On the crowded main street tourists and locals flock alike.

I stroll past a young couple window-shopping with their toddlers as the father pushes a twin stroller. A group of young adults are filming in the middle of the street blocking the flow of foot traffic to the annoyance of many.

Noon is fast approaching. I settle on having lunch at a home-y restaurant in the shadow of the tallest building of the town. A plaque on the exterior explains how it belonged to an influential merchant family in the 1800s, the Amantea. The dishes are a delight to the senses!

I take in the jubilant atmosphere of the large plaza while waiting for my coffee to arrive. Pigeons occupy the cobbled street picking on beadcrumbs thrown by the elderly; the men are taking shelter under the canopy of a decades old flush tree against the sweltering midday heat. Local children play hopscotch or chase after one another, their laughter flowing daintly with the strums of a guitar played by a street performer. I smile inwardly, recollecting bits and pieces of my own childhood during the long summer breaks.

Stalls are lined up in half-moon proudly displaying wooden handicrafts from the region and the town of Misty Fields. A wooden grandfather clock varnished in deep-brown finishing with golden accents catches my eye. The intricate floral decorations carved on its surface are made to look like vines growing along the exterior of the clock. They harken back to the wild flowers seen in the forest path leading to the famous Caligo Falls.

Venturing leisurely through the narrow alleys of square-stoned paths and medieval buildings I wave warmly to the elderly women peeking through their windows. Some are watering their flowers, some hang their laundry and others indulge in the cool air brought in the by evening sky.

Today is my last day here. I'm relunctant at the idea of leaving this city behind. Reality calls, however. I try to immortalise all that I had seen and experienced through this brief vacation in hopes of finding my way again back here one day.