So it's Sunday the 28th and we're leaving Vanni's parents house to drive back up to Naples to where Phil and Vany live. After packing the car to the point that you could not have fit a deck of card in the truck we say our goodbyes and get on the road. We're not driving straight thru but stopping in a little town called Civita in a bed and breakfast that they stumbled upon during one of their previous trips. We drive up this winding mountain road and arrive at the B&B well after dark. The place is beautiful. All coblestone paved and stone architecture. We unpack the car and check into our rooms. They're beautifully decorated with tile floors and antique furntiure. We are then invited to dinner with the owners of the B&B, a treat that not everyone is privy to. Jean Lucca and Eva are amazing hosts. They live in a home next door to the B&B and has been in the family for a long time. She is of Polish decent and he is of Albanian descent and the town of Civita was and still is an Albanian colony of sorts. Dinner is a traditional Albanian Christmas dish that's a lasanga of sorts but its made with spinach and a wheat based crepe(not like desert crepes). It's one of the best things I've ever eaten!! We also have salad, bread, a homemade wine, and a sausage made from wild boar. Everything is delicious! We converse and eat the night away. Somewherer in the conversation over the evening we are told about a surprise waiting for us in the morning. We don't have a clue what they're talking about but they assure us its a good surprise. We call it a night and head off to bed. The next morning we wake up and having forgot about the surprise I go the the window to check out our view. Remember when we arrived it was dark and we couldn't really see where we were. I openned the window to find myself looking at one of the most spectacular view I have ever seen. The B&B is situated on the edge of a deep canyon with our window facing the opposite cliffs. Far below I can hear the rush of water below. It's breathtaking. I close the window and crawl back into bed. I don't tell Mia cuz I want her to see it for herself. Ten minutes later she goes to the window and I warn her not to look. She asks why and then opens the window. As she stares in amazement like I did I then tell her if she doesn't close the window it'll take her breathe away. And it does. I've been to alot of beautiful places and seen alot of amazing things. This definitely rivals any of them! After soaking in the view and waking up we go down for breakfast. Breakfast was great. Pastries and juice and toast and chocolate cake! After breakfast we were invited to take a hike down to the river with Jean Lucca and Eva. They take this particular hike all the time but do not normally invite their B&B guests to go along with them. We were under the impression that it would be a short hike thru town and then down to the river. Man were we wrong! Turns out what we were invited to was a 2 hour hike down to the river and thru part of the largest national (park) forest in Europe. Again I was blown away by the beauty and vastness of where we were. The pictures we took won't give justice to what we hiked thru. Deep green forests and meadows filled with olive trees. All I have to say is that I'm going back to that place again someday. It was truely a unique gift that they gave us in sharing that with us. We made it back to our rooms worn out completely but satisfied with our trek. After a hot shower and a little rest we said our farewells to our newfound friends and checked out of the B&B. We had lunch in a local restaurant and then got back on the highway for the rest of our drive to Naples. Driving thru Italy was great, so many sights to see along the way. We made it into Naples right after the sun went down. Naples sits close to Mt. Vesuvius so we got to watch the sun go down behind the mountain/volcano. We got to Phil and Vany's house, unpacked the car, and relaxed around dinner and a couple episodes of Smallville(Phil and I are both Superman fans). Then crashed with dreams of what is to come!
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