Day 12: Gole dell'Alcantara

Today is the first of July and I can already tell that it is going to be a good month. This morning we got up and packed ourselves in the car for a day of fun.

To keep to tradition, I fell back asleep in the car, waking up in time to pile out of the van and head to our destination. We parked under a tree and it was fun pulling the branches out of the window.

Walking down the road a bit, we headed through an arch and faced the third most daunting task of the day (after climbing back up and getting in the water).

If I thought Taormina had a lot of stairs I was no way prepared for these steps. Straight down a cliff side we wound, staircase after staircase, step after step, it was never ending. The end result, however, was beautiful.






The stairs let out to a short strip of rocks where some people were camped. To get to the main area, you had to cross a shallow but wide portion of the river. The first step in was painful, the second even more so, and then your feet went numb. It was that cold. But gorgeous.









The rocks looked like the fake ones at Disney World but these ones were real. I wish I could have brought my camera when we waded through them but the water was too deep.

There is no sensation like that of not being able to feel your body. I experienced this for the first time today when I was the first one fully into the water. While the boys were bickering over who should go first, I went ahead and jumped in. I think my body went into shock before I couldn't feel it. We made our way upstream for a bit until the sun was swallowed by the rocks and the water became unbearable.

After drying off a bit, we climbed, waded, and traipsed downstream, mostly on land but partly in the water. The river reminded me of that of North Carolina.




























Quinn got stuck in the middle of the river where the current was too strong to move. That's what he gets for taking the difficult way. I laughed at him until he made it back to us.
















We had a lunch of pizza and played in the water a bit more before preparing ourselves for the journey upwards. It was worse than I could have ever thought.

As a prize, we went out for gelato. I got torrone and pistachio. The car ride home was spent napping and playing on our phones.

I took a shower when we got home and when I got out Mattia's friend Damiano was here. They spent the evening surprise attacking me. Damiano at one point sprayed Mattia's body spray in my hair. I can still smell it. I'm scared to spend tomorrow with them...

Dinner was delicious as usual and the whole family spent the evening watching MTV music (it's a daily activity). Giancarlo attempted to translate the Italian songs while Quinn butchered the lyrics.