Life on the Farm

Tucked away in the hills north of the quiet village of Subbiano is where you would have found us this past week. We decided that getting our hands dirty on a small farm would be a great way to experience rural Italian culture. Only an hour and a half away from Florence, this was the “real” Italy we had always pictured…green rolling hillsides, olive trees covering the landscape, regional vineyards, and charming villages. With no neighbors in sight of the farm, the only noises came from hungry pigs, curious goats, and chickens diligently singing their morning wake-up call.

The landscape around the farm in western Tuscany:

Our private villa...we had the whole place to ourselves:

From first glance, this place appeared to be a “fairy-tale farm”…rows of perfectly pruned hedges, happy animals grazing in the fields, and the picturesque farm villa situated atop the hill overlooking the valley below. But, as the week went on, we (mostly Rachel) realized that living on a farm meant there would actually be lots of real work that needed to be done. Among other things, the “real” work consisted of feeding the chickens, goats, horses, ducks, pigs, dogs, cats, and Dustin.

Did I mention Dustin’s favorite farm activity was eating? Somehow we lucked out and selected a farm that had hired an older Italian woman to cook the family’s meals. We have literally been stuffing our bellies with homemade ravioli, pasta, goat cheese, bread, wine, and sausages. But more on that later…

Besides feeding all of the animals, we’ve also been sanding, painting, gardening, fixing fences, landscaping, and helping with various other tasks, such as babysitting their 1 ½ year old son Luca. We even have a few calluses and bruises to show for our hard work. So, needless to say, we have been earning our keep.

Rachel keeping the pigs happy:

Falling into a work routine turned out to be easier than we thought. (It has been almost a year since either of us had a job.) Doing physical labor, working outside, and not being chained to a desk in front of a computer has been very rewarding.

Assimilating into the Italian farm lifestyle was easy too. They showed us it really was okay to eat cake for breakfast. Lunch and dinner always come in courses which can last for several hours. Since the farm’s main function is milking goats, we haven’t had a single meal in the last week that hasn’t featured goat milk in one form or another…goat yogurt for breakfast, goat milk in our coffee, and countless varieties of goat cheese for lunch and dinner.

Rachel was literally in heaven. It is probably a good thing we only stayed a week otherwise we would have easily gained all the weight back that we lost while trekking in Nepal. The never ending homemade pastas, lasagnas, steaks, cheeses, wine, and cake will undoubtedly be missed.

So, maybe it wasn’t a fairy-tale farm, but it did get us out of the van and allowed us to “play house” for a week. We even enjoyed the work almost as much as we enjoyed the food.

Us with the Bellucci family:

Half-Way Through Europe

We’re currently back in Italy and since we had a little downtime, thought we would write a post devoted to a handful of random topics that we haven’t had the chance to cover yet. We call it our “half-way through Europe post”…that’s right we’ve really been here for 2 ½ months and have less than two months to go.

European Stereotypes:
After two months in Europe we’re nowhere near experts on the continent, but we think we’ve been able to confirm a few stereotypes of Europe…
· French cheese is really quite stinky (and tasty)
· Switzerland is as beautiful as everyone says (and ridiculously expensive)
· Germans really do drink a lot of beer and eat a lot of sausages (both of which are extremely delicious)
· Italians are awful drivers…and so are the Bulgarians

Nicest People:
The Irish have been by far the most friendly, helpful people we’ve come across on our travels through Europe. Most of the people we met would go out of their way to ensure we were enjoying their country. They were more than happy to point us in the right direction, recommend a nice pub, or just chat.

Most Overrated Destination:
Dubrovnik, Croatia – We wrote about this before, but this is the definition of a place completely ruined by tourists. Some places (Paris, Rome, etc) can handle piles of tourists, while others cannot. Dubrovnik’s once spectacular, walled old-city has now become filled with cheap souvenir shops and bad tourist restaurants. The streets are swarming with travelers fresh off the cruise ships. All the charm we imagined the city had about 10 years ago was long gone. We have found plenty of other charming, authentic seaside villages we’d recommend in a heartbeat over Dubrovnik.

Most Underrated Destination:
Slovenia – During our extensive research we did for this trip (reading countless travel guides, magazine articles, etc), we never came across anything mentioning Slovenia. So far, it’s been our favorite country in Europe. It has a little of everything: an adventurous mountain town, a capital full of history and interesting architecture, and one of those charming, authentic seaside villages we mentioned above.

Surprisingly Enjoyable Pastime:
European Grocery Shopping – Since embarking on our trip we have always enjoyed checking out the grocery stores and markets in foreign countries. It’s a great way to get a feel for a region’s cuisine, to discover what foods are important to the locals, and see how they compare to the US. The fresh fruit and vegetable markets in Asia were great and the supermarkets of France and Germany have been superb, but our favorite place to buy groceries has been Italy. Their grocery stores take shopping to a whole new level. Their cheese selection would put any specialty cheese shop in the US to shame. There are literally 100’s of different kinds of dried and/or cured meats for sale. You can buy entire, whole cured legs of pork. Looking for fish, squid, octopus, clams, or mussels? No problem, they have them all and more. We literally spend hours just wandering through their aisles, mesmerized by all of the choices. (Which one of the 20 kinds of fresh mozzarella should we try today? Who knew there were 30 different kinds of salami?)

Expensive Europe:
We never cease to be amazed at just how expensive things are throughout Europe. It doesn’t matter if we’re in France or Serbia, we’re shocked at just how much more things cost than back in the US. It doesn’t help that the dollar is weak, and getting weaker, against the Euro. (The dollar has lost about 5% of its value versus the Euro in the two months we’ve been here.) Even without the bad exchange rate, things would still be expensive.

WWOOFing:
For the next week we’ll be volunteering on a farm here in Italy through an organization called World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF). We’re definitely looking forward to staying in one place for awhile, experiencing rural Italian culture, and getting our hands dirty.

Ireland

Sorry for the long lapse between posts. For some reason this past week we’ve been avoiding the task of writing a blog like it’s the plague. It’s probably because Rachel’s parents are here with us and we’ve been trying to just relax with them. Or maybe all of the Guinness we’ve been consuming is making us lazy. Either way, writing this just sounded like too much of a chore.

It’s been a slow work in progress over the last few days, with Rachel starting the post and Dustin finishing it. Anyway, we’re finally motivated enough today to finish it up (and Dustin’s mom has been bugging us for an update) so here we go…

Our Ireland journey kicked off in Dublin. We spent a few days checking out the city and, of course, heading to the Guinness Brewery. Much to my Dad and Dustin’s dismay I was never a huge fan of Guinness back home, but that has now changed. Maybe it’s the quaint little villages, charming pubs, or the lure of the countryside, but the Guinness just seems to taste better here. Even Dustin and my parents, all self-proclaimed “beer connoisseurs”, insist that the Guinness really does taste better in Ireland.

Rachel and her parents enjoying their first Guinness in Ireland:

The bartenders at all of the pubs have perfected the art of a perfect pour and take great pride in serving a beautiful pint of Guinness. Dustin and my parents decided to make it a point to have one pint of Guinness (usually more) a day during our entire time here…their excuse is that it’s the best way to mingle with the locals and learn more about their culture. Thanks to one friendly bartender, Dustin has even mastered the art of pouring a “proud pint.” He insisted on pouring all of our pints while staying at our hotel in Doolin.

Dustin working on his "proud pint" form:

Believe it or not, we haven’t spent all of our time drinking Guinness inside pubs. Over the last week and a half we have managed to make a loop through the bottom half of Ireland. We’ve visited some charming villages and completed a couple of the great scenic drives both through green rolling hills and along rugged coastlines. We’ve listened to plenty of lively Irish music and explored the ancient ruins of countless castles and churches.

Dingle Harbor:

The Cliffs of Moher:


As we’ve been driving the coastal route we have always been on the lookout for places to surf. Although we didn’t want to deal with the hassle and expense of hauling our surfboards from Italy to Ireland, we were still hoping to get a few surf sessions in while here. With the high cost of board and wetsuit rentals and the surprisingly good surf we found, we’re wishing we would’ve hauled our boards here after all.

Our first sign of surfable waves was at a beautiful stretch of beach on the southwestern edge of the country near the village of Dingle. Although the waves weren’t great, we couldn’t resist the chance to get in the water. We had fun playing around in the waist high beach break and managed to get a handful of decent waves each. We were just stoked to get any waves at all…the last time we surfed (not counting Dustin’s river surfing in Munich) was five months ago in Bali. The frigid water here was a far cry from the warm, wetsuit free waters of Padang Bay, Bali but we’ll take what we can get.

Feeling somewhat satisfied we worked our way north and stumbled upon even better surf a few days later. (Just in time for Rachel’s birthday.) We surfed until we were both frozen from the cold water and then stayed out a little longer until our arms just didn’t work anymore. The waves were not the biggest or the best of the trip, but the laidback vibe (there were only 8-10 other people in the water and the locals were friendly and even interested in what we thought of their wave) and great scenery (rolling green hills, a quaint little village, and even the ruins of a castle overlooking the break) made for one of the best surf sessions of the trip.

Heading out for Rachel's birthday surf session:

After our surf we headed straight to the sauna to warm up and then enjoyed a great lunch. It certainly made for a birthday to remember for Rachel. (Right up there with the time I took her pheasant hunting on her birthday...I’m sure you’ve all heard that story a few times.)


More Ireland surf:

We stumbled upon this place, Ireland's premire big wave spot, where they routinely get 60+ foot waves during the winter. It was much more managable on this day. If we would've had more time (the tide was rising fast and the nearest board rental was a long way away) Dustin would've been tempted to paddle out....Rachel didn't want to have anything to do with the climb down the 600 ft vertical cliff, the paddle out through the rocks, or the 15+ foot surf.

We’ve had a great time in Ireland with Rachel’s folks…the scenery is spectacular, the locals are friendly, and Guinness is always on tap.

Our Travels Through Southern Italy

After arriving into the port town of Bari, Italy, via ferry from Greece, we headed straight to the small town of Castelmezzano in southern Italy. We had read one brief article on the place and it sounded like a perfect little village to relax in for a few days. Well...we ended up taking a wrong turn on the way there and found ourselves on the next mountain over, in the charming village of Pietrapertosa.


After leaving Pietrapertosa, we drove along the scenic (but overrated) Amalfi coast before heading to Rome.

We spent three days exploring the captivating city of Rome. Full of history, not a skyscraper in sight, ancient ruins everywhere you look, and superb cuisine made Rome one of our favorite big European cities. And since we're exhausted from all the sightseeing, we'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

The Roman Colosseum, built in 72 AD:


The view from outside the Colosseum...ancient ruins everywhere you look:


In St. Peter's Square, outside St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City:

The impressive columns surrounding St. Peter's Square:

The inside of St. Peter's:Michelangelo's "Pieta" in St. Peter's, sculpted when he was 24 years old:

"The Deliverance of St. Peter" painted by Raphael:

Our favorite painting on the ceiling of Stanze di Raphael, the Pope's former apartment in the Vatican Museum:

Michelangelo's "Last Judgment" in the Sistine Chapel:

Trevi Fountain, a "new" addition to Rome's sights built in 1732:

That's it for Rome. Tomorrow we're taking a break from Italy to fly to Dublin to meet up with Rachel's parents. We'll spend two weeks in Ireland with them before returning to Italy.

Not Your Typical Greece

So…we didn’t make it out to the famous Greek Islands that are pictured on all of the Greek tourist guides. It was mostly due to time constraints and the fact that we didn’t want to deal with the hassle (and expense) of ferrying our van out there. Who knows, maybe we’ll visit the islands someday the way they were meant to be seen, by sail. However, we did manage to see a less touristy, and probably more authentic, side of Greece.

We ended up spending a few days in a little fishing village located on a small peninsula in northern Greece. The town was so small we couldn’t even locate it on the map, let alone tell you the name, but it did manage to provide an escape from feeling like we should be running around trying to see everything. We parked our van on the beach, enjoyed daily swims in the Aegean Sea, ate freshly grilled sardines, and drank the local wine. With zero tourist attractions and nothing to do in town, it was a nice break to have nothing to do but relax.

Not a bad view from our bedroom:

After a few days of doing absolutely nothing and loving it, we found our next hideaway a couple of hours west in a town nestled on a lake flanked by mountains. Our most adventurous under-taking consisted of walking along the promenade searching out the bakery with the best Greek pastry desserts.

With Dustin hoping to get a little fishing in before we left Greece, we went in search of a very remote river that was rumored to hold trout. The river was supposed to be great for fly fishing, but everyone we talked to warned us that it was next to impossible to find…..it sounded like a fun challenge to us. After driving for several hours up and over two mountains on a very narrow, curvy road we ended up in a tiny, picturesque mountain village.

Pramanta, Greece:

With our hopes of finding the river fading, we decided to take a quick break to stretch our legs in town. As soon as we opened the van doors we were overwhelmed with the smell of freshly baked gingerbread cookies. We followed our noses to a small bakery run by a very sweet Greek lady that didn’t speak a word of English. After a few gestures, and lots of smiling and pointing, we walked out with a big box of cookies.

Deciding we should get a little bite to eat before we dug into our dessert, we walked into the one open restaurant to see what we could find. Again, the owner did not speak a word of English. (Notice a theme here? Not a single one of the 8 or 10 people we talked to in this town spoke any English at all.) Since we couldn’t communicate verbally, she showed us some tomatoes, cheese, and potatoes. With no menus in sight, and no one else in the restaurant for us to point to their plates and say “We’ll have that”, we just nodded and said okay to whatever it was she would make with those ingredients.

We picked a table with a view and sat down having no idea what to expect. Little did we know that by agreeing to those three ingredients we were going to get way more than the little snack we were looking for. She first brought us plates of cheese, yogurt mixed with herbs, and bread. A nice start and it would’ve been more than enough. Then came a traditional Greek salad and fried potatoes. That was followed up with a huge “Sarikopita” (filo dough stuffed with cheese and then fried). Just when we thought we were going to burst, she brought out a heaping plate of grilled goat chops. We literally had a smorgasbord of food. The food was absolutely fantastic and we felt bad not eating it, so we proceeded to do our best to devour every last morsel. We gave it a valiant effort and managed to shovel most of it into our stuffed bellies except for a few fried potatoes.

And this was just the start of it:

We finally did end up finding the river, and it was as beautiful as expected. Unfortunately with only an hour before dark, and a ferry to catch in the morning, Dustin had just enough time to discover how great of a river he had missed. Maybe next time…

Nice river, but no daylight left for fishing:

It probably wasn’t the typical Greek experience, but it was exactly what we needed.