June was a busy month and I can't believe it is over already and we are into July.
The early part of June was spent preparing for visitors. My Aunt and Cousin would be coming to Acquavella for a week and then a few days later a friend from Minnesota would be coming for a 2 week visit. More on those adventures in a bit. But first an update on Oscar. He is still recovering. His age is making his recovery slow. But as the Vet says he is a tough little bull and he continues to improve. The summer heat has arrived which is not good for him but he stays inside most of the day on cool tile floor.
My house project has been at a standstill due to my visitors but July will be time to kick it into gear again before August hits when nothing will get done. My September start date is probably in jeopardy now but I'm still holding out hope I can at least be close. I do have a first draft of the tile design from the factory in Vietri. I like what they have done so I expect to finalise that in the next week or two.
As I mentioned most of June was spent with visitors. This allows me to be a tourist a bit too. I was able to visit places that I had not been yet so again, learning more about the area where I live - and it continues to amaze and impress me for its beauty.
The second week of June my Aunt (wife of my mother's brother, John) and Cousin Lisa, from Philadelphia, came to visit. We visited with many of the cousins in the area and I played translator for them. That was a new adventure! There were a few family gatherings with no less than 15-20 cousins at each event. Their heads were spinning! 😜 I enjoyed showing them around the area and letting them experience a bit of my new life in southern Italy. After their week with me they left and went to the Amalfi coast for another week of holiday.
Two days after they left my friend Jacquie from Minnesota came to visit. She would spend one week with me - doing a few fun side trips but then the second week of her journey we traveled to Tuscany together. She is an art lover so Florence was a must for her. I had not been to Florence since 1999 so it was great to tour again visiting many of the things I saw years ago but then adding some new sites to the list. I will do a separate blog on this trip as it really was beautiful and something I would like to share with everyone. We also took the train to Siena two days and did some winery tours and visited the old medieval town of Siena. This is the city I travel to last year for the famous horse race, The Palio.
While my visitors were here I took them to Palinuro, a beach town not far from me. We then took a boat tour along the coast. The scenery is stunning and the water is crystal clear. There are many grottos along the coast. A few years ago you could go in 4 different grottos by boat. Now there is only one left that you can enter (due to safety reasons) - "Grotto Azzurra" (The Blue Grotto) similar to the one on the famous island of Capri. I'm kind of partial to this one. It is less crowded and just as beautiful from what I hear from those that have seen both. I put together a little video (link below) (2:30 minutes) of the coast and the boat ride into the grotto. Credit goes to my cousin Lisa Gentile Helock for some of her photos and videos. I combined them with mine for this little movie. I hope you enjoy it. This is one of the many beautiful things to do along the Cilento coast!
https://youtu.be/Hg-GkJ7Q2S4
Stay cool!!
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