Well it's about time I blogged about my travels to Calabria - I hope I didn't so my best Italian buddy Domenico disrespect by not being able to do it until now, but I will admit that the trip took a hell of ALOT of pitures and videos and the thought of attacking was too daunting until I came back home... so here goes -
I met Domenico back in Venezia, as he was the one that graciously picked Ana-Maria, Camilo and I up from teh airport in Treviso and drove us from and to the airport. He was also our personal guide to show us the best of Treviso, Venezia and for that I felt and still feel deeply indebted to my main Italian Man. With an open invitation to visit his home in the south of Italy I immediately started to look into booking my flights to a region that is not commonly accessed by tourists. After figuring out one of the most complicated routes using skyscanner.net (a god-send website!) I was able to book an amsterdam - lamezia, Reggio Calabria - amsterdam return for about 350 EUR. By far the most I have spent on airfare for a European trip, but well worth it! What's even funnier is that I will take FOUR different airplanes to and from Amsterdam. After telling some of my best AMS people that I will be making a trip out there, my good friend Ching-Yin booked a flight to come four days after me as her chosen sunny summer destination of the year.
Calabria, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian peninsula. It is bounded to the north by the region of Basilicata, to the south-west by the region of Sicily, to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the Ionian Sea (wikipedia, 2008). The region is a beautiful coastal paradise where many non-italiani tourisiti have yet to visit but is where many italians do flock down to on their own vacations. The little "inner" rivalry between northern and the southern italians exist as the accent, and dialiects differ quite dramatically (well for them at least) and that the south is well known for their food, sunny spots, and warm family-like welcoming atmosphere, but don't expect to find a huge amount of English speakers here as it comes no where near as close as you'll find in the northern , and what is deemed, the "richer" regions of italy.
More on the languages (from wiki):
Although the official national language of Calabria has been Standard Italian since unification (1861), as a consequence of its deep and colourful history, Calabrian dialects have developed that have been spoken in the region for centuries. The various dialects are divided into two different language groups. In the northern one-third of the region, the Calabrian dialects are considered a dialect of the Neapolitan language called Northern Calabrian. In the southern two-thirds of the region, the Calabrian dialects are considered part of the Sicilian language and are grouped as Southern Calabro.
Other historical languages have left an imprint on the region. In isolated pockets, as well as some quarters of Reggio Calabria (historical stronghold of the Greek language in Italy), a hybrid language that dates back to the 9th century, called Griko, is spoken. A variety of Franco-Provençal can also be found in certain communities and French has had an influence on many Calabrian words and phrases. In several villages, the Arbëresh dialect of the Albanian language has been spoken since a wave of refugees settled there in the 15th century. In addition, since Calabria (as well as other parts of southern Italy and Sicily) were once ruled by the Spanish, some Calabrian dialects clearly exhibit Spanish influences.
Sun sets, while waiting for our gate to Stansted at Schipol airport.
So my adventures begin flying form Amsterdam to Stansted at 9pm and overnighting it at the airport and taking a 5:55 am flight down to Lamezia Terme (below) - a city that is about an hour away from Reggio Calabria, where I was suppose to head. It was upon recommendation by Domenico to fly to Lamezia because Ryan Air flies there outside of Stansted - so I took his advice.
My way to Stansted was via Easyjet, and then landing there after about a 45 minute delay, I was planing to scope out a place to sleep early and wake - up at about 3am to check-in to my flight. Instead I stayed up and studied Italian using the free tutorials at www.ielanguages.com (highly recommend!) until about 4am. Also because all the good spots to sleep in were already taken up by people, I remember reading on a website that it was very common for people to overnight it there, but that it would be near freezing because they always turn off the heaters in the place (i remember the painfulness of overnighting it at Geneva). By the time I was ready to check in, I thought I would have been one of the first.. btu turning the corner at the Ryan Air check in desks, it was FILLED with people. Man, how do these people get here and wake up so early?! As there was about 11 desk, and about 11 flights, then there was only ONE check in desk for each flight - so of course it took forever. Finally gettin my bags in - head down, board the plane and after sitting on the runway knowing that we were about to take off - they announce delays to the flight because someone that checked in but didn't show up at the gate had to have had their bags removed; which in turn made us lose our take off point; which in turn cause a 1.5 hour dealy in the take off. All this time I tried to keep Domi up to date. on happenings through text messaging. 
After about two hours of delays, I finally made it! Picked up my bag, headed into the very small meeting area where Domenico and his girlfriend Valentina picked me up. From there we headead out into the searing 30-some degree heat into his pimpin Mercedes and gased it to his beach house in Scilla, a small, but well known by the Italians, beach town in the Calabria region.(Scilla is a town in Calabria, Italy, administratively part of the Province of Reggio Calabria. It is the traditional site of the sea monster Scylla of Greek mythology.
Twenty-two kilometers from the city of Reggio Calabria, Scilla lies in front of the strait of Messina, and it is composed by two sides: the downtown, where the town offices and the patronal saint residence have place, and Marina di Scilla, the beach side, populated by tourists and thus heavily characterized by hotels and restaurants. Since its beach is the first place north of Reggio Calabria where the waters are not cooled down by the strait draughts, Scilla is very frequented during the summer period, including by people from neighbourhing towns and cities.
The beach is dominated by the Ruffo Castle, a fortress wished by the Dukes of Calabria.)
Domi ended up coasting along the scenic route, and what a route it was! The roads would pass through valleys and hills rowed with olive trees and wind about the mountain sides beside the shores of the gorgeous and turquoise Tyrrhenian Sea.We soon arrived at his beachfront appartment that they were renting and I met his cousin Rita, and again his sister Sissi (may have spelled that wrong) and then off to the beach we ran! It was luckily I arrived the day I arrived (about July 27th or 28th) as I was able to enjoy the beach house for four nights and five days until we had to move it up to his house in teh country-side (and later to the mountains).
The video above shows the drive into town. the streets are so Narrow in Schilla that many times when cars are passing each other, one has to stop and move to the side (by where the cars are parked so the other one can pass... who has right of way? I have no idea.
The next few days were filled with sunny sunny days on the beach, volleyball with his older cousin giuseppe and his friends on occasion and lots and lots of good eatin' (how can you go wrong wiht hte food in italy?!)
Valentina just finished her accounting studies and has a job all lined up in Florence with KPMG. Rita is studying medicine at a University in Schilla and is a hell of a cutie especially with the language barrier between us - but her and her brother (giuseppe) who we played some v-ball with once in awhile are definiately my favourity of his cousins (which I soon learned that there are many just like us Chiense families!)
These guys were very impressive as they were able to carry around so much stuff to sell. I remember one time the word "Chino" slipped out of his mouth and Sissi got mad at teh guy. Of course I knew who he was referring to, not hard, but it was nice of her to defend. Domi's sister is a law student and I believe may be articling at this point if I remember.
These two would be on a rollercoaster of emotions, but I soon learn that it must be normal Italian behaviour.
I sorta find it arousing / overbearing with the Italian scolding but man was Valentina excellent at it! Kept that misbehavin' Domi in line I say. (The above was basically for me and translated as "why the hell are you taking pictures all the f'n time?!!") - perke sono Cinese!
Lido was our main beach where we hung out most of the time. You usually had to rend out an umbrella spot (with two loungers) for the day and for front row sea view, it was about 9 EURs or so which wasn't bad.
Should see how these guys get ready.. man it is one of the funniest videos - but also very italian I guess.
Here's Domi's sister and her friend Sergio (although nobody knew what was going on with them - whether they were just friends, friends with benefits or more than that.)
So the agenda for the next four days: wake up, cafe (domi would have a chocolate filled cornetto (croissant)), beach with newspaper, lie in the sun (for me in the shade on the most part), then a small, dip, sun to dry off, nap...
lunch prepared by Sissi, (very good lunch at that!), beach, nap, beach, maybe some volleyball with his cougini Giuseppe, maybe a cafe or granita, some beach until dinner time, some kind of night time activity and then off to bed (man what a life!)
On the second night, Domi's parents drove in from the country side and stayed at the beach house, we went out for pizza and where some of the family dynamics started to come out! Rocco was a big but warm guy and his mom Pina you can tell was a very strong woman and had definite authority in the household... I guess that would apply to many households in the world.
Certain days I would try my best to learn Italian to try to communicate with his family and friends... well I tried my best.. I had to have the simple phrases down and by the fourth day I was able to form simple sentences by thinking what I had to say in French and somehoe italianizing it - i think it would have been easier if I knew Spanish.
The third day was AMAZING. Domi arranged a private boat ride with one of his friends Diego. His father was an important man in the Italian government (I think head economist - if my memory serves, but don't quote me on that one). So by about mid afternoon when the sun was still high and sizzling, Sissi, Rita, Domi and I met up with Diego at the Marina and we set off on an unforgettable a boat ride on the Tyrrhenean and Ionian seas.
We toured around the edge of Sicilia and then we went around the other side of the island to find a secluded beach (that would have taken 3 hours by car from the city of Messina, but only 20 minutes by boat).
MessinaAll in all if you look at the map above, looking at the "bird"-shaped head on the left, we went around that , back towards Schilla and up towards Bagnara.
The shot above was taken about 100 meters from the shore near bagnara.. sort of.. but you can see how clear the waters are. I still have a fear of something coming up to eat me when I'm in the open sea so I stayed in the boat, but Domi tried his best to persuade me to go in. But before that, when we went to the secluded part on Sicilia, there was one point where Diego anchored his boat in the middle of the water and we ended up all jumping in the sea and swimming to the beach that was about 100 meters away.
When we got there, there were some families and what was funny was that there were these kids there all slimbing up this huge hill of sand and just tumbling down it out of control. So Domi dared me to do it... and at frst I said no, but then Diego said he would go with me... so we ran up the hill (and man did that tire me out fast). after counting three... I rolled all the way down) and after spinning our of control, I found out he didn't and they all just laughed and cheered.
That's right laugh at the gullible Canadian Chinese guy. Next thing we headed form the beach and swam back to the boat. For me I thought that was quite a neat experience in itself as I don't consider myself a water person but the experience was awesome. Thanks a million Domi and Diego!!!
The house of Diego (lower left)
View of Scilla on the walk back from the MarinaBy the time we docked back at the marina - we thanked Diego and said we would see him later as there was a big Fish grill planned at one of the beaches and a gathering of the local professionals and politicians (insert the "oooh fancy" here).
On the walk back, there was again the most amazing lighting and sunset and had to use the chance to get some good yoga shots on the rocks and of the town.
Local Italiano packin' up after a hard daySo after gettin' back to the beach, we headed back home as the sun peeked behind the horizon and got ready for the big fish grill. The whole family dressed up for the affair and once we were all ready we walked down the wooden side walk past all teh vendors to the other side of the beach and finally found a place where they had a long table set up. As more and more people filed in Domi introduced me to many locals and also foreign Italian people that he too met for the first time. Everyone was mingling as I just stood there, took pictures and to just take in the atmosphere. the rest of teh night was enjoying the warm night air, the outdoor kareoke and the fantastic food that was set out in front of us.
they grilled the specialty fish from the region - pesce spada or swordfish
For me, I always found it to be a dream of somesort to be in the middle of an italian meal outdoors as you would see in the movies. you know, in that large backyard, everyone speakin loudly and passing around the food... this was what it was like, but at night and on a beach. It think I am thinking of some pizza commercial though.... probably something McCain's or Delicio conjured up in my memory. Anyway, my experience here was definiately way beyond expectations. 
Later that night after the dinner, Domi, Valentina and I set out to Bagnara, a nearby coastal city to check out a local fashion show and to end of the night with some of the areas famous Granita that Iw as getting addicted to. The night was filled with lots of festivities and just people out and about. 
The next day, it was the last day at the beach house there was not as much beach time as we had to pack up all the belongings and move stuff out to Domi's house in the countryside of St. Eufemia D'Aspromonte, where Domenico's family is from.
The movie above show's the 1.5 minute walk from doorstep of the beach house to the lounger on the beach. Man now that's location! Ciao!
We packed everything we could in his parent's SUV and by the afternoon we dropped off Valentina back at home in her city, Palmi which was about 30-40 minutes away. However, on the way, we stopped by a new building where her and her family where building a new condo comlpex and it looked like one of those complexes you would see in the movies in holleywood just the way it was laid out and the fact it was jammed right into the side of the mountain. I think it's very Italian to go a little over the top, but these guys really know how to impress!
We then dropped off Valentina and met her parents. Her appartment was quite spacious as the outside does not do the inside the balconies from the kitchen and living rooms provide visibility of the mountains and the town. Her mom and dad were super cute and extrememly welcoming - but whenever they tried to talk to me, Domi had to translate most of it (as usual). By mid-afternoon, we headed to Domi's house in the countryside of St. Eufemia D'Aspromonte. the complex was quite cute as all of his aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents lived in the same building, but difference appartments / homes. It reminded me of the complex grandma used to own in Hong Kong at Leung Fai Toi.
We went into Domi's room to unwind and to my surprise I found my bags there in his room. Plastered all over the walls were framed documents of important achievements in the family's history. The room felt more like a study than a bedroom and impressed very much if not the very least. From one of the frames had an insription that the Rositano family name has a noble history - wow I'm being hosted by "blue-blood" as what Domi would re-iterate haha - Sweet!
By about early evening, there was an important meeting at on e of the community centres/churches in town (which explains teh gathering of important people at the fish grill the night before) as they were holding a discussion where the poster (below) roughly translates as
"The Youth of the South and Europe", a meeting/debate with Riccardo Ventre (European Parliament) and Luigi Fedele (Italian Parliament)"
So almost all the families and people last night show up today and it was another gathering. It was odd to be surrounded by so many people where Domi was the only one that could speak English, but I just stood there and listened to see if I could pick up words from their conversations. 
Of course during the speech, I didni't really pick up what they were talking about and after about 30 minutes, Domi had to leave and took me along as it was Valentina's mom's birthday that night and she graciously invited me to the event as well which was very nice. We went directly back to Valentina's house by 8pm or so, picked her up (she looked liked Alicia Keys that night (which she appreciated the comment)) and drove into town to a restaurant at an outside patio. There waiting was her parents, her sister carla and her sister's boyfriend. we dined over pizza and a few dishes also prepared by her mom which again all the food was perfection - man I can still taste it now!
Some of Carla's friends joined us at night and the one guy on the right they called the "inglesino" because his English was also very good and they purposely seated him beside me as he was applying to medical school in the states.
Later after dinner, said a compleanno to her mom, and the three of us just went of to a nearby park to walk around as the two of the had some important things to discuss. At teh edge of the park, you can get some amazing views of Bagnara and just sorta slumped onto a bench in the park exhausted from the days activities.
The next day Ching-Yin arrived in the city at about 1600. I remembered I just napped until about the afternoon and then we were on our way to Reggio Calabria (the capital of the region) to pick her up at the airport!
I took this pic at a gas station cause I was amazed to see asians in this region (it was a tour bus (of course)) as well as a machine that dispenses adult porn.
Driving through Reggio Calabria is what I would picture Miami to be like with the Palm trees and the views of the sea and the mountains in the distant.
The airport was just a little bit migger than Lamezia's. the picture abov e is basically about 50% of the airport already. Of course CY's place was late (very Italian) as she did a transfer through Milano. but she made it!We did a wuick little stop in Schilla to help his parent's pic up some other boxes and then we were on our way back to St.Eufemia D'Aspromonte (Domenico drilled the name of his town into us - but now at least we know it very well!).
Thank you Schilla ! Definitely one of my FAVOURITE places to be and I will return here again one day. 
coming up are posts of our adventures with CY.
