Eventually this entry will take you to the West coast of Southern Italy. Before I do that, however, I have to tell you yet another learning curve we’ve had to take.

I’ve told you about the broken roads in Sicily. Well Italy itself fares no better. While you are happily driving along avoiding crazy ‘speedo’ drivers (who drive like they talk with hands flapping in the air) you will inevitably come along a road sign that is a large explanation mark Take note, other self, this is a warning. Of what it is next to impossible to tell. The next thing you will see is a sign that consists of lots of words (unknown to myself) accompanied by an equal number of pictures. They could mean…”watch out there’s only half a road ahead” or perhaps … “ the tunnel which you are about to enter doesn’t have lights (a fact that you will eventually deduce after you exit).

I think I told you my personal favourite sign - “Bande Remorso” or: you are about to enter the twilight \zone.
Try these on: Bande Senore - think that means bumpy area
Strade Deformiert - which can only mean the road is deformed (ahhh yeah?!)



Now you know that the speed limit is rarely followed and this is in spite of the fact that signs are regularly posted saying that “Velocita controlla electronico” To me that implies that you’d better slow down cause you never know when there is a speed trap. So I was pretty surprised to see a sandwich board on the side of the road announcing that yes, indeed, this time they really mean it.. My first Italian speed trap came with so much warning that people slowed down for a half a kilometer and then… well… it was back to the same old same old. I think a good cottage industry to have here is a side mirror mobile repair business.

Before I get to the trip there is just one more driving thing to get off my chest . Actually it is a question and if anyone knows the answer please tell me. Why does the speed limit go from 130km/hr to 60km/hr in tunnels? There is no rule that you must turn on headlights and no one does slow down but, if one person did they would surely be smashed in the backside. Why?
Just a question.

Now a little about our trip before we get to the blog title.



Sadly we left our little neighbourhood Trulli and headed towards Sibari on the east coast hoping to get a little beach rest. Marina di Sibari is a stunning wide sandy beach area but, sadly, the recession has made the tourist area almost a ghost town. Our b&b (no breakfast) turned out to be clean and very reasonable. I think they were just so surprised that anyone wanted to stay there. If you’re looking for quiet then this is the place to go. Perhaps in the summer it bustles . Hard to say as there is way too much cleaning up and fixing to get done in a couple of months. When we arrived at the address for our b&b (no breakfast) it was closed.. In fact everything was closed, shuttered and deserted. It was a surprise to find a phone that worked and even more of a surprise to talk to a person on the other end!~ As we waited for him to show up our sunny beach day turned in to a heavy rain/hail storm.





After settling in we decided to take in the Sibari museum. One of the reasons for coming here was to see yet more of the areas settled by the Greeks. There were quite a few Greek settlements all along this coastline. The museum was informative and slippery (because the roof leaked in many places). Had the place to ourselves which was a bonus.





We enjoyed two nights in that quiet place (not the museum). Spent a day driving up in to the mountains taking lots of back roads and getting a little lost. That evening we wandered along the beach and even stuck our toes in the water. Too cold to go swimming.





The next day we headed south west towards our goal, Pizzo. Taking the scenic route is always nice and, heh, we had all day didn’t we?





Now comes the reason for the blog title. The word “Chiuso” means closed. I know that now having learned it the hard way. Now to cut me a little slack it isn’t always easy to understand Italian people when they speak fast. However, the little old lady in the pub where we stopped for an expresso was trying really hard to tell us the road was Chiuso. I thought she was asking us where we were going so I got out my translator and map and cheerfully showed her where we had been and where we were going. Ha Ha Ha. Needless to say we headed off towards Longobucco and were stopped where (guess what) the road had broken away . We waved happily as we passed the pub in what turned out to be a 60km detour.





Still it was a pretty drive through forests, goat herds, (yet more) olive groves and even a few picnic sites. Made it to our destination before dinner so it wasn’t all bad. Pizzo is a cute little hill town with a large British population. We wandered around the old hill town streets then headed south to Tropea. Another stunning city set up on a cliff overlooking the sea. Good way to spend the day just wandering around getting lost in the labyrinth of Medieval back streets. The good thing about hill towns is that if you’re going downhill you are likely to find your way out of the place. This is not, however, always the case. Some of those little alleys are dead ends or twist and turn . Great way to kill a day … especially if there is good food and wine in there somewhere.





Just another note before I close this entry. I didn’t have the heart to tell Shane until later that, because of the detour, we spent almost two hours extra driving to within a few kilometers of where the road was chiuso. He thought we were getting closer to our destination when we were in fact doing a circle route.