Vibo Valentia

A very calm night off the beach with only 1 other power boat nearby and unmanned. It was lovely not to have to lift the dinghy or anchor and set off although we did row ashore. The streets are narrow and lined with vibrant coloured and aromatic bushes and flowers. Our first stop was at a chandlery to get a part for our broken boat hook then to the laundry service who wanted €21 for 3.5 kg of sheets and towels! No, grazie. Next was the post office to mail 5 postcards to the expense of €18 and it took 30 minutes! There were 3 clerks but only 1 dealt with stamps while the other 2 sat. The clerk, after serving a couple with multiple documents, finally waved us forward and proceeded to weigh the postcards then enter the info into the computer individually. Once each stamp was emitted out of the printer, she proceeded to attempt to fit it on the card so to not cover my writing and ended up tearing each one in half to fit! Kind of her but what inefficiency! 🤷‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ Do they not have picture stamps?! Next up was the self serve laundry which was fast and cheap (€9) by all comparisons. We met another lovely young man who helped us and we chatted while the laundry was washing. His English was good since he was born in Belgium; his parents are Italian and Greek. His perspective on Calabria is everyone is loud and speaks quickly but life is slow, as we learned! Stopped at a deli which was excellent and the grocery store which was disappointing. There aren't bakeries, just cafés so you are paying more. We rowed back and spent the afternoon swimming with both cleaning the hull while in the water and Bob diving under. As Nicholas said, "Gramma, you're the swabbie," and we have now named Bob the "Scrubbie". We ended up moving from the beach anchorage into the harbour as it became a bit rolly due to opposing wind and waves, albeit both were light. We were entertained into the early hours with a live band playing. Fortunately it was easy listening and not head banger or rap!Baca lagi