Catanzaro….. where are you?…

We decided to have a night away along the coast in Catanzaro and as it is just along the coast, we thought we would go by the coast railway instead of the car. Big Mistake!!!!!

As you may not know a lot about this area of Italy, Catanzaro is, with Reggio Calabria, the seat of local government of Calabria.  Originally, the only seat of power in Calabria, the people of Reggio Calabria decided they didn’t think it was fair so, after much wrangling, strikes and various other disturbances, it was decided that power would be split between the two main cities of our region. Typical Italian way of sorting things out as far as I can see!

There are two parts to Catanzaro – Catanzaro Lido and Catanzaro Alto, Catanzaro Superiore or just plain Catanzaro.

 

CATANZARO LIDO

Catanzaro Lido is on the coast as you would expect.  During the summer months, it is a hub for the young Italians seeking excitement, water sports and clubs. The beach is spectacular (along with all of this coastline) and is dotted with lidos where you can hire sunbeds and umbrellas from €10 for two for the whole day. Here you can also find loads of cafes, eateries and everything you need to last out the day.

We were travelling to the old town which is further inland and overlooks the coast from the mountains. It is slightly cooler up there which was one of the deciding factors because at the moment, we are lucky if the temperature drops to 28 degrees at 3am! Daytime temperatures at topping 44 degrees so a trip up in the mountains was just what the doctor ordered!

We had to change trains at Catanzaro Lido to get the train up to the old town and because we had got our tickets to travel straght through, we didn’t have to get an extra ticket – all good in our books. The Train Manager asked where we wanted and he said we had to get off at the first stop.  We actually high-fived each other thinking that we had had a trouble-free journey which is quite unheard of over here. Big Mistake!!!!!!

The train stopped, we got off and noticed that we were actually in the middle of nowhere! No city, no people and no transport! NOTHING!!  Silly us thinking Catanzaro would be Catanzaro! Nope! We should have known things would not be so simple.

Next time I will let you know how we found the city and what an amazing place it is! Stay tuned for the next instalment!