Cristian showed up at my door last night around 8:30 or so to invite me to have a coffee with him tomorrow at 11. Guess it's time for the exit interview. I explained that I don't drink coffee but would be glad to meet with him anyway. No problem have an aperitif if you want. Hmm, drinks at 11 AM, it's gotta be noon somewhere.
He hung around for quite awhile and we had a great conversation about Tropea and its future (in his eyes). He's quite the capitalist, I'm beginning to think. Anyway, since I had approached him about the trash and the state of the town, I think it's been weighing on him. He explained that two years ago they had a close (1 vote) race for mayor and the one that had won was "shit".
He though acknowledged that Tropea wasn't ready to become a real year round tourist destination. I pointed out to him that Taormina had tons of open hotels, streets of shops and restaurants and he acknowledged the differences, not just in the town's infrastructure but in the attitude of the folks that lived there and relied on tourism for their living. He pointed out that Tropeans just don't seem to get it. They, according to him, won't learn English to cater to the tourists (Americans and English) that came to spend money. Germans, he said, don't spend so much. (Psst. That's why their economy is doing better than both ours. They're fricking frugal).
Interesting stuff from him and nice to see he cares about his home. (Or is it just that capitalist thing).
Bright and beautiful this morning. 62 degrees and the locals know it's me wearing the shorts.
I headed out for probably my last long distance walk this morning to the neighboring town of Santa Domenica just a couple miles away. I'd driven this route a couple of times and had reservations of walking it because of the traffic. But surprises awaited.
You start on Via Liberta, veer right onto Via Annunziata then onto Largo Alexander Fleming (how'd he get a street here?) and finally Via Campo Inferiore straight out to Santa Domenica di Ricaldi. (This just in Alexander Fleming was the discoverer of penicillin! And the hospital is right on that street. Amazing coincidence, no?)
So back at Via Annunziata. The Church of Annunziata is another church that I had read about, it's supposedly home to a amazing wooden beam ceiling as well as several works of art dating from the 1300's. It was closed when I went by, plus I was wearing shorts so I wouldn't go in had it been open. It's also the location of Tropea's cemetery. I visited on my way back but here's a couple pics.
The wall on the left of the picture is actually the wall surrounding cemetery. Really big mausoleums throughout for family plots. Everything's vertical here. No individual plots. For those who don't have a family mausoleum, you get stacked up to six levels tall.
Very nice spot overlooking the ocean, but you couldn't see it because of the walls. One thing I did notice was the absence of war dead. I found only 2 or 3 with dates from1939 to 1945. Maybe there is another cemetery in town that I haven't seen.
But I get ahead of myself. I'd Google mapped S. Domenica and saw that there were at least two access points down to the beach from the road. I got to the first, which turned out to be a closed "camping" and holiday park, but just up the road I found the second turn that went to Oasi Beach. About a 1/4 mile walk or so down to the first view of the sea and of course the road was closed. But fear not, now that I'm a month long honorary Italian, road closures mean nothing to me. On down the hill. From above here's the view.
One of the reasons I chose this walk was because last night at sunset I caught a glimpse, through the trees on the adjacent property, of one of the other Eolie Islands. It was the first time I'd really noticed it from up here and knew that if I headed south I might get a better view. I was surprised however that from S. Domenica you could see 4 other Eoliean Islands. I apologize for the quality of this shot, they're there, but I had to magnify X4 to make them out. Regardless, this is the view to the south. Stromboli's pretty apparent.
As I said, the road was closed, looked like they'd had some mudslide problems, but as I went down, it was clear and I finished walking to the beach.
A four star hotel and 3 bar/pizzerias occupied most of the space. There was a carpenter working on one of the bars doing some renovation. I asked him when it would open and he said April.
A few shots of the beach. First looking north towards Tropea and Lamezia in the far distance. Tropea's around the bend.
This beach was a forty two minute walk from my "villa". Probably 10 minutes drive. Whoda thunk. Thanks to Google Maps for the heads up.
S. Domenica di Ricardi wasn't much different than all the other coastal towns. Nice central piazza.
Very clean. In fact, the whole way from Tropea to S. Domenica was pretty much free of trash. I'd seen a couple guys in town (Tropea), pushing brooms and cleaning up litter. Must be time to start getting ready for tourists!
S. Domenica also, surprise, has narrow streets.
Also found one of these. Haven't seen one on the streets yet, but I'm betting you could drive one if you wanted too.
Back to Tropea where I visited the cemetery and made my way back up the hill. 3 hours round trip. A long walk but lots to see.
A passing shower while I was writing brought some high clouds for the sunset and a nice rainbow towards Lamezia.
Only two more Tropean sunsets left. This one is from on top of the terrace. (Stromboli's not in it.)
Love those power lines. They just add something to the picture don't they?
Ciao.
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