Days are passing quickly

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October 4-8



We spent four nights just south of Sulmona in a guest apartment owned by a British couple. They live in Bristol England in the winter and then spend the rest of the year in Abruzzo where they spend time hiking, growing grapes and apples and running the guest apartment. It was a very comfortable accommodation and we enjoyed relaxing and preparing some of our own meals in the well-stocked kitchen.



On our way to Sulmona we passed through the village of Capestrano. This old town sits high on a hillside and as we entered the piazza we saw that it was market day. We bought some produce from one of the venders and then she added some parsley and carrots to our bag - in all we got lettuce, three large tomatoes, 3 giant peaches, two zucchini, several carrots and parsley for less than 5 euro.



Next I went to the small mercato for a few things. The store was cramped inside with a huge cheese and meat counter. There were about nine women gathered in front of the counter calling out what cheeses and cuts of meat they wanted. I gathered up two bottles of local wine, some yogurt and milk and then stood wondering how to pay since there was a very old cash register next to a cluttered counter, but seemingly the only employee was the man behind the cheese counter. Soon a very, very old man came towards me pushing an empty cart. He went past me and sat at the chair in front of the register. I figured he was resting, but the cheese man gestured for me to put my things on the cluttered counter. I did and the very, very old man rang up my purchases. The total was 3.80. He looked at the receipt and shook his head and told me "un momento," and then he rang it all up again. This time it came to 18.90. I was puzzled because the wine was 3.40 each bottle and the yogurt and milk could not have cost that much, but I didn't want to question him so I gave him 20 euro. The very, very, old man yelled something and then I heard "meece, meece, meece," behind me. I just stood there wondering about several things. Finally all of the nine women yelled, "MEECE!" and I turned to realize that I was the "Miss" they were talking to. The cheese man was holding out a 10 cent coin for me - apparently the very, very old man did not have the correct change in the register, I took the coin and "grazie-d" the cheese man and all of the women who were now smiling at me. The very, very old man gave me the rest of my change and I smiled and Ciao-ciao'd everyone and left. When I got to the car I told Sam that we could live in Capestrano because I already had nine women who would look out for me!



That night I looked at our yogurt container and saw that the milk fat was 1.90 and I realized that the very, very old man had charged me 10.90 for the yogurt and that is why it all cost 18.90. No matter - it was worth that for the charming experience.



We visited Sulmona twice, but the weather was not great, so we did not see as much as we might have otherwise. We had one excellent lunch while in Sulmona where we enjoyed several local cheeses and pastas. Sulmona is a beautiful small city surrounded by mountains with a Roman aqueduct bordering one side of the huge piazza. We will visit again someday for sure.



We were able to get out hiking twice in the three days we were near Sulmona. The mountains are not as jagged as they are an hour north, but the views are no less impressive. One day we went to a small town, Pescocostanza. I have "visited" the main piazza in this town via the web cam that they have mounted next to the clock tower. I frequently check it before I go to sleep when the sun is just coming up in Italy, and I have watched as someone comes and opens the bar in the piazza around 7:00 each morning. I also happened to check the web cam on New Year's Eve just when Pescocostanza was setting off its fireworks at midnight Italy time. So it was fun to be there and to spot the web cam. We stopped in the piazza bar and we had cornetti and Sam had espresso and I had a cup of thick, drinking chocolate.

There is a ski area above Pescocostanza and we hiked up to the top of the ski run and then continued on further. We could see a huge cross about 1.5 km along the ridge so we climbed over to that before returning to the village for lunch. We later learned that it took 50 oxen to carry the cross up that hill back in 1901. We were the only guests in the small restaurant that we chose and the waiter seemed thrilled to have Americans there. By the end of lunch he had brought out stacks of photos of the town, of last year's big snow storm and of himself skiing. He told us the history of the town with great pride, but all in Italian so parts we had to guess the meaning of. He was a delight and the whole day ranks among our best on the trip. We have both decided that Abruzzo is our new favorite place.



Our second hike was not quite as successful. We drove south through the delightful village of Scanno where we stopped for our morning espresso and cornetti and then we went on to Viletta Berrea. We crossed high plains similar to Campo Imperatore, and stopped frequently for photos of the never-ending beautiful scenery and views. We passed another ski area - Passo Godi, where currently flocks of sheep are grazing on the slopes. The leaves are changing in the high elevations and the golden colors add to the beauty. We used the book written by our host back in Sulmona as our hiking guide. It took nearly an hour to find the start of the hike, which should have been a sign to us to give up. It is clear to us now that Stu needs an editor because, while Stu knows what he means by his instructions, it seems nearly impossible to get inside his head and understand what he means while out on the trail. Consequently we got very lost on the side of a mountain in the middle of bear, wolf and wild boar country. The only good thing about the frightening grunting we heard in the woods beside us is that it tempered our frustration about our situation. We decided to sing as our warning to all things wild so that we would not encounter them, and the singing led to laughing. Eventually we were able to re-trace our steps back to the car, but we never saw the "beautiful village" that we set out to find.



Today we bid farewell to Stu and Hil and we truly hope to stay with them again. They are lovely people who have such a calm about them - it was as if we had known them forever. We drove 1 1/2 hour to the town of Rocca San Giovanni which is on the Adriatic Sea. This is where we had a reservation to have an all day cooking class on a Trabacco - an ancient fishing pier that is particular to this section of the coast. Our translator, Fabrizio of "Italia Sweet Italia," met us and we were soon introduced to Maria and Rinaldo. Rinaldo grew up 50 meters from the Trabacco and he and Maria now live in that same location. They use the Trabacco as a restaurant now, mainly in the summer months. The fish they serve are caught by local fishermen who go out in boats because the fish population has been depleted and it is difficult now to catch the fish needed in the nets that were traditionally lowered from the Trabacci.



It was a once-in-a-lifetime type of experience. It was very hands-on and we learned to prepare marinated anchovies starting with removing the heads and back bones - next we cleaned and cut open mussels which were later stuffed with a mixture of cheese, breadcrumbs, egg, garlic and olive oil, and then cooked in a tomato sauce. We ate clams and polenta and pasta with various kinds of fish in the sauce and we had a fish soup that was made with 5 types of fish. For this the photos probably say it better than words. Maria was a gracious teacher and Rinaldo was a delightful host. Fabrizio did a great job of interpreting in a way that made the conversation feel very natural. We learned about the history of the trabacci as well as the history of a train line that ran along the coast at one point taking people from London to India (well, they took a boat from Brindisi, but the train got them that far). Rinaldo and Maria joined us for the meal and Fabrizio said they don't always do that but that this was like a family meal. That is how we felt, we did not feel like mere tourist. Fabrizio told us that we are not tourists, but we are travelers. We like that.



The weather held for us all day but as we walked away from the trabacco the rain started. Soon we were driving with the wipers on high speed through standing water, past gushing streams that poured off hillsides into the road, in places where there are not normally streams. Fortunately we only needed to go about 60 kms. There was lightening and thunder and we inched along until finally finding our hotel. When we arrived all was dark and there was only one car in the parking lot. We went in and could hear noise in the basement. Sam went down and found an older man and his much older father trying to mop up the water that had come rushing in from the underground parking area. It turns out we are the only guests here tonight. But I had made a reservation months ago and we were expected. After bringing our stuff in through the pouring rain, the sky lightened and the rain stopped. We can still see flashes of lightening out our window as the storm moves over the mountains. Tomorrow we have a 5 hour drive to the southern most part of Puglia - the Salento, and hopefully it will be good weather.



Ciao and good-night.

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