We took a walk on the hiking trail at Punta Aderci today, a seaside preserve between Termoli and Ortona.  I’ll leave you with some photos.

Chad walking on the trail

another section of the trail

people ride horses on this trail (this photo is for Michele)

a sign showing the way to the beach

we found a trobocco, a traditional fishing pier

a view of the coast

the wildflowers in Italy are crazy in the springtime

and more wildflowers

flowers

wild flowers

wild flowers and native grasses with a view of the sea beyond

me with tall wild flowers behind me

walking back to the car

and a snail because, why not?

We drove a little over an hour to Isernia today.  Here’s why Isernia is on the map.

In 1978, the federal government was cutting up the landscape to build one of many highways through southern Italy.  These highways would make it easier and faster to transport goods and move around the country.  So the government cut through a small hill next to Isernia to create this highway.  An amateur archeological enthusiast was passing through and thought, “Is that a bone protruding through an earthen wall along the highway?”

Flash forward to today.  This is now a major archeological site which has been in development for over 40 years to discover its history.  The craziest thing is that this site indicates human habitation 600,000 to 700,000 years ago, and it is the first known location of human use of fire in Europe.  (This thing about the fire might be a rumor because the official literature did not mention this.)  In any case, it was a very interesting visit.

The main museum contains wonderful exhibits about human physical evolution, social evolution, and transitioning from nomadic hunter-gatherers to settled social units who call a place home.

Specifically for the Iserrnia site, it was interesting to learn that archeological discovery ranged from animal bones to flint and limestone tools.  The animal bones suggest that the humans hunted a variety of large animals and only brought home the body parts that had the most meat.  The bones also suggest that the humans made tools to crack open the bones to eat the marrow which would have been an important part of the nutrition in their genetic development.

In any case, this museum was fascinating with great information on regional history and archeology and discoveries.

a view of the main exhibition hall showing the discoveries of the dig site – the archeology site has found bones from deer, bison, elephant, rhinoceros, boars, bears, lions, leopards, hyenas, and also small creatures such as beavers, ducks, fish, and amphibians

the museum also included a room with a reconstruction of one of the dig sites with original artifacts – scientists think that humans had their own version of a trash dump where they buried the leftover animal bones to deter carnivores from coming around – this is why the number of bones excavated is so dense

The museum also had a pavilion where archeologists are still working, and Chad said, “I can’t believe you can still hear the cars going by.  And all because I guy said – what is that thing sticking out of the dirt?  Is that a bone?”  It was indeed the bone of an animal.

view of the current excavation – the archeologists use these wooden ramps to walk around so they don’t disturb the site

you can see all of the bones that haven’t been excavated yet

and the view of the archeologists’ workstations

After this museum and looking at all of these animal bones, we were, well, hungry.  We found a great restaurant in town for a relaxing meal.

Chad at the restaurant – the wine bottles in the background are actually a wine shop that you walk through in order to enter the restaurant

lunch started with an amuse-bouche of a little fish sandwich – the bread was made with squid ink, and the filling was seared fish with bufalla cream and mint

an appetizer of squid

pasta filled with local cheese and topped with cherry tomatoes and crispy seared guanciale (pig’s cheeks)

the restaurant tables had maps of Italy listing the prominent wines of each region – after dinner, Chad and I played a little game where we tested our knowledge of the names of the regions themselves – this was kind of like trying to name all of the 50 states in the US, except that Italy has just 20

Isernia has been decimated by 8 major earthquakes over the centuries – the last being in 1984 – and the town is mostly rebuilt and relatively new.  We weren’t sure what would be left of the old town.  It was also raining so we decided to just head home rather than walk around and explore.

On the way home to Guardialfiera, we decided to eschew the federal highway that we took into the city and take the longer mountain road home.  To make a long story short, we went up and up on hairpin turns, on roads that were the width of about 1-1/2 cars so it was always an adventure to pass another car coming your way, and you never knew how the condition of the road would treat your car.

We got out of the car to check the depth of this puddle in the middle of the road before continuing with our drive

In the end, the mountain road was worth it because we came upon a field of commercial windmills, and they are unbelievably tall.  They look tall from down below, but when you are actually at the base of these guys, wow!  I’m guessing 10-12 stories tall.

major windmills

So this slow mountain drive up and over and finally down into Guardialfiera was worth the angst and curvy ride of the mountain drive back home.

view from the top of the mountain

And returning to Guardialfiera, we were greeted with warm, semi-sunny weather, which was such a blessing after a week and a half of non-stop clouds and rain. 

Finally a pause in the rain and a sunny view from the apartment

We took a nice long walk around the village.  Then we took some playing cards up to our little bar to have a pre-dinner drink and play our favorite Italian card game of Scopa. 

Then back to the house for a dinner of salad with tuna before retiring for the evening.

Goodnight, Guardialfiera

It’s been a quiet week here.  We made a trip to Termoli to do some paperwork for Chad’s citizenship.  We also went to Campobasso to run some errands and try to ship a package back to the States.  The shipping price was 320 euros, so we said “no thanks” and decided we would just take it on the plane with us as checked luggage.

The weather here has been generally rainy and cloudy and foggy.  That and the language barrier has been putting me in a grumpy mood.  However, here are some random photos from the last few days.

our neighbor’s garage door has a cow head

super fluffy clouds across the valley

Italy has poppies all over the place

sunrise the other morning

this kitty was perched on our neighbor’s chimney – I have no idea how she got up there

we had a mix of typical Puglia dessert cookies in Monte Sant’Agnelo

this was our “drinks with a view” in Vieste where the restaurant owners commandeered the town’s retaining wall and used it as a cocktail table

Chad with his dream car, an Ape – “ape” means “bee” which, if you hear one of this cars, you will understand why it is called a “bee”

a full moon over the sea at Vieste

me on the trail in the Umbra Forest

we saw lots of painting on the walls of houses in Rodi

the craziest fog rolled into the valley a couple of days ago

and the fog tonight is ridiculous

and some wildflowers

It’s been a quiet few days for us with cloudy and rainy weather.  So here are some photos of food.

seafood salad and ceviche

ravioli stuffed with fish and decorated with basil cream – it was so delicious!

a version of gnocchi with prawns

mille feuille for dessert

and a glass of grappa

Chad

this is the Italian version of take-out – green beans, arancini, seafood salad, and a roasted pepper stuffed with polenta and cheese

potato chips with the flavor of roasted pork and rosemary – surprisingly delicious

happy hour view a view in Vieste

lunch in Monte Sant’Angelo

lunch in Monte Sant’Angelo – Chad is having a local beer from Gargano

our lunch appetizer in the Umbra Forest – bread/cheese dumplings, olives, sundried tomatoes

and the second round of appetizers in the forest – meat, cheese, egg frittata, grilled zucchini

and the third round of appetizers in the forest – breaded bell pepper, breaded zucchini

our neighbor dropped by to give us some fresh ricotta from his farm

and our thyme plant is blooming

On the way home from Gargano, we drove down the east coast of the peninsula.  We found a hiking path just off of the highway, a path that took us along a mountain ridge with incredible views of the sea. We walked maybe a mile along this path and then turned around to go back to the car because we thought we would take another hike down at the sea.

a resort on a bay in Gargano

view of pine trees and the sea

a trail on the mountain with a view of the sea

The Gargano coast is beautiful with its white limestone cliffs and rock formations.  The most famous are the Pizzomunno formation in Vieste and the arch just down the coast.

the Pizzomunno

the limestone arch, as seen through trees

When we got to sea level, we couldn’t find the trail head.  We walked and walked and realized we were traversing farmland and were nowhere near the trail. 

well, we walked through some agricultural fields

But we did notice that every electrical tower had a built-in bird basket for a pelican nest.

a pelican nest – if you squint, you can see the baby’s head poking up from the middle of the nest

We then traveled up into the mountains to visit two important pilgrimage churches.  And when I say we went up into the mountains, WE WENT UP INTO THE MOUNTAINS.  We went from sea level to 2,600 feet in 30 minutes, navigating 20 hairpin curves up up up.  I think the Tour d’Italia bike race might have been going through here, because we saw lots of advertising banners on the fences and guardrails along the way.

Monte Sant-Angelo is famous for the cave where the Archangel Michael appeared three times in  490, 492, and 493.  The cave has now been integrated as part of a Renaissance church.  We visited in early May, and the town and church were already unbearable with tourists; I can’t imagine what it must be like in July and August.  If you’ve ever been to the Sistine Chapel, it was like that – packed with people and the docents constantly saying “shhh”.  However, it was very interesting from an architect’s perspective with the way the new church was built around the cave.

the facade of the Archangelo church

the door of the church that wasn’t thronged by tourists

the cave where Archangel Michael appeared – now a pilgrimage site – and filled with tourists who were sitting down for Mass

down in the cellar where the “new” church meets the face of the cave

I was intrigued by the architecture of the houses in the town

Our next stop was San Giovanni Rotondo, another Catholic pilgrimage site.  Padre Pio (1887-1968) was a capuchin monk at the convent in this town for 50 years, and he was known for his healing powers.  He was canonized as a saint in 2002.  To this day, you can see his image all over southern Italy. 

Padre Pio’s original church is still open to the public. 

Padre Pio’s church – the original old church is on the left, the “new” church is on the right and looks like it was built in the 1930s, I need to do a little more research on this

However, it is the new-new church that drew me to the town.  The new church was designed by world-famous architect Renzo Piano, and it opened in 2004.  The church can seat 6,000 and can also accommodate 10,000 standing.  That’s a lot of pilgrims!

 The architecture is interesting, but the most beautiful parts are the stained-glass windows and the mosaics leading down into the crypt.

the Renzo Piano church

the campanile, off to the side of the church

modern stained-glass windows

mosaic hallway down to the modern crypt

the crypt

close-up of a mosaic

another close-up

Perhaps the strangest part is the fact that Padre Pio’s body was exhumed in 2008 and is now on display in a glass box in the crypt.  The faithful were lined up to view the body and pay their respects.  Of course, I got in line as well, because, tradition.  While all of the other (Catholic) people in line did the signs of the cross and the finger-kiss in front of Padre Pio, I just held my hands in prayer.  And while many people took photos of his body, I did not do so because it seemed disrespectful.  You can Google it if you want to see it.

the queue to view Padre Pio’s body

And in Monte Sant’Angelo, we had a wonderful lunch and also bought some wine and snacks to bring home.

savory snacks, three bottles of wine, and two Gargano guidebooks that were gifts from the patrons of our lunch venue

When we had lunch at the B&B in the Umbra Forest, we chatted with the restaurant owner, his wife, and their friend Gianni.  We learned that there would be a festival over the weekend to celebrate the citrus harvest in Rodi Garganico.  Rodi is a town on the coast that is known for its orange and lemon produce.  In fact, Rodi used to export citrus to the USA if you can imagine that.  We looked at a book that showed all of the labels from the export boxes over the years, and it was a graphic designer’s dream of labels.  We also learned that each orange was wrapped in its own beautiful piece of paper before being packed into the shipping box. 

oranges from Rodi

Anyway, knowing that there was a citrus festival, we hopped in the car on Saturday morning and drove to Rodi.  It is another beautiful town where the houses drape down the side of the mountain and land at the sea. 

view down onto Rodi at the sea

a cute street in Rodi

we saw many houses which were painted with special scenes

this house had a painting of a barn with the horse “tied” to the original horse ring

a church in Rodi

a cupola in the church

pipe organ in the church

and a very modern “Last Supper” painting in the church

and this little restaurant had tables made from street signs

The festival was strung along two plazas which were connected by a little alley.  There were many booths with products for sale ranging from marmalade to liqueurs to artwork to jewelry. 

festival decorations

festival decorations above a door

We bumped into our new friend Gianni and took a tour of the festival with him.

Chad and Gianni in a little shop

we bought some things from the little store – cime di rape (cream sauce from rapini greens), finochietto (fennel liqueur), sour orange marmalade, olive oil soaps, local olive oil in the can, and oranges and a lemon which were gifted to us

We had fried pizza dough for lunch.  You could get it bianca (plain) or with tomato sauce and cheese.  It was delicious!  We also had a little beer and did some people-watching on the square.

fried pizza dough snack with a free glass of chilled red wine

beer on the square

a view of the square

All in all a good day!

in addition to artwork painted on houses, we saw lots of poetry on the walls…

We spent a long weekend in Vieste in the Puglia region of Italy.  Vieste is one of many towns in the Gargano National Park.  It is right on the coast with beautiful sandy beaches, and its old medieval town center spills down the hillside to the sea. 

one of the beaches

the lighthouse

fishing boats in the marina

a trabocco – a traditional fishing pier which is common along the east coast of Italy, nets are hung from the pier to catch schools of fish as they swim by

The town has a population of 14,000 people, and it is relatively compact in size.  However, based on the sheer number of hotels, B&Bs, and camping resorts plus the number of restaurants and pizzerias, I imagine it gets crazy with tourists in July and August.  I’m glad we visited in May when it was relatively quiet.

one of the staircases from the lower town going up to the upper town

the original entry portal into the old town, looking back into the new town

a side street in the old town with hanging plants for decoration

a piazza in the old town with a full moon on display

And this is a monument to a sad story. Turks invaded Vieste in 1556, raped the women, took the men as slaves, and slaughtered everyone else (elderly, women, children) at this rock outcropping.

The weather was bright and sunny with a cool breeze during our trip.  We alternated between walking and walking and walking and just sitting and enjoying the views. 

snacks with a view

the sea at sunset

I would definitely go back and do it all again.

and then I loved this painting on the facade of a children’s clothing store

and this one…

On our first day in Gargano, we went into the Umbra Forest.  The forest is the last stand of native beech tree forest in Italy, and it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  It is absolutely beautiful.  We were up in the mountains so, in addition to the shade from the trees, we were at high altitude which made for perfect hiking weather in May.

We went on two very different hikes, both on flat trails but with different scenery.

a hiking trail

We heard lots of birds.

the Larghetto in the Umbra Forest

We saw an insane amount of tadpoles in the pond.

we saw some deer

and we found this spectacular meadow with springtime wildflowers

Then we went in search of lunch and found a wonderful B&B restaurant in the middle of the forest.  This B&B would be a great place to stay for a couple of days of nature walks in the forest.  The owner gave us a tour of all of the rooms so we got a chance to scope things out for a future visit.

lunch in the forest

the menu is written on a chalk board

appetizer #1

appetizer #2

pasta with cinghiale (wild boar)

after-dinner drinks – grappa on the right, and on the left is a drink made from citrus and olive leaves

After we finished lunch at 4 pm, we scooted down to Vieste to check in at our beachside B&B for the weekend.  We finished the evening with dinner at the seafood restaurant Al Dragone in the old medieval town center of Vieste.  And of course, this dinner lasted for 3 hours and was delicious.

the napkins were embroidered with dragons

an amuse-bouche of local cheese with pickled beets and basil

raw seafood appetizer

Chad ordered branzino which came with a side of potato pie

Chad’s dessert – semi-freddo with chocolate sauce and almonds

and the sign on the ladies restroom door made me giggle

We spent a long weekend in Gargano National Park in Puglia.  Puglia is one of the three southern regions of Italy.  If you think of Italy as a boot, Puglia is the heel.  The Gargano peninsula is the spur on the back of the heel of the boot.

The Gargano peninsula is one big national park with  mountains, forests, lakes, and beaches.  There are numerous walking and hiking paths in the forest, around lakes, and along the sea, and the views are incredible. 

We drove on many winding mountain roads where the max we could drive was 25-35 miles an hour due to the curves and inclines and hairpin turns.  Apparently this was a dream for motorcycle drivers who zoomed past us and leaned into the curves.  These roads were also popular with bicyclists who have my deepest respect for going both up and down these roads.

Gargano has villages and towns lining the coast, starting in the north and running down the east side of the peninsula.  We stayed in the town of Vieste for the weekend.  We took a day trip to the town of Rodi Garganico for a festival.  We visited a couple of mountain towns that have significant and beautiful pilgrimage churches.  We ate amazing food.  And we bought some delicious stuff.

typical Puglia fare

Lago di Guardialfiera was formed in the 1970s when a dam was built on the Biferno river.  The lake provides water for agricultural and industrial purposes in the area.  It also contributes to the beautiful view from our bedroom balcony. 

balcony view

Today, there is a national highway with a tall bridge that goes over the lake.  The old road and bridge are down at the lake level, and this is the walking path that we took this morning.  The old bridge now has a boardwalk built on top of it, and the old road is now a gravel trail.

the new highway over the old road

the old bridge with the new pedestrian boardwalk on top

the pedestrian boardwalk with the national highway bridge to the left

the boardwalk is covered in lichen in white, gold, and grey colors

There are a variety of walking paths around the lake. 

walking on the old road at the lake – the national highway bridge is up ahead

the new highway over the old road

walking at the lake

view of the lake

the abandoned pier

The trails are particularly beautiful right now with all of the spring flowers in bloom. 

me with some native grasses

During our walk this morning, we heard a variety of frogs and birds. 

Now that the weather is nicer, we are planning to have more walks down at the lake.

lake view