Exploring the Sangro on the way to Pescara

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Just before bed last night we looked out from our apartment window, yes one little window, and noticed a large Conad Supermarket and car wash. So that is how today was going to start. But first, breakfast in the breakfast room downstairs. We were shown to a table by our hostess who doesn’t speak English. Yesterday she had handed the phone to her husband who had enough English to give us instructions. Our table was set with some wicked delights, not our usual breakfast. We are here for an experience so we indulged.

Our first stop after leaving the B & B is the car wash. Our wonderful car is showing a lack of TLC, having driven the agricultural roads of Sicily and Southern Italy. First step is to find out how to get the euro coin into the machine. After a consultation with a man who knows we have ourselves a token. Now for action. Talk about a man possessed. With the water blaster going at maximum pressure the rear of the car is now clean. Then the water stops. We’ve run out of time. We’ve also run out of euro coins and our lowest value note is ten euros. Time for some shopping.

After a quick visit to Conad for some lunch items we now have some change. In go three euros and out come six tokens, our lucky day. Must operate like the pokies, follow someone who overfed the machine. The car is now a bright shiny example of a new Peugeot 308 GT.

Being close to the Adriatic on this hot morning we decide on a quick beach visit. Unfortunately everyone else from Vasto had the same idea. Everyone must have gone to early Mass because now the car parks are full and beach spaces at a premium. No doubt everyone is there for the day. Now we know what Italian families do on hot summer Sundays.

Somehow we miscalculated the distances along the Adriatic coast and left ourselves with just over an hour to travel from Vasto to Pescara. So we made the most of our short trip by exploring more beaches. They were all the same. In a word: crowded. Not something we are used to. Wait until the tourists and summer holiday makers pour in. The locals will be pleased when winter arrives.

After crossing the Sangro River we notice some interesting country towards the mountains. We head for the town of Casoli. The road takes us up and up and up ...... Eventually we arrive in the town centre of this town perched on the peak of a mountain. The views over the Sangro Valley are great. We stop for a coffee and enjoy listening to the twelve o’clock chimes. It is Italy and we can do this. Over the road men are perhaps discussing the outcome of the British general election. Inside the cafe more men are discussing what gelato they should take home to the wife. We see the men buying great punnets of gelato, quickly quaffing their drinks then rushing home before their purchase has melted. The temperature is now into the 30s.

We extricate ourselves from this great little town with neatly paved roads, some fresh tar seal and tidy gutters and head for a lake not far away. This storage lake with trees around high mountains above is a great setting for lunch. We comment on the lack of the flies and wasps that can often spoil a summer day picnic. Perhaps they haven’t discovered this spot. It is so peaceful.

Lunch over, time to head back to civilisation. Before heading to the mountains we had noticed a sign leading to an English cemetery. We take time to make the diversion. We discover on a hill above the Sangro River a large Commonwealth War Cemetery with over 350 New Zealand servicemen buried here. The fighting in this area was during November and December 1943. We pause a moment and remember all the young lives that were lost so far from home. Many of the NZ graves are together, some are grouped with their British comrades. We think of the families of these men who may never have had the chance of visiting the resting place of their relative. In the visitors book we notice some have done so. We talk to an Italian man who works in the cemetery and express our thanks for making this place so beautiful and peaceful. From the cemetery you look out across farmland. In NZ there might be sheep and cows, here there are olive trees and vines.

Time to plot a course for tonight’s destination in Pescara, a large city on the Adriatic coast. Hopefully we will be ahead of all the families heading home from the beach. The traffic is moderate but in places it comes to a standstill as some people are extricating themselves from tight, almost impossible, parking spaces and late comers trying to fill them.

True to form Jane takes us into Pescara through the back door. We have the impression she is embarrassed to be with us and so takes us places no tourist should venture. If she knew how proud we are of our new car and the driving skills we have developed she also should be proud and take us in through the front door. On a positive note she announces that our destination has been reached right outside the main entrance to tonight’s accommodation. Well done Jane.

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Photos

Casoli
Looking at our destination for a coffee.

Casoli
The piazza.

Lake Casoli
A scene from our picnic spot.

CWGC Sangro
A large group of NZ headstones.

CWGC Sangro
The NZ section with a picturesque back drop.