Altomonte Day 3

---

Altomonte Day 3

Today began, as usual, with a wonderful breakfast. Ted’s 2 pots of coffee, strudel and cookies (we passed), yogurt, toast and bread with marmalade, and a hard boiled egg served up in tiny egg cups.
After talking with Carla, and she with a car rental company, we drove with her husband Carlos (yep- Carla and Carlos!) into a bigger village to rent a car. A blind eye was turned to the fact that Ted didn’t have an international driver’s license and off we went in a small Lancia. This car would be considered a compact or sub-compact car in the US, but here there were two sizes smaller than our Lancia. The smallest is designated a “city” car and the next an “economy” car. We have a “small” car. We filled it with 8 gallons of gas which cost us $50USD! Gas is about $5.00/gallon here. But all the cars get really great mileage.
We drove down to Cosenza (about an hours drive) to see what we could see. It is a large town and there are 2 distinct sections: new and old. We drove into the old section and found an old church that was built about 1840. It was closed, as was almost everything since it was the afternoon, and so we drove around till we found a small place for lunch. Yet another delicious meal--ravioli! There was no place we could find that shouted “Here’s how to find any family you might have here!” so we headed out to see what else we could find on our way back north. The other town that could have family is even further south than Cosenza--a little town called Mammola. It’s probably 200 km from here--way too far for us to go in a day.
We stopped in a town called San Marco and took some pictures of the Norman castle there. No one was around to give a tour, so back on the road. When we arrived back at the farm, we discovered another couple had joined us here. Maybe tonight at dinner we’ll have other people to talk with--the French couple that came yesterday don’t seem inclined to chat…..but in any case, dinner is a much anticipated event here, since it has been so wonderful each time!
I told Ted I wasn’t sure what to think of Cosenza. He replied that I should go to my grandfather’s grave and tell him thanks for leaving! And why didn’t he stay with his brother that emigrated to Luxembourg??

---