Guests at Vietri

Vietri sul Mare Day 17 1 June 2009

Over breakfast in a local bar, we watch a song come on TV that has been made for all the victims of the recent earthquake in L'Aquila.  Our favourite Italian singer Zucchero seems to have pulled this together with every other Italian singer in the land participating with all genres of music and it is amazing.

We end up catching an early train to Rome to pick up the Eurostar to travel south to Salerno.  It is good to relax on a train after the driving.  The Eurostar also has a power connection at each seat, so I get quickly engrossed in writing up my blog. The trip is quite a long one, but the train travels fast and doesn't stop much.  The train slows for a station and suddenly I realise that this is Salerno, our stop. I know that the Eurostar does not stop long at these stations and I quickly notify Kathy who is engrossed in a book and doesn't even realise the train has slowed.  I yank out the cables of the computer, USB stick, grab water bottles, camera, polar fleece, stuff everything I can in my bag and just grab everything else and head for the door as the train stops and the doors open.  A whistle blows somewhere and the trunk on wheels is still on board!!  Not sure if that whistle is for the Eurostar, but I dump all the bags and sundry items I have unceremoniously on the platform and charge back into the train and lunge back out with the trunk and fling it on to the platform.  Phew!!  We spend the next few moments right there on the platform as people exiting the station walk around our pile of jumbled half packed luggage, sundry items and us packing stuff and zipping bags and trying to look like the seasoned professional travellers we really are.  I do not look back at our Italian travelling companions on the train who are looking out the window with smirks I have no doubt.  "Turisti!!" I can hear them saying in my mind..

Why does something like this happen every train ride??

We get to the Salerno station and purchase some tickets for the bus to Vietri sul Mare, but have no idea where the bus leaves from.  Never mind, I snap an old dog sleeping in the station with people milling around him.  A bus arrives and we lug all the baggage on board and look like awkward tourists not in control, people both I and the locals usually despise.  Kathy says to me "Are we having fun yet?"  I refuse to answer.

The bus trip to Vietri is very short and we arrive and re-organise before walking to the shop where we first made contact with our ceramics supplier.  We are staying in his hotel for two nights.  We get a lovely greeting from Peppe's wife, who remembers us and contacts a couple of chaps who are waiting outside to take us to the hotel.  The hotel is 20m away, but to get there via one way streets you have to drive all around town. The chaps look at our luggage and the Fiat Panda and then look back at the luggage again...Somehow they get us all in and off we go, with Kathy in the back, dwarfed by the trunk and other bags in the back seat which go right to the roof.

The hotel is right on the water and although they don't seem to have our reservation, we get a beautiful room with a stunning view from a little balcony right out to the Mediterranean.  There are ships waiting to enter the port and it is breath taking.  Just a shame it is still a bit grey and rain threatens. There are ceramic decorations everywhere, including two plates on the wall above our bed that we stock.  It all looks so familiar!!

We go down to the lobby bar and get our traditional Campari and observe that we seem to be the only ones in the hotel.  (We are not as it turns out, but nearly).  We overhear the concierge talking on the phone about the hotel rates and arrangements and find this very interesting.  However, we are the only ones in the bar and the waiter has to be found to come and serve us.  It is all a bit awkward.

That evening we wander up to the small town of Vietri sul Mare and look for somewhere to eat.  As we wander through the old streets and there are few people around in the eating establishments.  Virtually no tourists.  We finally settle on a place at the back of the village looking over the town to the sea.  As we walk in, we wonder if the place is actually open, as there is a sea of empty tables.  A waiter appears from the kitchen and Kathy asks if they are open yet as it is only 7:30pm.  He breaks into a lovely smile and welcomes us warmly.  He is engages with us (probably out of boredom) and he and Kathy have some discourse on a variety of subjects and this goes well until he starts talking about politics and has opinions that are typically Neopolitan!!  The owner however, is sitting in the corner and eavesdropping on the conversation.  Eventually he pipes up and what unfolds was the highlight of the evening.  He goes on to tell us his complete life story and that of his family.  We exchange details of our families and he exclaims that we have the perfect family with two boys and a girl.  He has three boys and not enough women in his life!!  He was an inspiring individual, who told of how twice a year he goes on an organised group trip to Lourdes in France with physically and mentally disabled people and the terminally ill and how he cares for them and takes them to bathe in the healing pools, etc.  When asked for how he felt about this, he said he could not say; it was a joy too close to his heart to recount in words.  We left the restaurant with a feeling of a connection to this chap that was a valuable experience and a memory that we will treasure - only in Italy, would they be guessing Kathy's age and asking as she leaves the restaurant!!

Vietri sul Mare Day 18 2 June 2009

The next morning we go down to the hotel bar for breakfast and again, we are the highlight of the morning for the bored hotel staff.  Peppe, our ceramics supplier, meets us and as the staff of the hotel realise that there is an association with Peppe (who also owns the hotel), our status rises many notches.  Peppe takes us on a quick tour of the hotel and we go to the top levels and there are beautiful gardens for hosting weddings and large events and a restaurant area with stunning views to the sea.  Peppe calls to one of his workers and asks for coffees and arranges some tables on the newly paved area (hand made tiles of course).  We quickly get the impression that if Peppe has a lot of "mana".  The conversation has long periods of silence, but then Peppe will say something with a broad smile that will break the ice again.  He is clearly used to being in total control.

He leaves us to attend to some affairs of state for a while and we agree to meet for lunch at the hotel.

We are taken into the restaurant for lunch and the setting is just breathtaking.   A huge dining room (empty of diners of course) and the tables by the window have panoramic views of the Mediterranean.  Peppe gestures for us to have the seats facing the view and lunch begins.  We are the only ones here - the restaurant has opened just for us.  In a few moments a waiter arrives in a white jacket and black bow tie.  He asks if we would like white or red wine, and water, which he duly returns with.  It is fantastic wine, chosen by Peppe of course.  Then the antipasto arrives and it is "misto mare") mixed plate of seafood.  Yummy squid (or octopus), calamari, shrimps, fish, all pretty much marinated and raw.  I glance at Kathy chewing on pieces of squid complete with suckers and the stiff upper lip is doing a good job of covering up her abhorrence of octopus!! (She later told me the only way she could eat it was to not look at the pieces she was eating)!

That  was good.  More wine?? - yes of course...  Next was a dish of large flat pieces of pasta with a delicious tomato sauce.  Very tasty and not too big a portion - that is good.  Nice lunch so far.  Then comes another pasta dish - this time "pasta alle vongole" or pasta with what we would call cockles.  One of my favourites and this is no exception.  Except, this is a sizeable portion.  Kathy struggles to eat the cockles as well as look at them, but Peppe has no trouble putting this all away and is always the first finished.  Ahh, that was a nice lunch.

Then we hear a trolley being wheeled from the kitchen.  My thoughts were that it was likely to be a cheese trolley - nice.  However, the waiter appears and shows us three large baked fish - "Spigola" he announces.  He carefully removes the flesh of the fish off the bone in front of us and dishes us up portions of this fish with vegetables.  It was delicious, but even I was starting to feel a little bloated at the end of this.  Ahh.... Well, nice lunch.

But no, the waiter re-appears with three plates of pineapple that have been marinated in aniseed liqueur.  Great, this must be dessert.  Finally getting to the end.  Delicious though and whilst we are full, it would be rude not to eat of course!!.

But no again, this time the waiter returns with "semi freddo", which was a lovely cake with ice-cream and chocolate sauce.

Ah, finally we get the signal of the end - would we like coffee - "si certo" (yes of course!).  It would be rude not to.

We waddle from the restaurant to Pepe's car and he takes us up to his factory.  This is a good opportunity to see again his range and to make some selections of items for another container.  After a good few hours discussing business matters, we suddenly realise it is nearly 7pm!!  Pepe drives us back to the hotel and on the way invites us to pizza in the piazza later that night, when there is a political rally for the upcoming election.  Kathy replies that this would be impossible and she has eaten enough to last until August!!  He chuckles and bids us farewell.

At about 9:30pm that night, despite being tired and full, I think we cannot refuse Pepe's invitation to the political rally, so we wander up from the hotel to the piazza.  On the way, we can hear a fervent speech coming from an orator, interspersed with applause.  Oh, well, it must be the end; never mind, we will go up and see what is happening.  We round the corner to an amazing sight.  There are hundreds of people in the piazza, all listening intently to this guy, who speaks with a degree of passion seldom seen.  It reminds me of what it must have been like to hear Mussolini speak.  It also reminds us both of Kathy's dad and how his public speaking style was so impassioned - ahh, now we understand a bit more about him.

Anyway, the piazza is packed.  Adults, kids on bikes and scooters, dogs and a haze of smoke everywhere, with plumes arising from the crowd like steam in Rotorua.  I snap a couple of shots of the speaker and thanks to my new flash, they seem to come out well.  Kathy distances herself from me at this point!!  We find a rare outside table at a local bar and order our daily dose of Campari amidst an onslaught of political fervour coming from the PA.  We clap when he mentions free beaches.  We don't join the rest of the crowd who clap when he mentions more tourism.  "Vietri will become like Monte Carlo" - I reckon this would be a good candidate for a Tui ad if they had these over here!  Instead of being the end, it is just about half way through when we arrive.  His passion is unending and the crowd seem to lap it up.  Applause again.  He finishes and his side kick takes over, but is no where near as engaging and he loses some of the crowd to conversation. What we really appreciate about this is the privilege it is to participate in this event and appreciate the local way of life and being.  Everyone is here.  Babies in prams, young people also mill about, with the old.  The Police are hear, but are casually smoking and talking to the people near them, guns casually in white holsters though...There is no-one getting drunk here and there is a real sense of community, belonging and group identity.  It was a special evening we shall not forget and only after 11pm do people start drifting away to find some dinner.  A black gospel style band is brought on to round out the night.

We had spotted Peppe earlier tucking in to pizza at the bar next door to us.  He clearly is known by the candidates and carries a lot of weight around here.  We wave out to him and he comes over to chat to us (our status in the bar rising several notches again).  I mention to Peppe that we noted "Hotel Bristol" (his hotel) was mentioned in the speech.  Kathy asks Peppe if he knows the candidate and he replies that he is friends with them all! He says he is taking this candidate to dinner at his restaurant and invites us to come down and have dinner with them all!!  We reiterate our inability to eat for some time to come and he smiles, saying he will be eating for the third time today.  He walks away and comes back with a rose for Kathy, which is being handed out by party supporters.

We stroll back to the hotel feeling privileged to have witnessed this "way of collectively being" for a small Italian village.  It was awesome.

At the hotel, we stop by the restaurant on the way to get our room key.  Sure enough, there is Peppe and the candidate and his entourage seated around a table with I have no doubt a good 5 or 6 courses to get through!  Wine is flowing and voices are raised in impassioned conversation.  Kathy catches Peppe's eye and he comes over and introduces us to the group.  The candidate says something politically correct but totally inane and we smile warmly and congratulate him on a great speech.

Relieved we don't have to eat this dinner being served just before midnight, we toddle off to bed after an amazing day.