We had spent the night at the beautiful Capo Vaticano, from where we had great views along the coast, to Sicily and the Aeolian islands. We visited Tropea next, which lies splendidly on a cliff above the sea.
The church dedicated to St. Mary of Romania was built in the Norman style on the foundations of an older Byzantine church and was completed in the second half of the 12th century. At that time, Tropea was part of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily. The main altar is decorated with a portrait of Mary of Romania, who is said to have spared Tropea from the effects of a severe earthquake in 1638.
Tropea might be full of life in summer, but in February every shop and restaurant in the old town is closed. We were desperately looking for an open restaurant and luckily we finally succeeded (If I get hungry, I get really grumpy). Pizza, pasta, wine, coffee and Tartufo di Pizzo and we were happy again.
We are heading North again, trying to get to the sights we want to see, before our Green Pass expires, which is very soon. What a crazy world this is! The next stop will be at Paestum, which I remember well from a trip as a teenager – more on our next post!