POMPEI – WHERE WE FIND FAMILGLIA LOVE
POMPEI
14th November:
We had booked four nights with Martina and her brother Salvatore in their B&B, rated for some time now in Trip Advisor as No.1 Hotel in Pompei. This was our fourth stay with them. (2009,2011; and in 2014 we stayed five nights before taking the car ferry to Croatia).
We had received such a warm welcome on our very first visit in 2009 to view the ruins, when Martina’s mother, Antonella, was in charge of La Casa de Plinio (Martina being on holiday). She insisted on ushering us into her private kitchen. There she plied us with wine and cakes (we had been out for a pizza already). When her husband, Andrea, came in from work we settled into a convivial evening with the help of a tablet he owned (very new then) which translated our conversations for all of us.
Since then we have been embraced as part of their family – Antonella, Andrea, and their children Salvatore and Martina; and Martina’s partner, Vincenzo.
POMPEI: HUGS, KISSES AND COOKING
As usual, the moment we turned into the courtyard Martina was on her mobile phone, rushing down from her flat and letting us in through the large gate. Within twenty minutes the entire family surrounded us, and we were hugging (but NOT kissing – I warned against it!) All had left their work. Salvatore and Vincenzo had soon to rush back to their places of employment – but they still came.)
Andrea’s work took him much further afield, but he cooked a special welcome meal for us that evening in the house where he and Antonella live. Graham and I struggled to do justice to the delicious food, the ‘flu having robbed us of all appetite.
POMPEI: WE RECEIVE TLC.
Our Italian family (they long ago adopted us) were great. I don’t know what we would have done without their loving help. They were in the throes of redecorating all the rooms, which they do every year. Despite this we both stayed in bed for three days, and because I was still very poorly they agreed that we could stay out the week. This meant they did not close as they had planned. So Martina accepted another couple, and an Italian family, the mother of whom became a thorn in her side. ‘I’ll never accept Italians again. They are the worst,’ she declared. (I’m sure that’s not true, really.)
Graham got up on the fourth day but I stayed in bed. Martina kept popping in with hot drinks and offers to make food, which we declined. On our last day I knew I must get up, as we’d be travelling the next morning.
To our surprise Antonella popped in and cooked lunch for everyone, including Anna, Martina’s delightful, hardworking assistant. She was in the crowd around the table, passing bowls of a very light spaghetti dish containing calabrese (and celery? It was a long time ago). I know the sauce was light green and so delicious that I managed to eat half of my bowlful.
We’d asked Martina to cancel our original two-night bookings in both the Cinque Terre and Orange. Instead, we took a more direct route of one-night stops in order to reach the Channel tunnel on the 29th November (not wanting to pay extra).
FAMILY FAREWELLS
20TH November.
We left Pompei on Sunday the 20th. I felt pretty rough, but just well enough to travel. At least the delay had given Graham time in the last day or two to use our friends’ motor mechanic to check out the Golf, which was starting to show signs of wear. Good job too! He found two valves in the water system that were almost blocked. He replaced the cheapest and cleaned the dearest. He said we should now have no trouble, and safely see the white cliffs of Dover; though how we were going to do that from the tunnel begs the question. Graham, delighted by the low bill, said he was being cheerfully Italian.
Before we left Graham went into our friends’ garden and picked a lemon and some oranges. The temperature in the sun was a pleasant 21C. So with the warmth and the sun shining, not a bad place to have ‘flu, we thought; better than England in mid-November.
Text by – Jackie Usher, SWWJ. (aka author Debbie Darkin, & ‘Graham Liverpool’ on Trip Advisor.)
Photographs by – Graham Usher.
