The month of June, which being the sixth in a compound year of twelve months falls perfectly in the center together with July, has the perfect characteristics to entice people to travel.
In fact, in June we have the famous night of San Giovanni, a watershed of the Gregorian calendar, very close to the summer solstice, on June 21st, when the sun reaches the northernmost point determining the entrance into the summer properly so called.
While in Italy in June the month of June has pleasant summer and spring characteristics, in many countries near the equator, June is a great month to travel, as the monsoons are not at work and allow you to explore the territories.
Wanting to stay in Italy instead, given that in June study and work are often still active, why not dedicate a short time, maybe a weekend or a week to go to wild herbs? Let's find out where.
Croatia
Leaving the eastern border of our peninsula, after Friuli Venezia Giulia we find Slovenia and, immediately after, a matter of a few tens of kilometers, we find Croatia. It is easily reachable by car, by boat going down to Split, or by direct flights to Zagreb or, again, Split, by the sea. Croatia is an excellent destination for those who love the sea, one of the best on the Adriatic, with rather cheap solutions .
The city of Split itself, pretty, overlooks the sea and is a small Balkan jewel where starting from the month of June numerous music festivals begin , especially of jazz music, Balkan music and klezmer music, the Ashkenazi music of Eastern Europe.
Wanting to penetrate inland, Croatia can offer beautiful natural parks (8) rich in canyons and waterfalls, where less worldly tourists go to camp and bathe in the summer months, starting from June.
Ethiopia
For those who had the desire and the resourcefulness to face a more demanding journey, far from Europe to go and discover a new world, June could be the ideal month to visit Ethiopia, an immense landlocked nation close to the Horn of Africa.
June is one of the best months to visit Ethiopia which enters this month in the dry period, without heavy rains. Let's start by listing the cultural reasons that should encourage us to visit Ethiopia: it is the only African nation that has never really been colonized, that has preserved its own language (Amharic), its own alphabet (the Ge'ez), its own religion, the Ethiopian Orthodox church, which has existed since 300 AD The kitchen is also very characteristic.
In addition to representing a unique cultural world, Ethiopia can, at very low prices, offer the possibility of wandering through natural wonders and timeless historical sites : the Simien mountains, the Omo national park, the monolithic churches of Lalibela, the waterfalls of Blue Nile, the sulphurous springs of Danakil.
Calabria
We have said that in Italy the month of June is a great time to go looking for wild herbs . One of the best regions for this purpose is undoubtedly Calabria, a region of southern Italy that has to offer a vastness of different environments and microclimates where it is possible to find every type of plant imaginable .
In fact, in addition to the marvelous Calabrian coast where it starts from sea level, it is possible to climb slowly for the Sila and its national park up to reach the 2248 meters of Monte Pollino. Thanks to these characteristics it is possible to look for wild herbs typical of the Mediterranean belt in the scrub and olive groves up to a height of 600 meters above sea level; from 700 to 1000 the oak forests are king, and finally over a thousand we have a territory dominated by firs and pines.
And the aforementioned spontaneous plants ? Oregano, mint, rosemary, lavender, borage, thyme, purslane, cardoon, asparagus, silene, cicerbita, chicory, tongue scratch, bottle, water celery.
Apuan Alps
We conclude with another Italian town that deserves to be visited in June, when summer begins and the cool mountain mixed with sea air becomes a unique pleasure: the Apuan Alps between the territories of Lucca, Massa-Carrara and Spice. In June it seems that the mountains come out more slowly from the spring-winter season while the Versilia coast is already with one foot in the summer, where life swarms.
Going up we discover that in these places of shepherds, miners and marble quarrymen, life is pleasant, the shots of incomparable eyes, the healthy and fresh air, with the woods that breathe the entrance in the summer, and the courses of water ideal for picnics . Chestnut groves, pastures, mushroom farms and beautiful lakes, like that of Isola Santa, but also shelters and much more in a month that is no longer cold but not even crowded with too many tourists.
