    28 april 2023, Italien ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Sleeping in the tent was interesting. We only had a canvas cover over the structure and it was zipped shut. We woke up about 2am to some dogs ? Or something making a lot of noise. Then we were awoken by lots of bird sounds and other types of animals off and on until we finally got up at 7:30am. Gabe watched the sun rise over the vineyard. Breakfast was my personal favorite. I really liked this place a lot. I was planning a wedding in my head. We started the 2.5 hour drive to Villa San Giovanni. Thats the town were we will get on the ferry to go over to Sicily. We stopped for gas and went into the store to get some water. They had some amazing looking pizza and sandwiches so we got some for the road. Gabe had them add some Calabrian chilis to his. Since we are in the Calabria region. They were super hot. I bought the ferry tickets online so we will just need the QR code to board the ship. We were the last car to board! The ferry ride is only about 20 minutes and then we are in Messina Sicily. We have a 2.5 hour drive to the town of Cefalu. Gabe’s Mom’s side of the family is from Cefalu. We are going to meet one of Mikie’s first cousins tonight. He has come to Cefalu for 23 years. His name is Gaetano or Guy for short. When Gabe started texting him about our trip he asked him where we should go on the island and what we should see. He said he has never left Cefalu. What!!! Guy told Gabe that the family isn’t going to be able to pronounce his name. Which we have noticed that ourselves. They say Gee-be. It’s strange. So Gabe is going to be Gabrielle-e. Say it with an Italian accent. Guy is very interested in my family history as well. I got my cousin Mary Jo to send me some things on our Sicilian family. Which is my grandmothers side. I’m excited to share with him. The reason we decided to start in Cefalu is because Guy is leaving to go back to Louisiana. The dinner he arranged was really nice. No one spoke much English. We used google translate to talk. The kids got pizzas. It was a little better but still Napoli style. Guy is going to give us a private tour tomorrow around the city.
    A Presto,
    Veronica
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  • Dag 45

    Travel Day to Sicily

    27 april 2023, Italien ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    We are going to start driving to Sicily and its going to take about 6 hours so we are going to break up our trip.
    Its our last morning at Palazzo Avino….so sad. We started out with an amazing breakfast. Everyone got their favorites. Pancakes for Renee, French Toast for Andrew, Eggs Benedict for Gabe and I got an omelette. Not my favorite but I decided to be different. We made a stop at the pharmacy and then went to get a few shopping items checked off our list. Gabe and I both got some linen shorts, Andrew got some Italian Birkenstocks with memory foam soles and Renee and I got custom leather sandals. We loaded up the car and started the windy drive along the coast to Salerno. We drove through Salerno to see the town and stopped to get a quick panini for the road. It’s a nice town. Would like to go back for a visit.
    We then drove to a small town called Altomonte to spend the night. The agriturismo we chose is much larger than the first one we visited. It’s called Serragiumenta Castle. They have 600 acres of land. They have their own cows, pigs, horses, make their own wine, grow peaches, apricots, figs, plums, olive oil and 3 have styles of rooms. They have a main building with standard looking rooms, they have 4 suites by the pool and then 3 glamming tents out in the vineyard. It’s a very nice property. They had golf carts, e-bikes and of course a restaurant. Dinner was fantastic. The restaurant is super cute. The chef even accommodated Gabes food request. The wine was really good too!
    Andrew wasn’t feeling well so he went to bed early.
    Ciao
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  • Dag 44

    Ravello Day 1

    26 april 2023, Italien ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    After a wonderful nights sleep in our beautiful room we went downstairs to get some breakfast. Then we went into town to explore. We climbed tons of stairs to get to this amazing villa which had the best view on the island probably. The Villa is called villa Cimbrone. We walked around and saw a lot of statues, wisteria, flowers and gardens but the best part was the view. Ravello is sort of on a peninsula high above the ocean. The villa is at the very end of the town. After this we went back to the hotel and lounged by the pool for a while. The temperature was only 66 but the sun was out. It was a little windy but the pool was heated. I was trying to get a tan. We had lunch at the pool. When it was time for our spa appointment we went into the spa which was ok. The wet sauna was not great which is my favorite part about a spa. Once we were done with the spa we got ready for dinner. My parents bought some pottery at a pottery shop earlier in the day and met the owner. His name is Pascal. He also owns a hotel and restaurant. We met Pascals wife at the pottery shop and she was going to drive us to the restaurant. They make tons of different dishes in tons of patterns. They even do custom stuff. The restaurant is in the older original part of Ravello. It's next door to the first church in Ravello. The food was not to good surprisingly. After dinner we rode back to the hotel and went to bed. We are leaving tomorrow.
    Ciao,
    Andrew
    *Added more photos
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  • Dag 43

    Travel Day to Ravello

    25 april 2023, Italien ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Today we are leaving Sorrento. We are going to make a few stops along the way to our final destination, the town of Ravello on the Amalfi Coast.
    The Amalfi coast is considered to be from the town of Positano to the town of Vietri sul Mare. Sorrento is around the peninsula from Positano. There is a town called Amalfi. It’s the main historical center of the coast.
    Our first stop is a small town, Massa Lubrense, made famous by Stanley Tucci’s show. The restaurant is called Lo Scoglio. It’s right on the water. The dish Stanley ate and loved is Spaghetti Alla Nerano. Nerano is the town where the pasta dish was created. The dish is very simple. The spaghetti are covered in a very light creamy sauce made from provolone and pasta water. It has fried zucchini slices on the top. It was amazing!!! After lunch we headed to Positano. The road along the coast is extremely windy. The kids thankfully fell asleep so barfy didn’t make another appearance. It’s Tuesday, April 25 and its Italian Independence Day. So Positano was crowded! We drove through the town and drove out. Well we inched our way in bumper to bumper traffic. We passed by Amalfi and there wasn’t anyone there. Why did all the Italians decided to go to Positano ? We made it to our hotel in Rovello and got settled into our room. We went to explore the town a little before the sun sets. I decided to go and sit by the pool and work on some emails. It’s still quite chilly here. We were sure hoping for some sun and pool time. Gabe has a local place chosen for dinner. It was run by a total Nani! She took the orders and bring kids chocolate candies. She was funny. Andrew and I both got soup. Renee wanted the hamburger but it came out without a bun. She still ate it. Like a hamburger steak. The food is different here. So far…I’m not impressed. There is always tomorrow….Ciao.
    *more photos to come…
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  • Dag 42

    Sorrento Day 1

    24 april 2023, Italien ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    Today we are going to Pompeii. We hung out at home most of the morning then left the apartment to go to the lunch place. I had chicken. The place had this really cool rotisserie oven. My mom had a cotoletta that I really liked also. She shared with me. After lunch, we headed to the train station to go to Pompeii. We were going to get on the 1:00 train, but we let it go. We had to wait for the 1;38pm train. It took about 30 minutes to get to the Pompeii stop. We met up with our tour guide Natalia. We got our tickets and headed into the city. It had walls all around it and had many shops. Along all the roads and inside houses, there were small white rocks. The moonlight reflected on them and illuminated the roads at night. They are called “cat eye’s”. The first room we went in was like a court room, where they would discus laws and punishments for prisoners. The second room was called the Fourm. It was used for meeting up with people and selling goods. Fun fact: People in Pompeii used urine to wash their clothes. There was also a LOT of shops. The workers of the shops slept upstairs. They were typically slaves. All of the roofs were destroyed by the ash from the volcano. It wasn’t lava that destroyed Pompeii, it was deadly ash, that could kill you if you breathed it in. People died by suffocation. But the lava did in fact destroy one town, but we didn’t go there. Next up was the theater. There were two. The big one was used for comedy and plays. The actors were played by slaves, because it was bad it be a actor. Politicians usually paid for everyone to watch for free, this was their way of saying “vote for me, I paid for this.” The small theater was where music was played. Then, the bathhouse. There was a men’s and women’s side, and they had a commons area outside, where they did exercises and talked. Then, inside, there was a cubby to hold belongings and they didn’t really have showers. There were steam rooms, and huge bath tubs. How did they get the water? They had fountains. It was coming from the aqueduct, which is like gutters we still have to this day. They also stored rainwater. There are many many fountains on the streets of Pompeii. Most still work today. I drank water from one. We explored several different houses. Inside the houses, there was a small pool in the atrium. It was open to the sky so that the rain water could collect in the pool. That’s where they stored the rainwater. In some houses, they had big living rooms that opened into an interior courtyard. The bedrooms were small and near the front door. Several houses have been restored with a roof and plants added so that we can see how things would have looked. We explored a lot for more than 2 hours. After we left Natalia, we walked up to the train station to catch the train. After we got off, we got back home and rested. Then we went to a pizza place, which had good pizza, but none of us really liked it. It was soggy Napolitean pizza. Dad went to have calls, and I watched “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” with my mom. We were all tired, so we went to bed.Läs mer

  • Dag 41

    Travel Day to Sorento Part 2

    23 april 2023, Italien ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Today we left the hotel and drove to Sorrento. First we stopped in Tivoli to get some lunch. But we couldn’t find a parking spot and 2 restaurants weren’t open yet so Dad decided we should keep going. We got a little turned around and saw a sign for KFC. It’s inside a mall. We parked, ordered and were back on the road in 30 minutes. It was finger lickin Good. It was expensive. $34 dollars for our meal. After KFC, we got to Sorrento and we checked in at our house. We are staying about 7 minutes outside of the center of Sorrento. We got changed and drove into town. Parking was hard to find because its Sunday. We decided to get an apertivo for a snack at the hotel that P And UK stayed at. After this we walked around for a while and shopped. Once it was time for dinner we walked to dinner and dinner was not good. We all had pasta and I wanted some calamari but it tasted very dry and was hard and crunchy. After dinner we got gelato and Mom got Kennedy a limealade dress. The Gelato which was not too great but because we choose bad flavors except for Mom who got what she wanted exactly. After we walked around eating our gelato we for a lil bit we went home. Hopefully, we will have some better food tomorrow.
    Ciao, Andrew
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  • Dag 40

    Travel Day to Sorrento

    22 april 2023, Italien ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    After saying goodbye to Villa Dante we started our road trip to Sorrento. It’s a long 6 hour drive so we are going to stop along the way. Our first stop is in Siena. Gabe and I came to Siena in 2006. I remember the square well. It’s very different from other piazzas. We wandered looking for a few restaurants we had picked out. But decided on a different one. We had a light lunch and went to find gelato. The square was very busy and it’s defiantly getting warmer as we drive south. Our 2nd stop is in Montepulciano for a quick snack. We hiked up to the center of town and didn’t find much to see. We were trying to remember if we had been there before. But neither of us could remember.
    I have been trying to find us a Agruiturismo to eat at. We have eaten at them with Vitto before but I hadn’t been able to find one on this trip yet. Agriturismo means “independently owned farm”. How they got started were travelers would come up to peoples homes and ask for a meal and a place to stay. Not all of them today are hotels but most are. I hadn’t been having a luck because most have a 3 or more night minimum. I was able to find one in a small town called Sarteano. They have about 20 rooms, they are a vineyard and of course a farm. The owners live on property and eat dinner with the guests every night. The restaurant has been in the Michelin guide for several years. Gabe absolutely loved the steak. The pasta they made us was amazing But I was a little disappointed there were not any vegetables. Only potatoes. And the dessert was ehh…I haven’t been feeling great the past few days so I was very ready for bed.
    *The wisteria smells so good. And looks beautiful. Am I allergic ? Or the cypress ?
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  • Dag 39

    Greve in Chianti Day 4

    21 april 2023, Italien ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Gabe cooked us a nice breakfast of bacon, eggs with ricotta and toast with the best crust less bread. We sat outside for awhile enjoying the view. After a nice relaxing morning Gabe and I got dressed for a wine tasting. We are meeting Mike and Nicole Rose, Bill and Annika Bennett and another couple at a vineyard. Mike and Bill are in Gabes EO forum. They have been in Tuscany for the week. We saw them in Florence for an hour or so a few days before. They are staying in a Villa in Cortona. After being here for a few days, we realize that Tuscany is huge. Cortona is 2 hours away from us.. So we picked a vineyard to meet at in the middle We are meeting at the Colle Bereto vineyard. They are a fairly large producer of Chianti Classico for Tuscany. And 80% of their production stays in Italy! Bernardo the winemaker met us outside and started us on a history lesson. He is super passionate about the Chianti region and getting the wine to Texas. Rick Perry has been to the vineyard before and he gets wine shipped to him often. We are also having lunch in their amazing 12th century building. It was the original winery from the 70;s but they have since added other buildings to the property. They were also able to expand the underground facility to have gravity fed grapes during harvest. The owners bought the vineyard in the 70’s for nothing. The owners also own a business in Florence that makes the metal chains used for most all designer handbags. The owner uses the chains in other designs such as placemats, chargers, and candle holders. It’s really cool. Bernardo has been the winemaker for 23 years at Colle Bereto. He has received some very honorable awards he is proud of. In 2020, 3 of their wines made the top 3 spots on the wine spectator list for Chianti Classico. The day before we arrived he found out that another wine just made the list for this year. 95 points! The lunch was simple, homemade and fantastic. Fresh vegetables from their garden. Ravioli and of course wine. We tried 1 sparking, 1 white and 5 reds.
    After the tasting we are excited to get back to the house because we are having a pizza dough making class and making our own pizzas in the pizza oven. Chef Nando and his assistant Illyria are the best! They of course made everything look so easy and taste amazing. Our pizzas were so good. We were stuffed!! We even had Nutella pizza. We are so sad to leave in the morning.
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