Over the mountains and through the fog (or clouds?) -- at least some days -- from Cosenza to the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea was the town of Cetraro, Calábria. The name of the city was derived from the word "citrarium" which had to do with 'citrus' of which a lot of trees were grown in the area.
While working in Dr. Guerra's office Nano happened to strike up a conversation with one of the geophysics students that was there to drop off some homework. It turned out that she lived in Cetraro, which was pretty close to where we wanted to place a station. She thought that she might have a place where we could install a station. We took her phone number, called her up the next day, and went for a visit before returning north to Grottaminarda.
It looked like Poseidon to me. Oh wait..that would probably be Neptune, huh?
The road up the hill was not a one-way road because it was the only road. A large portion of the town was right on the side of a hill.
It was not the most glamorous place to put a station -- an unused pig sty -- but it would do. It had a solid concrete floor, and was tucked away in a relatively isolated part of the property. It did have one other redeeming value...
...the view was kind of nice. I hope the pigs appreciated it. All along this part of the coast the erosion of the beach was being stopped with large rocks, which helped the beach, but caused the tourism industry to erode. There were many large hotels along the waterfront that looked like they were just closed for the winter, when, in fact, they were actually closed for good. That was too bad.
We finished installing the station and left it running on just a battery. We did not have a solar panel with us to leave, and there was no power outlet available. I guess the pigs never watched much television.
Below is Simona Tundis, the student that we met in Cosenza in the black sweater, her mother, Concettina, is to the left of her. Her father Mario is between John and Nano. We were treated to a really good home-cooked meal after we finished the installation.
From the balcony we could just barely see Stromboli through the clouds about 100 kilometers across Mar Tirreno.
On our second visit we got to meet the son of the family, Giuseppe, and had yet another terrific lunch.
Papa Mario didn't have a drinking problem, but he did like his grappa maybe
a little too much.
It was good stuff. I don't think there was any food over there that I didn't
like, except eggplants. I don't much care for them in any country.
2018-03-05