Italy 2011 - Day Five, To Calabria

So we left Pompei pretty early (about mid-day but it felt horribly early) and took a train back to Naples. i bought a postcard with every intention to send it back to my family, and we got another train to Calabria, remembering to stamp our tickets first this time. after a few hours we had to get off to change trains, at which point we were told that there would be a twenty minute delay. i wanted to go out and wander around the town, but i was told that twenty minutes wouldn't be enough time. i was getting kind of hungry, having skipped breakfast, and lunch time had been spent in Naples train station where i hadn't felt like digging through all my dirty clothes to find some money. so after waiting for fifteen minutes we were told that the train would be delayed another half hour. bored of standing around, i decided that half an hour was definitely enough time and dragged everyone out a small café opposite the station, although on arrival decided that i didn't actually want any of the food because it all looked a bit dirty, and i wasn't feeling particularly adventurous that day.
After spending some time sitting outside, we decided to head back into the station - it seemed like kind of an uneventful place and we didn't really have enough time to explore properly, although back in the station we discovered that our train was once again, further delayed, so by the time we got on it was starting to get dark. i'm going to be honest, i feel pretty bad for the guys for being so moody at that point, i think i did snap at them a bit, although once we got to Calabria i was feeling much better.

Me and Vikkis room -
picture from their website

We met Dans friend, Raffaele, and his mum at the train station so they could drive us back to their house. they have a sort of spare house on the edge of there's where they let people stay with three bedrooms and a kitchen, living room ect which i actually really loved. it was very open, with high ceilings, but it felt pretty homely. so they showed us around, and left us to settle in. if we'd been sensible we would have tried to have an early night, and the beds were super comfy, so it would have been easy, but instead we asked Raffa to show us around the town a bit, so we could find a shop, buy some alcohol and have a quiet night in - standard British kids, can't help but have a drink.
So after being introduced to Andrea, Raffa's little brother, we went to have a look at the beach, which was literally two minutes down the road. we walked past this group of teenagers leaning against a car, looking like the equivalent of your average British chav, but playing this Southern Italian folk music with an accordion (see below). i wish that happened here.

Kitchen - picture from
their website

After looking at the beach, we headed to a local store and bought a few bottles of alcohol, then came back to the house and sat around the table with a pack of cards and some music, just making random chit-chat. Raffaele and Dan knew each other from a trip to China last year, so for a while our conversation revolved mostly around them talking about that, and us trying to explain how drinking games worked; it turns out that in Italy they've never even heard of Ring of Fire, which shocked us all. our quiet night in ended up with us staying up until about 3am talking about ghosts and drinking quite a considerable amount, in my case anyway. so finally, after a day of travelling on less than an hours sleep, by the time i got to bed i ended up spending ages freaking out about ghosts and spirits coming to attack me through the mosquito net.

Tarantella Calabrese Tradizionale

traditional Calabrian music