Our fantastic trip to fantastic Italy is fading fast. It’s been raining here pretty well since we got back. It was hillwalking Saturday last weekend, and we spent the day in Moffat, in the rain, trudging up hills. I say hills with an ‘s’ because no sooner had we got to the top of one, we went down the other side then embarked on another. I don’t remember ever feeling so cold and miserable. The gin & tonic (or two) at the pub at the end of the day and of course the terrific company, were the only redeeming features, and the blister on my right heel is my only memory…

So, Italy. It was fantastic. Along with the excursions I’ve already recounted, we had plenty more memorable days, one in Ravelo, one hillwalking, another swimming and lazing about by the sea, and another couple of days at the end of our trip in the fantastically crazy city of Naples. But the best part was the people. Nicolas and Leonardo at Villa S. Michele. Sally and Gordon from Leeds who relieved me of a second day hillwalking with Michelle. Luigi from the bar in the square. And most importantly Bruno, and his friend Pascal, who entertained us, answered our never-ending questions and who were a wealth of knowledge on everything, particularly food and wine. We met them at Le Palme on the first night, along with three fantastically young and open-minded Canadian girls, Nyasha, Jessica and Shay who were on a whirlwind trip around Europe. Every night late, we would meet up with them all at Le Palme for wine, cheese, pizza and laughter until the early hours of the morning, and every second night we dined with Bruno and had the most interesting discussions on life, death and the universe. It was a real treat. Amongst many other talents and occupations, Bruno runs a B&B in Atrani called ‘A Room with a View‘ and has put together the best information site about the Amalfi Coast that’s available on the net. Use it. Call him. Stay there. You’ll have a ball.

Bruno

As for the girls, they’re somewhere in Portugal right now on their way to Morocco. All from Saskatchewan, they arrived in Atrani after spending 10 days travelling through Europe in the rain ready to settle down for a couple of days, relax and enjoy some sunshine. Thankfully the weather co-operated and at the end of each day – for three days running, they would sit down and decide that they would stay ‘just one more day’ in the laid-back, sunshine filled world of Atrani.

The Girls – unfortunately I don’t have a decent photo, this wasn’t even supposed to have been taken – I was just fooling about..

The cast of characters we met this trip were truly special, and I have no doubt we will meet again. Each and every one of them made our trip that much more memorable.