Marechiaro

Another day of travel, and then we rest (climb mountains, relax at beaches, eat well) in our Air B&B in a little town called Lacco Ameno on the island of Ischia.

This morning we did a dash to Napoli Sotterranea, where the temperature was far more bearable than that 30 degrees that welcomes us each morning at around 9am. It’s hot, really hot. The kind of heat and humidity that provides you with that glamorous glisten of celebrities who have just dismantled some sort of explosive device under pressure. The underground passages and caverns were all carved through solid stone, originally an underground aquifer that supplied Napoli, then in later years (post 1940) turned to being bomb shelters.

We rushed to grab our bags (and a stressful few minutes when the owner wasn’t responsive to texts and calls, which meant we were temporarily locked out without bags), before we headed to the wharf at Beverello to catch a hydrofoil to Ischia Porto. Stopping once at Prodica, the entire trip took us an hour, just enough time to get through a decent true crime podcast.

Once we had docked at Ischia Porto, we boarded a local bus which dropped us at the top of Lacco Ameno, the “small fishing town” that we will be staying in for the next few days. A few minutes down the road, while trying to dodge oncoming cars and vespas, we met our host Bjoern in the local piazza. He lives above the Air BnB unit with his partner and showed us all that needed showing, the most important being our own coffee machine! It is a beautifully simple one bedroom unit with a kitchen (which he stocked with fresh fruit, coffee pods and a fridge full of food!), bathroom and washing machine, air conditioning and hand painted floor tiles which is just a tad busy, but totally charming. We’re going to be very happy here.

We freshened ourselves up and went into town with the view of finding a spot next to the water and having a swim. Sounds simple, right? What we hadn’t taken into account was the entire stretch of beach in Lacco Ameno being taken up by private owners, mainly hotels and bars, meaning all the deck chairs and beds were reserved and converted with leathery bodies. We did attempt to sit down at one stage but a “lifeguard” immediately came up and asked us nicely to vacate as these seats were already “reserved”, and apparently no other option was available. Google research showed us later on that families can rent beds, chairs and umbrellas for their entire holiday, leaving us unorganised/foreign/spontaneous travellers to find the very remote public beaches elsewhere. After seeking a gelato to calm our frustrated nerves, we headed 20 minutes up the hill to Spaggia de San Montano, a smaller beach that Bjoern had said was very sweet. By this point it was after 5pm, so by the time we arrived and settled ourselves the sun was beginning to slip behind the hill. We still enjoyed being able to lie down and relax on the sand for an hour (even if that meant foetal positioning ourselves on our tiny microfibre towels to avoid the weirdly dusty sand) before grabbing a spritz at one of the beachside bars.

For dinner we wandered into town and picked the first seafood restaurant we came to...mainly because their bruschetta was so cheap! Is that terrible?
We were lucky to score the last unreserved table out on the deck which meant we were lucky enough to see the orange glow on the boats docked as the sun set behind us. We deliberated over our dinner choices, but ended up quite happy with:
- Tomato Bruschetta to share,
- A first course of Spagetti alla gamberi,
- and a second courses of Fritto Misto for myself and a whole sea bream grilled with a side of chips for Ant.
We were amazed how late people chose to arrive for dinner, which was unfortunately the time when we were trying to get the bill! Even families with young kids were arriving at 9pm for a meal, amazing how cultures differ...we couldn’t wait to get home to bed!

We cannot wait to explore the island more tomorrow - buona notte!Read more