We left early again to beat the heat, which is much worse in the city. As I took this photo a seagull was eating a rat in front of us.
The awarding of the Testimonium document is underwhelming compared to the Compostella in Santiago. They stamp your credential and give you a blank form.
The trail is 340 miles over mountains and all kinds of landscapes. It’s physically hard and resources for walkers are often limited. We (except Ann!) took a ride 4 times, mostly just because of too-long stages, so just for the first couple of miles. We got a ride for 20 miles near the end and skipped one stage. Ann and Gayden are tough, strong, fast walkers, and significantly outperformed Kenton and Josette and I. Gayden was not on our plan all the way but met us at Saint Peter’s.
We navigated using trail markings (often missing or confusing); the GPX track from Cicerone; Sandy Brown’s Cicerone guidebook; Apple Maps, google maps, dead reckoning, pilotage, and taking to locals. The Way of Saint Francis-Via Francesca – is much harder than any Camino I have walked. The weather was great most of the time but hot by noon at the end.
The people we met at the lodging, restaurants, bars, and city halls were kind and helpful. Many Italians speak some English, and google translate does the rest. We made a few pilgrim friends along the way (although you could go a full day without meeting any) and a few will show up in a future post.
I read two historical books on Saint Francis before the trip as well as some Italian history. I have opinions on the church’s response to this incredibly popular man I won’t share here; best to stay positive on a pilgrimage.
It’s pretty quiet during the day but at night the streets are full of people.
We arrived in suburban Rome yesterday, an area called Monte Sacro. After resting up we went in search of the afternoon gelato. No luck. Five places listed on Google no longer exist. At 6:30 we went out looking for a bar for a glass of wine before dinner, knowing the kitchens don’t open until 7:00 or at 8:00.
We finally found a small cafe which had a good beer and wine selection, and were allowed to have some while waiting for the kitchen to open at 7:00.
We were not in a tourist neighborhood, this was a real local place. The friendly waitstaff spoke little English, so we used google translate to communicate. We translated the menu with Google lens.
One shrimp, raw. About one pistachio nut, ground. Bland sauce. €14. Others had the carbonara, which was much better, although very rich. Pizza has generally been excellent, and ethnic food very good. Salads can be hard to find. But the fancy pasta dishes?
Today we walk to the Vatican and Saint Peter’s. It will surely be busy with tourists. I miss the villages already.
We skipped the stage for today completely, it was going to be two days wrapped into one, which we are not up to. We’re feeling a little beat up and need a day off.
We have stayed in all kinds of places, most booked in early March on Booking.com. As we get closer to Rome, prices are higher. Until recently our cost per night for Kenton and Josette and I has been averaging €60 per night.
The street restaurants are gearing up for a big night. We are headed for sleep and 6:00 am departure for Sacro Sante, 19 kilometers into the mega city.
This is some kind of pasta. After a while it all runs together, and you have no idea.
The menus here generally have lots of words that don’t translate into English. So we have ordered lots of food without really knowing what it is. And it’s all over the map.
My favorite meal so far-the kebab today. It was a wrap with a salad, French fries, meat. The cook asked me if we wanted everything. I said yes. Three of them. My favorite meal so far. €4.50 each includes water.
Yesterday we walked 8 km on a paved bike path along a river. There was little shade and it was getting hot. The path led us into busy city streets where we were soon dodging traffic on a road with little shoulder. The farther we got into the city, the hotter. We stopped at a bakery and ate huge slices of pizza and drank down the big bottles of water. We still had an hour to go, headed toward a convent. This is the time when you question this whole affair.
This is in contrast to the early morning (we started at 6:30 AM) enthusiasm we felt walking through olive groves on the side of a mountain along a path with no traffic.
We are in Spoletto, a very old Roman city, and this part is dirty and trashy and far too busy for comfort.
There aren’t many nuns to be seen but the rooms are simple but comfortable. Josette found the chapel and took me there.
This hill town tantalizes the hiker from 4 miles out. The final push into town is UP!
Our guidebook said the city of Foligno, which we walked through this morning, was 80% destroyed by Allied bombardment during WW2 but rebuilt with a medieval flair.
Spello was an easy 3:30 walk today from Assisi: 12 kilometers if you don’t get lost, 14 if you do. Historic with narrow medieval streets, shops, restaurants, and beaucoup tourists.
We arrive in Rome on May 28th. Italy is quite a beautiful place.
What’s it like to have a birthday on a Camino?
People randomly show up in a piazza in Italy and sing happy birthday to you.
You get a happy birthday chorus from Austria
Someone you knew from home meets you to buy you a drink in Piazza Commune
Someone special shows up at the train station
And friends buy you dinner! Plus, you got here walking over mountains and through valleys and fording rivers and long, long uphills. Seventy has started very well. Thank you for all your greetings.
Today was my best day on this trail. My attitude was positive and I did 15 miles and 2100 feet of up (and almost as much down).
We all wrote in the book; of course, Ann wrote in Gaelic
We were all out of water with just over a kilometer to go, so we drank cool mountain spring water.
I was tired but not hammered. The last hour was almost straight up. The stream crossing was under the long bridge in this photo.
robertcdeming 