Rollin’ with it

Bomarzo, Italy

Bob Ross says there are no mistakes in painting only ‘happy accidents’.

The same is true in travel. You can’t control an experience completely, you have to leave room for the unknown.

That’s where the adventure is.

Take our first happy accident as an example.

Misdirected by gps while we were looking for our apartment for the night, but rewarded for our patience with some authentic hand made pasta with the locals.

That’s how it works. You can read more about our search for the apartment and what happened here if you missed it.

This change in the day’s (very loosely planned) itinerary would set the tone for the rest of our time here in Bomarzo, Italy.

And that’s not a bad thing.

As we set out from our apartment to explore the area it seemed very quiet. It was Sunday and nearing the end of the day.

Our hopes of finding anything to do or anywhere open to eat were very low so we just started wandering.

If we were ‘busy’ doing some excursion or sitting in a restaurant we would have missed this incredible sunset.

These vistas did not disappoint.

We found a number of vacant apartments along the way. Some of them selling for as little as 7k (euros).

A reoccurring situation in many of these small towns where the young people have left to the bigger cities for better opportunities.

Growth has not only stalled but retracted. Not all is lost.

We have met some industrious individuals breathing new life into these towns whilst reinventing their own.

The restaurant thing was not panning out and it was getting late so we popped into a cliff side bar with a nice patio for a beverage.

Happy accident incoming!

While discussing what we could get from the little variety store to tide us over til the morning, the food rolled out.

Chips, wings, pinwheels, sandwiches and nuts! They came with the beers.

Dinner problem solved.

There’s no tipping here in Italy but our server was such a beautiful human being we had to. She was overwhelmed by the generosity.

What a difference from North America where an 18% tip is an indication of an average experience.

I did go to the variety store anyways and buy a deck of cards for some euchre back at the apartment.

Unwrap the deck, prepare to deal and find these:

Hold the door cause we have a happy accident coming through!

These are Scopa cards and very popular among all ages here in Italy.

YouTube taught us the rules in 10 minutes and BOOM we were back in the card game, enjoying something new and completely different.

Again, not what we were initially looking for but equally fun.

Rolling with it.

Beautiful places popped up as we wandered around.

Climbing up and down hills trying not to get smacked with passing cars.

No sidewalks and itty bitty shoulders these roads were built for horses not cars.

Dramatic moonlit skies abound providing some of the best photos we could hope for.

The following morning gave us even more expansive views.

With clouds hanging heavily right at eye level.

This unforgettable stop on our road trip confirmed Bob Ross’s happy accidents quote and raised it by one Stones song.

At the end of the day it’s what you make it – doesn’t matter what the ‘it’ is.

After a quick cappuccino and 14 biscottis the next morning, we were once again on our way down the road.

With good friends on an epic journey we really were never in any danger of not having fun 😎

Don’t miss out on any part of this road trip through southern Italy!

catch up on this trip here:

• 1. ROME Southern Italy Road Trip
• 2. Bomarzo All roads lead to Nonna 💜
• 3. Bomarzo The Monster Park – a love story?