Some places, like Egypt, it’s hard not to get sick with the bad food and water, and you’re constantly ravaged by a brutal sun. Italy, you’d have to look hard to get a bad restaurant, and it has some of the most beautiful places in the world. Naturally, we had to visit on our trip. My dad’s brother (Dylan) has four kids (Roman, age 22, Willem, age 20, Eve, age 18, and Matteo, age 2, (says he’s 4)) and an Italian wife (Daniela), who we met up with in Italy (all except Willem-he couldn’t make it). Dylan, Daniella, Roman, Eve, Matteo and my grandparents (dubbed Nana Max and Papa) greeted us at an open-air wood oven pizza place in Puglia, Italy, Pizzeria di Matteo, aptly named for our youngest member:). After a dinner of handmade pizza, fresh vegetables and playing with Matteo, we drove up to see the house all of us would share for the next week.

  The rental houses I usually stay in are a lot like the average house in the states. Sometimes it’s bigger than ours, sometimes it’s smaller, and they all have a few cultural quirks (i.e. all the houses we stayed in in France had pink toilet paper). This house, though, was  far from usual. It was away from any towns, and built in the 1600s, having had next to no renovations since then (not including the addition of modern plumbing and electricity). It was massive, built completely of stone, with flat roofs made of red clay tiles, narrow stone staircases leading to the bedrooms upstairs, and white stone floors that continued out into a beautiful courtyard surrounded by arches where we enjoyed the home-cooked meals overseen by master Italian chef, Danelia.

  Zosia, Eve, and I made good use of the flat roofs, finding two easy climbing places that allowed access to the entire roof. Sitting 20 feet above the ground with the Monopoli (the city, not the game) skyline set against a pink and gold Puglia sunset in the horizon is an experience pretty hard to forget.

 

  Our time on the ground wasn’t to be overlooked either. We generally woke up at 10 (the early risers) to 12 (me, and the other severely jet lagged). On one of our first days, we drove up to Alberobello- a quaint, touristy town built in early Italy, much like our rental home. It was beautiful, with colorful streets lined with cute shops, and a park with a band playing at the top of the hill, where we amused Matteo with his red and white ball and orange and silver scooter. It would have been just a cute town, if it hadn’t been made famous for its unique architecture.

  All of the shops and houses were exactly the same, with white, circular walls, and a conical roof made of dark gray stones stacked on top of one another. There were tiny models of these houses on sale, set on doorsteps, and placed around town like fairies’ homes next to real ones. It was fascinating, to stand in such a unique little town, that hadn’t changed its look since it was built, a long, long time ago.

  The day after, we enjoyed a day with our family, spending time worshiping Matteo, and recovering from brutal jet lag. Afterwards, we headed to nearby Monopoli for a dinner that tasted like it was cooked in heaven, and sent my claim that I hate all eggplant under serious reconsideration.

  With our hunger at bay, we decided to explore Monopoli, and spent half an hour walking the beautiful streets (and keeping Matteo’s ball from going “bye, bye” into the water), and then another half hour finding our rental cars, after our “exploring” went a little far.

                                                   

 

 

Southern Italy is known for its beautiful beaches, but we had yet to visit one. We drove to Torre Guaceto in order to change that. The water was a jade green, and the perfect break from scorching Puglia temperatures.

  We all agreed after experiencing an Italy beach that one day was definitely not enough, so we put off a day in town for another gorgeous beach trip, followed by a homemade meal of tacos, courtesy of chef Dad.

  Now sufficiently sunburned, we headed to the Grotte di Castellana the day after, an enormous complex of caves far below ground (122 meters at deepest). We weren’t allowed to take pictures, with the exception of the main cave, because it damaged the growth of the delicate underground ecosystem, or something like that. The caves had an average temperature of 16.5℉, and none of us had a sweatshirt except for me, and I was wearing a swimsuit underneath because there had been talk of the beach afterwards.

  At the beginning of the 3km walk, all of us revelled at the beautiful formations of stalactites (the spiky things that hang from the ceiling) and stalagmites (the spiky things that stick up from the ground). The tour guide told us (in Italian) stalactites and stalagmites are created when a drops of mineral-filled water roll down the rocks, and leave behind miniscule amounts of minerals. Minerals build up slowly over thousands of years, talking about 50 years to “grow” one centimeter. Every rock formation was different. Some looked like clusters of crystal, frosted glass that clung to the walls of the cave. Other caverns looked like the perfect Mission Impossible set, with jagged rocks jutting from the ceiling like daggers, and conveniently placed abysses to stage an epic fight scene over. There were dim orange and yellow lights installed in niches that made the wet walls glimmer like they were coated in gold, a dragon’s hoard set into the ground a few kilometers from Alberobello and Cisternino.

  Other formations weren’t so majestic, though. One spiral of rock was accurately named “bacon”, flat and thin in a vertical position, with stripes that looked incredibly like bits of fat. The tour was great at the beginning, but after about twenty caverns, there wasn’t any more cool stuff about how long it took to make the formations, and the novelty of the beautiful rocks started to wear off, and we began to really notice how cold and wet it was. Eve and Matteo especially started to get impatient with the long walk, the latter refusing to take a nap in somebody’s arms, and instead demonstrating how well the spacious caverns amplify your voice, especially when you were screaming. The tour’s end was a big relief to all of us, especially Eve in her tank top, who hadn’t exactly dressed for the occasion. Afterwards, Dylan’s family headed for Monopoli, while we decided to warm back up at a gorgeous little cove, with beautiful water and lots of more than welcome sun called Porto Verde cove.

  The day after the grotto, we all got up early (10:00) and drove for forever to get to the town Leccè. We had a great day touring the old churches, eating lunch in the plaza, and, of course, having creamy, sugary, delicious gelato at a local shop, followed by an incredible (if I do say so myself which I do)) dinner made by yours truly (and Eve and Zosia).

  We spent our few remaining days at the beach, soaking up our last few rays in the sand,

 

  Struggling to pack up our exploded drawers,

enjoying Daniela’s amazing cooking,

and, of course, the unavoidable tennis.

  Finally, after a sad goodbye to cousins (grandparents would be coming with us for Rome and Greece), we squeezed the last clothes into our bags, and stuffed the luggage into the tiny back of the rental car.

  We set off for Rome, and arrived 5 hours later to an apartment in the city. We spent 3 days in Rome, marveling at Michael Angelos and Beautiful churches, and, naturally, worshipping the gelato.

  On the 2nd day, we visited the Colosseum. We took a tour to learn about the huge amphitheater, and found out the Colosseum, such an amazing relic of the past today, was used as a homeless person housing facility, a burial ground, a fortress and a quarry (people stole iron and stone from it to build houses, and other architecture. Fun fact-Saint Peter’s Basilica’s marble is mostly stolen from the colosseum). In it’s day of glory, it would have animals and hunters face off in the morning, animals v.s. Animals a little later, the death of slaves and prisoners at midday (this was the most violent part of the show; slaves would be brutally murdered by being tied to rocks and trampled by African Elephants or something of that sort, or acting out tragic Greek myths, like Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun, and fell to earth a died. In this Myth, a condemned criminal would be catapulted across the arena with nothing but fake, useless wings to buoy him.), and, finally, the renowned gladiator fights in the evening. The Colosseum was used as a device to distract the people from the fact that Rome was falling, when the Empire became decadent and started to loose power. It was ravaged by Earthquakes, people needing supplies, time, weather, and fire, yet still stands today.

  We walked from the Colosseum to a small diner, where we devoured pizza, pasta, lasagna, and other carbs in the outdoor section of the restaurant. The tiny plaza just outside the restaurant was bustling with people of all age, culture, and definitions of fashion at the beginning of our dinner, but by the end the crowd was scared away by the darkening sky, with only a few teenagers left taunting the gathering clouds. Naturally, we decided this would be a great time to squeeze in a short visit to Trevi fountain before leaving for Greece the next day. My intelligent grandparents politely declined, and went back to the apartment.

  Five years ago, we were in Rome in the Summer, a season of next to no rain for southern Italy. We went to see Trevi fountain, a beautiful water monument built to Neptune. Halfway there it started to rain, and by the time we got to the fountain, it was hailing heavily over us and the other insane tourists. When we left the restaurant (present day) the sky was heavy with water, and it was just starting to mist as we began the walk. When we reached the fountain, our clothes were sticking to us, as the sky poured buckets on our heads. We took pictures as fast as we could, taking advantage of the now nearly crowdless fountain (I wonder why?), and sprinted the ½ hour walk to the apartment, trying to remember what we did to upset Neptune so much.

  It was really cool to see the culture of ancient Italy, especially with family. We’re going farther back in time now, heading to Greece, Egypt, and China, and seeing the ingenuity of such an old people really puts the states’ youth into perspective. I really hope some of the brilliance of ancient philosophers rubs off on me in Greece. I’ll need it to deal with algebra 1 (Niki, where are you when I need a math tutor?)!

🙂