Cilento Day 8

This sunday lived up to its name: blue sky over Monte Crivo. That made the decision easy: day 8 was declared Sun-Terrace-Day :-)

Cilento Day 7

Day 7 started, as usual, with an Italian breakfast. Or with an breakfast, a German would associate with Italy for including Mozarella cheese, cherry tomatoes and Confetura di Fichi (fig jam) made in the Cilento.After the rather long trip to Padula yesterday we stayed in the neighborhood on day 7, a Saturday. We went for a walk down to the beach, to Fiumicello di Maratea, another part of Maratea. Sadly the sky was dull again, it was nice warm though.Again it felt like being on a private beach, nobody else was visible. Fiumicello looked like a village of orchards, the houses barely visible. And it smelled this way, orchards in Spring mixed with the breeze from the sea. It was the most lovely location I came across in Italy, the ultimate place to buy a house, settle down, live mainly on the own produce and write a book :-)

Cilento Day 6 - Part 2

The monks of Padula were not actually poor, only rich men were accepted. As they brought their wealth to the monastery, living there was not so bad. Each of the about 40 monks had its own house including a small yard.So they spent their days in a comfortable place, finding peace by contemplating, growing herbs, brewing beer and singing together.The monastery itself was sacked a couple of times, even served as a prisoners of war camp. However, still part of its beauty is visible everywhere.Especially these small lovely yards with citrus trees catched my eye...Of course the leading monk, the Prior, had the best quarter, including a terrace with a garden.....and its private golden chapel.
There is a well groomed park around the building, which I would have preferred to the cloister for walking a couple of rounds..
This is the central kitchen, where the famous omelette of 1000 eggs was prepared for king Carlos V. As I heard there is a yearly enactment of it in Padula.The rooms where they exercised their religious duties are rich decorated, as expected, every chair is a masterpiece of art. Here they sung their songs together...
This is a painting in the room where they had their meals together, silent. Only one of them had to read from the bible to the others while they ate.And this is the room where they kept the treasures and relics...all long ago seized by occupants or even the state.After visiting the monastery we went uphill to take a look at Padula. It couldn't compete with the beauty of the former...although it was amazing again to see a closely packed old village on a hill.A couple of street still reminded of the days of the monks...Eventually we had a great view of the valley and the Certosa as a whole..on a cloudy day.

Cilento Day 6 - Part 1

Today serious sightseeing had been scheduled: a visit to the famous Certosa di Padula.
Actually I'd never heard of it before. It was a book in the house, left behind by previous guests, from which we learned about this monastery...

Unfortunately it was a rainy day. We arrived after a short drive, just one hour of South Italian small mountain road traffic, the driver (i.e. me) was near exhaustion :-)
The outer courtyard is the interface between the monastery and the outer world. Here ordinary people were admitted to buy products produced by the monks or sell their stuff.Some strange statues in this courtyard try to scare the visitors. Being a monk seems to be not funny...After entering the sacred part of the building it opens to the worlds largest cloister (according to Wikipedia).In these colonnades the monks spent part of their time walking some rounds as a physical exercise. Talking was not permitted, they lived under a vow of silence (no wonder that they were only male monks, this is impossible with nuns ;-)Overlooking the whole complex is the city of Padula, built on top of a hill like so many villages in this part of Italy.
In the middle of the cloister is a small graveyard.Scary art here again...not sure if it is an authentic skull. Probably a monk who was caught talking to someone else ;-)The weather got even more ugly so it was time to see the inside of the building.The next pictures follow in part 2 because a) this post is getting too long and b) the European football champions league finals on tv next to me is so thrilling, I have to pay full attention now (tied 1:1 after the first half, great goals of Christiano Ronaldo and Lampert!!).....sorry ;-)

Cilento Day 5

Hmmm, day 5 already. Most part of the first week is over, why does the clock run faster during holidays??? :-)

After a day off from sightseeing it was time to look around again. Plan today was to explore the neighborhood. Starting point was the harbor of Maratea (Maratea Porto). It looked rather small from the Jesus above, and indeed: it was rather small :-) However, the sun came out and we took the chance to live La Dolce Vita again: let's have a coffee at the yacht harbor, in the sun.

Maratea Porto is almost straight below the Jesus on Mt. San Biagio. The are a couple of old houses, a small harbor and three coffee bars, that's it.
I wondered if the other guests were actually yacht owners, they looked like this way. I had a very sweet Cafe Nocciola, which consisted of an Espresso on a thick layer of nougat cream. Not bad, but probably intended for female coffee drinker.
Did I already mention the Italian signature house decoration: the clothesline? :-)Nice boats, a mixture of freedom and luxury.....need to put some money aside :-)Next three pictures without explanation, just some playing with the new lens.


Then we entered the beach (Spaggio) for the first time. Although it looked like summer water fun, the water was way too cold to swim.
This time of the year the season has not started, so the beach was empty. The way I like it...

With the bare hills in the back it looked almost like an African shore. Well, Africa is not that far away, just across the Mediterranean Sea.Unfortunately the sun left, so the last couple of pics look more grey.

I still hear the sound of the surf, feel the late afternoon breeze and smell the fresh air, a perfect place to be (but only in off-season, without the millions of tourists).Such rocky coast have surprising views like this, which we discovered after climbing along the cliff through the wild bushes.
Ok, in truth it was mentioned in the travel guide. It was hard to reach, though.

Cilento Day 4

To recover from the exhaustive field day, the Day 4 was scheduled for to stay at home, well, the temporary home.
The day started cloudy, the sun was barely visible behind the clouds.
The sea view was almost black and white only.Then, after patiently waiting while sipping delicious Italian coffee from the small espresso maker, it became sunny....yeah.
So I quickly took sunglasses and book and moved to the terrace :-) The picture looks as if I even took off the t-shirt...actually I don't remember. It was quite hot in the sun - but chilly in the shadow...a constant change of the number of clothing layers was necessary.
The book on the chair was Imperium by Robert Harris, a recommendable one.
The house in front of the mountains...nice location, besides the cloud-stopping feature of the rock.As the sun began to set it was high time for checking out the local table wine. First impression yesterday was terrible, but today it was almost good, it just needed to breathe. In the evening it got really cold outside, around 10 degrees. Fortunately we had the luxury of a well working fireplace. After just 4 days I was already a believing ruralist (is this a regular word? Not sure... :-)

Cilento Day 3 - Part 3

Yes, I still have some pictures left of that eventful third day:-)
On our return from the Jesus we went through the old part of Maratea to look at these narrow streets and old houses.
Just to give an idea how it looks...Most of the houses are reconstructed, some others look like ruins.
Another typical sighting:
these three-wheel-cars (is it really a CAR?) are heavily used, new models like these as well as older ones from before World War II (I guess). They seem to have replaced the mules. Unfortunately I haven't got the funny picture of the two old men who drove by in such a vehicle, both squeezed into the one driver seat, strangely smiling as if they drive home from having some glasses wine at the local bar. Reminded me of the lovely two old men in the second to last movie of Louis de Funes, the one with the aliens and the cabbage soup.