As we traveled south, we came upon huge tracts of wheat and corn. We got off the main highway in Campaignia and headed into a huge valley surrounded by very steep mountains. It was absolutely beautiful and a stark contrast to the gentle hills of Tuscany and Umbria. Cham also encountered our first real Italian drivers. This is obviously a generalization but if it's a two lane road, they drive toward the outside of the lane and use the center as a passing lane whether it's marked or not. If it's a four lane road, they tend to drive in the left lane with two tires almost in the right lane. I don't know, I guess it's to dart and move faster? We were using a GPS, made the necessary turns and found ourselves in an agricultural outskirts of town which had definitely seen better days. There were several miles of abandoned processing plants, greenhouses and shipping areas. It was really quite eerie. Cham and I looked at each other because this was supposed to be a really nice spa . . . We eventually found ourselves definitely not where we wanted to be. We are also now in a section of Italy where very little English is spoken. We stopped at a vine bar, showed the bar keep the name, he nodded and drew us a map - totally wrong. Cham decided to go to the police dept which was closed. He saw a man washing his laundry in the garage so he stopped by to ask him. He shook his head and motioned for Cham to follow him. He led him to a computer store where a young man spoke some English but not enough to help. The gentleman motioned to Cham again, got the wife and gestured for us to follow them. Truly, we would never have found this place if not for this couple. We offered them payment which they refused so I gave them a bag of snack crackers which they accepted. Truly, once again, the kindness of complete strangers. I hope when I return home I will always remember how kind people were to us and I will treat others accordingly. When we checked in we mentioned how hard it was to find and she just said all the guests say that. Maria was a lovely young woman who asked for our passports and ruefully said she had relatives who had left for jobs in NJ. she hoped to visit someday. She also said, "you do know how fortunate you are, don't you, that you have jobs?" Wow, good to get a little kick in the rear now and then. After a moment I said, yes, we are very blessed. She upgraded us to a junior suite and Ali led us to the room. Ironically, a lot of immigrants have landed in this poor section of Italy. We can only imagine they are in the area as migrant workers. Ali spoke some English so I assign that's why the hotel hired him. If you ever truly want to get away, this is the place. Its a huge stone facility which took 5 years to build in the middle of no where. Our room had a nice balcony which overlooked the mountains and a church. The room was beautifully decorated, but we wanted to hit the water. The spa had a huge outdoor pool and a smaller indoor pool, sauna and treatment options. I assume it was natural water because there wasn't any literature, but it didn't have any telltale aroma. While lost in the town, we passed a pueblo spa which appeared to be closed, but there was obviously a history of water works. Dinner was included and the restaurant had received marvelous reviews with a focus on local products. We entered the dining room around 8:30. It was a little depressing to me because we were in this massive stone dining room with more wait people than guests. The maitre d' was from Naples and very professional. He reminded me of the host on the Bachelor/Bachelorette shows. We asked him about the abandoned plants. It was obviously a very sore subject. He said it had been a thriving agricultural area at one time, but when they joined the EU, it all ended. He said they used to produce fantastic tomatoes but now they had to import them from Spain. Many of the other crops had met the same fate. He was not happy with the result. It's hard to think globally when you're getting hit locally. Dinner was outstanding. Our young wine steward was so pleased to select a local wine and with great ceremony presented and prepared it for us. I had local grilled lamb chops and Cham had local black pork. We still are unsure what that meant but both dishes were delicious. The restaurant definitely lived up to its reputation. We got up the next morning to a lovely breakfast which had a large variety of local jams. The fruit in Italy has been delicious even though it may not be the country of origin . . . We went to the spa for a couple of hours before heading to our next stop, Lecce. It was another interesting adventure in a part of the world I'll probably never visit again.
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