[ July, 2015 ] Calabria, in the south of Italy, where we visited this time is a part of “Magna Graecia (great Greece)”.
It is an area where the Ancient Greeks settled, so many of the towns around here were built by Greeks originally.
So is the small town called Monasterace.
Apparently, there is an archaeological site near the coast, but we did not go there.
Instead, we headed inland to the old town on the hill.
There was a castle on top, but it was undergoing repair work and we could not enter.
But we enjoyed walking around the town, which was like a maze.
An old woman in black asked me “where are you going in this hot weather?”.
It seemed that many of the people here were friendly.
We noticed that a lot of the coastal towns were separated into two.
Usually, the old towns are located inland and the newer ones on the coast with a beach.
Monasterace was the same.
There was a town called Monasterace Marina on the coast.
Apparently, historically most of the towns were on the coast, but because of the raid of the Saracens in the 9th-10th centuries, they moved inland.
