Italy – Page 2 – Journey Toward Wholeness

Week 118 July 2, 2016

Published on July 2, 2016September 29, 2018 by ClaireLeave a comment

We began this week by meeting our friends who are also visiting Italy from New York City, along with our bike tour leader, at the castle in Verona. Our ride was fabulous, a great way to see some of the city sights and meet other interesting travelers. Then, we had a delightful lunch with our friends, sitting at a table beside the Adige river, with short walks beforehand and afterwards. We wished them a fun cycling trip further on to Salzburg, Austria this coming week, then we returned to Lake Garda where our friends from Germany had spent part of their day going souvenir shopping in Malcesine – said mal-chez-ehn-ay.

Loren and I had the rest of the first half of our week to enjoy spending time with our friends from Germany. We went on more walks and drives around the lake together, saw spectacular evening storms with fulmine e tuono – lightning and thunder, and, enjoyed a couple of delicious dinners out. One big highlight was a boat ride straight across the lake to the town of Limone – said lee-mohn-ay, whose lights our eyes are drawn to from our deck when it turns dark at night. We then bade farewell to our friends before they drove back to their home, near Munich. Loren not only lost his swim buddy with them leaving, he was also struck by how fast the time has passed since he first met this friend, who he has now known for forty years.

When we were at Lake Como it seemed to have been most active with motor boats, some helicopters and a few sea planes. At Lake Garda it seems to be more active with water sports activities – kite surfing, wind surfing, and sailboating. It has been interesting to see clusters of kite surfers, clusters of wind surfers, and clusters of small white triangular sailed boats, which I have decided must be for lessons to learn these sports.

Loren and I then settled in to do more of our travel planning for the fall. That was Tuesday. On Wednesday we awoke to the news of a fourth major terrorist event in Turkey, after the ones we already knew of from January, March and May. We had completed all our planning for the nearly three weeks in Turkey that we were to begin in exactly one week. How do I describe our anguish and turmoil? We had one choice, between doing what we desired – that being the easy thing and keeping things as we had planned – versus making major last minute changes to our plans. After considering, reconsidering and seriously reconsidering, and with input from friends’ and family members’ emails, which varied from questioning, to encouraging, to warning, to voicing grave concern, by the end of day we had sadly decided to change our plans. So much for reading Yeats’ Sailing to Byzantium on the plane to Istanbul in the near future. Ok, when life brings lemons, you learn how to make… what else? As in Limone, art!

The rest of the week has been spent on rearranging, canceling, and making new reservations. There is still much to do but we now know that on Wednesday we will fly to Marrakech for a 15 day tour of Morocco. The interesting thing is of the meager decorations in our AirBnB apartment, one on the wall was a souvenir from Morocco.

To finish this post on an upbeat notion, we had a most uncanny coincidence this week in that we met – by accident through electronic technologic challenge and connection – a delightful person who shares our names, Loren and Claire, and, who has in-laws with the surname Wright. If only all the world could be as friendly and helpful to each other as our namesake friend was to us, it would perhaps bring more of the Luce, Amore e Pace – Light, Love and Peace, that our world so desperately needs, and, which we found in our three months in Italy – well, actually on our entire journey thus far.

PLEASE NOTE: WE MAY NOT HAVE VIABLE INTERNET SERVICE IN MOROCCO OR OTHER COUNTRIES WHERE WE WILL BE TRAVELING OVER THE NEXT THREE MONTHS. So, please check back, I will share my weekly post here as often as I can.

Week 117 June 25, 2016

Published on June 25, 2016October 7, 2018 by ClaireLeave a comment

Loren and I started this week still in the village of Moltrasio. The first day’s prediction of rain at 4pm was only partially accurate – at exactly 3:57pm we heard a rumble of thunder! It was surprising then when we had no rain. The exact same phenomenon occurred the next day. So, we enjoyed a few evening walks – the first good weather where we would want to be outdoors after dinner. The first evening, we found the edges of Lake Como swollen from the prior rains, to the point that our AirBnB host joked that the central piazza in the city of Como was flooded, “like Venice.” Another evening we happened upon a village festival, where we enjoyed a plate of homemade polenta and wine despite the slight sprinlking of rain. Yum!

Loren was disappointed this week over the loss of the final regular season game of the US NBA Basketball series – his Warriors lost by only 4 points. Ah well, maybe they will have alternate year championship wins like his San Francisco Giants have recently had! One night we invited our host to share our dinner. He said it was like having Sunday dinner. I realized it was Sunday, very nice to sit at his table to eat together as if family. He and Loren also enjoyed a little of the football (soccer) finals here in Europe on television.

Our intentions were to rent bicycles on two different occasions this week, but, as each of those gorgeous days wore on, we were both so engrossed in our technological devices that it turned out we were 0 for 2. The good news is we firmed up more details of our next several weeks. While we worked, we heard frequent intense cries and seeming laughter of gulls flying outside, plentiful around lush and green Lake Como. On taking our leave mid-week, we had a quick morning walk through the city of Como – each of us separately while the other stayed to watch over our baggage at the train station.

Now we have met up with our wonderful friends from Bavaria who have joined us in visiting at Lake Garda for a week. The start of summer has brought good weather here, lucky for us!

So far we have enjoyed driving around parts of the Lake area together in our friends’ car. It has been a pleasant change to be a passenger, to relax and see the scenery instead of driving or navigating. One day we drove to the city of Riva del Garda, to nearby Lake Tenno, and, to see Cascata Varone – waterfalls.

Early one morning we took the funicular ride to the top of Monte Baldo, where we hiked, pic-nic’d and enjoyed the spectacular views, including part of the Dolomiti range in the distance. As we exited the funicular back at the bottom in the early afternoon, we congratulated ourselves for taking the earliest ride, as the long lines were bulging with masses of people awaiting to ascend.

Another day we drove farther away to two more lakes, named Ledro and Idro. Gorgeous!

We have had a few walks from our two bedroom AirBnB apartment to the nearby beach, and on the trail around the lake. With the heat it has been nice to have the cool and very clean water, but, the stone and pebble rim of the lake underfoot makes it challenging for me to enter the water…

Tomorrow Loren and I are off early for a bus ride to Verona for the day to see friends from New York for – a morning bike ride, followed by lunch.

Week 116 June 18, 2016

Published on June 18, 2016October 7, 2018 by ClaireLeave a comment

This week I am reflecting on how wonderful, even luxurious it has been to have a full week in the same place. Usually we are on the move after 1, 2, 3, or, maybe, 4 nights. Lugano is quiet, with not too much to attract our wanderlust. We did consider the train for a day trip to Bellinzona, then reconsidered when we realized that we probably could not recreate the enchantment that we had felt there 20 years ago. So, this week we stayed close to “home.” I had time to dig out my sewing kit to stitch up a few items that have needed repair. More importantly though we firmed up our plans for when we will leave the Schengen Area on July 6, as our 90 days visa limit will come to an end. How fortunate to be traveling in the era of Internet service – even though our connection at times was excruciatingly slow, we were able to accomplish enough to then be able to rest a bit.

We left the Swiss Ticino region to return to Italy by train, and are now settled in for another week here as well. This is a view from our Balcone sul Lago di Como – Balcony on Lake Como, AirBnB accommodation.

We actually had a dinner this week that was less than wonderful – quite surprising for Italy. The markets in our little village of Moltrasio are closed on Mondays, so we had a choice between only two small Bars that were open. Found all over Italy, these are more similar to a cafe, bistro or New York diner than what we Americans would consider a place mainly to drink alcohol. The Bar we chose had a limited menu… and, the pizza we ordered was edible, but nothing to rave about. Later the ominous clouds broke out with numerous flashes of the brightest lightning – accompanied by the longest and loudest rumbling of thunder – that rank among the worst I have ever experienced. I was very grateful to be safe and dry in our bedroom.

On our first full day here, the forecast was for a sunny morning with rain in the afternoon, and, for rain every other day while we are here. We chose to risk taking the regional boat, which made about ten little village stops, before reaching our destination of the village of Bellagio.

We had decided that we just had to get off at Bellagio, as the resort of the same name was our favorite place to watch the free choreographed water and light show years ago when we were visiting in Las Vegas. We were fortunate in that the rain only drizzled as we explored around here.

That night we had another spectacular series of thunder and lightning storms, which dropped a forceful and continuous amount of rain from start to finish. I am wondering if the thunder sounds so loud because it is exaggerated by this long lake lined with mountains on either side. Would the openness from our staying on the mountainside beside the lake explain why the lightning seems particularly bright? And, perhaps the sound of the rain seems forceful because it is raining onto a large body of water. Anyway, the showers help the flowers, which are delightful.

I am also sad to say that I had another mishap, which impeded my ability to walk some. I smashed a baby toe on a metal bedpost at our previous AirBnB. It was quite painful to put my foot in my boot – we wear our hiking boots when we wear our backpacks and daypacks to travel. I was fortunate though in being able to carry my packs just fine to and from our buses and train on our way to our AirBnB in Lake Como. Once here I elevated my foot, iced it, and did so again over the first couple days while we were . inside. But, I was unable to join Loren on his ambitious five hour hike up in the mountains one day this week.

Loren was fortunate in that the weather forecast was wrong – he had an overcast but mainly dry day. He took the steep route up Monte di Lenno on the Sentiero Bisbigno to Refugio Bugone, where he was the one guest spontaneously invited to a family gathering to celebrate a 25th wedding anniversary. Being the only guest also meant that he was also the sole photographer, to the family’s delight! Then he continued on the Sentiero di Piano – the slow path, toward Monte di Liscione – meaning delicious mountain, and back to Moltrasio. That night we had no thunder and lightning, though the rain that came during the night was still forceful and loud.

The next morning our AirBnB host who is the skipper of a water taxi, had the day off. When he asked how my toe was I admitted that I was quite worried that I had broken it and maybe more than just the toe as I have had shooting pain up the side of my foot on and off when I walk. He generously offered to drive us to the neighboring village to a clinic. There we discovered that the clinic was officially closed to just ambulance care until the evening, so our host kindly offered to accompany us to Ospedale Sant’Anna in the city of Como.

First though, we stopped at our host’s favorite bar for coffee and a pastry. This is where the Municipal – municipality, offers alternative schooling to at-risk youth, and is a place for them to learn English and how to serve customers, as well as attend classes. The outdoor tables are made by encasing crushed automobile parts, making them too heavy to carry away, and the companion seats are made of old tire rims. How clever and resourceful! An art-nouveau castle shares the grounds of the village offices and bar. Loren and I have finally learned the right way to order a tasty, to us, coffee: we remember to ask for Latte Macchiato. It has a bit of espresso with lots of milk.

Our host had planned to read a good book on his day off, so was most content to wait with us with his book for the long emergency room visit. The outcome is that there is nothing broken in my foot. Yay! Now I am just taping two toes together. The rain came early and poured and poured while we were driving back to Moltrasio. While at the bar that morning, we had learned of a concert that evening featuring a One Man Blues/Jazz Band, so we three returned to the Bar for a fun evening of finger food and music. Upon arriving home we were greeted with – what else? A strong rain storm!

Over the past few weeks, in addition to the exciting American Basketball finals – Go Warriors!, Europe has been having finals in Football – Soccer to Americans. Our AirBnB host watches at night and is rooting for the French to win the European Cup. He feels that since France experienced the recent terrorism that he would like them to have an uplifting finish to this competition.

Today the sun is out, the sky is bright blue with just a few clouds, as of yet. Loren and I are off for a bike ride around some of the nearby villages…

Week 115 June 11, 2016

Published on June 11, 2016October 11, 2018 by ClaireLeave a comment

Thank you to all our family and friends who follow us along on our journey, it is always heartwarming when we learn from you that you do, and to know a little of what is going on in your lives too!

This week began with our riding three trains to travel from Italy to Switzerland – from Asti to Alesandria, Alesandria to Milano, and Milano to Lugano. Then we essentially holed up in our AirBnB for a couple of days to catch up on things that we have had to put off and to do some future planning, other than going food shopping. That suited the weather as it rained hard on each of those days. When we finally ventured out for the 30 minute walk to the park on the edge of Lago di Lugano or Der Luganersee – Italian or Swiss for Lake Lugano, the sun joined us for part of our 6 hour adventure around town. It felt good to be outside!

We have visited many churches and cathedrals in Europe, but, in Lugano I found my first one with out of the box – or actually out of the cupola art, and it is so representative of the weather that we have been experiencing!

Our second outing on another day took us further along the lake edge, toward what is named Paradise, with a couple of business signs proclaiming Eden. We walked past white bows and red heart balloons decorating a lakeside establishment which we believe was hosting a casual wedding.

We were then surprised at touched at being greeted by a bust of our dear George Washington, housed in a round columned and dome-covered open pavilion along our La Passeggiata, which translates to traditional Italian evening walk.

That evening we also walked up the many steep steps, designed and built along an abandoned railroad lift, which has also been claimed by a local art project to spruce up the area.

At the top we had beautiful views of the lake and surrounding communities.

I am not certain that we made a full Italian mile – 1000 paces, out of our jaunt but again it was great to be outdoors, even though it was – of course, overcast. Loren and I are both missing our regular respective exercise routines of bicycling and yoga, which would have helped offset all the scrumptuous food we have been eating… We will take better care of ourselves going forward.

With Loren’s ability to speak Italian improving, my comprehension of Italian expanding a little bit, and spending extended time in Italy – being again with precious family members and cherished friends, I am learning that how we humans view life is in such similar ways, despite differences in language. Sure, I probably understood that, intellectually, before. Now I really understand through my experiences. Such familiar repeated words or phrases as simple as anke me – me too, fortunato – fortunate, certo -certainly, aspeta, ‘speta – wait, wait, coro – choir, and many other everyday words, as well as various signs of the Italian Pace or Latin Pax – Peace which we have seen along the way, all brought this to mind.

Week 114 June 4, 2016

Published on June 7, 2016October 8, 2018 by ClaireLeave a comment

This week we had no internet at Loren’s cousins’ home in Alfiano Natta, so this post is late…

We started our week sharing more laughs with our dear friends who live near Verona about differences and similarities in the Italian and English languages – the sorts of phrases, idioms or modo di dire’s – ways of saying. One example being, Tempe da lupe, for Weather of the wolves, which is a little like our Piove gatto e cane for Raining cats and dogs. By the way, where did that phrase ever come from?

Perhaps it is obvious that we had heavy rain on leaving Lucca. Our friends generously drove us to Acqui Terme to help us settle in at our next AirBnB. This is in the region of Piemonte – Piedmont, where Loren’s mother’s genetori – parents, were born. Along the way, we stopped at Loren’s and my first Autogrille – a restaurant chain located alongside the motorways, for a leisurely break for pranzo – lunch. Then they dropped us off in nearby Morsasco, a village of 700 people where Loren’s Nonna Maria – grandmother Mary, and Bisnonna Constanza – great-grandmother Constance, and earlier generations nata – were born. We enjoyed greeting Loren’s cousins, then said farewell for now to our dear friends.

We had a wonderful visit with these special cousins. After a short visit with the youngest members, the filia – daughters, had to return to college after the weekend. The youngest girl was in a baby carriage when we were here before! We reminisced together of our visit 20 years ago and talked again about how the cousins are related. The grandmother and I had drawn up a little genealogical chart together that other time. This time the family connections were more readily identifiable, especially after having heard many of the names in California, Massachusetts and Virginia from other cousins, more recently.

Loren and I then had a rest day, which allowed me to compile notes about some of Loren’s Italian side family history. Later he and I walked around the city of Acqui Terme – literally Hot Water. We did not soak in the thermal waters here where the ancient Roman civilians had once bathed and coveted, but Loren did run his hand under the bollente – scalding water tap in the City Centre! We were again fortunate that the bruta – bad, storm with thunder, lightning, and large heavy raindrops came just as we returned to our AirBnB.

The next day, our one cousin picked us up in the afternoon for a walk around Morsasco before having a FaceTime with Loren’s mother and sister in California. Afterwards we had a wonderful dinner with our cousins. It was after midnight when they drove us back to Acqui Terme…

Our cousin is a butcher in la macelleria – the butcher shop, that his father had started over 55 years ago. His father had died before our previous visit together here. The cousins helped us to finally understand the differences of the cold meats we have been eating, specifically: Prosciutto crudo – a rich flavorful raw and sliced very thin ham, and, Cotto – a cooked, moist ham. Loren likes these, but his favorite of all is Mortadella. La macelleria was very busy this week for the annual June 2nd Italian Festa della Republica – to celebrate when in 1947/48 Italy changed from a Monarchy – rule by King, to a Republic. It had been a very close result back then – of 25,000 eligible votes, +/-13,000 were for the Republic, +/-10,000 for the Monarch. We were most grateful that our cousins could also make time for us during this busy week.

On our last full day in this area we enjoyed a bit more of Acqui Terme, confirmed where to catch our train, then visited Morsasco for another delightful time. I reminisced with them how twenty years ago we had stood on the balcony when one of the cousins pointed out many of the small picturesque villages – Cremolino, Trisobbio, Carpeneto and others – each with their own castle and church on each of the nearby hillsides.

Loren and I took one last walk around this village and photographed the homes of his grandmother Maria’s and great-grandmother Constanza’s birthplaces. We enjoyed another dinner together with our cousins including one of the students, as she was home for the Festa. It was not easy to say goodbye to this special family.

Loren and I then took trains through Alesandria to Asti, famous for our favorite sparkling white wine, where the locals were proudly displaying the Italian flag for the Festa. Another cugino – cousin, picked us up to stay with he and his wife in their beautiful remodeled farmhouse home. We have very much enjoyed seeing them because twenty years ago we had only a short visit with the older brother. One very strong memory from then are the delightful sounds we heard of nearby villages’ church bells ringing one after another where they lived. Our one cousin’s name I now understand is the same as Hercules, still lives in the home where he and his sister were raised. This time Alfiano Natta greeted us with its own and nearby village church bells ringing in the noon hour!

I felt welcomed by our one cousin’s T-shirt proclaiming, “New York, US – Life is Love – Enjoy It!” [I am honoring her request to not include any photos of her, her husband or her brother on the blog.] Our cousins’ and Loren’s Nonnos – grandfathers, Giuseppe and Enrico, were the two youngest of seven fratello – brothers born in Alfiano Natta. We looked through precious family photos together here too, and I can now see why 20 years ago a friend of the cousins’ who we met while there remarked how much Loren looks like his grandfather… I now see it is an uncanny likeness!

Together with our cousins we visited cemeteries to see family members’ final resting places, joined briefly in working in the vineyards and fields, ate delicious homemade meals with ingredients from so many of their home grown fruits, verdura – vegetables, and greens, walked a little around the comune – township, saw the one cousin’s cherished childhood shell, butterfly and insect collections, played a little bit of cards, and simply visited.

We also enjoyed machina – automobile, trips to beautiful churches in the nearby comunes of Montalvo and Crea on two different days. One day we walked a trail to the top of the tallest hill in the area, on the way seeing 22 small chapels that depict biblical events, which were each built by a surrounding local communities. They led up to the 23rd chapel depicting Paradiso, with a stunning view of the surrounding countryside. Our cousin remembers picnicking here and walking this trail with her mother. Another day we had a fun picnic in the car because it was raining heavily outside, then the glorious sun returned and we had a tour of the local church and Monastery.

On our finalmente giorno – final day, with our cousins, we awoke to low fog. We were grateful that it cleared for us to have a wonderful hike on the Sentiero de la Spirito in the bosco – forest, after another delicious lunch that our cousin prepared. We then enjoyed a FaceTime with Loren’s mother and sister with these cousins later in the day. It was once again hard to say goodbye to these very special family members. As she drove us to see the cathedrals in the nearby city of Asti on the way to our train to Lugano, Alfiano Natta’s church bells rang out the 10th hour of the morning.

Week 113 May 28, 2016

Published on May 28, 2016October 8, 2018 by ClaireLeave a comment

This week, started with us still enjoying being with our friends from California in the Cinque Terre of the Liguria region in Italy. We went to see more of old town Cornelia for an “American breakfast” which included fresh squeezed blood-red orange juice. So many times in Europe we have had the choice of an English breakfast, which includes tomatoes along with eggs bacon or ham, intentionally cold toast, coffee… Loren chose to eat lasagna for breakfast in Cornelia!

We then set off again by train to go travel north for the day to Portofino. I am grateful to our friends for suggesting this, because I had not realized how close to the famed village we were. The bus ride from Santa Margherita to Portofino wound us around several inlets where the Mediterranean Sea exudes in such rich teal, blue and aqua colors, that it took my breath away. We hiked up to the castle for great views of the colorful port on one side and the vast Mediterranean on the other.

The next day, while our friends went by train to see Lucca, Loren and I hiked a red line on our map – the steep inland route above Cornelia. Even just the 365 gradual steps up from and back down to our train, was a hike all in and of itself. I bailed out after the long uphill stretch that led to a junction trail. Loren completed our planned hike while I took the same way back down as we had ascended. We met up again at Caffe Matteo in Cornelia where we had had our breakfast the previous day. Our friends returned in time for us to savor a fond farewell dinner together in La Spezia, and, we made a hopeful plan to meet up again in Krakow, Poland in 2017. Loren and I ordered new – to us, pasta dishes of Pansotti with walnut sauce, and Testaroli with pesto. The words maravillosae delizioso nicely sum them up!

Loren and I then moved from our one AirBnB to another one for our last day in La Spezia, then we traveled by train to Lucca to meet up with our dear friends from near Verona.

Coincidentally, our AirBnB in Lucca was on Via Buonamici – Good Friends Street!

Together we took three different walks around parts of Lucca to start off our weekend together. The first was mainly on the fully intact Medieval Wall that surrounds the old town. We also stopped in at the Basilica of San Frediano, hiked up the many floors to the Guinigi Torre – Tower with its rooftop garden of trees, saw the facade of Chiesa di San Michele with Archangel Michael prominent at the top, and, toured Cathedral di San Martino.

We returned for dinner at Trattoria Da Leo, followed by a free evening concert at San Martino, where a choir from Munich performed a cappella. A couple of pieces in Latin were especially touching as I recall singing them with the Hewlett Packard Company Choir some years ago now…

We had more fun together visiting Parco San Rossore near Pisa, where we rented bicycles and, saw horses in training for racing. We visited a beach near Marina di Pisa for a couple of hours, then passed on our original plan to visit the touristy Pisa. Loren and I had been there 20 or so years ago – the attraction now is that they allow visitors to ascend the leaning tower since they have secured it from its extreme, formerly unsafe, tilt. Instead we all visited the ancient town of Barga in the Garfagnana mountain region near Lucca. It was in all a delightful time!

Tomorrow, our friends have offered to drive us to Acqui Terme, where we will visit Loren’s cousins on his Nonna’s side. Later in the week we will travel to Alfiano Natta to see cousins on his Nonno’s side.

Week 112 May 21, 2016

Published on May 22, 2016October 11, 2018 by ClaireLeave a comment

Loren and I have had challenges in some parts of Italy with the Internet. Usually we have had good enough coverage to post the weekly blog, but that was not true this week.

We had a nice couple of hours hiking in Vaglia, northeast of Florence, despite it being overcast and most of the time having light rain. The hike we took is part of Aiello del Rinascimento – the Renaissance Ring. We did not stop in Florence as we had thought we might. We had had a fabulous visit there 20 or so years ago, so we just looked fondly at Florence in the distance across the foggy hills as we drove.

We were again lucky with the weather in that on the way to return our rental car in Bologna, we had only a light rain. After we were safe on our bus to the City Centre however, the rain began to come down in torrents. We were fortunate too in that Bologna has an enormous number of porticos, archways and covered walkways throughout the city, initially created to protect the carriage of the Madonna during religious processions. So we kept fairly dry on the walk to our AirBnB. We then met up with our good friends from California in Bologna. We walked around and around the medieval-laced-with-cosmopolitan atmosphere of the citta – city, reveling in the piazzas – plazas, the basilicas and chiesas – churches, the shops, and interesting streets with fascinating architecture.

We enjoyed two free evening concerts in a small church, offered by local students and their faculty.

Oh, and of course, this being Italy, we ate, and ate, and ate. One evening we met up with our previous AirBnB hosts, who took us to a unique local establishment where they sell beverages, and the patrons bring their own food to eat. We enjoyed their vino – wine with our store-bought mortadella – Loren’s favorite cold cut meat, e formaggio – and cheese, e pane – and bread, before they took us to see some other local establishments.

With our Californian friends, we continued by train to the Liguria province to stay in La Spezia, near the Cinque Terre – Five Fishing Villages, nestled in the cliffs along the Italian Riviera. Over the next two days we took the train north to stop and explore around the Cinque Terre: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.

Loren and I hiked the hills for a couple of hours, going south from Monterosso to Vernazza one day, while our friends explored around the towns more. Several times on our journey we have met interesting people who we have had an opportunity to have long or meaningful conversations with. Sometimes we never even learn their names. On our first hike here, we met a young man, for another of those chance encounters with a wonderful person in the world.

The next day, while our friends explored some more, we hiked another couple of hours going north from Corniglia to Vernazza. This afforded us an overlook of Vernazza from the south, where the previous day’s hike had brought us in to it from the north. These towns are all so picturesque, reminding us of the Amalfi coast.

On another afternoon we four took a train to the town of Levanto, but found it too large to enjoy. So we opted to spend our time on a boat ride from Monterosso to Portovenere to view the Cinque Terre coastline from the Mediterranean Sea.

We will have to come back someday because in addition to missing seeing parts of Levanto, we were unable to walk the Via dell’Amore – Lover’s Lane and see its famous statue, because most of it was closed from a previous landslide. We were able to walk just the beginning of it, which is marked with some of the graffiti we understand we would have had more of further along the way.

We spent another beautiful day going by train to Sestri Levante. We delighted in seeing the Baia del Silenzio – Bay of Silence after eating lunch. Given the sunny Sunday family atmosphere, the bay was fairly quiet. We then took the train to Camoglia where I had the freshest calamari I have ever tasted for dinner. We are here for another couple of days together before we say farewell to our friends…

Week 111 May 14, 2016

Published on May 14, 2016October 14, 2018 by ClaireLeave a comment

Last month my brother emailed for my birthday and included:

“I know you are enjoying life and seeing our world for yourself

so I know you are happy.”

Yes! This week, as his older daughter graduated with a master’s degree, he wrote again,

“What an amazing journey you guys are taking.”

Yes!! We have such gratitude for our adventure, and for this opportunity to fulfill our 25 year dream to travel the world. I am also grateful for the technology that allowed me to watch my niece walk across the stage and to capture this photo of the event. Thank you to all our family and friends who follow along and support us!

With new friends from the Netherlands who were staying at our same agriturismo in Sardegna – Sardinia, we drove to Teulada for their la prima volta – the first time, annual community hike. The commune – municipality, was expecting somewhere between 100-400 people to show up. But… the weather was uncooperative. The rocky path would have been slippery, so the hike was canceled for the 50 or so people who showed up. Before we all left, we heard brief speeches from the mayor and a community leader in the church that was our meeting place.

Loren and I drove through the interior of southern Sardinia on our way toward Barisardo on the eastern coast. Sardinia’s extreme winding roads traverse tall rugged mountains. This island seems sparsely populated compared to Sicily or the continent.I still regret not stopping to photo the contrasting rows of lush spring green vineyards growing in rich dark soil in the foreground, with, a square orchard of dark green trees equally spaced, standing above and behind them in a sandy brown uphill terrain. I did stop to photograph some of the fragrant lilac, hibiscus and rose, as well as poppies, mustard, oleander, scotch pine… among so much more beautiful blossoming vegetation.

In one mountain town, we visited Stazione dell’Arte – Station of the Art, a small museum showing some of the artist Maria Lai’s work. I appreciated this quite of hers:

L’uomo ha bisogno di mettere insieme il visibile e l’invisibile,
percio inventa fiabe, leggende, canti, arte.

Man needs to put together the visible and the invisible,

therefore he invents fairy tales, legends, songs, art.

We had the museum and guide all to ourselves, so spent more time here than we imagined. It was worth it – her multimedia art and her life story are intriguing!

Sardinia is known for its beaches and red rocks. Therefore we visited a few beaches and found they have lots of red rocks, some in still water, some in surf. The weather has been overcast making it feel dreary, but despite that we still had a pleasant time.

Probably our most memorable event here was the one evening when we had our first ever taste of tripe. Our agriturismo host claimed it is her favorite dish, and, said that she understands how if we did not grow up eating it, that one taste would be enough. On the topic of eating, every night since we have returned to Italy, at the end of the day we feel overstuffed on those days when we are not cooking for ourselves. Yet we somehow forget that and again eat too much the next day. The courses – vegetable, meat and cheese items for antipasto; pasta course, meat course, cheese, wine, fruit, desert, after dinner cordials – they are all delicious, and demand a few hours at the dinner table. I am trying to learn to pace myself, to take smaller portions… As one food establishment makes clear with its name, we are in Eatily!

Loren and I left Sardegna on a midweek flight. Back on the mainland we picked up a rental car, and spent one night in Bologna. Our mother and daughter AirBnB hosts graciously took us on a two hour walking tour to view notable sights in the city center – from 10pm-midnight!

The next morning Loren and I drove to Tordandrea for two nights, in the vibrant valley just below Assisi. We had two long visits to that historic spiritual hillside town, famed home of the medieval Saints, Francesco – Francis and Chiara – Clare. There is so much preserved ancient and medieval history to be found here, for example, the Roman Temple of Minerva, Chiesa di San Damiano, Catedrale di San Rufino, Basilica di Santa Chiara, and so much more. By far, the most captivating were the many tributes to San Francesco all around Assisi, as well as in the valley town called Santa Maria Degli Angeli – Saint Mary of the Angels. Here, an impressive Basilica surrounds the original very simple chapel where Francis lived during the final years of his life.

We spent the most time in Assisi visiting Basilica di San Francesco. I was moved on several occasions while learning more about him. To honor his life, the Basilica is like a magnificent museum, with “No fotos” allowed inside. Both a lower, older Basilica with a simple subterranean crypt for his remains, and, another partial even lower floor displays precious relics from his lifetime. Then there is an upper, more elaborate and newer Basilica built on top of the older one, that contains powerful and enormous wall frescoes to portray major events from the lives of both Jesus and Saint Francis. The pax – peace, that Francis stood for was palpable. It was even punctuated with a fabulous rainbow at the end of our day!

We have had fairly continual overcast, rainy weather, even a thunder and lightning storm at the end of our next visit, which was to stunning Sienna. Here we saw the dazzling Duomo, cozy Piazza del Campo, and several of the walled city gates.

As we were leaving Sienna, I just had to pull over to take a photo of the name of the church that I found just outside one of the gates:

“Our Lady of Good Travel, Accompany Me.”

And so she has thus far. We are now in a small town partway towards Florence, before our return to Bologna tomorrow to meet up with friends.

Week 110 May 7, 2016

Published on May 7, 2016October 14, 2018 by ClaireLeave a comment

May 1st was Labor Day and May Day – another holiday in Italy. Our plan to take a bus to see Ragusa on Sicilia – Sicily, for the day was not a viable option, because no buses were operating. We decided that the city of Modica had enough to satisfy our interests instead of trying to seek other transportation. Our host first took us to his neighbor’s multi-generational cheese business – of about 300 years operation. When Loren inquired, the father’s favorite part of the work is all of it!

The eldest son has a preference for the animals – like bringing the 40 cows in to be milked. This farm has a barn with the fattest hens, which are in stark contrast to so many of the chickens roaming around Africa being the skinniest, that I have ever seen.

Then Loren and I took two different two-hour walking tours around the steep and flat streets of the citta – city, as written up by the Tourist Information office. These offered us opportunities for more belvedere – beautiful views, and to visit places of local interest.

The next day we left Modica by bus, train, then bus again to arrive in Agrigento. Here we saw Valle dei Templi – Valley of the Temples, where we found more ruins of ancient Greek culture in Sicily.

We had a memorable dinner at the very nice restaurant of a friend of our AirBnB host.

We also this week visited Scala dei Turchi – Turkish steps, carved by waves against stark white cliff rock. It was during our taxi ride there that I noticed graffiti proclaiming: TUTTI DIVERSI, TUTTI UGALI. I may not fully understand the meaning but definitely like the idea: all are unique, all are equal! It reminds me of the first Unitarian Universalist principle: The inherent worth and dignity of every person…

Reluctantly, we caught our bus for the long ride to the airport, which was back in Catania where we began our visit to Sicily.

Our evening flight brought us safely to Cagliari on the island of Sardinia. We were grateful that we had had the fairly good weather day on Mt. Etna when we were in Catania before… who knew it would soon feel like winter again in May in Sicily? Fortunately the weather is warmer now in Sardegna – Sardinia.

We picked up a rental car, and, with the agent’s urging, followed a different route than Loren had mapped out. We must have missed a turn, stopped for directions and wound up driving a good hour in pitch dark along a winding, mountainous dirt road. We saw a few animals dart from one side to the other in front of us, and were glad our high beams illuminated the deer far enough ahead. Fortunately on the other side of the mountain our cell phone worked again and our agriturisma host offered to meet us in the town of Santadi to lead us to her farm in Su Benatzsu. Tutto buona – all is good! This is our first agriturisma, of a few where we will stay in Sardinia. At this particular one they have vineyards, vegetables, 300 sheep, 200 goats, among hogs, roosters, chickens, numerous dogs and puppies. The goats are milked daily – the sheep are milked twice daily!

We definitely know we are back in Italy from these generous piatti – plates, that are just the antipasto to our dishes to come – of pasta, meat and dolce – literally sweet or what Americans would call desert.

We have enjoyed having our rental car which allowed us to visit a few of the surrounding communities and seaside towns. Porto Botte, Isola di Sant’Antiocio, Calasetta, Nora, Pula, and Teulada are the main ones we have visited so far. Yesterday we found a farmer’s land with what conveys a creative sense of humor. I think the standing cyclist bears a slight resemblance to Loren, who very much misses having his bicycle on our journey…

Pula was of special interest for its many streets being decorated overhead with strings and strings colorful banners to celebrate Sant’Efisio. We just missed the actual Festa on May 1 but marveled at the delightful appearance of the streets.

Tomorrow we will join some of the locals who we had met when we stopped for gelato – Italian ice cream, for a two hour hike near Teulada before we leave the community of Santali. Maybe we can walk off just a little bit of what we have consumed…

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