Southern Italy and Lucky Charms

I can’t get over how beautiful southern Italy is. It is like a charm bracelet with each little hamlet a unique charm to be collected and saved as a memory. I have hear how beautiful the Amalfi coast is, but I didn’t expect it to be this way all the way to the tip of the boot. Each town has a storybook quality, rising from sheer cliffs and crowned with a stone church built a century or two ago. After the hustle and bustle of Genoa, Pisa, Florence, Rome and Naples, it is a welcomed change.

We stayed a couple of days in Maratea, which is in the middle of three small fishing villages that are perched on the cliffs along the coastline. You hear so much about the northern Chinqua Terra, but these unique towns are every bit as spectacular but without the tourists and souvenir stands. The girls went to the beach and I rode my bike from town to town. It was a steep ride and quite a workout. I have to do more riding. I think I have lost some of my edge. And riding a bike is the absolutely best way to meander through these small towns. You connect with the landscape in a way you can never do from a car or train. I rode down to one of the beaches and hung out for a while at the local refreshment stand. Everyone is very welcoming and they don’t laugh very much over my communication skills. I think I laugh more than they do. It is pretty feeble, but all in good fun.

The next day we boated past two or three ports that I would love to throw my anchor around, but we are trying to at least pretend that we are making our way to Greece. I think I could spend a month or two just hanging out and enjoying what this region has to offer. Our next port is Tropea, another precious memento to look upon and treasure. It to is built on sheer cliffs with the harbor down below. You have to climb 200 steps to get to the city above, but it is worth every step. It is like walking into a living fairytale, or maybe I am just out of breath a little. I rationalize an extra gelato every time I climbed it. The main part of the old town is built like a cross with two main streets intersecting and anchoring the majority of the action. As is pretty typical of Europe the crowds start descending on the place a about 10 every night, and are there way after we leave at about midnight. You see families with little kids hanging out and enjoying the social mingling. I gotta wonder when these guys sleep. It doesn’t seem to matter much if it is a weeknight or the weekend.

We had planned to spend two days there, but ended up staying three. It was partly because of weather and partly because we couldn’t tear ourselves away from the place.