Friday 4th April 2008

We slept well with the sound of the sea pounding the sea-defence rocks until close to dawn when there were more electrical storms and the railway started to get busy. The rain started at about seven o'clock and continued when we started our journey, once again along the coast. The scenery was even more dramatic than yesterday with the mountains coming closer to the coast and the road squeezed between the two. Hamlets clung to the green flanks of the mountains and villages were perched on lower hilltops. The sun came out and the sea looked even more attractive with the wonderful light blue of those South Sea Island posters on the coast deepening to a navy blue in the distance.
After a diversion inland around a rare flat area, now occupied by an airport, we diverted on to a minor road around the Tropea Promontory. This sounded very pleasant in the guide books and we had identified ACSI registered campsites at the northern end (Briatico) and the westernmost tip of Cape Vaticano (the church gets everywhere!). However the town of Tropea, between the two, sounded very pleasant and interesting and the map showed campsites even though they were not listed in ACSI. The guidebooks were correct and the view of Tropea, perched on cliffs overlooking the sea, was very attractive. We found a parking place near the port and walked up the many steps to the town. Looking down from one of the many viewing points we noticed that there was an open campsite below us – ideal! Whilst we were looking we were approached by a lady who spoke to us in German and then English once she had established our nationality. Ursula was a real character, enthusiastic and glad to talk to someone other than Italians! She had worked for Lufthansa and then married an Italian and moved to Italy. Her husband was a member of the Mafia (we don't think that she is with him now) and his father was killed by the Mafia because “he didn't pay his bills”. She said that it was a similar system to that of the German tax authorities but the punishment was more final. It is quite sobering to hear about the power of the Mafia in this area. I recounted the conversation that we had in Northern Italy with an inhabitant that complained that the Northern Italians were the only ones who wanted to work – the Southern Italians in particular lazy and had no work ethic. She agreed and told us that she had organised a German cultural trip to this area in the Winter but couldn't find anywhere that would accept them – they were all closed for the Winter and were unwilling to open despite the potential profit and good media coverage for the area (there would have been TV crews and press with the group).
Ursula took us to an historic bakery and pizzeria that was falling down due to neglect. She pointed out that in England and German it would have been restored and opened to the public as a museum but “nobody is interested – they are all stupid”. We were given a potted history of the area and a guide to the local sights of interest. It was a fascinating conversation and Ursula left us with her contact details – pop in to have a drink and, if we wanted to stay in the area she would find us a good deal.
We went back to Henrietta, drove to the campsite and parked up with a view over the sea the Aeolian islands. The most interesting of these is Stromboli, an active volcanic island with its volcano still spewing lava. Even from this distance we can see the constant plume of smoke emanating from it and last year the inhabitants were evacuated due to the risk of a major eruption. The sunset over the sea with Stromboli in the distance was fantastic, probably due to the dust in the atmosphere caused by the volcano.
Photos: Tropea perched on its rock outcrop; Sunset from the campsite with the erupting Stromboli volcano producing a plume of smoke.