June 22, 2017

Maratea

Calma, dolce e gentile

Maratea was another spontaneous travel decision that I made literally one day before our flight. Since one week ago I had an operation, I was not quite sure if I should travel or not. Thinking about the chances that I might have in the future to visit the town of the 44 churches, I decided to take the risk and just do it!

A weekend full of surprises

What I found really interesting on my trip was Maratea’s people. Genuinely authentic, lively, and extroverted, I think these people must be among the most warmly hospitable in the whole country
Surprisingly enough, I found out that the city is not only known for stunning sea views and sea creating steep cliffs. It is also known for an incredibly wide variety of landscapes such as wooded hillsides and dramatic mountains’ sceneries
Asking what Maratea means I have been told that this name comes from a plant that in Greek we call Μαραθιά/ Marathea. Given that I am Greek, this was a real surprise to me
My next surprise came when I arrived at this village and the first thing that the taxi driver showed us was the statue of Christ of Maratea. It was built by a sculptor from Florence almost 50 years ago. Even that I have never been in Brazil before, I have seen many times in pictures their own statue of Christ. Pretty the same to be honest!

We had a lot of relaxing time on the rocky coastline of our hotel while reading our books and swimming. If you have never been in Maratea before you should definitely include this summertime place on your bucket list during this summer. The beautiful scenery and coastline will make you feel really awesome!