After breakfast at the resort we headed for the other side of the Meditteranean. We drove over the mountains through olive groves and farmland and stopped in Vallelonga for a walk and espressos. We then headed to Siderno where we bought rolls before heading to the beach for lunch. Once again we had hard boiled eggs with pancetta. Dave and I walked into the sea and along the beach before heading South. We stopped for an afternoon espresso in Comune di Roccella Jonica. We then headed under the mountain through a 3.2km tunnel, and along a gorge to Nicotera. We drove through a huge olive grove plantation and lemon groves. The lemon scent was so strong we could smell the lemons in the car with the windows up. The hilltop cities look amazing from far but the houses are run down, derelict or ruins. Many shops are closed or empty indicating how bad the recession is in Southern Italy. We stopped to take a photo of the amazing vista at a height of 525.9m above sea level. We got back to the resort and Dave had a swim before we enjoyed a prosecco each. We had a Calabrian dinner at the resort. We started with a cold buffet of lettuce, tomato, olives, onions, cold meats, cheese, bruschetta with tomato, cooked onions and melanzane, dough balls and a huge bowl of chilies. The hot buffet was a bean and zucchini soup, tomato and melenzane pasta, grilled peppers, potato chips with melenzana and zucchini, melanzane, dough balls, pork sausage and a meat kebab. Dessert was a semolina orange cake. The cost was €15 per person including water and wine. We went back to our apartment for lemoncino.
Italy 2013 