Sitting on the pebbly beach in Praja, Calabria looking out over the crystal clear Mediterranean sea waiting for our next train to Rome I am feeling very relaxed and content. The past few days have been a good break from the backpacking life. Now that may sound spoilt as its not like we have to wake up and go to work for 8 hours, clean the house, look after the kids or anything but some days on the road are hard work especially travel days. Lugging a massive bag around in 30 degree heat through crowded streets, packing then repacking then packing again, spending hours trying to find a place to stay during peak season, washing clothes by hand in some foul looking hostel sinks, nights of interrupted sleep as your fellow backpacker room mates come and go at all hours, make up some of the not-so-fun parts of travelling.
Before coming to Praja we knew that wifi was limited so for the first time for our whole trip we have actually planned and prebooked the next week or so in advance. That was not exactly a fun activity in itself as the Internet where we were was still super slow with 60 other backpackers doing the same thing. But with Jake and I tag teaming we managed to find a sweet place 200kms down the coast from Naples to spend three days in the sunshine before heading to Rome then flying out to Spain. This meant we were free to not have to think about, plan or stress over finding a cheap place to stay or a train to catch. We had originally seen a brochure with these inviting photos promising a quiet beach retreat. Forgetting it was still peak season for Italians to go on seaside holidays we weren't expecting the throngs of people we encountered on the beach. At least the beach was big so we weren't sitting on top of everyone like in Amalfi. After the first day it also seemed like everyone started to clear out as people headed back to work and to get ready for school and we shared our part of the beach with only a few families.
The first afternoon, after being squashed standing in the aisles holding on to our backpacks for the majority of the three hour train ride. the host of ondaroad hostel picked us up from the train station. Within minutes of arriving at the hostel we were whisked away to the beach to enjoy the afternoon on a boat trip exploring the caves, islands and the warm Mediterranean Sea.
The first cave on an island meters from the beach was pretty busy with party boats pumping out Pitbull and Shakira while the people on board seemed more interested in drinking and dancing then the caves and swimming. At the entrance to the cave a few guys were lined up at two different jumping points the highest being around 8meters. I was a bit scared of jumping and smacking my head on one of the party boats but all five of us managed the jump safe and sound before Papi, our boat driver and hostel hosts dad, maneuvered our way around everyone and we headed to the next cliff jump- 22 meters high. Apparently this one had just been a warm up.
Approaching the archway a couple of guys were getting ready to take the plunge. From the boat the cliff looked high but not dangerously high. Papi had been explaining to us in Italian how to jump this cliff and we were psyching ourselves up to do it. After watching these guys from the boat I quickly changed my mind. The first guy jumped out ok but somehow ended up losing his balance coming down and fell butt first smacking his arms out on either side. The second guys jump was bad from the get go. Arms and legs flailing around for the few seconds he was airborne and with a huge crunch he landed smack bang on his back. It took him awhile to surface and he seemed ok enough to swim but you could see he was in a lot of pain. Now I have heard that falling from a certain distance into water is like falling onto concrete and I am sure it is much higher then 22 meters but after watching these guys and hearing that crack replay in my head I decided I preferred to be a chicken and spend my time on the beach rather then in hospital. Obviously seeing these guys scared several other people as nobody from our boat jumped and the whole time we were there no one else was crazy enough to do it either.
Instead Papi pointed out a tiny opening in the rock face and told us to swim through it. We all looked at him like he was crazy but diving in we slowly all swam through careful not to get smacked on the rocks by the gentle waves. Through the crevasse and we entered into the most amazing cave. The small amount of light coming from the opening we came through was just enough to reflect on the water inside the cave. It was one of those times that we didn't have a camera with us but I don't think photos would do this place justice. It was our little own private swimming pool with the clearest and brighter blue water I have ever swam in. If the boat ride had finished there I would have been happy.
Swimming out the other side of the cave and back into the boat we cruised under the cliff jumping archway and pulled up onshore. The water here was quite icy compared to everywhere else. Off the boat Papi pointed out the trickle of water rolling over the rocks from a small freshwater spring which was causing the water to feel a lot cooler. Slightly dehydrated our parched mouths savored the cold, clean water straight from the source.
We ended our boat trip at the far end of the Island where there is another cave (not so originally called blue cave in English) large enough to take boats inside. Again the water was a vivid shade of blue and as we swam around Papi threw in a few crackers and all of a sudden we were swimming amongst a huge school of fish. They didn't seem to be bothered by our presence being more interested in the crackers. It was an amazing way to start our time on the Calambri coast and to end our day.
We ended our boat trip at the far end of the Island where there is another cave (not so originally called blue cave in English) large enough to take boats inside. Again the water was a vivid shade of blue and as we swam around Papi threw in a few crackers and all of a sudden we were swimming amongst a huge school of fish. They didn't seem to be bothered by our presence being more interested in the crackers. It was an amazing way to start our time on the Calambri coast and to end our day.
The next few days were more of the same swimming and sunbathing. With our hostel only 5 minutes walk away from the beach it was easy to come back an forth to spend sometime in the shade on the hammock and to fill up on pasta lunches. The hostel was also quite full so we were sleeping in a tent on a blow up mattress. At first I wasn't so sure about this but the first night we both had one of our best sleeps in ages with nobody coming and going waking us up and the fresh sea breeze in the night air keeping us cool. The second night was a bit of a different story with the most spectacular summer storm waking us up in the middle of the night. Starting offshore and moving slowly inland there was plenty of time for us to to bring in our drying towels and pull the fly over the tent before watching it. Lighting up the sky with brilliant purple and orange tones the thunder storm was a sight to see but as soon as it was on top of us I started to regret choosing to stay in the tent. Ours happened to be pitched up under a tree in the backyard and all I could think of every time the sky lit up or the growling thunder vibrated through the ground was that a lightning bolt was going to hit it and fall on top of us mid-sleep. Suffice to say I didn't sleep much till the storm passed.
The last few days have been a great way to unwind but now it's time to get back on the beaten track and make our way to the capital- Rome. There is plenty to see and do and we also have a birthday to celebrate with Jake on the other side of the quarter century mark.
The last few days have been a great way to unwind but now it's time to get back on the beaten track and make our way to the capital- Rome. There is plenty to see and do and we also have a birthday to celebrate with Jake on the other side of the quarter century mark.
Next stop: Roma