Saturday, October 28, 2017

Calabria with Sicilian sight


Eleven girls, eleven different personality from different points of the city were about to approach the airport on a sunny Wednesday afternoon even in June. Destination: Lamezia Terme, Italy. Mission: to break free from the weekdays, have fun under the sun and the moon, by sea and by land and by train, and last but not least to explore Reggio Calabria, the bow of the boot and East Sicily. This so-called camp was actually something that I was prepared for 2 years ago. Now with extra - I made use of my basic Italian vocabulary! 
I think I completely became saturated with the Italian attitude towards life. This was mostly thanks to certain girls out of the eleven who are returning visitors of the region, speak Italian fluently and have extended companionship there. (I also became addicted to the rubbish along the streets, to the pushing fellows, to the Italian style of ristorantes and trattorias, to the Aperol Spritz, to the leisurely way they do everything.)
Starting our first day (and ending our last day) with lieing under the sun on the beach in a fishing village named Scilla, the traditional site of the sea monster Scylla of Greek mythology. Carrying on the line up of gorgeous beaches, we visited one of the most beautiful beaches around the world, Tropea. Seeing the water from above it seems just like a really big amazingly crystal clear pool. This place unfortunately meant the end of my camera's lifetime; it was dipped into the salty water and stopped working not only for the rest of the vacation but also forever... 
Thanks to the dearest unselfish photographer Katica, I stayed for only one day without camera. She was so so kind to lend me her professional camera while she was using her GoPro. Otherwise I think I would have died. Everytime I saw a great composition to catch and was unable to record, I felt a huge vacancy or even worse, a prod into my heart. That's why I was totally saved by Katica and reborn with camera in my hands again.


To get Sicily by ferry from Reggio takes 20 minutes. We did this more times. At first when we made a trip around Aeolian Islands (referred to as Lipari Islands) including Panarea and Stromboli as well. This was the hardest but fortunately the only day that was spent without camera. I just tried to enjoy it as it was. 
The boat tour was a memorable part and was again a substrate to conceive of my new feeling that was arisen in Japan first. The feeling that drives me to stay much longer in one place, to mingle with the local people, to live their lives without rushing from one place to another. Here, just to jump in a boat very early in the morning, to pull out to the sea, to fish or just to enjoy the scenery, the salty fragrance of the air, to feel the rising sun on my skin, then dip into the water and swim the way as if nobody's seeing. These little islands were isolated enough to create such lifestyle there. 

Panarea is an inactive volcano with a total surface area of 3.4 km2 and the second smallest island of the eight Aeolian Islands. There are currently about 280 residents living on the island year-round; however the population increases dramatically in summer with the influx of tourists. In recent years, the island has become known internationally for its celebrity visitors. Panarea and the entire Aeolian chain were declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2000. 
Stromboli made me to theorize. Approaching with the boat I saw a little island which was itself one of the three active volcanoes in Italy with dwelling-houses at the foot of it. And there was nothing else just sea in more kilometres radius and more hours sailing distance! Who are so decided to choose life in the middle of the sea at the foot of an active volcano?! The island's population is about 500. The volcano has erupted many times and is constantly active with minor eruptions, visible from many points on the island and from the surrounding sea around 8 PM every day, and so giving rise to its nickname "Lighthouse of the Mediterranean". 
What a feeling to stand on a boat seeing a volcano to erupt on right hand side and seeing the glowing orange sun to disappear at the horizon into the sea on left hand side at the same time. Furthersailing, some fancy yahts were seen parking peacefully in lonely bays as an advertisement of luxurious way of relax.

Our another adventurous Sicilian day began with Gole Alcantara Botanical and Geological Park. This is a great spot to cool off, really. The river runs year round and thousands years ago its cold water helped to quickly cool Etna's lava which resulted unique ballast rock columns. 
Next stop of the day was Isola Bella, the Pearl of the Ionian Sea. The small island was a private property till 1990 then it was being turned into a nature reserve, administrated by World Wide Found for Nature. There is a narrow path that often connects the island to the mainland beach. It has a small and rather rocky beach which is a popular destination for sunbathers and not so popular for families with kids.  
Although, step and dip into the water was a challenge for us as well, we definitely needed to cool off because the temperature was well above 40 degrees on that day. Isola Bella (part of Taormina) was followed by the Ancient Theatre of Taormina (Teatro Greco) and the old town. The view is a reason to hold your breath for a while (with Etna fuming in the background).

We could also taste a little bit of Greece by visiting Bova and Area Grecanica. Former remains memorable from the big cross on the top where some girls were dancing, some were taking gorgeous photos of the nice view and of the dancing girls but all enjoyed and were amazed by being there. 
We also had the chance to enter into a real Greek village, to hear real Greek words and music, to dance with real Greeks and all there in Italy, at the bow of the boot. What made me really impressed is Roghudi Vecchio, a ghost town. Roghudi, whose history is documented as far back as the 11th century, was completely abandoned in 1973, after two floods made it impossible to live in and too many (kids') death happened due to the steep location of the houses. 

Therefore one day soldiers came, and all inhabitants were forced to leave their homes immediately - against their will. It is really the place off the beaten track enclaved into the mountains. It was so creepy to see the posthumous household objects all over, preeminently to see how everything was left by the last inhabitant who returned despite of the prohibition and lived there for years completely alone on weekdays and returned his family on weekends in New Roghudi (finally, he died in his car moving backwards instead of going ahead by mistake and fell into the deep and it was too late to help him since nobody was there). We were warned not to step into the houses because of risk of collapse. 
Driving in the mountains we met nobody on the roads just wild goats and cows which were enviable by me because of the gorgeous view they partake all day long. The view, the road, the spirit of the place all were awe-inspiring and made me to conceive of a new plan, namely riding bicycle here in Sicily in the mountains, possibly as a part of a group. I was said that this is something that surely can be done because such tours are often organized at that area. 

Finally, one person to mention. An old chap, Tito, the owner of the gelateria of Reggio Calabria. Some of the girls know him very well from the past. They got to know him when they worked and lived in Italy long time ago. We visited him and his gelateria more times when felt like eating gelato. He was happy to see the familiar girls and to see even more girls! He nobly invited us every time, what's more, he decided what kind of ice-cream composition will match our personality one by one. 
This way we weren't in a trouble which gelato cup to choose and were keen to taste his choice. He sat to our table, called for champagne, and while we were spooning the dessert, he was telling us true stories from his youth, also about a Hungarian girl. He invited all of us to his house next time and told which dish to cook to whom one by one. It was strange to hear the name of the food he assigned to each girl because the previous night each girl ate totally the very same food in a ristorante. As for me, he said Carbonara spaghetti and I ate Carbonara the night before. Awesome! 

0 comments: