A Wedding in Italy...

Our last vacation as a family of 2.5.

One of our very good friends from Yale, Piero, was getting married in Ceglie Messapica, a village in the south-west of Italy on the 18th of July, so Alexis and I decided to take advantage of the opportunity by having one last vacation together before the arrival of the little guy. Since neither of us have traveled through the south of Italy before, we decided to fly to Naples, rent a car, and take a week to explore the beautiful south. Even though I was 33 weeks pregnant at the time, and we weren't able to do everything that we would have liked to do (like climb to the top of the Vesuvius, one of the most active volcanoes in Europe), we still had a very amazing time...and of course ate tons of really good food. Alexis and I just hope Bean didn't get too many carbs on our little adventure...he's is guaranteed to be big enough already!

Considering that it is July in Italy, and that we didn't want to be stuck sleeping in the car (I kept having flashbacks to my spontaneous Bastille day weekend in Saint-Malo, where I spent 2 nights in a tiny car with 3 other guys) , we tried to organize this vacation a bit more than what we normally would have. In the end we were quite happy with all locations we chose to visit, the B&Bs we stayed in, and most importantly...the extra hours we gained by not having to look for hotels, but instead being able to enjoy a nice drink on a terrace before dinner. In the end we stayed in five towns before heading to Ceglie Messapica for the wedding: Naples, Pompei, Amalfi, Matera, and Bisceglie.

Our route through Italy

Naples: Since we were staying in the city where pizza originated, it only makes sense that Alexis and I spent most of our day eating and trying some of the fine Italian cuisine. We arrived in Naples on a Sunday, which meant that most stores were closed and the streets empty (except for the occasional stray tourist). After enjoying a delicious pizza during a long Sunday lunch, we took a few hours to explore Naples on foot before settling in the port at a terrace to watch the boats come and go, enjoy an aperatif, and then a few hours dinner. The day was relaxing and exactly what we needed after a long day of traveling.

Streets of Naples

Pompei: The next morning we slept in, with hopes of avoiding rush-hour traffic in Naples. Unfortunately for us, we didn't realize that every hour seems to be rush-hour, especially during a weekday. I must commend Alexis for his amazing driving skills, because what we learned is that there are no driving rules...or at least ones that are followed...in Naples. Stop signs and traffic lights are generally ignored and it's up to you to find your way across roads packed with cars. I must say that I am quite proud, because we safely got out of the city without even one scratch on our rental car (well not counting the numerous scratches that were already there...and now we know why!).

For the day we headed to the old Roman city of Pompei which is quite astounding. Much of the cities foundations and roads are still intact and just walking through the maze of old streets is really quite impressive to understand the magnitude of the old city. However, the city is probably most known for how it was destroyed and the magnificent views of the volcano in the near distance are a constant reminder of this. When the volcano did erupt all of those years ago, the people did not have time to evacuate, to this day there are still humans (adults, children and animals alike) preserved by the lava that covered their town and can be viewed at various (and often times hidden) locations within the old city.

A Day in Pompei

Amalfi: The Sorrento and Amalfi coasts are beautiful and reminded us a lot of our drive down Route 1 in California. The roads are small and windy, but offer amazing views of the water and cliffs...really breath-taking. We would recommend this drive to anyone (well you'll have to ask Alexis since he did all of the driving!). Our only one frustration was not being able to stop enough to take in the amazing view...the small roads hardly allow for two cars to pass each other, much less pulling over to the side.

The B&B we found for this night can be described only as magical. It was an old renovated castle build into the cliffs, with each room offering amazing views onto the Mediterranean Sea. Each room gave the impression that you were alone in paradise. ..which was definitely amplified when we were able to take advantage of the sea for a nice night and morning swim from a private sea access.

Our amazing view

Matera: Alexis and I must admit that we had no clue what we were in for when we headed towards the old-town of Matera. Like our other locations previously, we put the address of our B&B into our GPS and more-or-less blindly followed it. All was good until we arrived in Matera, where we were faced with never-ending pedestrian streets, with our B&B still a km or two away. Eventually we decided to park the car and explore on foot...and quickly discovered the true source of our problem. We arrived on the edge of town and looked over on the city. We were greeted by an amazing view of small windy streets and beautiful white houses built into the cliff...which looked more like a maze than a city. We knew somewhere in that maze was our B&B, and equipped with the google map I had printed out from earlier we were able to find it after several false starts and wrong roads. We spent the rest of the day exploring the wonderful old city and all the little surprises it has to offer.

The Matera Maze

Bisceglie: This is a very small town to the north of Bari. We must admit that we originally chose to stay here because we had plans to pick up Vincent, one of our friends from the Bari airport early the next morning. Unfortunately, his flight got cancelled and he never made it to Italy... The town, even though small, was quite charming with lots of things to discover. We took the opportunity of being next to the water again to visit the beach. Alexis ended up swimming while I dosed on the rocks on the shore. It was perfectly relaxing and exactly what we needed after driving a few days across Italy with temperatures of more than 100 during the day. Like most of the other B&Bs we stayed in, our room was in the apartment/house of the B&B owner. This is one of the charming things about Italy, because unlike hotels, it provides a glimpse into what the apartments are really like in these old cities...and more often than not, they are quite beautiful and unexpected.

Bisceglie and the country-side

And now the wedding: Piero's and Simona's wedding was very beautiful, and we both felt so lucky to be able to share this special day with them. Even though in the end only a few Yalies were able to make the journey, Alexis and I had such a great day catching up with old friends, but also getting to know all the amazing friends that Piero and Simona have from all over the world. Everyone was so great and so full of food. Apparently it is traditional in Italian weddings to start with a buffet of appetizers (in this case mostly seafood and fresh mozzarella typical from the region), followed by a 3 course meal, then by a desert buffet, and finally by the cake... We ended up dancing for helping digestion (which is not include in the Italian tradition, we don't know why) and were very surprised when it was suddenly 3 in the morning and time to go back to our trulli, the local stone house we were staying in (it looks like a little cone, almost like a Smurf house - It is made of very thick stone walls to protect it from the heat outside). Since we could never adequately describe the day, we have posted some pictures from the wedding so you can see for yourself.

The Yalies

Our small vacation in Italy was really spectacular, and we definitely enjoyed every day of our adventure and are looking forward to our next chance to visit this beautiful country. Bean has been great and we think he enjoyed the food as much as we did...