Leaving Marcellinara, Dinner in Tiriolo

Today marked the end of the week long birthday celebration. We had breakfast at the local cafe near the center of town, got rides with our bags to the bed and breakfast Piano del Monaco where we relaxed at the beautiful pool, and had a sumptious lunch. Lots of little sandwiches (held together by cute skewers with EU flags), cheeses, fruit and of course wine. Some guests left after lunch to catch flights back to Brussels and other airports in Europe and Canada.

A few of us stayed an extra night and will drive the next morning, north to San Terenzo where Angela has an apartment. The drive will take us about 3 days. We will be visitng a few scenic places along the way. That evening, we had dinner at a very nice restaurant, Ristorante Due Mari located in the ancient hill top town of Tiriolo. The restaurant was built into the walls of the town, with beautiful views of the countryside.

We ordered several antipasti to share. I enjoyed the local appetizer, cipolla di tropea in agrodolce (sweet red onions from Tropea), mashed and served with seasoned bread chips.

I like liver, and decided to order this primo spaghetti al fegatini di pollo. Oh wow, it was so good! I wish I had the recipe for it. Someone in the group ordered a ravioli with red onions and said it was also very good.

This was an incredible night ending our time in Calabria.

Birthday Party, Marcellinara, IT

We arrived in Marcellinara, a small town (or village) in Calabria where my former colleague from NATO, and long time friend, Angela was born. It was quite an event when the big bus, bringing about 30+ of us from 11 countries, arrived just outside of town. The bus could not drive through the narrow streets, so our luggage were transferred via cars and minivans to the different bed and breakfast locations as there were no hotel large enough to house all of us. We all then walked to the town center where we were welcomed by the deputy mayor in the town hall.

Angela's birthday party was held at the Agriturismo Piano del Monaco, a beautiful bed and breakfast place on top of the hill. It was a very festive event, lots of food, wine, music and dancing amidst the Italian countryside setting.

On to Tropea, Calabria

With the hiking program behind us, today was spent as tourists heading towards Tropea where we will spend two nights at the Hotel Sentido Michelizzia. A big bus picked us with our luggage after breakfast. Our first stop was the Chiesetta di Piedigrotta, a little church/museum inside a cave right next to the sea. It was the most unique location that required walking down a long set of stairs from the parking lot to the sea to get to the cave.

The bus then took us to Reggio Calabria, where we visited the Palazzo Piacentini, which is an archeological museum with some really good exhibits dating back to 6,000 BC. The showcase were the Bronzi di Riace, a pair of bronze statutes of Greek origin discovered in 1972.

Getting out of the museum, we got some gelato served in a brioche from Cesare, a busy gelato stand with a long line which moved pretty fast.

Then, it was back on the bus to the beautiful town of Scilla (pronounced Shilla) that was built right next to the sea. The bus dropped us at one end of the town, we walked along the shore and up a paved path througn via Chianalea where the bus would pick us up on the other side of town. The waters here were amazingly clear and blue. This area was also known for its unique way of catching swordfish. Fishing boats patrolled the water, with a person sitting at the top of a very tall mast looking for swordfish, then calling out to the fishermen on the deck below. I saw so many great photographic opportunities; I would love to come back here for a longer stay.

We finally reached Tropea in the early evening.

KCC Day 3: Monteresso to Pizzo (18 km)

Five of us opted out of the final leg of the Kalabria Coast-to-Coast, 18 km hike from Monteresso to Pizzo. After breakfast, we hitched a ride with the minivan that was hired to take our luggage to our next hotel in Pizzo. The Hotel Asterias is modern with a nice swimming pool and jacuzzi, and best of all, I got my own room! We relaxed by the pool, happy that we were not hiking as the day was quite warm.

At about 4 pm, we walked over to the center of Pizzo to meet up with the returning hikers. We celebrated their accomplishment by having drinks in a cafe right in the middle of the town square, dancing to music from speakers, much to the bemusement of the locals and other tourists.

Following that we went to the castello nearby to get the last stamp on our KCC passport and the certificate that showed we completed the hike, even for those few of us who did not finish the 3rd leg.

We then went back to the town square to sample tartufo, the gelato that Pizzo was famous for. It was delicious!

I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the town of Pizzo, checking out the church at the top of the hill, as well as interesting shops, many of which have red peppers as a theme since Calabria is known for its red hot peppers.

In the evening, we had dinner at a seafood restaurant along the shore. The food and wine were excellent.