Bottom of the harbour

A Sydney investor going to collect his profits.

I hope he avoids the snake in the grass

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Big Boat

A cruise ship leaving Sydney.

On my way to my Italian lesson

In Italia per mare

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Sister Cristina's first album

The nun who won the "Voice"contest on Italian TV is going to release her first album on November 11th. Here is the video of the single from that album:



I love the way she tries to be confronting. Is it a parody of a parody, or the real thing?

Memling

I went to look at the Memling exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale (ie the art gallery next to the Quirinale palace):

http://english.scuderiequirinale.it/categorie/memling-e-l-italia-exhibition

Memling was a German who moved to Bruges in Flanders, probably because it was a wealthy town. The commentary said that in the 15th century, Bruges was a more important trading centre than London or Paris. Because of that, there were wealthy Italian families living in Bruges, who could commission works of art for portraits, decoration of churches or private religious devotions.

The exhibition had works by Memling, as well as others by contemporary Italian and Flemish painters.

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Lucy

I went to a movie last night, called Lucy. I thought an action movie would be easier to understand if you don't know much of the language.

The whole process is similar to anywhere else, the ticket cost 6.90 Euro, so a bit cheaper than Australia (I forgot to ask for a seniors discount).

The only difference is that they stop the movie for 5 minutes half way through for a refreshment break.

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Sightseeing

I did some last minute sightseeing in Rome:

The view from a hill in the north over the Piazza del Popolo with St Peter's in the distance,

The Spanish steps. As you can see, there are still a lot of tourists in Rome in October.

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Flanders goes to Rome

I noticed a connection between Flanders and Rome. There is an exhibition here in Rome of the paintings of Hans Memling, who they describe as a Flemish renaissance painter.

Of course he is well known in Belgium, and there is a Memling museum in Brugge / Bruges.

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Lifestyle and food

I watched the cooking show of Piet Huysentruyt, who has a popular show on Belgian TV.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_Huysentruyt

I think he is a bit like Bill Granger, selling a lifestyle through the cooking.

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Klok en Peel

I

We visited a very interesting museum in Asten in Holland, devoted to bell making. It happened to also have an exhibition of pumpkins in the courtyard outside:

http://www.museumasten.nl/

This is based around a Dutch company which

 is still making bells and has just sold a carillon to China. They

Also made a new bell for Notre Dame de Paris

recently. The science of bell mailing is 

fascinating.

For fans of Andre Rieu, the portable carillon

In the photo was made for Frank Steyns, one

of his violinists who also plays carillons.

A local Sydney note: the exhibition about

Notre Dame showed that the original plan

was for spires on the 2 towers above the

entrance. Unlike St Mary's in Sydney, they

never bothered to build them.

The old country

Glad to be in Belgium. It was sunny weather when I arrived.

Almost a brush with fame

Yesterday an American tourist told me that in the movie "eat, pay, love", the eat part consists of Julia Roberts trying to find the perfect pizza margherita in Naples.
When I googled the movie I found that the pizzeria Julia Roberts chose is a couple of blocks from where I had a pizza margarita a few days ago, though I think hers was more up market than mine.

Another person who claimed to know about pizza told me that the pizza should not have lumps of tomato pieces. Indeed, the one I had in Naples had no lumps, but areas of red and white, being tomato and buffalo cheese, while one I had at a tourist trap cafe had bits of chopped tomato.
But isn't it possible that the Naples pizza used canned tomato? How can I get advice from an expert? Can I ask Julia Roberts?

The photo here is not a pizza, it is the local liquor, limoncello, made from alcohol, lemon juice and peel. Very nice when drunk after a meal.

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Ravello

I've just visited Ravello, a village in the hills above Sorrento. It is spectacular, but I really preferred the bus trip here, along the winding road attached to the hillside.

This place is a natural wonder, but it is also a place shaped by people, those who made it and the assorted group of people who lived here. That is what makes a place special for me, natural beauty and people. Geology and trees are not enough.

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Falling on my feet

This afternoon I took the 1 hour train trip from Naples to Sorrento, then walked to the convent of the Suore Oblate del Bambino Gesu.
I arrived at about 5.30pm and after being shown my room, I was told they had to go to the Mass in the chapel. It turned out this was a celebration for the name day of the head, Mother Daniella, and afterwards I was invited to the dinner with about 40 people from the congregation. A lot of fun.

The order only exists in Italy, Peru and Brazil. Among many other things, the sisters make icons and run classes for people who want to learn how to make them. All the icons in the photo of the chapel were made by the sisters. The convent has a stunning view over the bay and the islands.

A proud Neapolitan woman told me that some things I should do in Naples are see the "Cristo Velato" in St Stephens church. This is a marble sculpture of Christ in the tomb, covered by a veil, which is part of the marble sculpture. I was told it is an unforgettable sight.
Also, see Museo San Martino.

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Demo

I decided to catch a tram to the coast of Naples and maybe do a bus tour of the city.
In the centre of town there was a bit of excitement with a demonstration by students about something. There were several colourful flares and firecrackers, but I'm still not sure what it was about, some looked like university students, others were school children.
I asked several people during the day what it was about, but no one knew.

I then took the bus tour and it was gorgeous. It suited a tour like this, because they took you to the hill on the coast west of the city, so you could see the full curve of the bay of Naples, with houses on the slopes and castles on the hill and in the bay. In the background of every view is the double peak of Mt Vesuvius.

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Real Estate

I had intended to see the ruins at Pompeii and also the top of Vesuvius today, but I stayed so long at Pompeii that I ran out of time for the volcano.

I didn't realize how big Pompeii is, with temples, theatres, shops, an arena for watching animals and people being killed, and many streets of houses, some big, some small and some in between.

I picked out my choice of house, see photo. It has 3 bedrooms, a big kitchen and outdoor entertaining area. The bathroom facilities for these houses were never mentioned in the tour guides, I suspect the truth is ugly.
Also pictured is an unfortunate former resident.

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Neapolitan

I arrived in Naples in the afternoon, after a 2 hour, 19 Euro train trip from Rome.

The hotel I'm staying at is close to the station, which makes it a bit noisy, but it is convenient. The train to Pompeii, Vesuvius or Sorrento is a 2 minute walk away.

I had a short walk around town, found a Mass nearby at 6pm, then had an enormous pizza (tomato and mozzarella). Luckily, I was hungry.

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One coin in the fountain

I put a coin in the Trevi fountain and I came back, so I tried again.
I assume the fact that there is no water in it and it is covered in scaffolding makes no difference.

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On gavarit po russki

I visited the Vatican museum and St Peter's this morning.
It was very crowded, and as you approach the square you run a gauntlet of guides offering tours in different languages. Of course there are guides in English, Spanish, German etc, though not many in Asian languages though there were many Asian people there. I think people from Asia often come in groups with their own guides.

The thing that surprised me was the number of guides offering tours in Russian, it seemed like almost 1 in 20. They were definitely Russian and not Polish. I suppose Rome is very cosmopolitan, so maybe it should not be surprising.

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I had to do it

I didn't visit when I was in Rome before, but I thought I should do it now.

I find this a very ugly and depressing place. The pickpockets can have it to themselves.

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Help on the way

I'm now in the Termini (central station) of Rome doing a bit of planning.
I've now been here for almost 3 weeks, so I think I can make a general observation about the Italians I have met.

Everyone has been very helpful. They have an entertaining habit of feigning irritation with a foreigner and looking impatient. Having made their point they deliver the goods and are very helpful. People have helped with bus timetables, a man drove me to a laundry, many have gone out of their way to show me directions. Maybe I'm tempting fate by saying it, but people here are very helpful to foreigners, maybe more so than Australia.

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25th April

It's Sunday in Monterotondo and I'm waiting to take the train to Rome. (As well as following the Sydney rugby league grand final between Souths and Canterbury).

I notice that in Italy it is common practice to give streets a name with a date. For example, here there are streets called 20 September, 4 October, 24 May, 25 October, 2 June and 25 April.

The last one interested me because of Anzac Day. Of course it has nothing to do with that, I was told it is the date of the liberation of Italy (or more precisely, Milan and Turin) from the fascists. Mussolini was shot a couple of days later.

A related thing, I met a woman from Sicily who knew all about the nearby town of Gallipoli in the south of Italy, which is apparently a very picturesque and historic town, well worth a visit. She had never heard of Gallipoli in Turkey. The world is different when seen through other people's eyes.

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Francesco Fest at Monterotondo

I badly needed a cleanup today, so I'm happy that I've had a chance to wash myself and all my clothes.

The time worked out well, and I was in time for 6pm Mass here in Monterotondo. Although today is the feast of St Francis, it was Sunday's Mass, but he got a lot of mentions on the way by the young Italian priest.
In front of the cathedral are a lot of entertainment/eating places, but most are for drinking or eating gelati.

I've found a place I prefer, a place described as an Irish pub, which has special beers in honour of Oktoberfest, and which also has a good selection of Belgian beers. What could be better than that, and they even have food!

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Rieti underground

This morning I had a very interesting tour of "Rieti sottoterra" by Rita, who also has a B&B there. Rieti is at the junction of 3 rivers, and when the Romans conquered it (from the Sabine tribe), they redirected water to make more land, and also conducted a system of underground caverns which allows the houses above to remain dry. Rieti traded salt from the east coast of Italy to Rome, hence the name of the streets Via Salaria.

Later, Mussolini built walls along the river to prevent the flooding of the streets which occasionally happened. The Roman caves under the city were used as air raid shelters when Rieti was bombed in WWII.

I later visited the Rieti museum, which also explained that a lake once covered the place now occupied by Rieti, but this disappeared because of climate change.

The museum had a lot of information about the empire Vaspatian, because 2009 was the bimillemium of his birth.

I also discovered that there is a Via Benedictine walk you can do around Rieti.

Consider visiting Rieti, it is a 10 Euro train trip from Rome.

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Fontecolombo

Yesterday I visited one of the other Santuarios around Rieti, Fontecolombo, where St Francis wrote the rule of the Franciscan order.
It is a short bus ride out of town, but the next bus back was at 7.10pm, so I had to wait a while and it was starting to rain.

The Friar and a woman who was arranging a visit to the sanctuary for her art class very kindly gave me a lift back to my hotel, just before the storm started.

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Cribs

I visited the Sanctuary near Grecchio. From Rieti, this meant a half hour train trip and a 4km walk up the hill. It was well worth it, you can see the placed St Francis and the monks lived and in honour of his invention of the Christmas crib, there are dozens of modern cribs from all around the world.
On my way back to the train I saw 2 minibuses full of nuns going up to the sanctuary. There must be vespers or some other ceremony. Of course things are planned there for St Francis' feast day on the 4th.
This area us full of places like this, but because they are a little off the beaten track, most of the people you meet are Italians. The rest of us should also try to see them, if it is possible

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Santusrio del Presepe

I'm now at the Santuario del Presepe, near Grecchio. This is where St Francis put together the first crib.
It was a bit of a climb up here, so I'm having a quick beer while I gather my thoughts before visiting the Sanctuary.

I'm staying at Rieti tonight and I think I have the evening's entertainment lined up. The local bar there us showing the Roma v Manchester City match at 8.45. Not sure who I support.

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Old and New

This afternoon I decided to visit the Basilica di San Valentino in Terni. Valentino was a bishop here and was martyred just outside Rome. This was a long time ago, and there is a lot of conjecture, with several churches claiming a link to St Valentine.

Anyway, it sounded like a good photo to have in the album, so I caught the bus to the basilica on the southern outskirts
of Terni.

When I arrived, there were a lot of young students hanging around, having just finished classes for the day. The basilica next door only had a couple of visitors, and I was thinking of taking a photo of the altar, which had a statue of St Valentine under it.

At that point, a couple of priests appeared and seemed to be preparing the altar for Mass (it was about 5pm by this time.)

When the bells started ringing, a woman stated to lead the congregation in the rosary, and a priest distributed copies of evening prayers for the feast day of today, the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.
After the rosary, 5 priests came in and began the vespers and Mass. I discovered later that they are Carmelite monks, all originally from Kerala in India. As it happened, their leader is called Fr Raphael, so after Mass he distributed to the congregation the sweets he had been given for his name day.
There were about 30 or 40 in the congregation, and the affection they had for this group of priests was obvious. These evening prayers are held regularly. The priests serve the community who live in the surrounding apartment blocks.

I spoke to a couple of them afterwards (being Indian, they were impressed by my surname). Because of the lack of priests, this monastery was almost closed, until the priests were sent from India. They knew of a similar congregation in Sydney.

The story about the students next door is that Garibaldi closed the monastery and turned it into a university faculty of science and politics. (Being Italy, this is regarded as a "recent" event.). Not many people wanted to do science and politics, so it has been turned into an economics faculty. The monks now live in another building next door.

I noticed that there was a photo of a young woman called Guilia Ciani on one of the side altars. She was a member of the choir and 5 years ago was killed in a motorcycle accident. A tragedy for the family, especially since she was an only child. In her memory, the parish has started a charity to help people in Malawi. One of the priests said that, strictly speaking, there shouldn't be a photo on an altar, but they let it pass because of what it means to the people of the parish.

After all of that, my 10 minute stop to get the joke shot of Saint Valentine turned into a 2 hour stay and a bit of an insight into the community as it is today, not in 200AD.

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A Hard Life

On the bus this morning, a group of young African men got on board. One of them told me that after a dangerous journey, he had recently arrived in Italy in a crowded rubber boat, which was, fortunately for him, intercepted by the Italian navy before it would likely have sunk.

He is doing some studies here while his asylum claim is being assessed.
Since I didn't know my way around, he kindly showed me to the centre of town, and then left and went about his business without expecting any favours.
He seemed a very decent person and, given the chance, would try to contribute to society.

The trouble is that the Italian economy is having problems, which won't make his life any easier.
He said the Italian people had been good to him. He said that his experiences so far had showed him that good people attract good people, bad people attract bad. I wonder what will happen to him.

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Domenica

As promised, it was a relaxing Sunday walk along the river this morning,
But still enough justification for a German beer.

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Some links

Some web sites I have referred to before are:

The associations which run the huts for hikers in the hills above Poppi:
http://www.parcoforestecasentinesi.it
http://www.cai.it

The convent in Poppi:
www.camaldolesidipoppi.it

The Eremo (hermitage) in the hills above Poppi:
www.camaldoli.it

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8.30 Report

There is a TV in the restaurant here and I have been watching a programme called "Otto e Mezzo", which I suppose means 8.30 report, similar to the Australian 7.30 report, but a bit later.

The show yesterday was called "Rienzi e Marchionne professa d'amore", Rienzi being the Italian PM and Marchionne the GM of Fiat.

I suppose the Australian equivalent would be " Tony Abbott and Twiggy Forrest are in love".
Maybe it loses something in translation.

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Giuseppina

I have now met two people with the name Giuseppina, which is translated in English as Josephine. One is the woman who, along with her husband Luciano runs the Ai Tre Arche restaurant/hotel here. She wants to be known as Giuppina.
The other was a woman from Sicily who was staying at La Verna for a retreat and wants to become a nun. She wanted to be known as Giuse.
It seems this name is shortened in different ways.

By the way, speaking of hotels, it seems to me that good places to stay in Italy, away from the big cities are these pizzerias/restaurants/B&B's. The room prices are reasonable (here it is 25 euro for a single, 45 euro for a double), and family businesses are often very helpful to visitors.

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Community

After visiting the old monastery, which is now a hotel, and the attached church, which is still a church, I asked the owner of the hotel where I am staying if there was a Mass nearby. There was, starting in half an hour and he drive me to it. There was an enthusiastic little community of about 18 there and they let me take a few photos after Mass.

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Revised plan

I'm about to walk up the hill here to see the monastery.
I just booked the next two nights:

Sunday night at B&B Il Borgo, Ferentillo,
Monday night Millennium Hotel Terni.

The plan now is to walk to Ferentillo tomorrow (it should be a leisurely walk along the river)
On Monday morning, catch the 7.30 bus to Terni. This is the big town around here. It is not on any of the pilgrim routes, but since I'm here, I should visit St Valentine's birthplace!

As interesting as hills are, you don't get much practice at Italian by speaking to trees and rocks, so I'm avoiding the long tracks through the bush.

I may spend 2 days in Terni, there may be bus tours up to Poggio Bustoni in the hills. This is an important town on the pilgrimage route.
Then I'll go to the other big town here, Rieti. After that, I'll rejoin the St Francis pilgrimage route for the last 70km into Rome.
I'll try to time it to be in Rome on Wednesday 8th October for the weekly Angelus with Pope Francis.
In Assisi there was a notice to say he would be there for the feast of St Francis on 4th October, so I hope he will be back in Rome by the 8th.

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I won't do that again!

I've just had a good night's sleep in a comfortable room in the bar/restaurant/pizzeria/hotel of the village of Macanono. I booked this on Thursday night.
Yesterday I converted from tourist to walking pilgrim, but I did it too quickly. I should have spent the day in Spoleto, which is a very historic town, and also have done more planning.
I was late starting yesterday, because I was repacking and reducing the load, so I only started walking at about 10.30. Big mistake.

The path out of Spoleto was a climb of about 450m along a zig-zag track up the hill. The path was good, but steep.
The rest of the path here was through the hills. There were some slippery parts with loose rocks and it was mostly level or descending. The problem was the remoteness. The were very pretty views of the hills, but I was often a couple of kilometres from the nearest road or other human being and mobile signal was not always available. Not good. If I twisted my ankle, I might still be there.

My GPS recorded the day as 23km, 8 hours, total ascent 750m, total descent 800m
I was pretty tired at the end, then I discovered that this hotel was another 4km away, along a main road. I rang the hotel and I thought the woman was saying that there would be a taxi at the main road, but she was actually offering to pick me up herself.

When I got to the road, there were half a dozen people chatting and they told me there was no taxi. I must have looked pathetic, because the man offered to drive me, but at that point the woman from the hotel arrived.

I had a good meal last night (brochetta with rocket and cheese, gnocchi, and the local speciality of boar).
Anyway, I've decided to stay here for another day and do some planning. I feel ok, a little sore, but thankfully no blisters.

I'll make sure the days are shorter from now on and that I bypass the long remote tracks. I have plenty of time, the guidebook suggests 14 days from here to Rome, which would mean I arrive on 11th October and my return flight is on 18th October.

They told me at breakfast that there is an old monastery on the hill above here, so I'll look at that and do some washing as well as planning.

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Leaving Spoleto

I left the car at the Avis office at Frolingo, then caught the train to Spoleto. The B&B I was heading for was under repair, so I went up the hill to the convent, where I had a very good night's sleep.
I booked the next night at Ceselli, and this morning I started really walking, across thus bridge out of Spoleto.
There are trail markings, but Sandy Brown's GPS tracks are a big help.
All roads lead to Rome, but choosing the one with your bed at the end of it is important.
An  observation about Italian drivers: I'm surprised how patient they are. A few times I was dithering and holding someone up, but there were none of the cranky horns you would get in Sydney. I suppose this us in the countryside, but the roads are still sometimes busy. Anyway, thank you, calm and patient Italian drivers.

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Good, Better, Best

Thanks to the pilgrim-inappropriate method of transport of a car, I have now been to 3 places of pilgrimage, Assisi, La Verna and yesterday, the monastery of Camaldola in the hills above Poppi.
The Mother of the convent in Poppi recommended a visit to Camaldola, and she was certainly right. There are several monks living there and there are places to stay and live for a while without technology and, if you like, speak with the monks. An unexpected connection: the head of this order of monks and nuns is an Australian, Fr Peter, who lives in Rome.
As well as the monastery, there are spectacular walks through the mountain's and forests and you can stay in cabins which are apparently cheap if you join the right organisation here.

All these places are great and it does the possibilities if you go off the beaten track a bit.

I was told La Verna  is less touristy than Assisi, and Camaldola is less touristy than La Verna. What's next?

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La Verna, Poppi

Today visited La Verna, very inspiring.
Tonight in a convent in Poppi in Tuscany.

My phone battery is getting low, so more details later.

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La Verna

It is maybe a break from a pilgrimage, but I hired a car and came up to La Verna, north of Assisi. It is very peaceful.

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Green and gold

I'm visiting Perugia, and while I'm here I had to recharge my SIM card. I met these boys in the Vodafone shop, the world champion South African fishing team.

I was told I had to go to the bar across the road to recharge the sim.
This I did, and saw in the bar one of the many photos of Pope Francis you see here. (There was also one in the Vodafone shop)

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Planning

I have been having a couple of beers in my now favourite bar in Assisi, while doing some planning for my first day's walking on Wednesday.
Sandy Brown, who is writing a guidebook for this route, suggests a choice of an easy or difficult route from Assisi to Spello. The German "Outdoor" guide book suggests the difficult route, which follows the Red/white route 50 sign posts.
I had intended to do the easy route, but it is the difficult route which goes past the Eremo delle Carceri where St Francis lived for a while (half way up the 800m hill nearby (gulp)). The Franciscan priest I met on the train here recommended this, so I will try the difficult route after all.
I will also try to book accommodation tomorrow for my night in Spello on Wednesday night. The Outdoor guide book recommends either a convent or one of the hotels there.
I'll try the convent first, then the hotel.
I may be the only person doing this climb on Wednesday.

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This is more like it

I walked to the San Damiano church, which seemed closer than the threatened 1.5km. It is beautiful and peaceful. This is where St Clare and her sisters lived, and where St Francis received his first message and where he died.
The various guides and information offices don't give much information about this, I think they prefer you to eat gelati in the piazza commun.
I may be a little over cynical, there are many pilgrim groups here. One I saw this morning seemed to be all deaf. They were having a guided tour entirely by sign language.
The weather is a little strange, there are often rain clouds in the distance, but it hasn't rained here so far. Right now it is 5pm and very pleasant. Sunny, warm and with a soft breeze. Didn't St Francis write a prayer about something like that?

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