Category: Italy

I was almost dizzy trying to figure the postal system in Italy! It seems the trick is to buy your postcard, your postage stamp and know which mailbox you are dropping it all into before you leave the vendor.

Poste Italiane- stamps are not available in souvenir shops, and not always available at tabaccherias (local smoke shops). Drop this stamped card only in a red mailbox!

Globe Postal Service (GPS) – more expensive than one above, stamps are available at souvenir shops and some smoke shops, but you MUST drop this stamped card in their mailbox! QR code on the stamp so recipient can confirm receipt.

Friendpost- never found this option; supposedly available.

I used TouchNote app, chose my photo for the card and wrote my message. My order was shipped within 2 days and 6 days delivered from Italy to Arizona, USA. I saw the delivered card. It is sturdy and good quality. Message and photo all clear. Yes, I paid for this service, but it was worth it! My photo, my message, no finding the right stamp and mailbox, and so easy! I’ll use TouchNote for other personal postcard needs… and I think more products are available with this TouchNote app! Check it out! It may be helpful for you when on the road traveling!

While traveling I had a few moments to sketch, so I included some here. Now working my way back to reality: exercise, paying bills, eating balanced meals, spending time with my favorite people, birding and photography. Oh, and making new travel plans! See you on the road!

I will have many fond memories of this trip. Someday I will return!

I’m talking about chefs and sculptors today.

There was no need for me to eat breakfast because the “street food tour” was with plenty of delicious food! Our guide walked us through various areas in the historic city center of Naples and we ate bruschetta, Buffalo mozzarella, margherita pizza, fried pizza, frittatine, baba, sfogliatella frolla and gelato. If you don’t know those foods, I write a bit more in tomorrow’s post. Italians love their cheese and fried food, that I can say for sure! The chefs know they need fresh ingredients and then they do their cooking magic.

What was of interest to me was where limoncello is made. We actually stopped at the “laboratory” and anyone could make this lemon liqueur. The greener the lemon peel the better, steep them in non-potato vodka until you have the oils, add a simple syrup and while this is not the recipe, you will see there is not much to the process. The crema di limone that you may make is 20% alcohol; limoncello is 30% alcohol and nocino is 40%… wow! People, especially in southern Italy, sip on this lemon liqueur as a digestif and palate cleanser. You don’t drink much because you could get drunk. So, if you want to help your body digest the food you had eaten, have some limoncello!

Okay…. Now for the master sculptors. You need to make a reservation to visit San Severo Chapel. It’s a small chapel, audio guide is good, and no photos can be be taken. The “veiled Christ” is quite a marble masterpiece done so many hundreds of years ago. It’s too bad we all can’t touch it to feel the smoothness of the marble. The sculptures around the chapel are amazing! If you google the name of the chapel you will see some photos from people who ignored the sign, no photos, till caught. Today there were 3 guards watching us in the chapel. I can respect the directions.

I then went to the Cathedral of Naples. It is huge! Some photos from there:

Graffiti is encouraged around the city and of course I found the mural where Maradona is considered godly.

How do chefs, sculptors, painters do it… practice… well that’s my answer!

My hotel room in Catania, Sicily sits on the flanks of Mount Etna. The room at my bed and breakfast lodging in Naples is 10 miles from the main crater of Mount Vesuvius. After walking to 5600 feet on Etna’s 11,000 foot mountainside, I began thinking about volcanoes. Then after walking Vesuvius’ crater’s edge at 3400 feet, I asked myself, why is an eruption from Vesuvius a greater concern to me than Etna?

Vesuvius is lower in height, less steam coming from its vents and 10 miles from Naples. Etna is higher in overall height, much more steam coming from its top with Catania plus a number of towns ringing this volcano.

They are 2 different types of volcanoes from what I am learning. Vesuvius erupts with volcanic rock the size of buses to the size of ash in a very hot eruption. Its debris would be thrown fast, many hundreds of miles per hour, and as far as 10 miles away. They predict Naples would be gone in 2.5 minutes! Therefore different colored-coded zones in Naples are how the scientists would warn any evacuation need. We saw the effect of this volcano having 12 feet of volcanic debris on Pompeii…. but Naples was spared that time. Are the scientists monitoring the seismic activity for both locations well enough?

My understanding regarding Etna’s volcanic action, it is magma, very hot molten material from a couple of miles in the earth’s center, erupting from this crater to flow down the volcano’s sides. Historical photos showed people packing their belongings as the lava flowed, which ultimately cools into basalt rock. It seems like quite a different scenario than Vesuvius.

Please, if you are a volcanologist or know more, add your understanding on how these volcanoes differ in their eruptions. There is so much to know but this has been my understanding so far.

When I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro 23 years ago I did not think about any of its volcanic action. It had been a dormant volcano for 360,000 years, thus no discussion about volcanoes. Since this visit in Italy, I am beginning to learn more about Vesuvius and Etna!