Well the day started out good, nice hotel with a decent breakfast and a nice brief walk on the beach. Rather than setting my GPS to Locri, I set it to Gerace, the place we were going to visit on route to Lori. Well we were traveling along the S182 just fine, we should be there in under 2 hours, with this little change the GPS person took over and said take a right onto this, what looked like, a nothing road, the SP35. Narrow and winding with switchbacks, potholes, let’s see tree branches and rocks, oh and a tonne of leaves, many filling the potholes, causing us to go slow, very very slow in parts. Oh also, did I mention the two washed out sections, that were fortunately barricaded off. My last concern, above getting a flat tire was a tree, or other obstruction forcing us to turn around. We were well into this “short cut” when I opened my google map app to see what had happened to our time, this is when I found out that we strayed from the quickest path. Now that we are through it we learned that this section is also a national park, so overall a very interesting drive but not to be repeated on the way back…
Gerace, is the former hometown of the Magnolo clan, Jan’s grandfather left here back in the early 1900’s for a better life in Canada. Gerace is a hilltop town that dates back a couple thousand years. It contains the ruins of a castle that dates back to first millennium. We also learned the Arabs invaded Gerace in 986 ad, destroying just about everything. So yes a very wonderful couple hours spent here walking the old streets and lane ways of Magnolo life way back when. Tonight we have been invited to one of Jan’s relatives for dinner, so stay tuned for that. I am writing this after we finally found our BnB, there was some issue with the GPS that just couldn’t find this address. Perhaps she was upset with me because of the “short cut” grief I gave her. Lol.
Our accommodation is in an old (yes, everything is old here), hard to find building close to the train station, Casa da Ida. We are in one of the units with a partial kitchen and loft where the bed is, so far so good. We were picked up at our BNB by Jan’s second cousin, Teresa and her husband. Within minutes we were at their lovely, wonderful home and were treated with some traditional Calabrian hospitality. Another, second cousin arrived within a few minutes and although there was a bit of language struggle we were able to have a wonderful evening with some delicious, Calabrian style, home cooking. Pasta with a fresh tomato sauce, finished with fresh basil (grown in their garden) and Parmesan cheese. We then enjoyed stuffed eggplant (stuffed with breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese). Then came out the home aged prosciutto, they buy it, season it and then hang it for a minimum of 4 months. Teresa’s husband then takes out a sharp knife and cuts very thin strips and serves it, absolutely delicious. Pickled string beans with zucchini and garlic rounded out the feast with fresh bread. Fruit, nuts and limoncello (again home made), put the cherry on the lovely meal - yes served in the kitchen, on a big table with home made wine and bottles of water, natural and fizzy. A great evening indeed. A few pics of the day, hope you enjoy…
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