Natural Italy
I am recovering from my car accident today, so I will simply share these beautiful pictures from the Italian countryside. They bring such peace to my heart. 🙂
We made tisane with this scrumptious lavender.
Greek Rambles, Part II
Our exploration of the Old Fort in Corfu, Greece was exhilarating, beautiful, and roasting hot! As we clambered down steep wooden steps and entered the cobbled tunnel leading out we groaned with joy as great gusts of cold sea air whistled through the tunnel cooling us off deliciously.
We left the gorgeous views of ocean and town and entered the labyrinthine streets of Old Town Corfu.
As we wandered, we found lovely shops filled with soft pashminas, gorgeous hand-crafted jewelry, and exquisite antiques. Soon we were famished and parched and ready for a break. We found the perfect respite in a bustling little cafe set under an arbor of vines.
As we nibbled on fresh bread dipped in olive oil – is there any better way to start a meal? – we perused the menus handed to us by our jovial and hilarious elderly waiter.
I always love looking at the English version of menus while traveling. There’s always something lost in translation that amuses me. Impregnanted sardines? I think I’ll pass. 🙂
I settled on marinated, grilled chicken and pepper skewers on a bed of rice with heavenly crispy, fried potatoes and a big bottle of water.
The view from our table.
We thoroughly enjoyed our leisurely lunch where we were highly entertained by the colorful characters around us:
This guy talked on his cell phone in this posture the entire time – flexing his muscles for anyone who might be watching. We were watching. And laughing. 🙂
And these chaps who we are QUITE certain were mafia. 🙂 They sat facing the doorway for hours, smoking, drinking copious amounts of wine and an array of folks would wander in to confer with them in hushed or animated fashion. We had grand fun making up stories about them. 🙂
Then we were off for more exploring, eventually making our way over to the New Fort. But I’ll have to share that with you next week or I shall be late for work! 🙂
Greek Rambles
After our relaxing and beautiful first day in Greece, we slept soundly and awoke to another brilliantly sunny day.
We headed down to the hotel dining area, found sunny seats on the terrace and tucked into a hearty breakfast of strong coffee, yogurt with fruit and grains, Spanikopita, deviled eggs, sausages, tomatoes and cucumber.
With water bottles in hand we set out to explore the Old Town of Corfu, particularly the Old and New Forts. On our way we found a splendid outdoor market filled with artichokes, lettuces, olives, fresh fish and grapes.
I walked through dreaming of all the wonderful meals I could make with these amazing ingredients. There’s nothing quite like a farmer’s market to get the creative juices flowing!
We emerged into the blazing hot sunshine ready to tread the cobbled walkways and tunnels of the Old Fort.
The view from the fort was worth the trek up, and the breezes off the coast were deliciously cool.
Then it was time to head back through the Old Town for lunch, shopping and delighting in the shaded streets.
I love this classy restroom sign
Next week I’ll share with you our lovely lunch in Old Town Corfu. 🙂
To Life! Italian Style
I am so excited about this weekend! My aunt and uncle, Janet and Clint, are coming to visit from Canada and we have grand plans for delicious meals and girlie days and movies and popcorn and long walks and much visiting. 🙂
It’s been a doozy of a week. Pain has been my close companion. I have severe endometriosis and it’s been giving me grief this week so I canceled everything and have been resting, resting, resting. Thankfully the pain is easing up now and my world is getting brighter again. 🙂
It’s actually been kind of lovely to step away from life for a bit, to huddle under a quilt, read books, write, or just look out the window and think. While this week may have wreaked havoc on my body, it’s done wondrous things in my soul.
As I’ve been working through the aftermath of my youth spent in a religious cult, I noticed that I have kept a lot of stuff from those years. Books, music, movies, mementos, things that I used to create spots of beauty in that dark place, or allowed me to escape, if only for a brief moment, the traumatic situation I found myself in. Some things I kept as “proof” of what happened, feeling I needed them to validate myself or my past. Others were trinkets I had kept from my abusers, oddly enough. I was so starved for their approval and affection, that I clung to any little scrap they tossed me. I have them all.
But this week I realized that I don’t “need” them anymore. I don’t need to keep evidences of false love, reminders of darkness, or even my feeble attempts to make a bit of heaven in the midst of hell. I don’t need them because I have real love in my life now, I have healing and friendship and peace. I don’t want those things cluttering up my physical or emotional life.
So last night, when my pain miraculously ebbed for a few hours (yay!!), I became a One Woman Clearing Machine!! I went through boxes and bookshelves and bins and sorted my little heart out. I filled box after box with books and movies, decorations and clothes, linens and, mercy, who knows what all! The “bad” stuff I tossed immediately – shuffling outside in the dark, in my slippers and pjs to the apartment dumpster because I didn’t want them in my house one moment longer. 🙂 All the good things I’m going to take to a Woman’s Shelter. I hope that they will bring comfort and solace to another hurting heart, and perhaps give her light in a dark place like they once did for me.
Afterward I eased myself down onto the couch, surveyed the stacks of boxes by my front door and had a little weep. Understanding, awareness, change, they’re all good things, but they hurt like blazes along the way. Then I sighed and smiled and felt like a huge weight had been lifted. And golly, is my office ever clean! 🙂
So dear ones, in the spirit of new beginnings and fresh starts, I thought I’d share some peaceful and oh-so-green pictures of the area around the Italian villa my friends and I stayed in last spring. I hope they delight your hearts as much as they do mine. 🙂
Lane wending through the trees to an olive grove.
Battered and buckled old church door.
Hazy look into the valley at Perdifumo, Italy.
I could spend a happy hour sitting here.
I’m exceedingly fond of this door. And the little stone bench.
I dearly wanted to fix up this little place.
Sure would love to know the story behind this.
The wall, the path, I love it all.
Just because he’s cute. 🙂
Happy Weekend, dear ones!
Grecian Escape
We arrived in Greece cheering with whoops of joy and relief, so happy they let us out of Albania without proper paperwork.
This lack of adequate documentation was not our fault. We have the naughty, naughty rental car company to thank for that. Those charming folks who thought it would be perfectly fine to send us on a road trip through the Balkans with only a COPY instead of the ORIGINAL documents. Yeesh. Needless to say, each entry and exit of places like Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro and Albania, were fraught with anxiety, irate border guards and visions of Third World prison cells. 🙂
It was a grueling yet exhilarating trip through Albania. Nine hours over the worst roads we’d ever seen, through achingly beautiful countryside with people who looked like they’d stepped right out of an Old World painting.
One of the “roads” we traversed. Seriously. The rocky part, not the concrete bit.
We were scared and awed and loved every moment of it, but didn’t realize how grateful we were for “civilization” until we arrived in Greece and suddenly we had GPS (yeah, we went through Albania with an inaccurate, indecipherable map the size of a small car :-)), cell phone coverage and even the occasional English-speaker. 🙂
We arrived just before dark, settled our jostled bodies with a frosty bottle of Mythos and a lovely Greek pita filled with greens, chicken, tzaziki and, of all things, French Fries. Then we boarded our ferry to Corfu, finding seats on the top deck so we could soak in the sunset over the ocean.
The gorgeous view, cool sea breezes and gentle rocking of the ferry dissolved the last of our stress and we arrived in Corfu ready to start the next phase of our adventure. We had chosen our hotel online, expecting little for $12/person. Imagine our surprise when we woke the next morning to find THIS!
We couldn’t believe it! 🙂 To top it off, all our rooms overlooked the sea AND the $12/night included breakfast every morning. Not just any breakfast either, we’re talking the whole nine yards: juices, coffees, pastries, sausages, eggs, casseroles, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, spanikopita, fresh bread and butter, cereal. Oooee! We were thrilled. 🙂
Our first morning we spent by the pool, soaking up sunshine, reading books, falling asleep, recuperating from 8 days of cross-country driving. Mid-day we dined poolside on Souvlaki, French Fries and sparkling water.
Finally we dragged our groggy selves away from the pool, got dressed and went to…Starbucks. 🙂 Yes, I know you’re “supposed” to only do local, native things when you travel, but every once in a while it’s such a comfort to duck into a place that “feels” like home. If home had everything written in Greek. 🙂 Besides, this particular Starbucks had a view to die for and was right above a little church we wanted to explore and an island we wanted to visit. So off we went, touristy as can be, not caring in the slightest. 🙂
Refreshed by cold drinks and ocean breezes, we hiked down the hill to the church shown above. It is a tidy little place, white-washed and weathered, with a teensy courtyard inhabited by pots of flowers and a slumbering dog.
It is my personal policy that whenever traveling, if there is a boat ride available, I will take it! 🙂 Particularly when the captain is a scruffy local with weathered skin and a battered hat. It simply must be done. 🙂 Thankfully my travel companions were of the same mind and we all piled on board: Ben, Ry, Trish, Viss, Stace, Nat and me.
Content with a boat trip out to Mouse Island, my cup of joy overflowed when the captain offered me the wheel. WOOHOOHOO!! 🙂
Mouse Island is a quiet, secluded place, peaceful and serene dotted with trees, ringed with craggy boulders and fields of grasses, with a white church perched atop a hill.
After trekking about the island for a while, balancing on stone walls, dipping our fingers in the water, we rode back to shore.
We drove back through town, past an old fort we knew we’d have to explore the next day.
We found a little restaurant recommended by a local (Ry’s surefire trick to always eating well in foreign countries), enjoying the setting sun as we dug into fresh bread with marinated olives and tomatoes, tender calamari with lemon, Greek salad topped with thick slabs of feta, fresh grilled fish (Ben and Ry even got to pick our their own fish!), and linguini with prawns.
At last we drove home under a pearly sky and fell fast asleep.
Villa Bliss
After posting about the lovely Villa Trotta this week, I had a request for more photos of the villa and surroundings from my photographer friend Justin. It’s a place of such tranquil beauty and happy memories that I was delighted. I hope you enjoy them. 🙂
A grape vine found one of the lanterns
Lovely wooden chair on the tiled balcony overlooking the valley
Retaining wall at the villa
Shuttered window on the ground floor
Sun-warmed stone bench
Sunset view from large terrace
Where we dried our laundry. 🙂
Steps leading up from the lower terrace
Steps leading up from the olive grove
The olive grove below the villa
The view from my bedroom window
Perhaps next week I’ll share more photos from the surrounding area. 🙂
I’m so looking forward to the next few days! I’ll be resting, visiting rellies at the beach, reading Eastward to Tartary: Travels in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus , and watching Churchill’s Bodyguard.
I wish you all a wonderful weekend! 🙂
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