Tuesday, March 19, 2013

The rest of the views from my previous home in Gaeta, Italy

 As I mentioned in the previous post... I lived on a hill/small mountaintop overlooking the ocean with a huge lemon tree grove, and the best part was the million dollar view of not one... but, TWO old castles in the old town of Gaeta.   Here are the view out my living room windows (castles) and the ocean, mountains, harbor and old church were from my bedroom and balcony views.
 The church and harbor view to the mountains as seen from my bedroom and balcony.  It would snow in the winter on the mountains... but, never on the ground.   This place is located 1/2 between Rome and Naples.




 This was my first time to live anywhere where citrus fruit would grow.  PS I was disappointed the the 'home grown from the yard' lemons tasted no different than the lemons in the store.  I thought it would be more like the difference between a home grown tomato and a purchased one.  However, I did make a lemon pie one day.


 There are 2 castles in this area.   At times, one castle was even used as a prison.  One is still being used as 'government' type of facilities.   They are all intact and you can go on a tour for parts of the castle and see some of the 'prison cells.'


 In the front you can just make out the walls of the older castle- the tower for it isn't showing- it is behind the trees to the right.   They are over 600 years; if I'm remembering correctly.
Can you see the 'bomb' holes in the church roof from the war?





And as a bonus... the house came with its own Italian Villa cat!   The previous owners called him:  Bruce.  However, I didn't since that name reminded me of a 'carousling' former boyfriend.   He was tame and you could pet him... however, he hadn't grown up being picked up so he wouldn't let you pick him up.   If he was 'home' he would follow me around anytime I was outside.   He's a little upset with the photo taking- but, I had to keep taking photos because every time I'd get him focused in the camera... he'd move forward and touch the camera lens with his nose. This is when I first moved in- he was a sweet kitty and not meant for the 'fighting' life that goes with being an outdoor villa cat living on a mountain.


This was the front of the house.  The cat would sometimes climb that spiral staircase and sleep on the roof.   You can just see an outdoor patio area (tile roof area to the far right) and near this are stairs that go down around the house and the balcony on the back side of the house with the ocean views.    

Can you see why I loved living here even if it was only for 10 months?  I was only in the house for 6 months.   My job was 'ex-cessed' and I had to move to another location.  





2 comments:

susanc said...

What spectacular views you had ~ wow! My paternal grandparents were from Italy and Sicily and I would love to get there one day.

iwouldratherbeknitting said...

I really think that the views there were just amazing. If I got home before dark- I'd always go out on the balcony or open the wooden shutters to see what the ocean/view was doing that day.

It constantly changed.