travelphotoblogger

The tiny Island of Procida (often overshadowed by its more popular cousin, the nearby Isle of Capri) is about 4 square miles, and an easy half hour ferry ride from the insanity of mainland Naples, Italy. The ferry drops everyone at the Porto, a bustling marina surrounded by a colourful shopping and restaurant area. The buildings, as in many other small Italian coastal towns, are brightly painted pastels…Many, with obvious pride of ownership, are draped with hanging and potted flowers. Ubiquitous laundry flutters outside many windows.

The Port is, naturally, at sea level and unfortunately for the walker, it’s all uphill from there. Distances just seem greater when you are heading straight up…and even more so when lugging around a heavy camera bag, often with a tripod in tow…My little hotel the Tirreno is at the top of several ‘inclines’, but the rewards are some of the best rooftop views of the Port.

After several days of walking everywhere, I decided to enter  the faster moving road culture and rent a scooter for 24 hours…. I didn’t want to miss any back road or accessible coast or potential photo opportunity.

I was quite nervous on the morning that I actually had to get on my shiny red rental and maneuver it….There wasn’t a lot of formality to the driving ‘lesson’: a few words about the ignition and the brakes and very little interest in my license qualifications….A couple of practice runs along a quiet laneway under my belt and I joined the traffic at a ‘sensibly’ slow pace. My plan was to stick to the side and calmly signal anyone who seemed impatient to pass. In reality I had no control whatsoever…. everybody flamed past me without any need of invitation. The cars and trucks were most intimidating, because there really isn’t a lot of road-width space for a vehicle to pass…and I didn’t feel confident enough to hug the side too tightly for fear of smashing into it..…

Other than the fear of being squished on the cobble, the further downside of needing to be so vigilant was that I didn’t feel safe quickly braking or stopping, if I saw something interesting that I might want to photograph. And even this supposed that I could take my eyes off the pavement long enough to actually look at the scenery…Luckily, I became more comfortable with all this as the day wore on … The upside of using the scooter: I was definitely able to photograph in places that I wouldn’t have managed had I been walking.

A couple of logistical issues arose in town: Procida has a unique one-way street system…It’s the “you only know the rules if you live here” arrangement. More than once I found myself driving against the rest of the traffic (palpitations)….I asked around for help, and in the end decided it’s a bit of a mystery how anyone knows the right way. That said, motorists and passersby are more than happy to let you know your mistake once you’ve committed the sin. Another issue: the otherwise charming cobblestone probably wasn’t the best initiation to scooter driving: very bumpy.

My childish vision of renting a scooter was all 1950’s Italian movie type: a woman riding through the countryside, breeze blowing her unrestrained hair, sunny smile….while some handsome young fellow follows in amorous pursuit…Not even for a second….In reality my obligatory helmet offered much  more function than style; my hair was so sweaty it stuck to the inside, and the only pursuit I experienced was from traffic behind me honking to pass…. However, all that’s ok because I’m guessing those women didn’t experience my joy of making  a slew of memorable images which I’ll cherish.

I shot well over 3000 images of Procida and the Netherlands, and now its time to process them, and decide how to use them…Not quite the excitement level of being there, but I will enjoy this part too. I have also enjoyed the actual writing of this blog. My plan is to continue from time to time…I will be very liberal with my definition of ‘travel’ to include just about anywhere outside  the town limits of Huntsville.