Thursday July 24: The Travel Day

Burn Giorno from Gioi!

We landed in Roma around 7:15 local time, earlier than expected and a very smooth but cramped flight. I’m not sure if the seats have gotten smaller, but we were pretty uncomfortable.

As we deplaned, we walked about one minute before my mom and Nancy noticed that I didn’t have my hat with me! I went back to the plane and the flight attendants said they would check for it. Meanwhile, the captain was standing outside the plane and I complimented him on the excellent flight. I told him I love planes and he then offered me some airplane trading cards which I enthusiastically accepted! The flight attendant couldn’t find my hat so the captain went on the plane and found it for me. He definitely thought I’m special due to my extreme excitement about the trading cards but they are now a prized possession!

We were in a taxi headed to the Rome train station by 8am which was pretty impressive. At the train station, we had to purchase tickets and there seemed to only be 3 automated booths for the hundreds of people purchasing tickets in a non air-conditioned train station. I was quickly reminded of the inefficiencies of Italy. I tried to purchase the tickets on my phone but the app didn’t work either. Eventually we made it onto a 9:30am train to Naples.

After a nap on the train, we arrived in Napoli Centrale at 10:40am. I was so groggy. We finally had a coffee and I felt the joy of life-giving caffeine. With a short burst of renewed energy, we set off to find the rental car. Unfortunately, the map did not take us to where we needed to go. We wandered the station, walked around outside, followed the map to a garage where Phil and I checked all 4 floors, then asked a few different people and ended up leaving Mom and Nan to chill with the bags while we returned to the station and found the rental car offices downstairs with absolutely no signage pointing you in that direction. Please also remember, it’s hot.

Finally, probably closer to 11:30am, we get back to the garage and (after some debate on floor 2 or 3 and which floor is which since the ground floor is 0) Phil walks to spot 257 where our car should be and it’s not the one we have the keys for. He tells the attendant and the attendants says “oh it’s not the right car? Yes that happens.” …Italy smh.

The car is a small SUV but still barely fits the 4 of us and luggage. Mom and Nan were packed in the back with a big suitcase next to them. I had nearly no foot space in the front with my seat all the way forward. And we had a 2 hour drive ahead of us.

But first, we need food.

I had looked up two pizza places in Naples ahead of time that were within 10 minutes of the train station. We map to the place and immediately jump into what it’s like to drive in this insane city.

If you’ve never been to Naples, honestly it’s not worth seeing. I know the tourist part is nice where there is a port and nice restaurants but the city itself is a dump. It’s dirty and chaotic and driving is absolute insanity. There are no rules to driving here. It’s like frogger, grand theft auto, and Mario kart all at once. There was much yelling, very white knuckles, a lot of nervous laughter, and Phil was an absolute king of the road. At one point, we turned down a road so small that it seemed like the scene in Willy wonka where the rooms gets smaller as they walk into it. I have no idea how Phil didn’t hit anything.

We never made it to the pizza place. Or maybe we did and it was closed. After 20 minutes of the insanity of Naples roads, we gave up, routed to Gioi and decided we would stop outside of the city.

The first picture of the trip! Sandwiches and pizza from La Pizzaccia in Toro di Greco around 1:00pm. It was a 5 minute detour from our ride and seemed to be a very local place. The owner was super welcoming and we ended up with 3 sandwiches and 2 slices of pizza. Sandwiches were chicken cutlet, prosciutto mozzarella, and shredded pork…the pork and chicken both had french fries on the sandwich. One regular slice of pizza and one that I think had potatoes and prosciutto. It was all yummy, so much bread and carbs. Then another coffee to hopefully keep us awake for the 2 hour drive.

As we drove, I created a playlist of “booty” songs (all songs celebrating the booty) which got us through a little more than an hour! (Side note: Eminem’s “Ass Like That” is stuck in my head since then.)

3:40pm—we arrive in Gioi to our Agriturismo Nonno Ninuccio. When I tell you we are in the middle of nowhere Italy on a mountain top, I truly mean it. The nearest train station is 20 minutes from here and our view above shows how remote we really are. But the place is beautiful. The rooms are both modern and old at the same time. We have Italian aircon (aka a light cool breeze), and then walls look freshly painted but they left some of the old stone exposed which gives it the old vibe.

I believe there is no one else staying here. Our host, Katucia, made us some espresso and we enjoyed the coffee and the view.

Even on the top of this mountain, it’s hot. And after this nearly 24 hours of travel, I was so excited to shower, unpack, and unwind. But no napping! Must push through to achieve a good sleep.

So at 6:00pm, we got back in the care to go further up the mountain to the actual town of Gioi. We didn’t realize we were staying about 5 minutes down the mountain. Which is fine because we have a car, but once Phil and I leave, my mom and Nancy will be stranded here. Hopefully they find rides.

Considering it’s a small town in the middle of nowhere, Gioi is very well kept. Everything is clean, no graffiti, people are friendly-extremely cute. My mom has visited Gioi 4 times, the first time when she was 20 years old with her cousin Sandra, who also happens to be here this weeks.

After wandering, we stopped at Bar Max for a cocktail. Four gin and tonics with different gins and tonic waters. As we sat and drank, they started bringing us little snacks to pick on.

And somehow, all of that was 40€. If only we could get a high quality gin and tonic for $10 by us at home.

Some more wandering before dinner, my mom stopped to talk to people she recognized to be either her cousins, or her cousins’ cousins. She showed us the piazza and the castello, two areas where the townspeople hang out at night.

There are only 3 restaurants in Gioi. We intended to go to a restaurant La Respensa but when we got there it was closed. Only 1 of 3 restaurants were open last night so we ended up going to “En Gioi”.

Being as there is only one restaurant, my mom’s cousins were also dining there—a party of 12 and it was a bit chaotic. I got up to ask the owner, Nicola, to bring us some wine. He brought us a local white wine, a grape called Fiano, and it was a delicious full bodied white wine. Nancy was too buzzed from the gin, but we really enjoyed the wine.

First course: meat and cheese! The one soppressata with the white in the middle is a local thing that my mom and Nancy loved. Phil and I really enjoyed the spicy meat that looked like uncooked bacon.

Next course: pasta! Penne all’arrabiata and fusilli gioiese. I felt like I could tell the fusilli was handmade because of the texture. It was softer than normal pasta. It came in a ragu with braciola which was good but the all’arrabiata was amazing.

We were full, but we had ordered a pizza as well. We had no idea how huge this pizza would be. When it arrived, we laughed and laughed about how big it was. But the dough…so good. The pizza has artichokes, olives, mushrooms, prosciutto, cheese, sauce. I couldn’t stop eating. (We saved half of it…I was about to explode.)

To end the night, the owner, Nicola, gave Phil and me a sample of his homemade wine. Of course served out of a water bottle. The smell made me a little nervous but it tasted better than it smelled. It did have the distinct aftertaste of corn chips though.

And just when you thought the night was over, mama wanted to go for a passeggiata around the castello before going to bed. Phil and I did a loop, and then offered to go get the car and pick them up. We had driven up to the castello earlier in the day.

This was a mistake. We got in the car and the directions mapped us down 3 different streets that were not big enough for a car. One reverse was so tight that three locals were helping us to back out. As we drove in circles, we ended up in the piazza twice where all the locals were hanging out and they stared at us confused as to why we kept ending up driving through. Fair enough, we were confused too. After 15 minutes of frustration. We parked the car, walked back to the castello, and collected Mom and Nancy on foot.

The last excitement of the night—we saw wild boar in the street on the way back!

11:00pm, I truly could not wait to sleep after the longest day ever. A slight buzz, a full tummy, and a comfy bed made for a great sleep.