La Nostra Casa....and a few other things. - Jo Anne

The apartment we live in is about 1200 square feet with three bedrooms and one bathroom.  Alessandro, the nephew of the woman we are renting from, grew up here with his nine siblings!  His mother must be an amazing woman.  It is built back into the cliff as many homes are in town.  On one side is another apartment and on the other side the mountain.  The rock wall of the cliff is the backdrop of our kitchen table.  You can also see the cliff along the hallway and in this little alcove that contains a small pool of water with two large goldfish, now named "Cupcake" and "Lavinia", and a nativity scene.  

Aside from a tiny window near the entrance, the living room is the only place open to the outside.  It has two large doors that open out onto a balcony.  From the balcony, you can see some of the town and the sea in the distance.  It's beautiful at night to look at the lights on the the hill across from us. We are on a road that winds along the Amalfi coast, so we do see some traffic. There are tour buses, motorcycles, cars, and pedestrians that all seem to find a way to share the space.  

We have a TV, but it might as well be another piece of furniture in the living room.  The first time I turned it on and surfed a few channels there was a collective "Oh, noooo!!!" from the girls as they realized it would all be in Italian.  I feel very out of touch with the news and at one point last week was not even sure what day of the week it was.  The sure sign of a good vacation. 

There are 354 steps down to the town center and beach.  More importantly, there are 354 steps back up to our home from the town center.  Some afternoons it feels like that number is larger.  Ella has started lobbying to take the local bus that runs in a big circle around the town but I tell her it's our only form of exercise.  Since we eat large, creamy globs of gelato daily maybe we should hang onto that.  She remains unconvinced. 

Just a two minute walk from our place there is an amazing produce stand.  Every morning the truck is out there delivering fresh goods.  We buy bags of cherry tomatoes and if we don't use them for bruschetta or caprese salad, I can pop them into my mouth right off the vine without anything on them, as if they were grapes.  They are so sweet!  There is also the daily fresh baked bread delivery at the neighboring market.  My words can't do it justice but I can understand now how the Romans were able to use free loaves of bread to appease the masses.

It has been warm so we've been taking the girls to the beach many afternoons.  We usually go to the smaller beach around the bend of the coast called Fornillo beach.  At the end if the day, they will give you a ride back to the town center by boat but you can always walk the stone path that follows the curve of the mountain.  The beach is mostly small pebbles and very little sand.  Instead of sand castles we've made a myriad of stone towers.  There are also fish to see and once Steve and Ella spotted an octopus hiding under a rock not too far from shore.  We made our first local friend here, Giovanni.  He works at the beach in the summer and tours with his band during the winter months.  He's a bass player that used to play guitar and says, "No one ever starts out as a bass player." I guess there are some common themes that cut across countries and cultures.  He has lived in this area all his life as have almost all the locals we've met.  It's not suprising.  If you were born in these towns, why would you ever want to leave?