Mediterranean - 7 - May 19 2023 Crotone Le Castella and home to Pythagoras

 Crotone Italy is the home of Pythagoras and the Olympian Milo the winner of several of the first Olympic contests.  The city of 60,000 is on the bottom of the boot of Italy and the closest land for many refugees traveling by boat. 

Last night's performance, a one man 45 minute show, by our cruise director was outstanding. He sang music from Michael Buble, Frank Sinatra, etc. The woman next to me cried as he performed the Les Miserables 'Bring Him Home'.  You could tell that he has had years of experience performing.  

The resident pianist Enrico plays concert level music with gusto.  He used his ipad to pull up recent music (Its Time to Say Good Bye, Send in the Clowns, Stairway to Heaven, etc).  When he asked for requests, I said "Chopin".  He said without hesitation and with the excitement of a little child "I Love Chopin".  Within a few seconds he started a piece, played all three sections, playing for 15 minutes without music.

Dinner at World Cafe:  Beef, yorkshire pudding, brussel sprouts, pecan caramel bread pudding with scoop of gelato.

Today we visited Le Castella Aragonese a 30 minute ride.  

The ride passed rolling hills with many windmills in the distance.  Only one was turning on the way in, but by the time we headed back most mills were spinning.

A refuge holding area is located just north of Crotone's airport.  It looked like an old military base, fenced in, mostly hidden from view with some white low level structures that looked like they might be green houses.  Our guide said that there were about 5000 refuges there today.

Who knows what this is, there was no sign.  But it looked interesting.

There was a 5 minute walk down hill to the castle. There were lovely shops lining the way.  We didn't really appreciate it then but they were all open,  unlike in Crotone where most were closed for today's celebration.

Here is the iconic photo. The fortress dates back to 5th century BC.

After the tour of Le Castle we walked to a pottery demo and food tasting, set up in front of  two stores.

By 1:00pm we were back at the ship deciding if we really needed lunch.  We chose the Pool Grill for a little lighter fare. Salad and chicken wings for me, and a burger and fries for Phil.

 The Festival of the Madonna is one of Calabria's (Crotone ia a city in the state of Calabria) biggest celebrations.  A 4' by 4' painting of the Madonna is carried over night from one church to another - it takes all night.  It represents the mysterious disappearance and reappearance of the painting ages ago.  The procession occurred last night.  Today we saw stacks of the big lights that were used last night ready to be carried away and stored for another year.  This is a photo from the internet - I'm sorry we missed it.

                                    

Here are other photos from the city of Crotone - Phil and I independently walked the city in the afternoon.  Most shops in the city were closed due to the celebration.  Only cafes were open and a special market.  I was disappointed because the market was like a flea market with booths of cheap clothes, shoes, linens, cookies, hair braiding etc.

                                                        

Another castle in town.

At every port so far there has been just one cruise ship: the Viking Star.

The locals are not happy about the oil rig just off their coastline.

I'm ending today's post with photos of flowers in bloom today.  I wish you could also smell the blooming honeysuckle, and privet - so sweet and fragrant.  Talk with you tomorrow.....