23 September: Today was a big travel day
with a 5 am start in Mykonos, 7 am departure flight to Athens, 10 am departure
flight to Rome, 2 pm high speed train to Naples and a 5 pm ferry to Ischia.
Here’s a pic of us waiting with our luggage to catch the airport train from
Roma International Airport to Roma Termini train station in central Rome.
We managed to get some cheap tickets on the
high speed train from Roma Termini to Napoli in the First Class section, so
even though we had an early start, spirits were high.
And the trip from Roma to Napoli only took only an
hour as our top speed was nearly 300 km/hr.
During the ferry ride from Napoli to Ischia the
weather was magnificent and allowed us to get an appreciation of the terrain.
In particular, we were taken back by the urbanisation all
around the perimeter of Mount Vesuvius as illustrated in the next pic from the back of the
ferry… Hopefully that there volcano stays dormant!
We finally rolled into the town of Forio to our
accommodation at the Hotel Albatros that evening to a much needed sleep.
Background: Why would the Griswold’s visit the island
of Ischia in the first place one might ask? Well, this is the home island of Claudio Del Deo, until recently part of the marine sciences team over the past 3 years for the company I work for back in Perth. He had been urging us to
visit his home island of Ischia via email over the past several months during our trip, which we took up. Claudio’s
father, Francesco, is the mayor of Forio (one of six municipalities around the
Island) and owns the Hotel Albatros, the hotel we stayed at. He’s a busy man, but we did manage to meet
him several times.
24 September: Ischia has volcanic activity that is expressed all across the island via numerous hot springs. This
water generally gets further distributed (presumably…) to all of the resorts in
an individual's proximity all around the island. The Hotel Albatros’s pool has hot (~30C)
and cold (~15C) sections. The local custom when using any of these hot
spring-based pools is to wear a swimming hair cap.
And then chilling out (or perhaps
better said ‘heating up’) in the warm pool during the morning.
We then went to a beach close to
Hotel Albatros. There were lots of rocks to swim out to and stand on as illustrated by the kids out about 20 m or so from the shore standing on one.
We had dinner at Tinaia Pizzeria as recommended by
Claudio. For the Griswold’s Ischia has been the
best place for kid cuisine because of the good pasta and pizzas, and for us just a great vibe as exemplified by this Vespa beneath
peppers on a piazza prior to dinner.
25 September: Our room at Hotel Albatros
had views across the coastal road from the balcony (pic by Robsie from early
morning return of coffee outing with Sam).
Francesco and Georgia arranged tickets for us to spend the
day at Poseidon, a Terma (hot spring) resort that was conveniently located in close proximity to Albatros. The pic below is of the clan next to the Terma resort’s large
swimming pool. Kids are not allowed in the hot spring pools except for a
couple of warm water pools. Eventually Robsie and I each took turns trying out
the dip to/fro between the 40C and 15C pools... ‘Eureka’ we started to understand
why everyone was walking around in such a chilled out mood (sort of like in a
trance in a cult, so mellow…) all around the Terma grounds!
Robsie and I also had a treatment by the Terma spa specialists consisting of a sand scrub,
massage oil and lots of sweating for about an hour or so each. Kids were perfectly
happy running around and getting cautioned continuously by the resort staff for
not being serene! Here’s a shot of the complex from the far end of the resort.
That night it was dinner at Tinaia (again), very good
pizza, pasta and shellfish (mussels, clams) mmm…
26 September: The previous day Georgia had arranged for a classic small 4-person car, Panda 600, 2-door for us. This vehicle was perfect for the
small narrow roads of the island. Luca needed a booster (so she
could look out through the windows). Hence, Frankie and Sam were relegated to
sharing a seatbelt in the back, but they were great about the arrangement the entire time.
Here’s a pic of this vehicular wonder with me to provide some indicator of scale.
Predicting the weather on Ischia is a bit of a ‘hit-n-miss’
affair at this time of year (autumn), as the 787 m high Mount Epemeo can
strongly influence the local weather conditions. Today the forecast for the
region was sunny with low winds, so we opted to hire a 6.5 m centre console boat from Giovanni
(West Coast Boats) in Forio (a mate of Claudio’s). While making these
arrangements, the others went and got some provisions for the boat journey at a
fruit and veggie stand nearby, with mostly local produce.
Here are the kids at the front of the boat as
we head out to deeper water from Forio’s port.
And a view of the cliffs with Hotel Albatros on
top from an offshore perspective with the northern rise of Mount Epemeo in the
background.
The day started a bit cool and overcast, but
cleared after we steamed along the rugged west coast. We anchored and chilling out in the boat in a
beautiful cove with pics of Frankie and Luca hanging out in the boat.
Along the southwestern coast it was quite a
steep coastline with many cliffs and dwellings built into them in a coastal
Hobbit Town sort of fashion (a coastal Bag End if you will…).
And some of the residents had set up their own
sort of waterside hangouts in the rocks (complete with chairs, shade, etc…),
which must be amazing during the appropriate conditions.
We made it to one of the most isolated portions
of the island along the southeastern coast (don’t know the name of the beach).
It is seemingly inaccessible from the remainder of the main island (I couldn’t work out a
walking track, much less any vehicular access), so we reckoned it was a boat-supplied
sort of thing. Here’s a shot of this isolated restaurant on a cobble beach,
with us walking towards it from the jetty path.
The kids waiting for their tucker…
And then deciding it was better waiting for
some grub by going and collecting cobbles from the beach. The kids loved
collecting and storing rocks. Robsie and I have spent and inordinate amount of time (and will continue do
so for the immediate future) convincing the kids that transferring rocks on
airlines is not a good thing! Their collection from this beach was particularly
high in weight during this outing (lots of cobbles…).
Just about to board the restaurant taxi boat
out to our centre console vessel after having a great lunch.
Off we go with Sam at the helm.
THE GROTTO, a sea cave on the south of the
island. Look closely and you can spot a boat in there.
In we go…
By the way, Frankie and Luca pretty much were
having an afternoon siesta of then front of the boat on bed ‘Robin’ while we
cruised into the Grotto and approached the Aragonese Castle that juts into the
sea along the western coast at Ischia town.
Here’s Sam taking us along the western coast with
the iconic (and historically important castle) Castello Aragonese in the background.
This site was one of the first settlements established by the ancient Greeks
empire, and later the castle was built by the Aragonese monarchy of the Kingdom
of Napoli. It even withstood the great Captain Nelson’s attempt to take it.
Fisherman at the port of Ischia from the boat.
The iconic El Fongo (the mushroom) rock
formation from the boat.
Ischian fisherman doing their thing.
Another un-named Grotto on the northern shore
before arriving to Forio.
And sneaking the boat in…
Sam taking the boat into port after a big day
of circumnavigating the island.
And a view of Forio and Mount Epemeo as we steam
across the port.
That night we went back to Pizzaria Tinaia, had
great chow, and heated ourselves up on the outside of the wood-fired oven of
the establishment.
27 September: Next morning we had lunch
in Forio and were serenaded by a traditional Italian troupe.
Then coffees and gelatos at a café on the main
walking parade for a bit of people watching.
A walking street from the town to the port.
Then up to the upper slopes of Mount Epemeo and
the kids had about a 1 km horse ride up to the uppermost portion of the highest
peak on the island.
And even had a couple of great dogs to accompany
us.
Here we are at the top of the peak.
And a couple of more from some proximal
secondary peaks.
Ischia grows a surprising amount of local
produce and wine… Here’s an apple orchard on the upper slopes of Mount Epemeo.
On the drive down Robise got this snap of a typical 3
wheeler – ute – backtray thing type of vehicle… Classic.
And a nice sunset on the balcony before dinner.
And Frankie showing off her dinner table
etiquette at dinner… Not!
We finally met Francesco (Claudio’s dad) during
dinner as he stopped by to say g’day with one of his daughters (Claudio’s
sisters) Carolina. It was nice to finally met him and express our gratitude for
his hospitality. He also invited us for a trip on his yacht around the island the next day.
Unfortunately he had commitments that he needed to attend too, so he would not
be accompanying us.
28 September: Next morning after
breakfast it was the routine swim in the hot and cool pools of Albatros. Great
way to start the day in a relaxed mode.
We then hopped onto the Francesco’s boat in
Ischia. Here are the troops piling on board. A nice wide body 42 foot classic
sailing boat.
The weather was coolish and overcast, but not a
great deal of wind. The route we took was clockwise, rather than
counter-clockwise as we had done on our previous outing in the centre console. We motored
the northern and eastern coastlines and the weather started to fine up as we
made our away along the southern coast. We dropped anchor near the Grotto at Green Cave,
the next pic is the entry location into Green Cave.
Here’s a rare pic of just us at the front
of the boat by Francesca.
And the transfer vessel to get closer to the
entry of Green Cave.
When you enter the cave via a short shallow
dive, the reflection, refraction and attenuation properties of the seawater and
the morphology of the cave yielded a greenish glow.
Here is me sucking in my gut…
Here is me sucking in my gut…
Crew on the front of the boat over the next
short motoring spell.
Another rare picture of all the Griswold’s!
Luca climbing up boat ladder to have another
leap from the boat!
Frankie making the leap from the side of the
boat!
A couple of paddlers in front of San Angelo's rock peninsula, this would be a great
island to paddle in a civilized manner from coastal town to coastal town,
followed by a hot springs bath, a few cervezas and bit of chow, and a nice inn
bed… Yep, I will have to put that one into the suggestion box for the fellas
back in Perth.
Another shot of the motoring scene just before
our next stop at Sorghetto near the southwestern corner of the island.
Here’s a shot of Sorghetto, a couple of boats
moored in the bay, a restaurant and…
Hot springs coming into the ocean, the crew doing
the Sorgeto thing…
Taxi ride back to the boat.
Tonino, our skipper, was a great guy and
organized lunch for us inclusive of a couple of Peroni’s. We really appreciated
him taking us around the island.
A view from the island as we get closer to
Forio port.
29 September: Next morning after
breakfast and the pool, we decided to check out Lacco Ameno. The hotel in the background is where all the Hollywood A-List stars (Elizabeth Taylor, Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas types) stayed at back in the day when Ischia was the epicenter of MGM blockbusters in Europe.
Then a bit of beach action at the local.
We had dinner at the small town of San Angelo’s
on the south-southwest corner of the island. It was a bit busy in the village
as it was the local saint’s day with a lot of people about and fireworks. A few
pics of the town before dinner.
And choosing gelato’s after dinner.
30 September: Today we made a vehicular
circumnavigation of the island. We had a nice lunch in the Ischia near the
Aragonese Castle.
Then checked out the Aragonese Castle…
Then had our final swim in the Hotel Albatros
pool.
1 October: And lastly a picture of
myself and Francesco just prior to our ferry departure back to Naples from the
port of Foria.
In short, the Del Deo’s looked after the
Griswold’s on Ischia in an unbelievable manner for which we are grateful! Many
thanks for Francesco for arrangements with the hotel, Poseidon, Romantico and
your vessel. Georgina for organizing the car and advice. Carolina’s English
translation at Romantico. And Claudio encouraging the Griswold’s to check out
Ischia, what a great island, we'll be back!
