Blogs from Reggio Calabria, Calabria, Italy, Europe

THE STATUES: I saw them! "Them" being the Riace Warriors, two Greek statues that are thought to have fallen off a ship just south of Reggio near Riace. Happenstance has altered my life so often, so maybe part of my fondness for the statues has something to do with their happenstance discovery. A scuba diving dentist heard a metallic sound when his spear bumped the bronze hand of one of the statues that stuck up out of the sandy sea bottom in shallow water just offshore. I like to imagine these warriors with great patience waiting almost 2500 years to raise a hand and hail a passerby, like hailing a taxi or a bus. I was a little disappointed not to see them standing since they are over 6 feet tall. Instead they are lying down, ... read more

The trip actually begins on Sept 22 with my first stop in New York City to see some old friends there. I'll arrive in Rome on the 23rd. So check back in on Sept. 24th. ... read more

Wednesday night continued After a wonderful bath and changing, we went down to reception and bought some wireless internet time. We published the blogs that I have been writing for the last two weeks and caught up with some emails. We also surfed a little and decided to book some accommodation on Sicily, at a place somewhere near Catania, called Acireale. The Aloha D'Oro Hotel, through lastminute.com. Just looking at the map and Acireale seems to be on the coast, below Mt Etna, not too long a drive from Messina. After surfing, we sat down to dinner in the Hotel restaurant. We both had a buffet starter, olives and vegetables, potato croquet things, proscuitto and so on. Then a pasta with mushrooms and a pasta with prawns. Then a Chicken in white wine sauce and a ... read more

Wednesday, 5th November, 2008. Plan for today, move from Ladispoli to Agropoli. We both woke up fairly early today, and were ready to leave by about nine. The weather was bright first thing, so we checked out, and drove about 10 meters to the seafront to have a look. The beach is very fine volcanic grain, with the odd lump of pumice type stuff, and very dark, almost a grey / black. We toured the small town of Ladispoli, because we needed to get some cash out to pay for the apartment. Couldn't see any Banks or cash machines, so we resorted to Plan B, which was to pop into one of the airports near Rome. Our thought was that they would be used to Tourist cards and let us have some money. We found our ... read more

Monday, 10th November, 2008 Plan for today, visit Paestum. We left about eleven o'clock and initially headed for Agropoli to get some money from a cash machine. The Bank ATM didn't like us, but Pat had spotted a Post Office, with a cash machine, and we were successful, so a good idea for the future. We then headed for Paestum, which has brown signs directing, it's only a few miles up the road, so an easy drive today. We stopped at the supermarket on the way out for some food, for lunch later. Finding the site is easy, basically because it's a big site and surrounded by a largely remaining city wall. Getting to the entrance and parking is another matter. The road goes all the way around it, so you can go round in circles, ... read more

Saturday, 15th November, 2008 Plan for today, lunch out in Agropoli. This is Pat's birthday meal. We had a lazy morning and finally left about 1230. We headed for the Post Office ATM first, as our cash reserves had been seriously depleted going to Capri. No problems getting money. We then drove to the seafront and parked just outside the restaurant, Il Gambero. The restaurant was the one mentioned by Raffaele, as he was now supplying the fish there. The place was empty and I think we disturbed them having their lunch. We both had the prawn cocktail to start, followed by mixed fish grill and veal cooked in lemon, with a plate of chips. Pat had a chocolate dessert, and we both had coffee. During lunch another couple of people came in, so we weren't ... read more

We had to work on Saturday June 7th, due to the superintendent from the town coming on Monday to review the work we had done. So we only got one day this weekend to do a trip. We went to Reggio di Calabria, which is right on the tip of the boot of Italy. We took the train to Messina harbor to catch the ferry over, which I was REALLY excited about. ahem...dramamin. Luckily it was only a 30 minute boat ride, and it was fairly calm. The museum in this city (National Museum of Greater Greece) has two famous Greek Bronze statues as it's main draw (although there are many other cool exhibits in the museum as well). These statues were actually found off the coast of Riace (which is near Reggio Calabria), suspected to ... read more