I don't think I have ever had a cup of hot coffee in Italy. It just doesn't happen. I guess it's something to do with getting a caffeine rush as fast as possible.
Here in Calabria the prices are ridiculous. Yesterday we stopped at a mountain town by the name of Serra San Bruno. Found a coffee shop that was doing a roaring trade with a young waitress orchestrating everything. She was dashing around and at times even running. How about this. Three coffees and two cakes for five Euros. Think that was a bargain? No it got better. The energetic young lady veritably pounced on us. I presumed we had underpaid. But no she was full of apologies for overcharging us and thrust another one and a half Euros at us. That made three coffees and two cakes for three Euros 50 or the equivalent of just a few pence over £3.
And that wasn't a mistake as we found similar prices elsewhere. I guess commercialism just hasn't caught on here and I'm not sure how long it will be before it does and they realise that in many places we are now paying over £3 for a relatively poor cup of coffee.
The bars are just about the only places in most villages/towns that you can find a loo and quite frankly they are disgusting. Often there is urine and mess everywhere and toilet paper seems to be a luxury but, as they say, when you have to go you have to go and make the best of a bad job (literally).
We spent too little time in San Bruno as it looked like an interesting place and I would like to have seen more. But it was on to a small forest with a lake that supposedly had magical powers. The only magical powers I could see was the fact that it had shrunk itself from a lake to a pond and then to nothing much more than a pool. You can see that from the photographs.
Our guide told us that the waters were supposed to have healing qualities but not to drink them as they were not from natural springs. In other words the water with healing properties would probably make you ill!
We then carried on to a one horse town by the name of Stilo where we first visited La Cattolica de Stilo - a tiny church like place with a history that goes back to the 9th century. Plenty of artwork on the walls and it overlooks the town which was unremarkable and, where desperate for a comfort stop, I ventured into a local bar. I won't describe this toilet as it will put you off your breakfast or whatever meal you are approaching as you read this.
Our guide informed us that tourism hasn't reached Stilo yet which made me wonder why, as obvious tourists, we were stopping there on a Sunday when virtually everything was shut.
I probably got my answer to that on the way back. The road down was twisty and turny to say the least and our coach driver did a remarkable job getting round some of the bends. I think that's why we did it on a Sunday as during the week lorries go to and fro from a glass factory and a meeting between a coach on the way down and a lorry on the way up would have been difficult to say the least.
And so after another Rail Discoveries day on a coach!!!! we got back to our hotel. Hope you enjoy some of the photos. I have been asked why I don't appear in any. Well I will post one of myself shortly (like in 30 years' time).