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.