Buongiorno amico mio.
This is the first time I have had a pineapple tart for breakfast. It was good, but I prefer savory first thing in the morning.
This is a rice field. Another hiker told me that this area of Italy grows the most rice anywhere in the world. And the whole hike was flat, flat, flat. For my family, think Lake County (Tennessee), but waaaay bigger.
This is how they flood the rice fields. And all that water makes mosquitos seem as big as dragonflies. I bought some methol-ethol-terrible spray a few days back, but I still have a few itchy bites.
There were some pretty waterways along the route.
God always seems to send the right angel at the right time. I met Lorena from Italy and Eric from Holland just when the going got tough. There was a section of trail that was so overgrown I would have never guessed it was the trail. I would probably still be wandering around trying to find it. Their GPSs clearly work better than mine. We went through a section about a mile and a half where the grass and weeds were shoulder high. I almost stepped on a snake. He was going about 100 miles per hour but he certainly startled me. I don't think he was poisonous. I commented to Lorena about the snake. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "It is Italy." Hmmmm that didn't bolster my confidence. Now every stick looks like a snake. I am not flipped out about snakes, but I don't want to step on one. When we hit a clearly marked trail, I was off to the races. My itinerary said that I was to catch a train from Robbio to Motara, where my B&B was located, and that it was a six-hour hike. I wanted to make the 1:59 train, and I thought I was cutting it close. After I left last night's hotel, I poured on the coal trying to be be there for that train. I got to Robocco in 3 1/2 hours.
Look at the color of the moss on this channel.
This tree-lined street was a welcome relief after being in the full sun with no shade.
For those of you who are tired of churches, you can skip the following few photos. The Chiesa di Santo Stefano in Robbio was a nice break.
The altar was pretty...
...and the organ pipes were nice. You can see how huge it is if you look at the two men.
But I thought the arches that led into each small chapel were exquisite. These are the ceiling arches. I practically broke my neck taking these photos.
Just amazing.
So it wasn't a train, after all. It was a bus - a very modern air-conditioned bus. I didn't know I was supposed to buy a ticket at the tobacco shop. The bus driver was kind enough to wait for me to get one. I ran so I would get it.
This is my beautiful B&B, Antica Corte Lombardo.
The owner of the B&B suggested an Italian restaurant called Santa Lucia. He claimed it had the best pizza of anywhere. The pasta looked wonderful but tomorrow is some sort of big Italian holiday and many places might be closed so I ordered a pizza, mainly because I can take half of it with me tomorrow for lunch. I know that the hike tomorrow has very few, if no places for food or drink. I am getting low on food but I haven't seen a market in several days.
Just a little history of the restaurant. My hotelierand his wife dropped me off at the restauant. Raimendo, the manager was quite charming and made sure that I was taken care of.
I ordered a salad which was so fresh. Last night when I was cutting open the wire tie (flex cuff) that I secure my suitcase with, it gave way quicker than I expected and I popped myself in the mouth. In the vernacular of fighting kids, I busted my bottom lip. The vinegar of the salad burned like nobody's business but it was so good that I just kept eating it. I also ordered a Delizia di Gorgonzola Pizza which had gorgonzola (duh!), mozzarella, walnuts, and pears. Just to perfect the already perfect meal, I had two glasses of dry Reisling. The whole meal was straordinario. I wanted to order dessert but I had about a 15 minute walk to the B&B and I didn't want to have to find it in the dark.
So tomorrow is a new happy. Sleep tight!
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