Life is better by the sea

Io e la mia famiglia quest'anno abbiamo trascorso la terza settimana di agosto in questo bellissimo appartamento a pochissimi metri dal mare. La casa è spaziosa, arredata in modo semplice ma con gusto.. è dotata di tutti i comfort, ha una bellissima veranda dove si può mangiare e ci si può rilassare perché intorno c'è una grande tranquillità. Cataldo e sua moglie sono estremamente gentili e forniscono tutte le informazioni necessarie sulla località e sui posti da visitare oltre che consigli mangerecci. La vicinanza alla spiaggia è comodissima perché ha permesso ai miei figli di 9 e 14 anni di vivere il mare in modo autonomo con le nuove amicizie locali. Il mare è pulito e la spiaggia libera non è affollata. La piazzetta del paesino ogni sera è piena di gente e di vita..c'è un chiosco che fa un gelato ottimo. Grazie fam. Romeo... Torneremo sicuramente se ci vorrete ancora come ospiti!

Four of us spent a total of 10 nights in the Beachhouse of Cataldo's family. The family gave us a warm welcome with espresso and dolce and showed us everything. The location of the house is impeccable, quiet and only a few meters from the beach. You can easily leave the things on the beach and swing back and forth. Everything was very new in the apartment and super equipped and very clean! There was nothing missing! We even had umbrella and beach chairs and a kayak and two bikes and a brand new Weber grill - all for our use. The house is perfect to enjoy a family beach holiday in Calabria. Twice Cataldo has brought us even fresh, self-caught tuna over - a culinary dream 🙂 Thank you very much for everything - and we will certainly come back! Thank you for the hospitality - we all felt comfortable! A big plus is that, the couple speaks English, Italian, Swedish and a bit of German, so there were no problems communicating at all. The place itself has a great beach promenade and a small, nice town on the hill with a delicious tavern. You will find everything you need, supermarket right around the corner, but is also supplied directly by farmers who drive around in the morning with their small trucks to sell fresh vegetables and fruits. I have never eaten so good watermelon there! 😉 Thanks again and I hope you see you soon;) Cheers, Raphaela & Georg & Kerstin & Hannah

The journey
We live in the southwest of Skåne so we took the train to Copenhagen to Lamezia Terme. There is direct flights by Primera Air to Lamezia Terme. This is not a high quality company but the staff did the best they could with the given circumstances and the flight is only 3 hours. OK flight in shorter terms. Primera Air flights are only given on Tuesdays between Copenhagen and Lamezia Terme during the summer of 2018.

Transfer
Kajsa and Cataldo helped us with the transfer between the airport and the apartment. It took about 2 hours and the roads were good. Lucky us to have such good landlords. This was a promising start of our vacation.

The apartment and other conveniences
Newly renovated and neat classical Italian house only 80 meters from the beach.
The apartment is best suited for 4 persons. 2 bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom and a very large patio. Everything is really fresh and tidy. The kitchen has a gasoline stove and a dishwasher and all the necessary equipment.
There is no air-condition but none is needed since there is a silent fan in the roof of every room.
The bathroom was renovated this year and has absolutely adorable tiles put in. In the bathroom there is also a washing machine. In addition to the bathroom there is a garden shower which comes in handy after a dip in the sea or a sweaty ride on the bike.
We had the convenience of having three bikes ready for us to use and also a kayak and a brand new Weber-outdoor-grill.

Excursions
We did a lot of excursions thanks to the help of our landlords. We visited a number of the small villages in the mountains like the old town of Calopezzati, Rossano, Cariati, Santa Severina – all of which had a marvelous view and fantastic small restaurants. We visited the winemaker Librandi and were shown around in the factory and on the second visit we had a tour around the wine yards and ended the visit with a late lunch made by of the Librandi sons who usually handles the marketing.
We were out on a fishing tour resulting in seeing dolphins. We had a long and splendid day at sea visiting three beautiful Sicilian islands – Vulcano, Lipari and Stromboli.

Worth knowing
Calopezzati Mare is a small and absolutely wonderful little village. Really quickly you blend in and find yourself being one of those living in the neighborhood. Everyone greets you on the beach, tries to speak to you even though not knowing a word of English. You leave you umbrella on the beach when you go home for lunch and/or in the evening. Everyone has their own space and there is a lot of space!
The beach is an sandy beach with a small line of stone beach between the sand and the deeper water. The water is amazingly clear every day and the beach was tidy. The water was warm but still cooling and never too cold. We were very happy to see that there were no “water-toys” like scooters, para-sailing and other disturbing things on this beach.
Since the houses are so close to the beach everyone goes home for lunch and siesta and there are no restaurants on the beach. Very often the wind increases between 14-16 PM while the whole village takes their siesta. Very convenient.
If you do decide not to cook at home in the evening there is a pizzeria just next to the train trails. The pizzas were really, really good but the pasta left us longing for better pasta. In general you could find a pizza and bear/wine for 6 EUR. Having a meal in the evening for our family could cost about 15 EUR.
On the other side of the train trails there was a Supermarket, a bakery (in which we bought our bread every morning costing 1 EUR), a butcher, a pharmacy and a fish market.
A charming detail is that there are different trucks coming several days a week right outside your doorstep selling cheese, vegetables, fruit, mountain water and ice-cream. All of the groceries are super fresh and the cheese hand made. This costs virtually nothing but worth every penny they ask for. Oh, and almost forgot, if you feel like it you can also by a brand new mattress from the mattress-truck also stopping by at your doorstep.

Other hints
Paying by card works but cash is better. Buy lots of ice cream – there is no place else that ice cream tasted better. Stopping by an Italian village buying a glass of prosecco usually means that you are given a whole dinner complementary since the tapas plates are huge. This to the same price that you buy a half-bad glass of wine in Sweden.

Finally...
Very serious and friendly landlords who really bent over backwards to make our vacation fantastic and memorable. We travel a lot and both at the time and now in retro perspective we consider this to be one of our best and most memorable vacations ever. And no – we didn´t know our landlords previous to this vacation!
What could make it better and different? We really do not know – this was fabulous and a true visit to the heart and soul of Italy.
We are coming back to this place! Over and over again! For sure!

Aug. 2018, Veberöd
Nicklas & Camilla