The Ionian coast of Calabria is a mere 40 km from the Tyrrhenian one, on the other side of the region; still, the two could not be more different. They both have their charm. For me, the Tyrrhenian side represents early childhood memories, summer crowds, and lazy Sunday evenings spent floating in the water. The Ionian side has a different feel, one of contemplation, family ties, and a sort of — mostly in my mind, to be fair — stillness to it. The Ionian side is where Byzantine monks founded their abbeys, Pitagora came up with his theories, and talc-like sandy beaches. The Tyrrhenian is a place of tuna fishing, pirate lookup stone towers, and nightclubs. Even the water is different: in the Tyrrhenian, as soon as you step in, the seafloor precipitously drops, and the waters are a deep blue; in the Ionian sea, you can take a stroll for quite a considerable distance without the water going any further than your knees, and the color is often a touch muddy from all the sand at the bottom. Both are exceptional places, but again two different worlds straddling a complex region like Calabria.