Ken in Barcellona
Day 6: Giarre to Messina to Barcellona to Caferi (164k)
Our rest day yesterday paid off. Fifteen runners and walkers were out in full force to advance our team towards the finish line. We finished our route north to Messina and then headed along the northern coast past Barcellona and onto our smallest town yet, Caferi with its population of 13! We cumulated another 164km, reaching 895K, and an impressive 81% of our goal. We will have no trouble meeting this 1,1101km challenge.
The highlights on this route were Messina and Barcellona. Messina is on the north eastern tip of Sicily. It’s a beautiful port city famous for its cathedral and bell tower, but also has great regional foods. I’m sure the runners sampled the local lunch options such as u-pituni messinese (traditional street food), the sciusceddu Messina (meatball & egg soup) or the focaccia messinese (with endive, anchovies and tuma cheese).
We were delighted to run into Ken in Barcellona just before he had to catch a flight back to Canada. Barcellona is a city on the north coast of Sicily, home to many Baroque style buildings.
There were 4 hidden spots on today’s route. Stephanie was first to find a souvenir in the small town of Chianchitta. Yay, Stephanie. Our next hidden spot was Messina. Andrea spotted the Italian treats there. Good eye, Andrea. The 75% complete milestone had a Running Room hat hidden there and Sarah M. was our lucky runner winning that today. Finally, Mark scooped up the Barcellona shirt concealed in that city.
Today’s runners and walkers included: Ken (10.5k), Stephanie (9.5k), Robin (4k), Marika (9k), Jenny (8.4k), Danny (another 30k, wow), Andrea (9k), Vanessa (5k), Kari (9k), Robin (out again 9k), Sarah M.(8.5k), Greg (wow 26k), Megen (4.1k), Mark 95k), Andy (10k) and Leslie Ann (6.9k).
All of our participants have found a prize and everyone is now eligible again for prizes until we hit the beaches of Palermo, marking the end of our club challenge. What prizes are left? More wine? Medals? Souvenirs? A cappuccino or espresso? Keep running and walking
Gallery below includes Cathedral of Messina, another Messina photo, a view of Messina, Barcellona photo from Ken, sciusceddu (Messina meatball-egg-beef broth soup), nzuddi biscotti, pituni messinese, and focaccia messinese.
