Vacation & Travel
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MY ITALIAN VACATION or How I became a CaveWoman by Sue Carey
I just returned from a six week stay in a
cave in Calitri, in the south of Italy! My friend, Terry invited me
and another friend, Joyce to live with her for six weeks in a cave. Terry,
her daughter and granddaughter went on HG Internatl (House Hunters) to look
for a place they could buy for about $20,000.00. They found this
cave which has been used for who knows how many years? Terry’s
granddaughter, Nicole bought it for $20,000.00. There are many such
caves all through the world that are still being used today. Before I
agreed to this crazy thing, I made them assure me that there would be hot
and cold running water, a shower, toilet and somewhere to cook. The
heat was provided by using alternately, an electric heater and a kerosene
heater. The bathroom was small but complete. The range was a
stove with another kerosene heater to light. There still is an ancient
old stove that was lighted by starting a fire under it with vents that go
outside and it still works. There was electricity, a flat screen TV and WiFi
! We slept on 2 pullout sofa beds. There is a large loft that
would probably sleep 4 comfortably. We washed out clothes by hand and
hung them outside in the alley on a drying rack that we bought. The
front of the cave has a glass window in the kitchen and glass windows above
the door and in the door that gives a lot of light. The bathroom has a
glass window in the front also. The cave was like a row house on an
alleyway. You can’t drive a car up there so you have to park
below, walk up a flight of steps and then walk up the alley to their cave
door. You can drive up some alleys but not others. The people
were warm and friendly and very well dressed!. They helped us carry
many things. There are cafes all over town and in one of them we met a man
who had just written a book about Calitri. Their home is in New Hampshire,
but they are planning to retire in Calitri. They love the warmth and
friendliness of the townspeople as we did, so he wrote a book about it!
It's called "The Italian Chronicles of A ROGUE TOURIST" His name is Paul
Monico and his book can be found on Amazon. All things considered it
was “ok” but never like home! The pictures show what the cave is like
and of course Nicole plans to do a lot more to it. The last two are
pictures taken at a underground cave restaurant that was beautiful! During
our 6 weeks, we went to Rome, the Vatican, Venice, Florence, Naples,
Sorrento, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Avellino and many churches, monasteries,
castles and wineries on the way.
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Denny and Sue’s Vacation Plans: From the Taj Mahal……………………..to the MOON!
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Joan Jerdan's African Adventure...June, 2015.
I fell in love with Africa, it's people and especially it's children.
The vastness of the African plains and it's wildlife are spectacular.
I WILL go back someday!
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Denny & Sue in Arizona