After Matera, we visited the Calabrian coast, including the beach at Rocca Imperiale Marina and the town of Trebisacce, where we spent the next two nights.  I’d been craving the turquoise, clear sea all summer, and I was gifted with more than I had imagined.  The beach at Rocca Imperiale was wonderfully empty, which made for a relaxing afternoon of swimming and resting.  The town of Trebisacce was great!  It’s usually a gamble for us when we choose a destination, as we don’t know which are the “good” towns and which are deserted.  It turns out that Trebisacce is a relaxed and friendly beach town with many stores and restaurants, a bustling lungomare, a family/small town feel, and a gorgeous sea.

The best part of our trip, even better than the sea, was the experience we had with our Airbnb hosts.  The loving couple took us under their wings, escorted us to a restaurant, took us on a tour of the old city, treated us to granitas on the lungomare passegiata, and brought us to the beach the next morning.  They gave Cedar lemon/honey water for his cough, brought us watermelon, and gave us a plant to take home from their plant-filled balcony.  They spoke NO ENGLISH at all, so we used Google Translate to communicate.  We all learned a lot of Italian through this immersion, and not only did our comprehension increase, but we were all speaking Italian words by the end (even Cedar, who until this point had refused).  Our trip was so much richer and deeper with this learning and sharing opportunity than if we’d been on our own; we saw and heard and learned so much more.

On the way home, we stopped in an old Albanian town called Civita in the mountains of Pollino National Park.  We had hoped to do a hike in the river gorge, but due to rain and time we opted instead to wander through the streets, go to a tiny museum (where we were given a tour, again all in Italian), find local snacks, and enjoy the beautiful views.  We met other nice people there as well, including a New-Yorker visiting his Albanian family and a Northern-Italian with his little baby who spoke English with us. Together, we all walked through the town.

I know I say this every time, but Calabria might just be my favorite, and I cannot wait to go back and explore more of it.