Week 7 + 8 + 9: Amalfi Coast (Minori) - Scali - Florence - Marrakech - Fez - London
TL;DR - Made pizza and pasta with our AirBnB host in Italy. Chilled on his rooftop patio (with outdoor shower!). Fell in love with Italian folk music and dancing. More relaxing in our Riad in Marrakech. Fantastic tagine, fresh orange juice, mint tea and mezas mixed in with some dishonest direction givers asking for money. Had some great aha moments along the way!
Week 7+8+9 Update
We left our beautiful B&B in Sorento and made our way on a bus to an AirBnB in Minori, a smaller, less popular city on the other side of the Amalfi coast. The setup was perfect... We had a single room in an apartment with our host Ivano. Ivano is a chef that spends half his time in Italy, and half his time in Brazil. He was also... amazing! His go to phrase was "why not?" which is so inspiring. The phrase applied as equally to adding more cheese to a pizza we were making as it did to hosting guests in his home and moving to Brazil; "why not?".
Ivano had a passion for his rooftop patio, which was beautifully decorated with plants, cute fairy lights, and the piece-de-resistance, the outdoor shower! I was able to spend an entire evening discussing the importance of a good "gluten net" as he showed me how to make pizza topped with baked potato, onion, gorgonzola cheese and pork cheek prosciutto. Wow. We also made limoncello and fresh, home-made pasta. It was inspiring to work with someone so passionate about food and that put so much thought into the details. I really enjoyed it and it inspired me to take the plunge and sign-up for some cooking classes at SAIT to take my own love to the next level. Who knows, I may return to Italy to apprentice under Ivano in the future?!
This week in Italy was suuuuper laid back and slow paced. We woke up around 11am or noon, read in bed, took a nice outdoor shower in the warm afternoon sun surrounded by lemon orchards and the ocean and then went on some scootie adventures! The pace got a bit slow for me and it was at this point that I was really ready to get some more routine and "meaning" back into my day-to-day life.
We went to a little town called Scali to check out their annual chestnut festival. It was super local. They had a bunch of competitions between kids from schools in the area (think 3-legged races, potato sack jumping, donkey racing, and a timed race between moms from the crowd to make as many sandwiches as possible). The evening also had some super cool Italian folk music. I later found out the style is Tammurriata, which has lots of drumming, an accordion and a yodelling style singing. There is also some super cool dancing that goes along with it (check out this video). This week of the trip had lots of reading, relaxing in the sun on the patio, a bit of exploring on the scooter, some cooking at home, and a healthy dose of playing Catan: Cities and Knights on my iPad. I also had the biggest gelato of my life... It made me feel like a kid not just because the proportions were right, but I was completely unable to keep up with the melty sides and made a mess of myself. The gelato was literally the size of a dodgeball (a bit smaller than a volleyball). I did not understand... Best 12 euro I ever spent!
From Amalfi we hopped on a train to spend an evening in Florence before our flight left from Pisa the next night. We had just enough time in Florence for a nice dinner out and had an amazing t-bone steak (on par with Alberta if not surpassing it...) and a super cute breakfast the next day at our B&B. We then hopped on a bus for Pisa, and then caught a flight out to Marrakech, Morocco.
We stayed in an incredible Riad in Marrakech. A Riad is a traditional style home that has a courtyard in the centre with some sort of water feature and all rooms facing into the centre (no windows facing out). Riad's are meant to be a refuge from the hustle and bustle of the world outside, and this one certainly met that requirement. Our host Rida was super accommodating and always made sure we had all the things we needed. Breakfast was served for us whenever we chose to wake up... Sometimes as late as 1pm! This was my 2nd time in Marrakech and Sarah's 1st. I must say it's not my favourite place. The food is AMAZING (tagine, couscous, mint tea, fresh orange juice...). The Sukh's (open shopping area in maze like corridors) are quite cool and Jemaa el-Fna, the main square is amazingly active and lively. It feels like getting dropped into the chase scene in Aladin where he stole the apple. Snake charmers, hens painters, fire throwers, monkeys, story tellers, people selling sunglasses... It really has the works! The thing that I wasn't a fan of was everyone trying to take advantage of you. I don't mind people trying to sell me things, but when it's dishonest it really pushes on a vulnerability of mine I think (maybe because of my own past history of being dishonest?). People will very willingly show you a direction or walk you somewhere and then immediately ask you for money once you get there, even when you made it clear you would not pay them. It really got to me and would emotionally stay with me for a while after it happened. One guy got a bit grabby with me as I forcefully said "No" to the drugs he was offering. The experience instantly gets my adrenaline going and it takes a while to shake the feelings off.
We spent a couple days exploring the city, eating some amazing food and had some great days and evenings relaxing for the day in the Riad with a single excursion out for dinner in the evening. We were definitely super ready to be getting home by this point. Missing family, friends, and socializing with people other than ourselves
We had a 1-day layover in Fez on the way home, where we looked at buying some ceramics and things but I was unable to haggle the price down to something reasonable...
Our last 4 days were spent in London where we were able to hang out for the day with my brother, sister-in-law and niece and nephew. It felt so good to see family again and be able to spend time with them. This was definitely an aha moment for me about the importance of time with friends and family. I really really enjoyed the low-pressure of the day and being able to just interact with them, play with the kids, make memories! We visited with Sarah's aunt and uncle for an afternoon tea near Basingstoke (afternoon tea is officially my favourite meal of the day, and I think it needs to be done more often), and were also able to babysit my brothers kids while him and his wife went out for a well deserved date night (1st time in a year I think?!?!).
It was time to hop on a plane and head home! The journey back was super smooth (WestJet has really stepped up their game with quality of food) and had a chilly greeting in Calgary.
So, did I have any big breakthroughs or aha moments on this trip? Yup! Here they are (in no particular order):
Renovate the apartment we live in to make it more comfortable (it's an investment in our quality of life!)
Update our budget to include a focus on supporting personal development (e.g. career couch, SAIT cooking class, ski lessons, singing lessons etc.)
Take time to participate in more planned events (e.g. Philharmonic, shows, YYC events etc.)
Be more intentional with how my downtime is used (e.g. reading and hobbies vs Netflix)
Eat intuitively (stop eating when I'm feeling satisfied)
It's okay to spend some time being bored (sitting on the couch with no TV, phone or music. just sit there for a bit and see what happens)
Plan for more time with family and friends (impromptu drop-ins, dinners, game nights etc.)
Have friends over for dinner. Cook extravagantly for others.
Food doesn't always need to be complex. Have simple dinners. Make an intentional choice of how much effort I will put into cooking.
Setup an AirBnB room in our apartment
Schedule regular hot shaves. It feels nice to be pampered sometimes.
Setup a regular Catan gaming group
Travel to see friends (e.g. Europe, Edmonton)
Take a hip-hop dance class
Sign-up for cooking classes at SAIT
I feel blessed to have been able to go on an adventure like this with someone as cool and fun as my WIFE! It's great to be back though, and I'm really looking forward to see how our life continues to unfold.
Cheers,
Adam