Days 13 and 14 – Tropea
Tropea. We are here. Did we save the best til last?
Well…no but that’s because we’ve seen such a variety of places that it’s difficult to say one is better than another.
Tropea is perched high above the sea and is beautiful because it’s dramatic. The town is a labyrinth of tiny streets and blind alleys. It’s hard to remember where you’ve been.
The sea is beautiful, there are fabulous restaurants tucked away in side streets or in a piazza, loomed over by grand buildings.
Is it better than Soverato? It depends on what you like. Tropea is cool, it’s got loads of restaurants some of them very trendy and expensive, it has lots of cute little shops to rummage about in and a labyrinth of lanes to explore and admire the old buildings.
Soverato is more local, we ate the best pasta and ice cream there, the beach was long and empty and the people were very friendly.
Tropea is much more sophisticated but along with that comes too many tourists for the town to cope with – God knows what it’s like in high season.
But in shoulder season it has atmosphere without being overwhelmed, we’ve enjoyed our last two days here, particularly as we know we are going back to a British Autumn with the potential of it being extremely soggy and cold.
Yesterday afternoon after we arrived, we went exploring and pretty much saw everything of any note.
Today we lay like lizards on the quiet beach a little way down from the port and read our books. This beach is so much nicer than the town beach and in the sun more. I don’t know why more people don’t use it. We had a quick look at the town beach on our way back from lunch and it was absolutely mobbed with people crammed into a small area as much of the beach was in the shade.
It’s possible that people are avoiding the steps that take you back into Tropea. The town is perched on a hill and there must be around 200 extremely steep steps to get up. Very difficult for people with kids . Apparently in the summer they run tuk tuks and mini buses to shuttle people around but not in October.
More lazing about on the beach then it was gelato time. Our last one. We pushed the boat out and went to the posh cafe where our bill for two tartufos, a beer and a bergamot juice ( interesting flavour, sharp with a hint of bitterness) was 28 Euros. That’s a lot for Calabria but what the hell.
And then it rained!
Dinner was at a restaurant in one of the windy back streets, overlooked by grand
buildings. The food was excellent, the atmosphere great.
It’s been a fabulous trip. Such variety and we loved the trek. But we also loved sitting on our terrace in Capo Vaticano, watching the sun set over Stromboli. We loved eating gelato on the Lungomare Falcomata, we loved visiting the deserted village and hearing the bells ring – apart from the odd tricky manoeuvre with The Tank and mosquitoes, there’s very little we didn’t like. Calabria is a very interesting and underrated part of Italy. Glad we came.
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