Over Memorial Day weekend we took the ferry from Messina across to the mainland. Calabria is a lot like Sicily in landscape and is pleasantly quiet and lacking in tourist crowds. We stayed in a lovely villa just above the coast and spent a lot of time feeding children (7 kids! Super fun to travel with another family, but somebody always needs something, with that many kids around) and relaxing. One day we drove 10 minutes to reach the town of La Castella and its castle. Other than a school tour group and a wedding party we had the castle and grounds largely to ourselves. The weather was beautiful and the crystalline sea sparkled under the brisk breeze. Lunch at a small trattoria, comprised of fish caught fresh by the owner that morning, rounded out our afternoon.
