Lovely travels through south Italy!

 Ciao amici!

I'm back on the blog!  Mi sono riuscita!!  I'm back in Roma & have succeeded in my uploading my photos despite losing that damn camera cord!  I was worried that I'd have to buy a new cam because mine is an older model & it was seeming virtually impossible to get just the USB cord.  But...  I was able to get this amazing little device called a card reader, fantastic!  Me being pretty low tech, didn't even realize such a thing existed.  At any rate, I am happy!

I had a really amazing couple of months of travel, meeting new people, speaking Italian, eating & making a lot of really good food, relaxing and going to some sweet beaches!  All seems well back in Rome, the weather has improved & it feels awesome to have shed all those heavy clothes of winter.  This is a great time of year here because it is not too hot & the heavy tourist season hasn't hit yet.  So, I'm staying with a pal in Trastevere (my hood!), walking around town & catching up with friends.  It is hard not to do too much shopping & money spending in this city, not a good idea while I am currently a "professional volunteer".  :)

To overview my trip, I left around March 30, spent over a month in glorious Sicilia then passed through Calabria & Basilicata visiting Tropea & Matera, then was in Puglia for about three weeks spending about 17 days on a "farm" "working", then to Lecce & the Salentine peninsula for a few days.  Overall, complete and total awesomeness!  Here we have some nice photos from Tropea & Matera.  Enjoy!

here was my chill spot in Tropea, a nice spot to do the crossword overlooking the sea.  

My eyes lit up when my friend Erica showed me this lemon luna bar she had brought from the states so she was kind enough to gift it to me.  Grazie!!  A little nostalgia for the motherland...

my view of the beach!

see Stromboli (volcano island in the background)?  remember that I climbed that sucker early on in my trip? 

Tropea is said to be home of the "amethyst sunset".  not bad!

good old strombo.

took myself out for, what else, pizza!  here I am displaying the overly extensive pizza menu.  so many options!

as usual ho scelto bene.  HOT chili peppers are a Calabrian favorite.

look at that water!  asolutamente belissima!

Then I had some heinously long transportation to Matera, during which I sustained that odd leg injury I mentioned.  Which, is nearly 100%, I am still having some trouble performing "heel walk" but that seems not to affect life much.  Matera is in Basilicata, a region known for it's extreme poverty in the past.  Matera is one of the oldest cities in the world!  In the distant past people used to live in caves carved into the tufa stone.  Matera is pretty touristy & more recently famous for being the site where that crazy Mel Gibson filmed the Passion of the Christ.  (which I've never seen because of gruesomeness).  The weather was really cold & windy in Matera & I had to sport all my layers.  The ancient city is built around a gorgeous canyon & the old homes are built right into the hill & called "sassi".

pretty!

looking across the ravine you see these really old caves, once homes.

this was when I was experiencing extreme foot slap walking because of that injury, making hiking around the caves a bit strange.

Matera at night, it's magical!

still enjoying the ceramic tiles

as well as churches

and general oldness

including the oldest mailbox I have ever seen!

continuing with oldness, I do love colorful old doors

some places were very derelict (like in zoolander, derelict.. :)  

oh, i was trying to get the perfect shot of this laundry in some of my favorite colors.  i didn't manage to get a better one, those colors really popped! (Elysia, I really do write this blog to you sometimes)

So, that's that!  I hope you liked the photos!!  Next time a posting on Puglia!  I'm going to take the trenino over to check out the beach near Roma today.  I hear it is crowded & polluted, I am hoping for otherwise!  I am still trying to hash out my grand summer plan, there are still a few uncertainties but it looks like I will head to Montenegro around the 20th.  I wish you all a happy week!

xoxo!