A few of the things I love here:

The older Italian men who walk around in the morning singing in Italian.

The sea looks like glass.

The history here. I’ll be walking along and stumble across something ancient.

The women in their beautiful summer dresses.

People here in this region speak very passionately. A few times now I thought there was an argument happening, but people seemed to just be having passionate and loud conversations.

This area is known as: “The City of Two Seas.” I took some photos from up high where you can see the two different seas. A bridge connects the city between “old” and “new.” (But for an American, it’s all “old.”)

This has clearly turned into a resort type of town. I think a lot for other Italians, but I’ve also heard French and Spanish. The hotel staff speak English, but not nearly as well as staff in Budapest. Around town, it’s hit or miss if people will speak any English at all. But I will say that people here REALLY try to communicate with me. Even if it’s just lots of gestures.

The trees and vibe remind me a bit of Miami. There’s even an advertisement for students who want to move to Miami. That cracked me up.

Unfortunately it’s also like Miami in that you’ll be walking and it will look luxurious, and then you’ll go down a street corner and you can see the shift in economic means.

Some of the locals have shared really hard stories with me. We as humans are really not all that different, even if we live in different countries and different environments.

There’s an art district here that’s pretty cool. I wish it wasn’t the holidays so more of the shops and art area was open.

One of the local people here also explained to me that they prefer to repair old things (buildings, equipment, houses, etc). Apparently there has been quite a bit of strife between the locals and people coming in and wanting to build brand new buildings, etc.

The museums are incredible. One of them is apparently quite well known and walks you through starting at 6,000 BC & the local culture then, through the Greek and then Roman influences which later impacted the area.

I was a bummed that the Spartan museum is closed for the holidays.

Apparently this region is also world famous for its mussels. If I understand correctly, something about how the water mixes from the two seas creates an environment of “sweet and salty” water. This makes the mussels smaller and tastier. You can see the “mussel fields” where the fishermen collect them in the sea.

I don’t know if I like mussels or not. I will find out at dinner tonight.

I have enjoyed watching the fishermen go out to fish.

It has been a lovely two unexpected days here.