Heel, Toe

No, not a line dance. It’s the bottom of Italy!

Making our way toward Sicily, the next travel step took us southwest back across Italy from Puglia in the “heel” of the boot to Reggio Calabria in the “toe” that seems perpetually poised to kick Sicily like a soccer ball. 🙂

We began the rainy day driving along the Ionian Sea on the east coast

We knew what the villa looked like from the pictures but still drove up and down the street several times with Google confidently announcing we’d “arrived” every time we passed the place we couldn’t see. Aargh. Susie maintained contact with the owner all day regarding timing, and he said he would wait for us on the street, but we’d passed only fishermen. Hmmm…? Another text, and finally, a man stepped onto the sidewalk from a small gate between two garage doors. Roberto? Yes!

That’s our little white Fiat, but you cannot see the house from the street

Sitting atop a small hill, we had a fantastic view of Sicily and the largest and most active volcano in Europe! Mt. Etna. We in the US don’t really hear about it, but heck, they had a big spew 4 months ago! … Didn’t know it, but we do now. The African tectonic plate is bashing into and sliding under Sicily, which is mostly on the Eurasian plate. We say “mostly” because that is where and why Mt. Etna is there and has been erupting for 3500 years. Well, the first eruption jotted down was in 1500 BC. It leaks something every day and is tall enough to have a snowy top from October-ish all the way to May-ish. And what a beauty!

View of the street and sea from the upstairs terrace

Having spent our recent time in Puglia sightseeing, we spent most of the few days in Calabria enjoying the view, catching up on laundry, preparing for our upcoming time in Sicily, etc.

While our host Roberto was pleased that we felt at home in the family villa, he highly recommended we at least venture out to catch a sunset from the nearby seventh century BC ghost town of Pentidattilo (a tongue twister from the Greek words penta and daktylos, or “five fingers” because it was built underneath a big hand-shaped rock).

For reasons unbeknownst to us, Google led us off the main road

Nearing the top, we again had to venture off the paved road and were hoping for a large enough area on the cobblestones to turn around and park the now seemingly massive Fiat (eight-point turn, anyone?).

Unexpectedly, a smiling man stepped from, of all things, a gift shop to point us to a tiny indent in the bushes where we could leave the car. He was engaging, friendly, knowledgeable of the ghost town up the hill, and somewhat fluent in broken English. He also had items to sell and very few visitors this time of year. Entrance is free – you to pay to get out! Ha! (Someone we know just might be receiving an item from this little shop…) 🙂

The town is undergoing a restoration of sorts, with a few people living there and selling their artistic handiwork in small shops.

There was only one other couple visiting while we were there, and only one shop was open at the top of the hill. (Because of which, one of us had to dash back down the hill to retrieve a bit of cash from the car. More Christmas gifts, perhaps…)