Discovering Molise: Italy's Hidden Gem of Tradition and Taste

Ever dreamt of wandering through an Italian paradise that's remained untouched by the troves of tourists? That dream becomes a virtual reality in our latest podcast episode where we whisk you away to Molise, Italy's unsung region of rustic charm and gastronomic delights. Joined by our delightful guest Dominica, we reveal the secrets of this enchanted locale, where the air carries the scent of history and the allure of adventure beckons. From the picturesque embrace of mountains and seas to the melodious clinking of artisanal knife-making, Molise's whispered invitation to explore is hard to resist.

As we navigate the cobblestone pathways of Molise, we unravel the tapestry of Italian cuisine that waits to tantalize your taste buds. Imagine the creamy caress of Caciocavallo cheese on your palate, the robust embrace of local wines, and the symphony of flavors in a midday Italian feast. Your host Jay and I not only share tales of feasting like a local but also sprinkle in savory travel tips that promise to make your future Italian escapades as smooth as the region's fine olive oil. And if you ever wonder how to carry home a slice of Italy without the burden of excess baggage, we've got you covered with practical advice on packing for a culinary odyssey.

Closing our episode, Dominica's travel chronicles steer us through the heart of what it means to journey—finding unity in the diversity of life's experiences. Whether you're a seasoned traveller or planning your first expedition, our podcast aims to stoke the flames of your wanderlust. We invite you to engage with our community, exchange travel quips and tips, and join us as we map out the steps to turn your lofty travel aspirations into memories that glitter brighter than the constellations. After all, the true treasure lies not in the destination but in the beauty of the voyage.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:02

Welcome to the Z Michelson Travel Podcast. This podcast is devoted to the travel industry. Z says let your imagination run wild and start dreaming about where you want to go. And dream big, reach for the stars, and if you only get to the moon, at least you enjoyed the trip. Your guide to travel is Z Michelson, a travel advisor, and sitting at the controls is Jay Lawrence, your concierge of podcast travel. Now here's Z.

Speaker 2 0:27

That's me, that's me, I'm Z and, of course, with me is Jay. I'm here, I'm here, I'm here. I know you are here and you know we are brought to you by Collage Travel Media Network.

Speaker 3 0:37

Yes.

Speaker 2 0:37

Home to.

Speaker 3 0:39

It's streaming radio on collagetravelradiocom and zmaxradiolive I love the live what do you think of it.

Speaker 2 0:50

It's so easy, it's easier, yeah yeah. And they have two different unique sounds. Right ZmaxRadio plays the music of the 60s, 70s and 80s Uh-huh Music we all grew up with.

Speaker 3 1:00

Right and collagetravel mixes a little bit more entertaining adventures and travel, and tips with music from the 70s to today's hits right, so check it out on on the internet 24, 7, 24, and it's free.

Speaker 2 1:14

Yeah, I love the free word free, yeah, free.

Speaker 3 1:17

And it's also, if you have tune in, you can get them on, tune into and, as my wife said the other day yes, my wife said, wherever you go, you can tune in to the radio, to one of these stations, because it's on. It's on the internet, right we're, we're there, wherever you go unlike some other radio stations, you drive 30 miles and it's it disappears.

Speaker 3 1:36

Yeah, it disappears, yeah, that's, it's called terrestrial radio okay, you use the big words and I'll just say tune it on the dial, you know and you know, today we're going to mix it up a little bit. How's that?

Speaker 2 1:47

Well, we're going to be doing a little bit of an off the beaten path In Italy with Dominica. She's going to bring us I know I'm going to ruin this word, she's going to bring us to Molise, and Dominica, she goes all over the place. She's been in Italy, she's been around the world pretty much, but, jay, you have a special connection with Dominica.

Speaker 3 2:07

You want to talk a little bit about it? I do. Dominica is my wife. Yay, yes, yay, oh yeah.

Speaker 2 2:16

Yay, we truly are a family here at our station and our podcast and everything A podcast.

Speaker 3 2:22

A podcast? A podcast Okay, we can do a podcast. I do have a few. Everything we do family A podcast, a podcast Okay, we can do a pet cast.

Speaker 2 2:25

I do have a few pets.

Speaker 3 2:26

Oh no, do we want to go into that story, the pets, the pet story, yes.

Speaker 2 2:32

Which pet story is it?

Speaker 3 2:33

Well, several years ago, you were watching television over Christmas, right, and you saw a story about dogs listening to the radio on the internet or something yep, and that started this whole mess started our whole life together doing podcasting and radio stations digitally.

Speaker 2 2:52

Yeah, yeah, welcome to the red hat radio network yeah, wow, that was actually a question on one of the jeopardies. You know that these women started what you know a, a team or group. That's actually a question on Jeopardy.

Speaker 3 3:05

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2 3:05

Can you tell I watch some strange TV?

Speaker 3 3:07

Well, yeah, jeopardy, jeopardy. It's on at what time. Everybody in the world knows what time Jeopardy is on in their market?

Speaker 2 3:15

Yeah, in their market.

Speaker 3 3:16

Yeah.

Speaker 2 3:16

Because their markets are different.

Speaker 3 3:17

See. My sister lives in the central time zone, Right time zone right and jeopardy comes on in the afternoon, in the afternoon, yeah, like 3, 30 or something like that. Three, maybe fourth, I don't know. I wouldn't like that. I want her to call me and tell me the answers, so I can, I can you know?

Speaker 2 3:33

right, so you can make a bet with somebody you can feel smart. Yeah, now have you. They have a new one out there. Now it's the champion show or something like that going on, and these are the smartest of the smarts there's always too many smarties on there. When they show those shows and I get a few answers, I feel very enlightened.

Speaker 3 3:48

All right yeah.

Speaker 2 3:50

But anyway, yes. So now we know we have Dominica coming to the mic. She's going to talk about some places in Italy, but today we're going to focus on this new location, because it's a little bit off the beaten path and, from what I hear, dominica knows all about this so. Dominica. Welcome to the show.

Speaker 4 4:06

Well, thank you. Thank you for having me here.

Speaker 2 4:09

So tell me how did I do? On the pronunciation of the name, you did very well, oh good Molise. Molise. Yes, what is it? Is it a town, is it a village?

Speaker 4 4:20

What is it so? So, Molise is a region in southern Italy, and it is the second smallest region in Italy. It is nestled between Abruzzo and Puglia, and it is a trifecta of mountains, sea and lakes.

Speaker 2 4:39

Ooh, mountains, sea and lakes. Now you're saying it's nestled in between all of this and sea and lakes. Now you're saying it's nestled in between all of this. People that have not been to Italy yet only know the I'm going to say the major name brands like Rome, venice, where does it sit in conjunction with that? Is it hours away, minutes away? Can they take a train?

Speaker 4 5:00

So it is about two hours from Naples, three and a half hours from Rome, and it is in the mountains. If you're approaching from that area, if you are approaching from the Adriatic Sea, termoli, which is one of the coastal towns, it is right on the sea and so you could approach it by boat. I don't know if the future of cruise ships, if that might even become a port.

Speaker 2 5:33

So now Molise is the town. No, molise is a region, it's a region. So this Termoli is what you said.

Speaker 4 5:40

Termoli is a town.

Speaker 2 5:42

Is a town in Molise.

Speaker 4 5:44

Yes, right on the Adriatic.

Speaker 3 5:47

Sea. Would you call that, like in the United States, a county?

Speaker 4 5:51

It would be more like a state. A state, a larger area, and there are 20 of these regions or states in Italy.

Speaker 2 6:00

That was my next question, so this is one of the regions, yes, so now you're saying it's right, nestled between the mountains and the lakes and the sea. So this makes it kind of apropos for people who like a little bit of everything. So tell us more about this area. How can people get there? What's good about it? What did you like about it?

Speaker 4 6:20

Well, one of the things that I love about it is that's where I was born and raised. Oh, you were born there, yes, and I was 10 years old when we immigrated to the United States.

Speaker 2 6:33

Were you disappointed Because it sounds like a great playground for a child.

Speaker 4 6:38

Well it was, and for the first two years I had a rough time adjusting to a new country, a new language. I spoke no English when I came here.

Speaker 3 6:49

Oh yeah.

Speaker 4 6:49

So it took a lot of adjustment. This is amazing, and every night I would dream that I was back in Molise.

Speaker 3 6:56

Really.

Speaker 4 6:56

Molise.

Speaker 1 6:57

Every night.

Speaker 4 6:57

And then I would say this time is for real, I'm not going to wake up. It's not a dream, this is for real.

Speaker 2 7:04

And you thought you'd be back home.

Speaker 4 7:06

Yes.

Speaker 2 7:06

But now you're here. You're an American citizen. You've been here for quite a few years.

Speaker 3 7:11

I think 16 or 17. She told me she was 16 when I met her.

Speaker 4 7:22

Now do you go back, like every year, to Italy and visit family and relatives and friends and things like that? I don't go back often enough. I have been to all the typical places in Italy and I don't mean to put them down because they're wonderful. You know the iconic Rome and Florence and Venice and the big tourist areas. You know all of those are wonderful and you should see them all. You know you should go to all of those are wonderful and and you should see them all. You know you should go to all those. But Molise is unique in that it it doesn't have the tourist traps, but it has so much to offer that some Italians don't even know and they, they live there and they live there. They've never heard of it because it used to be part of Abruzzo. It used to be Abruzzo and Molise and then, in 1963, I believe, they decided to become two regions instead of one, two separate regions.

Speaker 4 8:18

But Molise is full of medieval towns, oh, medieval towns, and they sit on top of hills, so from one hillside you're in one town and you can see another town in a short distance.

Speaker 2 8:33

That makes it very nice. Now I'm assuming that there's places to stay in Molise.

Speaker 3 8:39

I want to go back to those. She's talking about these spaces.

Speaker 2 8:43

Right, so we're going to try to get to people where who need to go.

Speaker 3 8:47

they need to be there well, yeah, but what can you see? You said you're getting hands-on to this ancient, uh, medieval, medieval Architecture. Yeah, are there castles?

Speaker 4 8:58

Yes, every town has a castle oh, I like that. And they have churches that are ancient and the art and the altars that are hand-carved from wood that are 500, 600 and older.

Speaker 3 9:17

Which is much older than us.

Speaker 2 9:19

Now you know she's talking about hand carving and things like that. From my knowledge of Italians, they are very artistic. I'm going back to a place that I, when I was overseas, I was up in, like the Orkney Islands over in Scotland, up in that general area, and during World War II they had captured a bunch of Italians they were prisoners of war there and they created, out of tuna cans and things, this beautiful church. It was amazing to see the architecture of that and I can imagine going to Molise and seeing all these churches and castles. You know we're going to have to get more into this, but I think we have to get more into this. But I think we need to take a little bit of a break here and maybe do a little bit of a trivia question what do you think?

Speaker 3 10:04

All right time for the trivia question.

Speaker 2 10:07

And Dominica feel free to answer this question. Okay, are you ready?

Speaker 4 10:12

I'm ready.

Speaker 2 10:15

What is, or should I say, in which museum can you find the Rosetta Stone?

Speaker 4 10:20

Well, what is, or should I say, in which museum can you find the Rosetta Stone? Well, I would say the British Museum, and I believe that it was in 1802 that they placed the Rosetta Stone. There she wins.

Speaker 2 10:29

Jay, you need to bring her in as your pinch hitter.

Speaker 3 10:33

She knew the answer.

Speaker 2 10:34

She did know the answer and she even knew the year I love it. I love it. So she's a woman after my own heart. Watching all these history shows.

Speaker 1 10:42

Yeah.

Speaker 2 10:44

So now that we have that, let's get back to Melissa. And you're talking about medieval and Jay wants to know more about the architecture and the distance between, and I would like to know if someone's going there. Do they need their own car? Do you have any places for people to stay? You know, are there hotels? Are there Airbnbs? I'm asking a lot of questions.

Speaker 3 11:06

Yes, I hear four questions there.

Speaker 4 11:09

And I have the answers. That's good. So one of the complaints about Molise is like how do you get there? Right, well, you rent a car. Rent a car in Romeome, rent a car in naples, or you can take a train from naples or rome as far as bojano and bojano is one of the lovely towns in molise and then, once you get to bojano, rent a car there, and with gps system, we had no problems. That's what. We rented a car in rome and drove there, okay, and we had no problems getting there. Um, now in bolise, you do not have the traffic, but the roads are winding.

Speaker 4 11:51

Winding because they're mountainous, it's mountainous and it's winding and it's beautiful and and you want to stop at every turn, because the sky and you're top of the mountain, and then you see the valley and you see the lake below, and you just want to stop and breathe.

Speaker 2 12:08

What is the temperature there? Is it warm, is it cold? Because you're in the mountains, I'm assuming cold, but it's still Mediterranean, so they have the seasons, so we do have the seasons there, so they have the seasons.

Speaker 4 12:19

So we do have the seasons there and, depending on the altitude, how much, you do get snow, but it melts quickly, but it's also very dry air. You don't have the humidity. So to me the weather there is perfect. You've got the seasons and you've got the best of.

Speaker 2 12:41

Now can you go and visit in these churches, in these castles?

Speaker 4 12:45

Yes, and it's free to get in, of course.

Speaker 2 12:49

Wow, that's a tip in itself. It's free to get into these.

Speaker 4 12:54

It's amazing, and you also asked about bed and breakfast, and you also asked about bed and breakfast. So if you go to the bigger towns like Campobasso, termoli, boyano, they will have hotels.

Speaker 2 13:06

And this is all in the region of.

Speaker 4 13:08

Molise yes, all these things that I'm saying are all towns in Molise, the smaller towns you can rent a house. They have bed and breakfast. So there were four of us girls in Frosolone. We rented a house for seven days. It was like $700.

Speaker 2 13:30

That's hardly anything To split between the four of us, between the four of you, it was amazing. Yeah, that's like nothing. And the house was decent.

Speaker 4 13:38

It was amazing, yeah, that's like nothing and the house was decent. Oh, it was not only decent, but it was historical. Wow, the stonework when you mentioned about Italian, one of their Forte is stone masonry, and the streets, I mean they're 500, 1,000 years old and they're still there, and they're still there and still there, and that's great in itself because I know during World War II a lot of these towns and villages were demolished and that makes it really nice.

Speaker 2 14:12

It's amazing to see these smaller villages and towns that are older than the United States.

Speaker 3 14:17

So she went back to her hometown.

Speaker 4 14:20

Right, and that's in this region right and it's called. My hometown is Frozzalone.

Speaker 2 14:25

Frozzalone. That sounds like frozen. Yeah, Frozzalone.

Speaker 3 14:29

And what was one of the things you look for the fountain.

Speaker 4 14:33

Well, they had the fountains where, um, we would go and wash our clothing and it was like constantly running water. So there was, there were sections where you wash the clothes, there were a section where you watered the horses and the cows, and so you're really stepping back in time this was the town fountain.

Speaker 3 14:52

Yes, as you were growing up, yes, and it's still there that was.

Speaker 4 14:55

It was still there, oh yeah and and it will be there for centuries to come because of the arches. I mean it, it it's uh now?

Speaker 2 15:04

do you have, do you have, pictures of these areas that you went to?

Speaker 4 15:08

uh, only 3 000 only about 3 000.

Speaker 2 15:10

I think we can put a couple on on our website, don't you, jay? Yes, we can do that have have your wife send you the pictures so we can get them on the website.

Speaker 3 15:18

Gotcha.

Speaker 4 15:19

Yeah, yeah, the other thing that Frosolone is known for they make knives, scissors, all hand-done, and they've been doing this for centuries.

Speaker 2 15:29

I'm assuming that you weren't able to bring them back on the plane, but can you send them?

Speaker 4 15:36

No, I brought them back on the plane, but can you send them? No, I I brought them back on the plane. Oh my, not on the carry-on but on the check luggage.

Speaker 3 15:39

The biggest switchblade I've ever seen it's a work of art.

Speaker 2 15:44

It's a work, do you use it or you just like?

Speaker 4 15:48

I do use it.

Speaker 3 15:49

I mean they're functional once in a while she brings it out and points at me I don't know what she means.

Speaker 4 15:55

But the handles are made from carved from the horns of the cows.

Speaker 2 16:03

Oh, wow, Okay cool.

Speaker 4 16:05

Yeah, so they really are works of art, but also functional.

Speaker 2 16:08

I have to ask how much did you pay for this?

Speaker 4 16:12

Let me see, I think the one was.

Speaker 3 16:15

You're asking about the knife, right? Yeah, how much was the knife? I think the one was um. You're asking about the knife, right? Yeah? Yeah, how much was it so?

Speaker 4 16:18

I I think the one knife which is really a work of art. I think it was like two hundred dollars oh, that's not bad and and they only it was one of a kind, yeah so, my friend, melody and I had to you know kind of fight over it.

Speaker 2 16:32

She goes well, this, well, this is your hometown, so you can have it, so she could have picked another one, because it sounds like they do a few different carvings.

Speaker 4 16:40

Yes, but she always has a joke because she is my twin, who happens to be five years younger. But you know she wants one of those dots on there so that if I pass before she does, she wants that.

Speaker 2 16:56

She's claiming it.

Speaker 3 16:57

Yeah, she's claiming it when you said you asked she purchased it. What is the denomination? What's the money that you're using over there?

Speaker 4 17:04

So it's, they use the euros and when we went, the euro and the dollar were pretty much the same, so you know we didn't even have to think about oh, let me see how much is this. So if it's 100 euros, you know it might be $105. Right, something similar. But I want to talk about the food there.

Italian Food Travel Tips and Recommendations

Speaker 2 17:27

Right, that's going to be our next thing. So, before we get into the food, I mean we're learning that this Molise is quite the area to visit. You know, it is a region. There are small towns and villages in it where you want to go. Car transport is probably the best, because this way you can really dig into the culture and the atmosphere. We're going to talk about the food in just a minute and let's go with a travel tip, and I think Dominica is going to give us a travel tip on this one. We're traveling to Italy. What do you recommend? What kind of tip would you recommend?

Speaker 4 18:03

Well, travel light and leave lots of room for the things that you're going to see and want to purchase while you're there.

Speaker 2 18:12

So would you recommend bringing an extra suitcase that you can pack in your suitcase?

Speaker 4 18:15

Well, yes, that's what we did, because one of the major things that I brought back was cheese, Caciocavallo cheese.

Speaker 2 18:26

Oh, I'm a big cheese eater.

Speaker 4 18:27

I love cheese yeah that you just cannot get here. It's not the same texture, it's not the same.

Speaker 2 18:32

No, no, because they do everything differently. The food over there is amazing.

Speaker 3 18:36

So pack light.

Speaker 2 18:38

Pack light and bring an extra suitcase that you can pack in your suitcase.

Speaker 3 18:41

And for cheese.

Speaker 2 18:43

Well, or knives.

Speaker 4 18:44

Or knives or whatever part of Italy you want to go to will have their own specialties. Yeah.

Speaker 2 18:56

Okay, so now we know that we're going to move into food now, because she just talked about cheese, cheese, yeah. So tell us about this cheese. What? What do you use it? What kind of is? Is it like a ricotta? Is it like a mozzarella? What is it like?

Speaker 4 19:06

so it is aged. Basically it's aged mozzarella. Oh okay, three ingredients milk, salt and an enzyme to help coagulate it yeah, to make it age. And then it has a unique shape to it shaped like a ball, with a little smaller ball at the very top.

Speaker 2 19:27

I've seen that.

Speaker 4 19:28

Yes, I've seen that, so you can put a rope around it and hang it and remember I said how dry the air is there. It's not humid, right it and hang it. And remember I said how dry the air is. Yes, it's not humid, right, so they hang that. And it's aged so you can have it fresh, you know, three weeks later, or you can age it even more months or a year?

Speaker 2 19:46

yeah, even more, yeah.

Speaker 4 19:48

And the more you age it, the stronger in flavor it becomes it's like this, isn't it like the size of a softball? It's like that big oh, no, it's bigger it's more like the size of a football.

Speaker 2 20:00

Okay, um so it has more rounded.

Speaker 4 20:03

No it's rounded, so like the size of a soccer ball. Yes, okay, with a little smaller, with a little smaller ball at the top so you can hang it.

Speaker 2 20:11

Yes, do you have it hanging in your kitchen?

Speaker 4 20:14

no, but I do have, because florida is wet yeah, and it's you know so no, it stays in my refrigerator and, I'm sorry to say, I don't tell everybody that I have it because I don't want to share it, because well, don't tell anybody today I won't tell.

Speaker 2 20:32

We won't tell anybody where you live, so they won't come knocking on your door can I? Have some cheese and crackers please.

Speaker 4 20:37

I won't share anything but my Caciocavallo.

Speaker 2 20:41

So that's what it's called Caciocavallo? Yes, and it's only available. Is it only available in Molise?

Speaker 4 20:51

Abruto also makes it because, again I mean, these regions are small.

Speaker 2 20:57

And they make everything fresh. Yes, yes. So that brings me to the next thing. You were eating, I'm sure, around the towns there. Oh, yeah, so where was your recommended?

Speaker 4 21:04

So I went into a little restaurant, yeah, and it was right by the house that we rented and I walked in and I said you know, what do you have available today? And she had this fresh pasta, fresh sauce.

Speaker 2 21:22

So fresh pasta means she actually makes it from the dough. The flour, yeah, flour.

Speaker 4 21:28

And they use a special wheat that is just grown there, oh so it's very locally grown, it is. And so the sauce, the bread was homemade.

Speaker 2 21:41

And when you say she made her homemade sauce, did she make it fresh from the tomatoes?

Speaker 4 21:45

Yes, and the other thing that they do is dry. They make their own tomato paste. They dry the tomatoes. So hence we've just discovered like the sun-dried tomatoes in this country, like 10, 20 years ago They've been talking about. You know, they've been doing this for centuries.

Speaker 2 22:05

Right, it's like nothing new to them.

Speaker 4 22:08

And how was it? And then, wherever you go, you don't look for a wine list, you just say what is the local wine, right? So I happened to go in by myself because my friends had gone to another occasion.

Speaker 2 22:25

So you, were by yourself in this restaurant.

Speaker 4 22:27

Yes, so then I talked to the lady that has this little trattoria.

Speaker 2 22:32

Well, you also have an advantage you speak the language.

Speaker 4 22:34

Well, yes, and I spoke the dialect of that town.

Speaker 2 22:39

Oh yes, the dialect.

Speaker 4 22:40

That's very important so she wants to know where I'm from and all this and where what I'm doing. But then a couple of tourists came from um the venice area and so I was telling them places to see along there and uh, but at any rate I had a half a carafe of wine, the pasta, the bread, and guess what it cost.

Speaker 2 23:07

That would be about a $30, $40 meal.

Speaker 3 23:08

That would be about $40 here in the.

Speaker 4 23:10

States. Seven euros, seven euros. Oh wow, unbelievable, right Unbelievable.

Speaker 2 23:17

And the wine. How much wine did you have? Should have half a carafe, that's not too much.

Speaker 3 23:21

No, that's not too much. She was eating, Okay, but my other question is what time of the day was this?

Speaker 2 23:28

It was about one o'clock, so it was like an afternoon, but isn't that true of overseas, where they eat their heavier meal? Earlier in the day and it's kind of at night, they have more of a snack.

Speaker 4 23:46

So here's another. Well, it's not a snack, but so they, they actually have three main meals. Right, you know you have a large breakfast because most of the people in molise, um, they're tied with the land, you know. So, you, you work the fields, or you are with your uh animals and it's hard work, right.

Speaker 4 24:03

So they they get back about 1 or 2 o'clock in the afternoon and that's their main meal, Right? And so they eat, they take a nice nap and then they go back to work, and they go back to work yep, and then in the evening, 8, 9, 10 o'clock. I couldn't believe it, they would eat 8, 9, 10 o'clock at night.

Speaker 3 24:20

That's what I was getting to, yeah, so they have another big meal.

Speaker 2 24:27

And I said something to one of my friends' wives, and they probably didn't have an ounce of fat on them. Well, because they work hard, right.

Speaker 4 24:32

And I said, well, that's wonderful. And she goes. No, it's not. We're constantly cooking. You know we're done with one. But the other thing we were in and remember this is not the tourist areas. So I was in one town called Sulmona, which is actually a Brutso very close to the border there.

Speaker 2 24:54

Okay, so you were almost into another region.

Speaker 4 24:56

Yes, almost, and I went there because they make these Jordan almonds, oh okay, and they're so colorful and they and they make them into centerpieces. I mean, it's a work of art they do, they do.

Speaker 2 25:08

I know, you know. I grew up in an all-italian neighborhood in brooklyn and people that were getting married. That was one of the gifts that people got with the jordan almonds.

Speaker 4 25:16

Yes, I mean your birthdays, yeah, baptism confirmation weddings, you know they're very yummy, yeah, and they make a bombonete out of it which is like a little centerpiece, right? So, anyway, it was lunchtime 2 o'clock and we had not made reservations and this is a bigger town. Had made reservations. The whole town. First it was bustling and then all of a sudden, no one was in the street but us.

Speaker 2 25:47

Oh, so it was almost like a siesta the town closest down. It was amazing. You know these conversations we're going to have you back every month. We're going to be talking about different things in Italy. It's amazing. You know that people need to know there's more to Italy than just Rome and Venice, and that, I think, is going to be part of these shows that you're joining with us. So you know we have to break now, because it's been I can't believe 30 minutes has almost passed.

Speaker 3 26:13

Yeah, time flies when you're having fun. Yes, so you're going to be back.

Speaker 2 26:16

We're going to have another one of your appearances and you're going to bring some more enlightening places.

Speaker 3 26:20

Maybe she'll bring some cheese with her.

Speaker 2 26:22

Yeah, cheese and crackers. We're waiting. If we could get that out of the refrigerator, we know where you live.

Speaker 4 26:28

Even my husband doesn't know where it is.

Speaker 2 26:33

Well, thank you so much, Dominica, for joining us today. It's been a pleasure. Well, Jay, what do you think of that? Well, I got to find? Are we all going to Italy?

Speaker 3 26:44

I got to find Are we all going to Italy? I got to find the cheese.

Speaker 2 26:46

Well, if you get a little trained mouth, they might be able to find it for you.

Speaker 2 26:49

Yeah Well, like we say all the time, there is so much traveling to do, so little time to do it in. So tune in every week for more travel info and insights and just plain old fun, like we're having today with Dominica. So please follow me and like me on Facebook. Do you have a favorite location or an interesting travel tip? Let me know at ZMichelson at gmailcom, and remember Z is spelt Z-E-E. I am very excited to let you know my podcast can be heard on all your pod podcast podcast all your podcast players yes, all of them.

Speaker 2 27:23

Feel free to give me a review. I'd love to hear what you have to say and any insight would be great. Thanks for listening today. Traveling truly opens up the world to you. You learn all about the different cultures, lifestyles and, of course, as you heard today, food, food, food. Then you realize we truly are all the same. So dream dream big, reach for those stars, and if you only get to the moon, at least you made the trip. If you're looking for great places to travel, to visit my website, z Michelson travelcom. Don't forget Z is spelled Z E, e. This is Z Michelson, making your travel dreams come true. Music, music.