A tale of Two Italian Cities

Two injections on the bum was not exactly the memento I envisaged from the ancient city of Pompeii but travelling is unpredictable and throws up obstacles and the unexpected, I suppose the trick is to go with the flow.

Always good to start the post with drama! Apparently it was an allergy to mosquito bites, once iodine-d and with a prescription we were back on the train went straight for pizza and beer and everything levelled out again in the slightly chaotic way it does when you’re in a different country, struggling with the gorgeous language and trying to navigate with 3 kiddos. EVERYONE gets hungry at the same time, everyone needs the toilet at DIFFERENT times!

Italians know the craic with fresh produce, no need to quote local or seasonal here…it just wouldn’t be available!

This is our big family holiday, we haven’t taken such an extended time away for a while and feel hugely privileged to be able to do so. After the crazy summer and always feeling like we’re ‘available’ even when we’re off it’s great to be truly away; though of course we’ve replied to emails, social media messages, done some ordering and processed payroll; the self employed never actually escape. We’ve started our Italian adventure in two cities; Rome and Naples.

It's impossible to tick off the sights in the short time we had so we had a few things in mind that we really felt we had to do and everything else was a bonus. We weren’t hugely interested in feeling tied to the popular food recommendations or visiting like minded bakeries, instead we wanted to feel free to stumble upon something, experience more authenticity (good and bad) and have a relaxed approach to the need to eat and drink with 5 people in tow. This inevitably ended in adults starving due to indecisiveness and some average food but loads of great times! The Italians LOVE children and this set us up very nicely; lots of kindness and friendly faces everywhere.

The obvious

ROMA

What a beautiful city, we walked a lot around the neighbourhood of Trastevere where we were staying with wonderful, generous friends, Anne and Roberto. Since Anne had lived in Rome for many years and Roberto is a local we were happy to be guided to their favourite places.

Here’s a little bit of what we did.

Anne and Roberto plan to rent out their unbelievably beautiful apartment in Trastevere from the new year

ONE of the markets in Trastevere, we grabbed fresh fruit for snacking and bread and pastries and we sat in the shaded play park right beside

We used an amazing ap called Trova at Castel Sant Angelo which led us around the site to find clues to break a curse, the kids totally loved it and so did we, plus the views are incredible. We booked tickets online so we could skip the queue and that felt very worth it.

We rented a little buggy at the Villa Borghese to get around the park, it was fun but we couldn’t find anywhere to eat, on the plus side we found the Spanish Steps on the way out

There was lots of sitting or leaning on things as the tired legs showed up, happily we didn’t have anywhere to be at any particular time and this is key for the kids and our stress levels. Easy to stop for a quick coffee or beer to get a rest and assess the plans.

At Bar San Calisto a Roman institution and oozing the atmosphere we search for!

The most Voldemort looking statue ever in Castel Sant Angelo, the kids thought the Colosseum was boring as they couldn’t play being Gladiators but loved the Roman Forum, we booked tickets for the 5.30pm and it was beautiful in the evening light.

Rome has loads of drinking fountains, a saviour in the heat

Late night Tiramisu, always get it!

NAPOLI

Right now in I’m sitting on a terrace beside an orange tree while the kids rest with the widescreen tv and air con. Dara and I visited Naples 14 years ago and it’s as magnificent now as then, all cool and edgy where Rome is pretty and polished. We did a lot less walking here, instead we got purposely lost in the centro storico just so we could ramble about the narrow streets and soak up the sights and sounds of this glorious place.

The wonderful streets of Napoli near our fab accommodation, The Bellini House

Must eat tourist trap Da Michele, we got our number and waited at the bar across the street with a spritz

Faded granduer everywhere so beautiful

pompeii is insanely massive

We wandered for as long as we could which was not very long at all!

We had more pizza this time at Concettina, so delicious

Forgive me that’s all I’ve got this week as I snatch some time before more street ambling tonight, I’ll write a little more for you all next week from Puglia, love x