Game of Thrones

Our day began with a sleep in followed by a breakfast together around the dining room table. It was already too hot on the patio. Coco Pops were the kids choice, I had a coffee and Mike feasted on pastries.

We ventured down to the beach and the boys spotted volleyball nets on the “free beach”. It was pretty busy and the private beach next door looked a bit nicer. The only problem was you had to pay of course but you also couldn’t do ball sports on the private side. The kids crawled under the wooden promenade and decided that was a perfect shady spot. Mike said no. We're not trolls! We’ll rent umbrellas and the two boys can come over to the public side if they want to do the ball sports. The further from us the better!

We paid 28 euro for the day and for a few lounges and an umbrella. We hit the water. I was nervous what the beaches would be like as the photos were not very clear that I’d seen online. We were really pleasantly surprised. It was a sand beach for a start! And the water was the perfect temp, clean and calm. In fact it was possibly a little too shallow. A lot of children in this part of Europe or visitors to Europe cannot swim. So they had made this beach relatively shallow with the help of some rocks forming a wall and that’s why there was so many families there. This was a bonus I guess as we felt we could leave the

boys to play without us being right next to them.

After some relaxing on the lounges the boys returned and everyone declared they were hungry! We went to the beach club restaurant and they said they had a spot for us if the boys wore T-shirts. We said not to worry to the host and that we couldn't sit down as Kayden only had on boardies. However they beckoned us back and gestured never mind, it was fine that our children were half naked. We did our best to drape a towel over Kayden's shoulders. Lunch was wonderful and fresh. Max didn’t want a meal but ordered a giant fruit salad with vanilla gelato. Kayden and Isla got pizza. Mike also got a pizza but with fresh ingredients on top and I chose melon and prosciutto, bruschetta and spaghetti vongole. Yep way too much but between us we managed to make a good dent out of it all.

Kayden asked for the remainder of his pizza to take away. He had plans to eat it for breakfast. For some reason that we still don’t know, the owner came out and told the waitress to charge us less. He hugged us and shook our hands as we left. It was lovely of him. Perhaps he wanted these Australians to return tomorrow? Most likely.

After lunch the kids were keen to head back to the apartment for showers. You don’t have showers at this beach club unless you have the special swipe card. We didn’t. So Mike took the three kids home and threw them in the

shower and I spent another hour or so enjoying our beach umbrellas and watching the world go by. My favourite thing. Definitely not a favourite thing for the kids to do. Mike later returned and joined me for a little longer. Very relaxing! Everyone was happy.

Later that afternoon we took Isla out for a granita and a wander around the streets. However we were learning quickly that siesta was taken very seriously here and everything would be a ghost town until at least 5.30. Fair enough! So we went back home to the apartment and did lots of loads of washing and lots of relaxing.

Day 3

On day 3 we caught a taxi over to the other side of the island to Castello Aragonese. The taxi driver couldn’t speak English of course but continued to give us a tour in Italian as we drove. Mike got the only seat in the van with a

window that opened. The rest of us died in the back or wanted to die due to car sickness. Mike’s pay off was that he had to do most of the conversing with the driver. The driver told Mike about all the food Ischia is famous for and looked up pictures of porcini mushrooms for Mike to look at while he drove dangerously around bends. He said we must try the risotto and porcini everything while here. He also explained to us “terremoto” over and over again as he pointed to buildings. Google translate quickly told us that terremoto means earthquake. There was either an earthquake in November or August we couldn’t suss that out but the village we drove through had significant damage. He also mentioned aqua so we think a landslide took place there too. Mike would say “si, terremoto” at whatever the driver said. And pointed to. This went on for 20 minutes.

When we arrived at the castle we had to stop in the shade to catch our breath. Max, Isla and I felt car sick. Kayden the cool cat that he is, said he “never” has any motion sickness and Mike was also fine.

The castle was incredible. I found myself humming Game of Thrones music as we walked up to the incredible building. The castle was first build in approx. 475BC as a watch tower. Over the centuries it evolved and is now privately owned by one of the last children to be born in the castle. Just incredible! I got a bit teary again. It was beautiful and my imagination had me in the gardens with royalty overlooking the turquoise sea. Mike and I couldn’t get over it. What a piece of history to walk through. The stories this place would have told.

The kids were mostly interested in the torture museum which was confronting to say the least. Max was particularly taken by the device that attaches heavy weights to your testicles. Coming in at a close second to the draw of a torture museum, was the cafe with 12 euro milkshakes. The kids could not climb that castle fast enough!

After the castle we went into the town where I found a lemon table cloth for summer lunches outside by the pool in Perth. The kids were quick to tell me how hideous it was. Mike was quick to agree and then an English speaking person walking past overheard us and he said “they’ve got a point!”. Pfttttt.

We were a little hesitant to get back in a taxi after the morning ride but had to get home somehow. This taxi driver quoted us less and gave us a smooth ride on the coast home. He, like everyone on the island didn’t speak much English but he pointed out the beaches we passed and said this year was more quiet than last and we should NEVER eat at a ristorante. Always eat at a trattoria. They are serious about their food in Italy.

When we got home the kids were cooked. They just wanted to hang out. So Mike and I set off for a swim at the free beach. It appears we were there with everyone on the island. The sun doesn’t set until after 9 so swimming at 6pm is totally normal!

One strange thing that happened. And continued to happen when I swam in Ischia was people would come up and ask me the time. I couldn’t tell them obviously so would have to float up to them to show them. Just strange to notice that nobody has watches in the water and that they all spotted that I did! They were usually young people. We gathered maybe they were due home by a certain time. Who knows.

All through Italy we have spotted so many kids who look very similar to Isla and lots who also look like Kayden. On our way home that afternoon we saw two twin boys playing volleyball who looked identical to Max but a little older. We wanted to lay eyes on their parents but couldn’t see them.

That evening we had a booking at a ristorante. Guess what, it was terrible! We finished with a granita and all was well again. This time I went traditional flavour which was almond. It’s blitzed up almonds with almond milk, water and sugar that’s obviously then frozen like a granita. Yum! The boys are now pretty good with their ordering of food and go off on their own in the village to get theirs ahead of us. Tomorrow we will venture to other parts of the island. Not entirely sure where!