Fara Capo Vaticano – Tyrrhenian Sea

August 9th 2022

Mike!!! Get up it’s 1:00 pm……OMG, we slept in! What that heck man. Our plan was to rise and shine at the crack of dawn and enjoy the entire day on the beach. For someone with chronic insomnia, sleeping in is never heard of. I barely get 2-3 full hours of sleep nightly. Between the jet lag, pure exhaustion of the days prior to traveling, and the stress of it all, I obviously caught up on a weeks worth of sleep. Damit, of all days why now? We wasted so much of yesterday dealing with luggage and finding a bathing suit. Today was supposed to be all out beach! Oh, well, we are now rested and ready for the climb!!

Our Airbnb was quaint. It was a small bungalow with a kitchen and separate bedroom door that locked off. The bedroom had the AC unit and 1 window to the side yard. Mike and I jump up out of bed (1:00 pm) and I go to open the locked bedroom door and can’t open it. Everything Mike and I do or go through, I swear we are on “Candid Camera’s best episodes”. We are literally locked into our bedroom. I message our host, Phillip (who is the most laid-back guy-a true key west dude). He replies with an “ok will come and rescue” lol.

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Luckily, we were on the first level and the side window allowed us to exit until Phillip made his way to the unit. Just a hysterical way to start our morning, climbing out the window. Of course, I had to document the shenanigans. Phillip came with his maintance guy and they realized the tumbler was off and it wasn’t allowing the key to turn. Problem fixed and now we can begin our day!

We sat on the deck overlooking the Tyrannian Sea while having our coffee. We could have sat there all day admiring the incredible scenery. The small terrace off the villa had a wide arrange of plants and trees. The complex also had a garden with peppers, tomatoes, eggplant all for your picking while staying. The surroundings here are so peaceful and quiet. Now I know why we slept in until 1:00 pm….you could hear a pindrop. In fact, the only sound you can hear is the birds chirping and the waves crashing below. True serenity.
Time to pack the cooler …….

The path down to this private, secluded beach is something of wonder. There happens to be 400 steps down and I mean down, like way down! Whoever it was that had this incredible task, installing this stairwell of concrete steps, railings and landings was truly remarkable. To walk it with beach gear is a task. To work it and provide the installation for others to enjoy, is pretty amazing! Going down wasn’t difficult at all. First of all, you are so excited with the destination you are about to land upon. Each step you are marveled at the beauty and the unspoiled natural habitat all around. Looking down you realize, you truly do have this beach to yourself. It is in fact – private. There were less than a handful of people, each spread out to their own little area. Each enjoying this special place.

We finally made our way down, surprisingly not out of breath! We find our perfect spot to set up the umbrella. Before I could lay out our towels, Mike was already in the water. We had purchased snorkel masks last trip to Calabria and they work amazing. The clarity under water is amazing in these things. The water was a perfect temperature, so refreshing on a hot summers day. The water was clear and we were able to see fish while snorkeling. Mike and I snorkeling in the Tyrrhenian Sea… does it get better than this? It could if all our kids & bonus kids were with us. I can’t wait to bring everyone here, that’s what is going through my head.

Everywhere we go I’m thinking about my dad. My dad would love the ocean here. It’s amazing when he is on my heart so heavily, I find something- something that tells me he is close. I see a random beautiful white feather just sitting softly on the rocks. I know I can’t call & tell my dad about all of these incredible places Mike & I are visiting- but something tells me he already knows <3 .

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We spent the better part of the day swimming, all while thinking about the climb….the 400 steps back up to the villa. How bad could it be, we had already done it yesterday (without beach gear/bags). How do you leave such a beautiful place? Knowing we found this gem is exciting. The entire time we spent on the beach, I was thinking about coming back with the kids. When you find something so beautiful you can’t wait to share it with the ones you love. The kids would love it here! I can hear them complaining about the steps and huffing and puffing the whole way, lol. But, they’ll love it despite the pure exhaustion involved. Something so special needs a bit of effort to reach. It’s a magical place & worth the exhaustion. Worth the sweat and muscle aches.

Heading back up this trip was a bit more challenging. It had to be the time of day, it was hot and humid. I also wasn’t feeling perfect. Something was brewing it felt. Maybe allergies, who knows. There are signs along the way indicating how far you still have to go….300 meters….200 meters……I have to constantly ask Mike “how far is that”….OMG I think I might die right here on this landing lol. Each time we paused to catch our breath, allowed for me to take pictures and videos. It worked out great. I notice people were headed up from the beach behind us. They were definitely much older, so I tell Mike there is no way they are going to pass us. This put the spark in our butts to keep on keeping on……200 meters to go!

We made it! We are finally at the top gate. Jokes on us….we still have a climb from here. Once you hit the top locked gate, it’s still probably 100 meters of a paved roadway on an incline back to the villa. Was it worth the sweat? Absolutely! Was it worth the spike in heart rate? Absolutely! If you find yourself lucky enough to rent this Airbnb, you just have to pace yourself on the return climb. We actually clocked our time and it was only 15 mintues. Not bad at all to climb 400 steps and landings all on a pretty steep incline.

We ended the night watching the lightning over the island of Stromboli. It was extremely peaceful and relaxing. The night was beautiful and a perfect ending to a really perfect few days. Despite all the mishaps. I had finally heard from Delta with my lost luggage. They found the luggage. It never made the flight in Boston to Rome. It was going out on the next am flight. So they called to find out where I was currently. Once I informed them I was 6-7 hours south (as I had already filled out) they advised they would NOT deliver that far. They recommended I come back to Rome to retrieve the luggage. I confirmed we would come on our way back through Rome tomorrow afternoon. It was confirmed that we would pick up the luggage at FIU-Rome. What could go wrong now…..

Well, we will certainly find out tomorrow. We leave this amazing place in southern Italy. We say so long to Phillip, our wonderful host. We will miss this place. It’s special. It’s the kind of place you want to return. We will return, hopefully with the kids- all the kids!

We check out and pack the car and make our way back to Rome. 6-7 hours was truly worth it. We stop at the airport in Rome to retrieve my lost luggage…. Or do we? Stay tuned, the story is far from over.

“She loved the ocean because every time the waves left the shore, they always came back”