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Published: July 16th 2018
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Yes, it is July 6th and we are still waiting for a part for the engine in Tsamaya. This means another day trip as thankfully the train travel here in Italy is efficient and very inexpensive. A nearby coastal town is quite touristy this time of year, but we figured “what the heck – let’s go for it”. We caught the train at 8:18 AM and about 20 minutes later we were getting off in Tropea.
On our walk down the hill from the station into town we passed the market so walked through but didn’t buy this time as we definitely didn’t want to be carrying fruits & vegetables around all day – it wasn’t only the weight, it was the heat! We know from communications with various friends and family that many areas are getting hit with hot weather and Italy is no exception. As a matter of fact we could have made this trip yesterday but the predictions were for much hotter temperatures. We knew we’d be outside walking quite a bit so waited for a day that was to be a little cooler, down to the mid 80’s.
In doing some research on this town
I found out that one point of interest would be the Church of Santa Maria dell’Isola. It is quite easy to find as it is located on a rocky “island” near the beachs of Tropea – just walk downhill and you will get to it. Fortunately the town also has quite a few lookout points so were able to take in the magnificient views from these. One thing we knew was that if we were going to make it to the Church of Santa Maria we would have to walk down 200 steps, climb up the stairs to the Church and then do that again in reverse to make it back to the train station later in the day. We definitely went for it – great exercise, and surprisingly the stairs weren’t that bad at all. We did take note though that the campgrounds are located in a very heavily shaded area from the numerous trees and that it was close to the beach area (and on the same level). All the tourists that came to Tropea and are staying in hotels or B&B’s must go up and down these 200 stairs every time they want to go to the
beach. Sure sounds like the RV’s in the campgrounds definitely have an advantage when it comes to getting to the beach much quicker and on level ground.
We enjoyed walking through the Church as well as their garden and small museum. It was called a museum but there wasn’t much information in it, just a few drawings and paintings of the Church and Tropea in earlier times, but you could glean quite a bit of information from them in fact. There were also some fabulous views from this area, but it did seem interesting to be looking out of a Church window on the beach and swimmers below. I had to look up the history of this Church and even then there wasn’t as much as I had hoped. I did find that the island (yes, where the Church was constructed it was an island, but has since filled in). History tells us that they think that hermits inhabited the island back in the 7th & 8th C. which isolated them from the rest of the world. The belief is that the Church was built here during that time and was used by Basilian Monks and then turned over
Tropea Is Known for Its Red Onions
and it appears chili peppers as well! to the Benedictine Monks in the 11th c. The earthquakes of 1783 and 1905 did much to destroy most of the original structure. In 1908 a major renovation occurred leaving us what we see today. No matter what the history it is an interesting structure in a very distinct location along this coastline. Definitely worth the climb if you are in Tropea.
We spent the rest of our time wandering the alleyways enjoying the various architectural elements, noting the way plantings add to the scene and just enjoying a day of exploring another town along this coastline. We check TripAdvisor.com quite often when traveling and we found a recommendation for a restaurant so tried it out. One of the things that attracted us to it (besides the comments about the food) was that it wasn’t on the main tourists street but not so far off that it wasn’t difficult to find. We stopped for lunch a little earlier than most Italians eat, but we wanted to sit in the shade for a while and thought we’d catch the train back in a couple of hours. It worked out well as we had a very quiet location with fabulous food.
The RV Campground Is Shaded By All Those Trees
and is just down the road a short distance from beach We weren’t going to have a dessert but everyone has been telling us about a local speciality, the tarfulo of Pizzo. The waiter suggested it so decided we’d get one and split it. It actually is made of ice cream, but with a ‘molten chocolate’ inside. When I heard molten it seemed that it would be warm, but in fact it is just that it is still a liquid inside the “ball” of ice cream. It was good, but we were both very glad that we decided to split one as the chocolate inside was quite rich and was surrounded by chocolate ice cream.
In fact our first plan was that when we do finally leave the marina in Vibo Marina we would sail to Tropea, anchor there and then take a day to explore the town. It is only a couple hours away by boat, but it would help cut down on the length of our next day of travel. Now that we have gone to Tropea by land, we can now change our plan if we’d like and bypass it all together OR if we still want to cut up the trip we could anchor out and
Anything Really, Really, Really Spicy
is marked with the descriptor "viagra" swim off the boat knowing that we don’t need to head into town. Just more options for us when we finally get the part and we are ready to leave again.
A pleasant way to spend a day in this area, even though it is one of the most touristy one we have seen in a while. It was very obvious with the number of souvenier shops and listening to the people speaking languages other than Italian. Oh, one thing I forgot to mention, it seems like most places we have visited they are known for a speciality (usually food). Tropea is no exception as it is known for its red onions. In fact it was surprising to see bags of red onions being sold at all the souvenier shops along with red hot chili peppers. We hadn’t heard about the chili peppers, but by the looks of the offerings Tropea must be known for them as well! Bob mentioned that he thought it was somewhat comical that Tropea is known for its red onions especially when it has such beautiful beaches. All we know is that the red onions were used in our meal and they were delicious.
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