5/6 Our drive to Catanzaro was fairly easy and not much trouble finding our apartment. As we headed into Catanzaro, we drove across Ponte Bisantis – a monumental bridge built in 1959 and at the time, second highest in Europe but the span made it the longest in the world, then. It is truly amazing to see in person.

Of course the day we got here, we walked everywhere, steps, hills – I don’t think I have to keep repeating that – we all know Italy is lots of steps and hills and if you happen to be walking in the street you had best hug the wall of a building you are walking near so you don’t get hit by a car or motorcycle flying past you. Not all streets have sidewalks or walkways!

We walked to the Parco della Biodiversità Mediterranea – nice to walk around a very large park dedicated to the flora and fauna of the Mediterranean Sea area and specifically this region of Italy.

As we entered the park, there was a beautiful maze that was cut out to spell the name of the park.

Jim and I walked through the Tunnel Degli Innamorati (the love tunnel) covered with Wisteria and absolutely gorgeous. We ran into a young couple who took our photo for us.

We walked around the park then decided to check out more of the city. It was during the time between 2-4 when everything is closed and our favorite time to stroll around without too many cars rushing around. I call it my quiet time!

We found a few churches, most of them closed and the cathedral is not open due to disrepair and what we believe are renovations. Saint John the Baptist was open so we paid our respects there.

Today we drove to the Scolacium Archaeological Park down closer to the water in the town of Borgia. This park showcases the remains of various ruins from eras including Byzantine, Greek and Roman.

The buildings are situated in a vast olive plantation containing over 3000 trees including some fig trees. A truly beautiful setting. I’ve decided that I really am enjoying the ruins in Italy: the stories and just imagining what happened here, how it was built, who lived here, who took it over! Wow the imagination runs wild. I’m so glad to see they have been able to keep the ruins and stabilize them where they can so they do not completely fall apart. It is history after all!

As we strolled through the museum there were many statues, parts of statues and I even found dice – obviously they played games! On many of the statues, researchers have been able to substantiate the names of the people they represent. Seriously!

Now for the ruins, my absolute favorite things to see. As we left the museum to walk around to the ruins, we came across three young ladies who were cleaning up archeological finds, including some bones. That was very interesting to see. It appeared some of the items they were working on came from our first outside ruins — il teatro or the theater.

We then went around to the top of the grounds to see the amphitheater ruins. Also the place the gladiators fought the animals. Glad I wasn’t around at that time!

Final ruins on the top of this hill were of the necropolis, where folk were buried.

As we walked around the area we really enjoyed all the flowers and the olive trees and also some fig trees. The grounds are all taken care of and it is obvious the olive trees are very old as you can see from the trunk of this one. The many flowers gave us a nice walking path which we discovered by accident. Sometimes accidents are the best finds on a trip as so often happens to us.

Please enjoy these photos!

As we neared the end of our walk, which happened to be the beginning of the park, we were taken back in time with the ruins of the temple that later became the church of Santa Maria della Roccella, also called the “Roccelletta,” built by the Norman court of Palermo (Sicily) when they ruled this part of Italy. These ruins were amazing.

After this we decided to drive to the sea and check out the lungomare (seashore). We parked the car and began our walk.

The photo of the apartments are two of the ones that have been renovated quite nicely and great colors, bright yellow and turquoise.

Now the colored wall in the water is actually concrete blocks to help keep the wall up and prevent erosion and are painted in bright colors. It was quite windy once again but it was not cold.

When we came home we decided to go for a walk and get some lunch. Along the way we saw what I thought was a magnolia tree and sure enough it was! What a surprise to see it here. Also ran across a beautiful rose bush that was high up on a wall, absolutely breathtaking.

This ends our day and time in Catanzaro. Tomorrow we head to Taranto, Puglia. Looking forward to something entirely different. We have a lovely apartment overlooking the water! Might relax a bit more than we have been in these first few cities but then it appears there is a lot to see in Taranto as well.

Well, I have to add the last piece of information to this blog – it is quite comical and I hope not one where you had to be there but can enjoy through my sense of humor!

On our way home, Jim wanted stop at the Post Office to get some stamps for a couple of post cards. That is the only place you can purchase stamps for the U.S. Outside the post office was an ATM so we stopped there and got more Euros (which are easily spent as monopoly money, sometimes I forget it is really money coming out of our account 🙂 When I got my cash, Jim said “do you think you can go into the post office and get stamps, I’ll meet you in there?” Sure, no problem, so inside I went and it was very empty, no one in line so I started to walk to the teller and he’s pointing and yelling at me that I need to get a biglietti (ticket) officially be in the queue to be called up. Ok, so I turn around and can’t figure out which button I’m supposed to push for my ticket so the teller yells at a student who was standing near the ticket machine waiting to mail a package, to help me. I thanked the student, turned around and the P.O. agent punches a button to light up the number which just so happens to be my number. I roll my eyes and think “you have got to be kidding me? All that ruckus for a ticket, nobody in line yet I have to get a ticket and then you immediately call me up anyway?”

This story gets better. I go up to the window and ask the guy for tre stampe per stati uniti (three stamps for the United States). Now my Italian is not all that wonderful but I knew I at least had the correct words. After repeating myself a few times, the woman at the customer service desk runs over and in English asks me what I want. I tell her and she tells the guy in Italian, with a somewhat annoyed sound that she made sure he knew what she thought of him. I thank her and she goes back to her spot. The guy gets up and meanders to the back behind the wall and disappears for about 10 minutes. I turn around and look at Jim and tell him, I guess they had to go make them! I’m looking at the space where the guy disappeared behind and am not quite sure what is going on. How long can it possibly take to get three stamps? Finally his supervisor comes out with the stamps, sits at the agent’s desk, is looking on the machine trying to figure out how much they are or something, all the while his eyebrows are going up and down behind his glasses. Now let me tell you, I had all to do not to burst into a laughing fit! I turned to look at Jim who conveniently disappeared and went to stand outside. I guess he has a lot of confidence in me handling any situation. Finally the supervisor figures it all out and gets up so the teller can sit and finish the process. In the meantime this little, older, Italian gentleman comes up alongside me and is yelling at the supervisor! I chuckle to myself, heaven forbid they see or hear me laughing. The teller prints out a paper, gives it to his super and proceeds to finish this transaction. When he realized how much these three stamps are going to cost me, he wonders if I will pay for them. He writes down the figure 3.45 euros, yeah a little high but I said ok and handed him the money. Boy was he relieved, he smiled at me, thanked me and we became friends.

Went outside and told Jim the story and we both chuckled. The story does not end here: Jim: “let’s stop at that Tabacchi and see if he has post cards.” Ok, I say. We get there and I go in and turn around – uh excuse me you wanted the post cards, come on in here with me! The store is very small and these places sell any little thing you might want including bus tickets, etc. So I ask the guy if he has post cards. This generated a 15 minute conversation between him and me and as I looked around – no postcards – again Jim walks out to leave me with a conversation that he hopes I can understand. Very funny! The guy was really nice, asked me where we were from and every time I say Stati Uniti, these folk are thrilled to have an American in their store. He proceeded to tell me about this book that was on the counter and why his wife liked it. Then I got quite the story of the area we were in and I did understand much of what he said and was able to reply in my words of Italian because I absolutely cannot form a sentence containing verbs and adverbs in Italian. I get my point across, we talk some more and I am finally able to thank him and wish him well.

I go outside and thank Jim and he said, “hey you had that all under control.” I asked him if he caught any of what the guy was saying – nope! Well I did so I guess I did have it all under control. Again we chuckled all the way home.

Today we head to Taranto which is in Puglia, Italy. Looking forward to this area.

Ciao