Dia Venticinqua Back Exploring Terracina and Loving it

The views on the coast road going north from Gaeta are
fabulous and there is no scary drop off! Perfecto.

It was hard to leave our great hotel on the beach in Gaeta, but we have started our trip back up the boot that will end on an airplane on Saturday. We would love to have visited Sorrento, Capri, Pompeii…but, as we tell ourselves, next time.

Truth be told, we are amazed at what we have already seen and done; anything now is a bonus. We need to relax into these last few days, so we have planned new territory and routes, but not new directions.

It is a shortish hop up from Gaeta to Terracino. We stop for pictures and gelato in Sperlongo a delightful little town focused on its little bit of the Mediterranean. Unlike what we have read about the Amalfi coast, to the south, and Cinque Terra, quite a bit north, the towns here are reasonably flat and getting to the shore is easy. The sand is white and the waves are strong, deep blue that curls into green as it reached the shore. I just love it; my inner water baby is happy.

Terracina is just as beautiful as we remembered from our rush through it three days ago. In fact, more so, as we walk the old part, called the Centro Storico. The Romans were a clear presence here. In Rome you see SPQR on most of the old buildings and even on the new elements, funded by the municipality, such as sewers. Wikipedia says, “SPQR is an initialism from a Latin phrase, Senātus Populusque Rōmānus ("The Senate and People of Rome")” In Terracina, on the church in the old city is SPQT. This is the only time we saw this outside Rome. I wonder, did they share a Senate? Clearly they worked well together since the Appian Way joins the cities.

SPQT clearly the Romans were here...or the Terracinans were in Rome!

The main part of town is so Mediterranean looking: palm trees, warm pastel colours, town square across from the church, a fountain with seashells and trendy shops. All of this is hovered over by huge rocky cliffs with ancient ruins at their crest.

The other “main drag” is by the ocean with small hotels and beach umbrella forests, that ake a break once in awhile to allow a place where you can enjoy the beach without purchase. Nice.

The air is hot, but the water chilly as we dip our toes in the Med and search for shells on the beach. All lovely.

Dennis has an early dinner at a place run by a fisherman’s coop. I’m not that hungry, but enjoy seeing the catch and the old men fixing nets and gathered in a group to bait hooks with octopus for the next foray. We wonder if the coop has given the ability to create a division of labour with younger guys off in the boats doing heavy work and the seniors here contributing, but less physically?

The evening is lovely and we find a deck on the second floor of our hotel on which to upload scads of photos, and drink the delicious Italian wines. This will have to slow down when we get home, but it is so tempting here with delicious bottles going for the equivalent of five or six dollars. If we had a carboy, there are places that let you fill your own container right from the cask: exceptional wine that never really sees the inside of a bottle. This is what you get as house wine in a lot of places. Sometimes, when I order the white house wine they will ask “gas, or no gas” as they do with water. I have learned to say “with gas” because the slight bubble is something I like. Try a bottle of ice cold Prosecco and you will know the feeling!

Buona sera! Ciao!