Goodbye beautiful Sicily… hello Italy once again!

We are back in Italy, on a Sosta a couple of kilometres north of Palmi, N38.40129 E015.86585 and relieved that the temperature is a little cooler - down to 32°C!  We are right on the beach and the sea breeze is bliss.

Enjoying the breeze and watching the sunset

Sun set over the Tyrrhenian sea, near Palmi

For the last 4 days we have been very lazy, spending the morning by the campsite pool...

Enjoying a dip in the pool

and then in the afternoon on the beach.  The beaches are stony on the north of the island but the sea is crystal clear.

The campsite beach

It has been far too hot to do very much, reaching 40°C every day.  We have lost count of the amount of wild fires we have seen on Sicily (and Italy), some due to the heat and others we have been told may have been started deliberately for insurance claims!

We managed a couple of walks on the beach, mostly early evening, as the sun was setting.

We had a ride out on the scooter one of the days along the coastal road to Tindari to try and cool down but even that was like riding through a sauna.  

Sanctuary Holy Mary of Tindari, which can be seen in the distance on the headland from the campsite

Our last day at the campsite who should show up... Richard and Carla – our fourth unarranged 'meet up 'around Sicily with our Dutch friends.  We think they may be stalking us ha! ha! So, as it was going to be our last night together on Sicily - the next day they were heading to Palermo to get the ferry to Rome and us the Messina ferry back to Italy - we had a farewell meal at the campsite.

Enjoying a meal out with Richard and Carla

So, the next day it was goodbye Sicily, having spent 3 fabulous weeks here and hello Italy once again, as we took the ferry back to Villa San Giovanni.

Leaving Messina and beautiful Sicily on the ferry

Adopting the windswept look, as we enjoy the breeze on the ferry from Sicily to Italy

Getting off the ferry we headed south down the motorway to Reggio Di Calabria – right at the end of the boot!  We had arranged to have a broken window replaced on the motorhome and a new cap for our fresh water tank, at Amaranto Camper.  We had a quick drive around Reggio di Calabria, which was one of the first ancient Greek settlements on the Italian mainland.  It is very built up and in a very poor state of decline, and very much under the influence of the local mafia (Ndrangheta), considered to be more powerful and dangerous than the Napoli Camorra.  The coastline is attractive though and the views of the Sicilian coastline lovely. Back at the garage, repairs fixed and all washed we set off.

Sonny, the motorhome having his new window fitted

Sonny getting a clean up and now looking like new!

We followed part of the coastal road through Scilla, a very pretty seaside town, with an old castle on the rock and then back on a short stretch of the autostrada to Palmi.

Scilla

As we got closer to Palmi we saw so much rubbish piled up everywhere.

Rubbish piled up on the side of the road near Palmi

We have seen plenty of rubbish dumps along the road from Naples down but here seemed particularly bad. They don’t appear to have household collections in southern Italy and it seems rubbish is just left randomly on the sides of the road waiting to be collected.  The trouble is most of the bags aren’t tied up and get ripped open by animals and end up strewn all over the place.

Parked up next to us is a lovely Italian family.  Their teenage daughter speaks good English and has told us of a place 2kms down the coast to see - Spiaggia di Trachini, so we are off on the scooter to take a look!

Sally x