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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Busy Assisi

I was always told that Lourdes was very commercial, but when I visited there last year, I did not find it like that. It is true that a few hundred metres from the basilica there are shops selling rosary beads that glow in the dark, or plastic bottles for holy water, but that's pretty harmless. I bought some of it myself.

Assisi is a holy place because of St Francis and St Clare, but there are many more tourists here to do sightseeing than at Lourdes. There are also expensive shops, fine dining and art exhibitions that make it a little difficult to find St Francis behind it all.
I suppose one reason is that the Assisi of St Francis is much older than the Lourdes of Bernadette. There have been centuries of building and hangers on who came after St Francis. At Lourdes, the big basilica looks like an underground car park and no one would go there except for a Mass.
Anyway, I'm now off to see the church of St Damian, about a kilometre out of town and hopefully away from most of the tourists.

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Here in Assisi

At last! I'm in Assisi! To be honest, I was glad to leave Rome. I think it would be easier to visit Rome in winter. It's hard work when there are a lot of tourists.
I came here by train, the person next to me was a Franciscan priest from Rome who was was going to Terna to say Mass over the weekend. Of course, he knew a lot about the places around here.
At the moment I'm having a Forst beer,next to a group of Germans.
There are storm clouds in the distance, but it's sunny at the moment.
I'll go down to the hotel where I'm staying to tell them is like to have dinner there tonight, them I'll look around town and make plans for going to Mass at the basilica tomorrow. Assisi is bigger than I expected. It's a longish walk to the basilica from here.

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Cultural differences

I noticed that in buses here, there are only 3 or 4 buttons to alert the driver you want to get out at the next stop. This means you have to ask one of the other passengers to push the button for you.

Since Australians come from English and north European stock, the idea of interacting with a stranger horrifies us, so buses are equipped with buttons at every seat.

Of course traffic here also involves the potential of close personal contact, but that is another matter.

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Pauze in Vienna

It is now 6.30am at Vienna airport. I have to wait until noon for my flight to Rome.

Play to your strength: they have the musical score of The Merry Widow printed on the wall next to the baggage collection carousel here.

The first leg from Sydney to Bangkok was on Thai Airlines, and their level of service was remarkable. The food in economy was basic cafeteria food, but there was a lot of it, with frequent drink and snack breaks. Any call for attention was answered in seconds. There was great attention to detail, such as the stewardesses wearing formal clothes for dinner, then changing to something simpler for breakfast. Impressive.

Bravo Sydney transport

Thanks to the elegant transport interchange at Circular Quay, it is surprisingly easy to get to the airport.

Then I had my backpack wrapped for the journey. Snug as a bug in a rug.

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Social bonding and dahlias

On the first Sunday in September in a province of Holland, there is a parade of floats made of dahlia flowers. This is called the "Bloemencorso Zundert", Zundert being a town in Holland near the border with Belgium, just north of Antwerp.
Apparently each small village spends months preparing these floats, so they can be admired and judged. It is all crazy of course, but I think it is a wonderful example of community activities that keep societies alive. I regret that there are not many events like this in Australia. We seem to have events where governments produce the event and the spectators watch passively, such as the New Year Eve fireworks and the Sydney festival. We need more community involvement.

According to the news reports, there are now overseas entries in the Bloemencorso, including from Australia. Why not do it here?

Fort Denison

A fortress built on a small island in Sydney harbour in the 19th century to protect us against the Russians.
Now it is used mostly for fine dining and parties.

Credenziale del Pellegrino

This is the Pilgrim's passport kindly mailed to me by the people at the basilica in Assisi. As well as providing evidence of being on the camino, it includes maps of the routes.

This is the plan: Assisi to Rome along this route:

This is one of the camino routes in Europe which are shown in this map: