I have just arrived home from my favorite Island in the world… the beautiful Island of Ponza. This is the third year in a row Case and I have made it to this paradise. Although this was not our smoothest trip, I would say this was my most memorable trip. I must elaborate on the lack of fluidity our trip had. Normally Case and I have Ponza figured out, we consider ourselves well versed in Ponza fun. Unfortunately, we hit a few roadblocks…all comical when looked back upon. The first day we normally head straight to the motorino rental and take a lap around the island. However when we arrived…the amount of people on the island seemed to have doubled. All the motorinos had all been rented, along with the boats..so we did something new, we took a boat to another beach and enjoyed a Peroni on the beach. Although we were disappointed about the lack of motorino, we were still incredibly happy to enjoying the beach and starting our vacation. Once we arrived back to the main city from Il frontone, I felt like I had hit a brick wall. It soon became apparent that I was indeed coming down with a miserable cold. Pretty standard– finally stress free and relaxed..perfect time to get sick. However I did not let a pesky cold keep me down…next day was boat day!

Boat day has come to be our favorite.We have rented a boat from the same lady for three years now, so we got the “friend” price. Once we awkwardly maneauvered our boat out of the busy port (with the help of Italians on the dock yelling directions and using wild hand movements) we were on the open sea! Thankfully, the rest of the day was relaxing and uneventful, and I let the sea water and sun help me treat my cold.

The next day we again rented a boat, of course this time manuevering it out of the port with complete ease and skill, we wandered to the other side of the island where we first anchored in a nice little bay. high fiving and feeling very proud of ourselves.. When we decided it was time to move to a new spot, we got all packed up, raised the anchor..and attempted to start the motor. Attempted and failed. So…to start the motor you had to have the gear in the perfect neutral, and add a bunch of muscle to pull the cord (like a lawn mower) and then quickly hit the gas. Case tried, I tried, and we both failed. Sitting there we felt defeated, discussed a plan of attack and again Case tried. Me being me, I wanted to be right on Case’s shoulder giving him pointers and being as my mom says “bossy.” Case unfortunately was not aware of how close I really was, and took a very strong attempt at starting the motor with perfect lawn mower form…sadly my nose got in the way of his elbow. Serves me right for being “nosey.” After the initial shock, me pacing in pain, a few face dips in the salty sea and an attractive bag of ice on my face, I was able to self diagnose myself with just a bonk on the nose…no further damage (yay nursing education). After that, the motor started right up and we were on our way! Once we found our next anchor spot in the brilliant blue water, we jumped in took a swim and spent much needed time frolicking in the sea for the remainder of the day.

The next day was motorino and beach day! We checked out of our hotel, left our luggage at the reception and were on our motorino by 1030 am. We went straight to a beautiful beach, where we had chairs set up looking out over the sea and perfect places to go swimming and do some exploring. Case wandered off first to do some swimming while I read. Then once I was too hot I too decided to go swimming. Case showed me the way into the water and we swam around for some time. I decided to wander further out on my own, feeling confident. Within minutes, I feel a very painful sting on my thumb, look down in time to see a jellyfish scurrying around. Safe to say I found my way out of the water in a hurry, and eased my pain with a mozz di bufula sandwich. After a much needed siesta on the beach, and a timid dip in the water it was time to head home. We made sure to grab some road cannolis and sfogliatele and hopped on the boat back to Anzio. Another trip to Ponza had come to an end…my pride a bit squashed…but yet a very happy heart!

Once arriving back in to Anzio, stuffed up, sunburnt, nose throbbing, and jellyfished…both Case and I were ready to get home and relax. While waiting for a friend to pick us up at the port to take us to our car, we shared some pizza–big mistake. Alessio, Case’s friend, picked us up and took us back to his house where the car was waiting for us. When we walked into the house, the whole family was there with the smell of an amazing dinner filling the kitchen. We should have known better to eat before arriving there, it was soon evident we would be eating dinner. The dinner was wonderful, as expected, starting with a quarter of a watermelon to myself…until Case took pity on me and cut half of it away. Then Alessio’s mom brought out a huge plate of pasta, followed by meat and potatoes, and ending with fresh figs and caffe. All amazing! Also throughout the dinner if your cup was even close to empty, Alessio’s dad made sure to fill it up again with his newfound favorite lemon beer. The best part of dinner however is just listening to all the communication. Everyone was speaking to one another, whether we could understand or not, everyone was just so happy.  Around a table with a family in Italy, is and always will be, one of my favorite activities.

Finally it was ten pm…and Case and I were full and tired. So we hopped into his car (which I have renamed the Mosquito–I will post pictures one day and you will all understand) and made the journey home. Case’s car is an electric car…and we didn’t really think ahead and didn’t fully charge it before we dropped the car off on friday. Therefore to make it home we had to drive at approx 15 mph hoping we would make it..with me cheering everytime there was a downhill so we could charge a little. We literally made it home with 1km left on the battery.

As you can see…not the smoothest of weekends..but will forever be memorable. As I sit here writing I am nursing a cold, a sore nose, and radiating heat from my sunburn but i still love Ponza, and the guy I got to share my awful luck with this last weekend. It is honestly impossible to share every detail with you all, I would honestly never be able to leave this computer, I am having an amazing time.  Truly every day here has been my favorite day, I cannot wait to see what the next few months has in store for me!

Ciao ciao ciao for now!

One more thing, Case requested I post the food we ate in my blog posts so here are some of our favorites:

Spaghetti alla Vongole with Red sauce one night, white sauce another (spaghetti with clams).

A thicker spaghetti with mussels, and a red sauce, topped with pecorino cheese.

For lunch everyday we had a proscuitto and a buffulo mozz sandwich, the B-mozz was special, because it is from Naples…so much flavor and salt… my favorite type of B-mozz!

For antipasti one night we had a plate of mussels with a light red sauce and red pepper flakes–so simple but so good!

Another night of Antipasti was filled with: Clams, mussels, octopus salad, raw tuna, anchovies soaked in an amazing vinegar, and a mystery raw fish.

Case ordered a fish called Orata one night, literally it showed up on the plate with skin, fin, tail and all. The lady sitting next to us was so kind and actually helped us cut it…it was amazing, reminded of salmon that melted in my mouth.

My favorite wine for the weekend was called Falanghina–made outside of Naples, a tasty dry white wine perfect to pair with many seafood dishes.

Of course we had apertivo every night, switching between presecco and spritz along with small bites.

Oh and of course Gelato! A gelato shop on Ponza has the best “mystery” flavor I have every tried, I have been told the name many times, but cannot even attempt to spell it. You wil just have to take my word for it.