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Italy Trip, Sunday, July 23 (Day 4)
I must have made the time adjustment pretty well because although I had set the alarm for 8 AM, I woke up about 7:30. That gave me time for breakfast, getting things stuffed into the suitcases, checking out, and getting on the road. I had planned to be out by about 9 AM and made it by about 9:20. My goal was to be at the airport by 11 AM to meet the Active Adventures folks.
The trip was the reverse of the way to town. Two subway rides and then the train. There were fewer people out today, probably because it was Sunday. I was able to bump my suitcase down the stairs, get a ticket (which I found out was good for 90 minutes, not the whole day like I thought), and find the proper car to get on. The transition to the second subway was a little more complicated and I wandered around for a little bit, but found the right place just as the car came along. Sweet.
When I got to the Cardona station, I found the ticket office and bought my ticket for the train. Turns out my timing (or God’s timing, of course) was impeccable. I had 3 minutes to get there and walked onto the train just as the doors were about to close. A half-hour ride later I was back at the airport.
I looked for the meeting place–the “Gran Cafe” per instructions, but it wasn’t there, at least by that name. There were two coffee shops, so not knowing where to be and not wanting to miss my ride (that would have been a bummer!), I went ahead and turned on my phone so I could call the tour leader. We arranged to meet at one of the exits about 20 minutes later, so all was well. I’m sure the call, and the texts I got while I was waiting, will cost a lot (I didn’t get a calling plan because I’m only expecting to use the phone with WiFi), but it was worth it, considering the circumstances!
The rest of the group had been picked up at the first stop, a local hotel, so I just joined the crew. One other person had misjudged the day-change so was coming in a bit later in the afternoon. So the plan was for the 6 of us to head out with the driver/guide, and the tour leader would wait for the other person and meet us at our lunch stop, about 30 KM away.
Because we had a bit of time, we were able to stop at a church along the way. This very large church, almost a cathedral, is certainly an anomaly in the countryside. There are lots of small houses and plots of land, and suddenly you turn the corner and there’s this large, imposing structure. It’s Sentieri del Boca. Beautiful materials and relatively plain inside–for a Catholic church, anyway. 🙂
I couldn’t resist a couple of “art” shots–one of a cool round staircase and one of light coming through columns on a walkway on one side of the church. I love repeating patterns.
Then we were on our way. I could have taken lots of pictures of the countryside if we’d been able to stop, but alas, those pictures will have to remain in my memory.
When we did stop, it was at a town called Varallo, just below the church/town where we were going to have lunch. The houses rising up on the riverbank were just too good to pass up! And in the town, there’s a festival of some sort going on and a lot of street vendors were there selling their wares to the many folks wandering the narrow streets.
A cool thing distinguishing the area was all the white umbrellas overhead. It made the streets unique and probably provides some shade in the middle of the day. By the time we were there, it was maybe 4 PM?
From the edge of town, we took a tram (you’ll see the view from over the town) up to the Sacro Monte de Verallo. This area has been built over several centuries. The original idea was to “recreate” or copy some parts of Jerusalem. Many relatively small, separate sanctuaries (buildings) were built that have scenes from the New Testament and Jesus’ life. These structures are not made to walk into, but they have statues and paintings depicting the scene. The viewer looks through wooden screens with holes in strategic places to ensure you see the most dramatic view.
The structures are pretty spread out. That has the effect of causing one to contemplate what you’ve just seen, I’m thinking. In a time when many were illiterate, scenes such as these were used to show a story. I’m sure it had a great effect. Since I’m more interested in landscapes and architecture, I spent more time looking around outside than through the viewing screens.
For the large church itself, I’m not showing an overall picture of the inside, but it’s very ornate. In the one picture you’ll see of an area close to the ceiling, there are statues melding into the painted walls. Quite impressive, actually. And there’s a nice pipe organ there, too.
The second-to-last picture is of a walkway towards the end of our tour. That’s Kim waving at me. The last picture is of our crew with the lady who guided us around the sanctuaries). Jo, our tour leader, is wielding the camera. So let’s see if I can get all these names right. From the top left, there’s Chris (only fella amongst our tour participants) and Patricia his wife. Robin is at the top right. Then there’s me, Kim, our guide for the day in the yellow shirt, then Nikki, and Trish in blue. We’re 7, plus two guides.
So right now, we’re at our hotel. We’ve had dinner and everyone else has gone to bed. As usual, I’m up late doing this blog. Once I get it uploaded, I’m going to take a shower and hit the sack. My rommie is Robin, so I hope I can manage to not wake her. We’ll see!
Tomorrow is our first big hike, so we’ll see how our mountain-legs sort out. I rather expect to be bringing up the rear, but hopefully getting some decent pictures. I’m not sure at what points I’ll break out the big camera and where I’ll just use the iPhone, but that’s an issue for tomorrow!
G’night y’all!
