The weather seems to have taken a turn in Pescara so we have a little bit of time to read, walk around without coming home drenched in sweat and more importantly to blog! Hopefully the sun returns as I need to get a little browner.
A few days after our return from London (this time without any issues, thanks Ryan Air) our friend Alanna came to visit for a few days. We made up a very sad looking bed in the spare room but we were excited to show her the place we sort of feel like is our home away from home in Italy.
That evening Alessandro introduced us to the joys of the local speciality arrosticini! When we were ordering we had to negotiate him down to just 50 between the 4 of us, apparently there is always a strange competition/torture on who can eat the most! We didn't know what to expect, but on arrival they were small sticks of lamb/mutton cooked over open coals with just salt and oil. They were delicious, but I could only manage 8 whereas the boys were into double figures.
We have now settled into the routine that will cover the rest of our time in Pescara. Sunday afternoon/Monday to Thursday go a see something then Thursday night to Sunday stay in Pescara for the meetings etc. As Alanna was with us we stayed the whole week in Pescara but took day trips.
The first day trip was planned by opening up Google maps and pointing randomly at a destination that looked reachable. We discovered a place called Castiglione del Lago which looked interesting so we packed the car and left for the 4 hour drive. It was indeed interesting, a walled city and fort that dated back to the 11th century on the banks of Lake Trasimeno.
There were beautiful frescos detailing the owners military pursuits, a weird and claustrophobic walkway from the abbey to the fort and we were able to climb all over the fort.
The shops in the walled city sold some interesting produce such delicious wild boar salami and local truffles. I now have a better appreciation for what real truffles taste like as before I think I'd only had the fake stuff. It is strangely delicious and the flavour lingers in your mouth all day.
After lunch we headed off to Siena as it wasn't that far away. A popular and beautiful walled city in Tuscany with narrow cobbled streets and
two very famous attractions.
The cathedral (which we didn't get to go inside of as it was closed for mass)
and the piazza which was being prepared for the even more famous horse race.
We wandered around, had some of the worst gelati in Italy but then found some boys from the town practising their flag throwing. An old Nonna was also watching on and accosted Alessandro and I for a 15 minute summary of the history of Siena.
We left just as the sun was setting which cast a beautiful light on the rolling hills and villas of Tuscany as we made the 5 hour drive back to Pescara.
The next day we decided to keep it more local so we went to the town of L'Aquila - made famous when a 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit just over a year ago. Even after a year the place is like a ghost town as many of the buildings, both old and new are uninhabitable. Some buildings fell down, but most suffered such severe structural damage that they are being held up by an intricate network of reinforced scaffolding.
The old town of course suffered the most, and there is much conjecture about the rebuilding of it all. There were lots of protest signs basically conveying the peoples anger and frustration at being forced out of their homes with no clear path back to them. The most interesting was where the owners had tied their now useless keys to the fences.
To me the place was sad, it is clearly ruined and the rebuilding will take more money than the government or charity can provide. But the people of L'Aquila are holding fast onto the past, the history and heritage of the place and want it restored exactly how it was.
The next stop was Gran Sasso - the highest mountain in the Apennines mountain range. It's enormity and grandness was breathtaking.
After Alanna left we didn't do a lot - the beach, visited Alessadro's Nonno and went to a Sheep themed party where you had to wear either black or white and on the menu was more arrosticini!
After the weekend our next trip on the agenda was to visit Carlo's Zia (on his Dad's side) in Cecina and at the same time take in Lucca, Pisa and the Cinque Terre.
We stayed in a hard to find hotel just outside of Lucca. The hotel was surrounded by forest and grand villas, just like the post cards.
Lucca is a walled city but the walls are so thick that they have become a circuit on which you can walk or ride around the city. We arrived quite late and had 30 mins to ride our hire bikes around the walls, it was good exercise!
Before it got dark we did a quick tour of the city, they most remarkable thing we saw was a tower with trees growing out of the top.
The next day we went to Pisa. We entered the tourist hell for just over an hour to see the tower before we headed off to Carlo's aunts for lunch.
The tower was smaller than I thought but it was beautiful and so intricate. Now that the restoration has been completed it is possible to go up, but it was a good 5 or 6 hour wait till the next available group so we skipped it.
It was funny to see everyone do the mandatory photo holding up the tower but of course we had to join in to the insanity!
These sorts of religious monuments while beautiful, for me are also bittersweet. I can never stop thinking that at the time of this massive investment in vanity for the Church what else was going on in the world. Seems like a rather big misappropriation of money to me, so I sort of don't enjoy the spectacle as much.
At lunch we met some of Carlo's dad's family. Zia Emanuela didn't look too much like any of Carlo's siblings but she had so many mannerisms like them, especially a giggle that reminded me so much of Ethan. Genes are incredible!
All the guide books and internet pages I found said firmly not to drive to the Cinque Terre towns. So with much apprehension in my heart we set off the next morning from Lucca up towards the "Italian Riviera" in our car. The Cinque Terre is a 15 mile stretch of the Ligurian coast (just south of Genova) that is World Heritage listed. There are 5 towns built into the steep hills that rise almost vertically out of the ocean. All the hills are cut into terraces for farming - vines, olive trees etc.
We followed our GPS into the hills and Carlo drove with relative ease to the parking area of the town we were staying in, Vernazza. Sure the road was windy and narrow but I didn't feel nearly as scared as I was at Lago di Como. I am getting the feeling that a lot of tourist guides that I read really overstate things.
What the guides didn't overstate however was the beauty of the place, especially Vernazza with its boat harbour and colourful buildings.
The Cinque Terre however is just overrun with tourists. When we arrived we were inundated with people in their full hiking gear traipsing all over the town. That I thought was a little funny, I am sure the farmers who built those terraces and climb them every day don't need a visit to Mountain Designs to prepare. In the Cinque Terre the number of foreigners far out weigh any locals which is a shame as it really transforms a place. Loud english speakers drown out the few speaking Italian, the gelati vendors become stingy and the few locals that are around seem a little disgruntled. But it's still possible to climb the stairs of the streets and spot a Nonna or two navigating the steep passageways in their afternoon best.
We had some intention of joining the hikers out on the paths that connect the towns together, but even though we are on holiday I still get the odd headache and that day I was feeling very precious. Nonetheless we put on our underused walking shoes and caught the train to the next town, Monterosso. Compared to Vernazza it was quite dull so we ate lunch and headed back (on the train again). I feel a little defeated that we didn't walk much or see all the 5 towns, but I will just keep telling myself that Vernazza is the most beautiful of them all.
That should be enough for now, we are now only a week behind in blogs. Next will be the Amalfi Coast and Barcelona!
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