Final Thoughts

                                         Our Final Days and Other Random Thoughts

       May 12 was my 65th birthday. Lynda and I had planned to spend it in Le Marche, Italy. Since we have been going there every year for the last 10 years we have made several friends but the best ones were our two dear friends Michael and Liliana. We have spent many a day at their beautiful house in the Sarnano area but last year they moved closer to the coast where they have an equally nice house.

Michael and Liliana's House (typical restoration)

They invited us to lunch on Sunday, not only my birthday, but also the 'giorno della Mamas' in Italy as it is in the USA and Canada.
     Michael is one of the most innovative and creative people I have ever met. Being an ex- gifted and talented teacher I respect that. He is not only an accomplished artist, one who has taught art in San Francisco and Siena and given shows in Italy, England and Turkey to name a few places. He is also a creativity 'life' coach as well as many other hats he wears.

Lynda and Michael in His Art Studio

       Liliana was an chef from Venice(responsible for my pasta making ability), a realtor and an instructor in 'life' fitness among other things. We went to their new house that had the most beautiful views from their front door and from the back. From their house you could see two of those small walled towns camped on the top of green-covered hills.

A View from their House

       That day a friend of theirs was doing a book signing at an old 6th century Abbey and Michael wanted me to meet her as we both have published books. She had written a book based on blog journaling so we shared the ups and downs of publishing.


The Book Signing

       It was a birthday I wouldn't forget. There are many things I wouldn't forget about this trip. One is driving in Italy. When you return your car in Italy you thank God that you haven't wrecked or crumpled a fender. The Italians are wonderful drivers but yet wild and impatient. They travel at warp speeds on the autostradas and you learn to get out of their way as they creep up behind you at 150 KPH and sit on your back bumper and flash their lights at you. It is time to move over. Then when you are on the smaller state highways there are the dreaded roundabouts where you learn very quickly to pick your desired exit from the plethora of choices available and always to look left at the yields in the roundabouts. If you miss the exit then just stay on the roundabout and try again.


Small Trucks

One Way Street



Narrow Streets

Heading Into a Roundabout

The other thing is the 'senso unico', or one way street that is plentiful in the small towns. In a way they are Godsends since no one should be coming down the narrow street. Lynda especially likes these as she doesn't have to grip the door rest as hard. When there are two way streets you soon learn to stay right or quickly back up. It is an experience you will never forget but it makes you a better driver for doing so.
       Italians are nice people and I love to just sit and watch them My command of the Italian language is always enhanced when we are there. I learn to experience the things I would never see here in North America. The two choice flush toilets, bidets and small showers make bathrooms an experience.

A Circular Shower



A Bidet

Left for #2, right for #1

Also old people riding bikes, multi-generational strolls that families take, tiny trucks and cars(though I own a Smart car here), a huge percentage of smokers who haven't got the message that it kills and gelato shops on every corner are hard to forget.


Grandpa(nonno) on bike with grandson!

Smokers Galore

Small but smart cars(mileage good for $8.00 a gal. gas)

Multi-generational Walk

 Lynda especially loves the gelato shops, especially ciacolatta and nocciola.

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Makes His Own Gelato in His Basement

     All in all it was a great adventure. Hopefully when my body is reconstructed and Lynda's ankles get better we can experience new places and wonders that travel like this beckons us to .
       We are home now. Jet lag has reared it's ugly head as we were wide awake at five am. We've already got our Mexican breakfast we were craving. It is time to start on my surgeries and lose the ten pounds I added in Europe. And by the way our luggage was lost. American Airlines call this morning reassured us that they haven't tracked it yet. As I said in my first post on this blog: 'experienced traveler: an oxymoron'.     
       See you in the next blog. Who knows, some of these places and characters I have met just might appear in  an upcoming book. Thanks for letting me share with you.

                         Time Travelers-The Italian Countryside: Our Choice

        When in Italy if you only go to Rome or Florence or Venice then you are missing the ‘real’ Italy. The tourist areas have their benefits. They have all the attractions such as the Coliseum, the Rialto Bridge or the “David’. But they are also filled with tourists from all over the world, have subways and trams and line-ups to get into everything. They are often hot, bothersome and expensive.

Nonna

My cheese guy

            For my wife and me we have seen all those things, some of them a multitude of times, but we have fallen in love with the Italian countryside and the magical spell that it casts upon us. The real people live there. They are our special attractions. In a way it is as if we have jumped on the time machine and travelled back to the days of our youth when times were much simpler. You watch the old man walking with a cane, wearing his tweed coat and his tam talking with his friends, sharing a stiffly laced coffee or playing cards.

Nonno and his Friends

You see the old nonna walking down the street, hunched over from years of sweating over her marinara sauce or her homemade pasta she has rolled out by hand or helping plant and hoe the garden plot. She might be carrying a cloth bag full of fresh goodies from the cheese man or the vegetable stand or the butcher’s small store. She walks everywhere.

The Views from the Small Towns

Piazza



Small streets

Pedestrians Only

            The small towns have a magic of their own. They often sit high atop a hill surrounded by green fields dotted with olive groves or lined with the familiar sight of carefully terraced vineyards.

 

Around the town is a wall marking the old city or ‘centro’ usually entered by an arched gate of some sort.

The Gate

Once inside there are small roads that can be only travelled one way because you could never get through with two cars. The back streets often are available only to pedestrians or motorcycles. These tiny streets and walkways  form a network a spider would be proud of. The main road inside usually leads to a piazza at the top of the town where the church might be, a tower once used to defend the town folks from the invasions by the next town to the right or left or a place of meeting in one of the local bars.

            Here between the hours of 8:00 am and 12:00 and then again from 4:00 pm until whenever the town is alive with shopping, encounters with old friends, having a coffee at a bar and the eventual discussions that lead to the wild hand gestures that the Italians are known for. In the in-between hours the town closes up, there is an eerie silence on the streets and the real Italians are inside their homes or at a restaurant having their large meal, pranza, which might last for two hours or so.

I don’t know how they can eat so much and still remain so thin. They don’t seem to have a large breakfast like we do, only an espresso(which can set off a high metabolic rate) and a brioche(pastry) of some kind. But at lunch and sometimes at dinner it seems like antipasto, first course(primi), second course(secondi) and dolce to follow are the rule. Add the requisite bread and wine and perhaps a grappa or a limoncello afterward and the long lunch comes to a close. Perhaps a sleep period or nap follows and then it is back to business again.

Artichoke Pasta

The people of the countryside are likeable and friendly. They are willing to give you help when lost or sometimes like the restaurant owner in Potenza Picena, guide you to your destination. They love it when you speak to them in their language and will slow down their own speech to accommodate you. Yesterday the chef at a restaurant that specialized in artichokes came out and spoke to all the people at the four tables and told us about his specialties. When he saw us he said he would speak ‘lentemente’(slowly) so we could understand him. He was very pleased when I told him I had selected two of his artichoke dishes for my lunch.

 Meals in these towns are produced by chefs that are proud of their work and their craft. They rival any of the finest meals I have had in some of the more expensive restaurants in the cities. The Moms and Pops who run these family establishments take their time to explain their foods to you and in my case, when asked, are proud to show me their kitchens. I haven’t had a bad meal in any of these countryside osterias, ristorantes or trattorias.

This is why we tuck ourselves away in small apartments run by the nicest people like our old friends Michael and Liliana or our new friends Azzurra and Alissandro. Bed and breakfasts or ‘agritourismo’ is the way to go. Driving down the hills and valleys of these back country roads to get to one of these places is worth it because at every turn a new view awaits you and who knows a new friend.

The Beach and the Mountain Lake

                           La Spiaggia e Il Lago Montagna (the beach and the mountain lake)

       Now we are in more familiar territory, the province of Le Marche, Italy. We have been coming here for the last 10 years and are not only familiar with the roads and some of the towns but also with a few people here. One of our friends we always visited, Laurence Barker, moved back to San Antonio a week before we embarked on this adventure.
       Yesterday was a brilliant day. The sun was shining brightly, the sky was devoid of clouds and the temperature was about 26 Celsius. We decided that if we were going to the beach then this had to be the day we would go, just in case we got some bad weather. Lynda made us a picnic lunch and we headed to Porto Portenza  and found a nice stretch of sandy beach.

The Sandy Beach on the Italian Side of the Adriatica

It is the same water that we swam in on the Croatian side but the beach was sandy and the water not quite as clear. There were, however, boats for fishing and water for swimming in.

Fishing Boats

       There were topless sun bathers(no pictures included) as is the custom here in Italy. I don't mind but Lynda has to stop me from gawking. We called our friend Michael and he was free and joined us for some drinks on the beach. Later his lovely wife Liliana joined us. We agreed to meet on Sunday and celebrate my 65th B-day.
       After we went back and showered our gracious host Azzurra made us a reservation at a beach restaurant where the food was delicious and plentiful.

Octopus with Potato: An Antipasto

       Today we headed to the small town of Sarnano that we had fallen in love with 10 years ago and is the reason for my e-mail address.

Some older Italians Talking about the Problems of the World?

We stopped at some spots we enjoyed there, saw a few familiar faces and then headed up into the Sibilinni Mountains and to Lake Fiastra. (we didn't walk around this one)

A Green Lake

There we had another great lunch and Lynda finished it with a Tartuffo Nero while I digested my meal od pasta with cinghiale(wild boar).


Fattening?

Love the Wild Boar Sauce

We went to the top of the mountains and saw the remnants of the winter's snowfall.

Snow Still There in May

Lynda was happy because we drove this time. We returned back to our apartment but not without seeing fields of poppys that dotted the landscape and many signs that told us to beware of cattle crossing.


Look out for those cows!!!!

Fields of Poppys

       My Italian is coming back to me rapidly. Yesterday I could understand my friend Michael's entire conversation to his wife and today a lady at a coffee bar in Sarnano, when see asked if we wanted in a glass, I told her in Italian what I wanted . She said I speak Italian, was happy, and proceeded to finish the order in Italian and I reciprocated. Thank you Lynda, my beautiful Italian teacher.

Solitude

                                                                 Solitude
       I'm sitting outside in the glorious sunshine in Le Marche, Italy writing this blog entry. To my left I get a teasing glimpse of the sea, to my middle view of hills and  valleys and to my right the pretty pergola covered with wild yellow and white roses.

The Hills and the Valleys(from our front pergola)

The Pergola and Wild Roses

      I'm playing 'catch' with the two dogs who rule the area. One is a boxer, Teti, and the other a Shepherd, Kira.

These two large ladies bring me rocks and old toys and God know what to throw around the yard( or garden) as they say it.

Lynda Played With the Dogs(she was so happy there weren't any steps!!!

     We are at an agriturismo( meaning out in the country) where there are sounds of roosters crowing, birds chirping and the small cars whizzing down the collines(hills) on the narrow back roads. Every once and while a butterfly or a bee whizzes past my ears. After the noise of the old town of San Marino, these five days will be welcome.
       I'm usually prepared and have no trouble finding the places we are to stay at but this time I neglected to print out directions. I knew the town nearby so we stopped at the 'Osteria del Vinco' for pranza where we also asked for directions. The owner, showing how gracious Italians are, told us to follow him in his car. He took us exactly to our location. After a 'grazie mille' he was on his way and we were at our lovely domicile for the next five nights.
      The place is called 'Le Rose e I Bambu' where the roses grow in compatibility with the bamboo.

I Bambu

Our hostess, Azzurra Giannazzi, has been most helpful and set up our breakfast pantry with cheese, salami, the tiny little square toasts we love here, coffees, teas, homemade jams, and last night brought over a special breakfast cake she made that day.
     Since we are far into the countryside our cell phone only works outside, much like when we lived in Lufkin, and the internet can be only connected out there also. Her husband came home from work and between the two of us we set up a Telecom Italia connection for us. The breeze is blowing a gentle warmth as the day is sunny and clear. It looks like it will be a day at the beach for us. Lynda is making a picnic lunch for the beach and tonight we'll have another great Italian dinner at some unknown restaurant.

Things I didn't expect to see In San Marino

                                            Mafia, Torture and Other Sights in San Marino

       Last night when we arrived in San Marino I explained how a policewoman stopped us and wouldn't let us go into the old city. It seems there was to be a large protest that night in front of the Piazza Pubblica where the Governor lived.

The Governor's Palace

They were protesting the influence of the Mafia on the local police. It is very new to San Marino and the people don't want them involved in their lives like in much of Italy. San Marino, another World Heritage site, has always been a home of peace and neutrality. It has it's own Statue of Liberty, made Abraham Lincoln a honorary citizen in 1860 and was a haven for about 100,000 refugees during World War Two, so it was natural that they don't want Mafia/police involvement.
       The view from our window was spectacular as we could see for miles, even to the ocean when the sun was out.

Miles and Miles of Fields

As we set out for our 'tourist' thing this morning we were dressed in sweaters and jackets and carried umbrellas. Though they were necessary at times we could also had shorts and T-shirts on when the sun came out. We saw where they held the ancient/modern crossbow competitions.

Crossbow Viewing Area

The most exciting thing of the day for me was the Museo della Tortura.

Nightmares Tonight?

Being a history buff and researching a topic about torture for one of my books I was extremely satisfied to see the racks, the finger choppers, the chair of spikes, a metal chastity belt, executioner's swords and the infamous Judas Cradle. The pictures will speak for themselves. It was disturbing to note that most of these were aimed against women who were blasphemous, adulterers and thieves. Such torture still goes on in several countries today.


The Judas Cradle- right up the rectum or other orifices!

These Could Solve the Birth Control Issue

This Could Hurt Anywhere It was Put

Just Some Everyday Necklaces

They Sat You Down and Tightened Everything Up

Executioner's Swords- still used today!

Finger Torture

If You Survived It Made You Grow an Inch

      There were towers that guarded the cities and stone gates that served as entrance points along it's wall.

The Great Wall

We did get to see the changing of the guard at the Governor's Palace.

Changing the Guard-Quite Impressive

I almost walked to the top of the tower but remembered the promise I made to my legs in Plitvice and the look on Lynda's face when she saw how steep it was turned out to be the deciding factor.

Too Steep For Our Legs

       For all my teacher friends, in the last two days the city has been filled with school field trips from all over the area. Not only elementary, but middle and high school age.
      Tomorrow we are headed to a farm in Italy, Le Marche province, where we will stay for five days and do what we want.