Reggio Calabria 🏖
Letter #54: The stunning waters at the (very hot) tip of the Italian boot.
8/31/23
On July 15th I took the train from Rome to Reggio Calabria. I’m only now recalling my time there over a month and a half later! 😅
I felt a bit melancholy as I got on the train. I was leaving my 8 day vacation with Hilary, one of my very closest friends, and while I was excited for a bit of solitude, I knew I’d miss how she made me laugh, how much we loved sharing a good meal together, and how we could have meaningful conversation about the most mundane of topics.
I had a 6 hour train ride ahead of me—no transfers—to the south of Italy, an area I haven’t been before. I booked an AirBnB a 10 minute walk from the beach, and planned to spend the next 5 days in the sun, being lazy as I mentally prepared for 5 weeks of working on farms.
A group of women boarded the train and filled the seats around me. I gathered they were family members and friends, spanning over 3 generations. Sometimes it’s nice not to understand the language being spoken around you because it’s less distracting. It sounds more like a background soundtrack than the primary narrative.
They spoke excitedly with one another, I’m assuming on their way to vacation together on the beach. As the train rolled on, their chatter quieted and I lulled myself towards a nap while I read my Kindle. Eventually, the woman sitting next to me fell asleep, her deeply strong cigarette breath, laden with dental neglect, wafted over my shoulder. 🤣 I turned toward the window and willed myself to fall asleep as well. (Later, when the family switched up seats and she sat across from me, I would learn she also suffered from an unfortunate foot odor. 🤢)
And yet, traveling in such a leisurely way has allowed me to be less uptight about most everything. I rarely get frustrated during my travel days, a far cry from how I used to be in the past, frantic about any delay or upset. The train ride was over before I knew it, and I had read a lot in my latest book—it was so much better than spending 6 hours in the car!
When we pulled up to the main station, I followed the other passengers up to the street. Since I was carrying all my bags on my back, I thought I’d check to see the price of a taxi, as Uber doesn’t exist everywhere in Italy. The disgruntled taxi driver leaning against is car told me 15 Euros for a 5 minute ride to my AirBnB. Yeah right! Such a rip off and a guarantee it wouldn’t be metered. So I said thanks but no thanks and hiked the 20 minutes through the neighborhood to Via dei Filippini.
I showed up to the AirBnB absolutely drenched in sweat and out of breath (mind you, even at 8:30pm it was still in the mid 90s). I was greeted by two VERY Italian sisters who excitedly showed me around the cute little studio apartment, speaking only Italian and gesturing in that charming way that so many Italians do. Everything was virtually brand new, the space super clean. She had provided fresh fruit, yogurt, and bottled water in the fridge, and in the cupboards she had tons of packaged snacks, which, to be honest, didn’t look so appetizing, especially since I now know how delicious the produce in Italy is. She even had a platter of homemade biscotti sitting on the small kitchen table.
This woman provided SO MANY toiletries. More than I’ve EVER experienced in an AirBnB. Among the regular toiletry suspects, she even provided a full tube of toothpaste…?! I’m talking like the size you’d keep in your own home. There were fresh toothbrushes, Q-tips, cotton balls, tons of towel options, more than one shampoo and conditioner option. It was mind-boggling how many items there were to look through—this AirBnB owner would be prepped for any apocalypse.
The strange thing is there was no stove or hotplate, and only one small window facing the inner courtyard that was frosted, so no sunlight entered the room. BUT it was relatively inexpensive and the AC was kickin’, the inner courtyard was quiet and the bed was huge and comfy so I easily could catch up on sleep. And when I was ready for sunlight? Well, I could just walk on down to the beach. 😎
Since it was already so late in the evening and I desperately needed a shower, I said goodbye to the sisters, took a cold shower, skipped dinner, and went straight to bed.
The following morning I slept in (I wonder how many times I’ve written that over the past 10 months 🤔) and when I awoke—COMPLETELY RESTED— I put on my running clothes and went for a VERY sweaty run on the promenade along the beachfront. When trying to figure out where to stay in Italy for my tourism time, I of course Googled the most budget areas to stay. Reggio Calabria boasted reasonable prices right along the seaside, directly across from Sicily. The AirBnB I found was a short walk to the beach and being that close to the promenade meant I could easily go for morning runs. Unfortunately, I’d wake up around 9am, which meant my runs wouldn’t occur until 10am or so, when the sun was already blazing in full force. The daily temperatures of the south of Italy were reaching 100 F and over.
And so that first morning after my run, I took another cold shower and then headed off to the beach. Among some of the other amenities this AirBnB owner supplied? A portable beach chair and umbrella. 🤗
The beach within the city wasn’t so bad—at least better than any beach in NYC, of which I still love all of them if not for the people watching alone. But I learned later that evening from a very charming local server at a typical Calabrian ristorante…that there are MUCH better beaches in the south, just a short train ride away.
So the following morning, after my run, I showered and walked back to the nearest train station to head to Scilla. The server had recommended I rent a beach chair at one of the lidos (Italian beach clubs). And let me tell you…this beach was DREAMY.
The water was a bright turquoise and absolutely crystal clear. There were no waves, the water as warm as a bath. It was full of beautiful Italians, both from the local area or vacationing with their families, and hardly any foreigners. I felt like I was in a Mediterranean beach club from the 70s—it was picturesque. The beach is full of small stones instead of sand which is a little hard to get used to, but I did my best to embrace it and try to fit in. Virtually everyone looks a bit awkward and in pain trying to emerge from the water. The stones are super hot under the baking sun, so it’s impossible to walk barefoot too long, and not so easy to gain your balance. Anyways, no graceful Baywatch moments in Scilla, that’s for sure.
But, regardless, this tiny seaside town had just the Italian vibe I was looking for. I could just float out in the middle of the water, away from the crowds, and when I grew sleepy, I’d head back to my chair and umbrella and read. I’m pretty sure I finished two books in 5 days which is a new record for me.
I blew my budget for the day by enjoying a Greek salad and a glass of Prosecco for lunch, and around 6:30pm I headed back to the train. When I reached the city again, I had to bide my time until the restaurants opened at 7:30pm (obviously cooking in my AirBnB wasn’t an option). I FaceTimed my mom from the promenade so we could catch up.
She and I had a lovely time connecting as I of course was not as good about calling home while I was vacationing with Hilary.
When 7:30 hit, I walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner—pasta with seafood since fish and seafood is available EVERYWHERE here. To be honest, it wasn’t too memorable (I was more amped about the fried breadsticks they served as the cover), but I’m not so terribly picky—I still enjoyed myself. I headed home and used the good wifi to catch up on Ted Lasso. 😍
The following day I went for another run and then used the early afternoon to get my next newsletter typed up and scheduled. I still had a couple hours to kill in the afternoon so I went back down to the city beach before meeting a new friend I’d made at the beach in Scilla for dinner.
I knew the dinner would be quite interesting as he didn’t speak English, and I don’t speak Italian, but I decided it would be a nice social experiment. He picked me up outside the apartment and he was easy to get along with even though we could hardly communicate. To his point, I was in Italy so I should be aiming to speak the language, so patiently he helped me along as we talked about our lives.
We saw the sun set over Messina and he shared a bit about the area, and then we grabbed dinner at a pizza spot outside of the city. I kept it simple—a margherita pizza—but it was great to have a local order it for me so I didn’t have to embarrass myself through the ordering process! When the pizza showed up, I was surprised by the crust being filled with this mozzarella di bufala, oozing out as I cut through it. It was absolutely heavenly.
The conversation got a bit easier the longer we tried to communicate, and I was proud of how much I was able to understand just by context clues. We settled up the bill and headed back into the city, and he dropped me back at the AirBnB. It was nice spending time with a friend, and I know it’s important for me to get to know people while I travel, but for sure I was just craving more alone time. 😆
So, the next morning I woke up and headed straight for the beach in Scilla again. This was my last chance to dip my toes in that perfectly crystal clear water, so I planned nothing else but a beach day. I paid only 10 Euros for the beach chair that day (the other spot charged me 20 🙄), and I spent the day alternating between reading, writing, and floating belly up in the calm water.
That evening I had a craving for more pizza—that cheesy crust just really got to me! There was a pizza restaurant a block from my apartment that I’d read stellar reviews about (including a seal of approval from the AirBnB sisters), so I decided that’s how I’d spend my final dinner in Reggio Calabria. My flight was at 6:40 the next morning so I had to be up SUPER early.
I was feeling cocky about my comfort level with the language after the previous evening, and I’d been attempting to decipher menus in the Italy for the past two weeks so I decided to wing it without using Google Translate. Sidebar: there’s an amazing feature on the app where you can snap a photo of the menu and GT will translate it for you, over the actual text of the menu. And if you’re without wifi or 5G, you can download the entire language ahead of time (?!) and GT will still operate offline.
Anyways, back to being overly cocky…I skimmed the pizza menu, doing my best to recall what many of the ingredients were. I wanted something relatively simple and inexpensive, so I opted for what they named the “Napoletana”. From my loose interpretation of the description, I figured I’d be receiving a tomato based pizza with mozzarella and salame. Perfect.
When the pizza came out and the server set it in front of me, I began to mutter “uhhh ohhh” under my breath. Were those small dark mounds…capers? Sure enough, they were. The entire pie was sprinkled with tons of capers. For some reason my taste buds never full matured as an adult and so I reject any of those super salty, briny flavors like olives, capers, pickles…even oysters. It’s embarrassing as a 37 year old to admit to others that I don’t like olives. I’m always met with shock and then I feel like a child, apologizing that surely something must be wrong with me. 😑😂
The pizza began to look like a muddled mess as I shoved the capers off to the side and ate around them. That was working pretty well, with the exception that, again, I looked like I had the plate of a child avoiding her vegetables.
About a third of the way through the meal I hit a fishy taste. I thought I’d avoided most the capers, although I ate a few just to double-check—nope. Still don’ like them. Could capers leave a lingering taste that the cheese could not possibly cover up? Upon further investigation (I was eating outside, under faint street lamps, low lighting being the optimal ambience for which to dine), so I could barely make out the dark smudge along the crust.
VERY salty. VERY fishy. I gave in and Googled the words “acciughe” and “capperi”. Anchovies and capers. 😬 Two things I REALLY do not like and wouldn’t want ANYWHERE near a pizza.
I couldn’t help but laugh at myself, such a waste of a meal! And the quality of the food was great. It was just my own cockiness that led to a disappointing pizza. I was nearly gagging over the last few bites before I finally threw in the towel.
I elegantly positioned my napkin over the hot mess I’d created on my plate in hopes that the server and the chef wouldn’t see what I’d left and draw the conclusion that I do not, in fact, know how to read Italian. 🤣 I paid the bill and headed back to my AirBnB to finish packing. I told myself I’d make up for the pizza fiasco by ordering another while in Firenze—and using Google Translate to get the right thing. 😅
I left the following morning by 4am. I enjoyed my time in Reggio Calabria—it was the first week I’d spent alone in Italy so I felt like I could slip back into my own routine (even though Hil and I keep a nearly similar routine when traveling, I’m just a little quieter and more boring when I’m alone). But I wouldn’t go back to that specific city again. I’d choose one of the smaller beach towns along the coast—or better yet I’d spend a month or so just touring around Sicily.
The south of Italy is known for being more conservative, traditional, and of a lower economic status than the north. Just about everything is closed on Sundays and I only saw one other American tourist the entire time I was there—everyone else was local.
But the city itself didn’t feel “alive.” To be fair, with it being nearly 100 F most days, everyone was inside with their shutters closed. But there weren’t a ton of restaurants or grocery stores to choose from, and I didn’t witness any nightlife—save for the pedestrian street that I walked along on the first night I arrived from the train station, where people young and old strolled along in the evening. But there was something about the city that felt like it had had its heyday back in the 70s and now was no longer up-and-coming. Even some of the younger locals I met expressed the same sentiment. It’s not a bad thing or a bad place to visit, but I was much more enamored by many of the other places I’d visited in Italy. (Although I was a bit shocked by my time in Florence…TBC).
What I’m Reading Right Now…
Upon Sasha’s recommendation, Circe by Madeline Miller, tells the story of the Greek goddess Circe, how poorly she was treated by her family, choosing instead to befriend mortals, and eventually how she discovered her gift of witchcraft. Early on in the story she has a run in with the goddess Scylla, turning her into the now legendary monster that guards the straits of Messina, and thus the Calabrian town whose beach I visited, Scilla, is named after her. I love when the dots are connected!
Hey! Would you like to connect over creativity, self-growth, and problem-solving? Or just to have a virtual glass of wine or mocktail? Please book a time on my Calendly for us to chat! I can’t wait to see you. XOXO.
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What a fun read!! I cracked up at the picture of you on the train with the sleeping lady and then with the fishy pizza fiasco!🤣🤣Made my day so thanks for the laughs!❤️