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Today was mostly a travelling day. We stopped off at a local ruin site on the way to Crotone on the off chance it was open, the weren't but were very kind to us and let's us have a look around.
The best part of this particular tour was the guide. This guide was special because it was a dog. I'm not sure what kind of dog but she was gorgeous and really friendly. We all followed her around the park. We had to stick to the designated walkway of course, but she was free to roam. At one point she got a little bored and started to dig a hole. She got all excited as she found one of those small green lizards to play with. The human guide that accompanied her said she doesn't eat or kill the lizards, she just puts them in her mouth, they bite her toungue, she spits it out then the cycle repeats itself. It was very funny to watch.
From there we went to Corigliano. Another hillside town which is very quite and gets few tourists. It has an amazing villa perched on the hilltop. The liitle nonna that cleans the joint let me in free, the others paid 5 euros. The inside has been restored and set up as if there was a family living there from the period. The kitchens, living areas, bedrooms and ballroom etc. There is also a small, but very beautiful chapel.
After an hour or so in Corigliano, we went on to Rosano. Here we visited the cathedral, which has a painting of the madonna from the year 800 and a stunning building. Unfortunately the church museum was closed as the fathers and the bishop were having lunch. They werent too impressed that we disturbed them either. In case you havent noticed yet, pranzo (lunch) is a huge deal here.
For our lunch we went to a local agritourismo place, which is an Italian way of re-energising some of the local spots by encouraging them to open their doors to tourists by feeding them. The lunch lasted 3 hours and was marvellous. Four courses in total, all of them delicious.
Afterwards we played a game of bocce in the garden (as you do) to burn off some of the excess carbs. Then back on the bloody bus, to get us to Crotone.
When we pulled into the town of Crotone, the bus driver asked a local female cop where our hotel was, here is a translation of her directions "follow this road, you'll get to the traffic lights, they don't work, keep going till you get to the lights that do work, then turn right, follow the street until you can see the ocean only a little bit, if you can see the ocean a lot you have gone too far, then follow the road until you see the hotel sign, a-kay?". Confused much, because he sure was. He said thank you and once we were far enough away from her he started to swear something shocking. Arms flailing and the volume went right up! He asked a local and the man offered to drive there and for the bus driver to follow! Another kind and
selfless act, gotta love the locals!
Night
JR
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