East coast, the poor brother

Now tweeting sign up at our site.

We awoke the next morning in Isola del Gran Sasso. The day is so clear, Corno Grande was standing there, in front of us, so majestic, so intimidating, so beautiful.

“Corno Grande, you have now become a ‘must climb’ peak. Be sure we will be back to attempt you.”

It is even more beautiful from this side, but looks a lot more difficult. GDR

Today is another driving day, this time to Pescara. We have had quite a few driving days lately. Too many, if you ask me. This is because we want to do quite a lot of things in this country, it is a big country and we have planned to be here for just over a month. It won’t matter if we need to stay here longer, but we should really try to stick to the itinerary. We still have quite a few countries we want to visit.

Visiting Pescara was not included in our itinerary but driving to Corno Grande has taken us very close to the east coast, so we might as well find out what the coast looks like this side.

We take the road straight to the coast, drive along it and, on the way, stopping in the villages we like. We drive through four villages before we get to Pescara: Roseto, Pineto, Silvi Marina and Montesilvano Marina. All very similar. They have all been built along the coastline, they all lack of historic centre, they all look pretty dull.

The coast line of these villages seem to have been conquered by blocks of apartments and hotels. They look abandoned. They need serious renovation and, surely, this is the best time of the year to do so??

So we continue to drive to Pescara, the biggest town in the area.

As soon as we get to the edge of the town, the traffic slows down. We continue to drive along the coast, hoping we will find a nice spot on the beach to stop for lunch.

The town looks pretty dirty, again with apartments and hotels along the coast on the outskirts. Roads are in a pretty bad state, as you would expect in Italy, some of them currently being repaired. Lanes were cut. Dora is having difficult getting through. Signs divert us to ways we don’t want to go. This is not fun.

We are desperately looking for a car park. Let’s go to the train station, they generally have large ones, although we will probably have to pay. Anyway, I think we have already decided we won’t stay very long here.

The train station had plenty of space available and an information office nearby, great.

We get to the tourist information office. It is closed and it seems it has been closed for years, left over leaflets litter the floors.

We walk towards the beach. On the way, we see a sign board which displays a map of the town. Quite weird, a 3-D map cast in metal panels. Very artistic, very odd, very expensive.

We get to the beach. It is windy and cold. Not a very pleasant day today to be here.

Not many people around, only teenagers, drinking. Already? It is only 13.00 . It will be a long day and a long night ahead for them.

Unless of course they are finishing up from last night! GDR

We continue to walk along. The beach looks filthy. There is litter everywhere.

They do clean it though, but not bother to take the rubbish with them. They simply pile it up, maybe hoping the tide will take it away.

A tractor on the beach? What the hell is it doing?

It looks to me as if he is trying to bury all the litter, leaves it nice and smooth though, what a waste of time. GDR

We now walk along the promenade. Delighted to find interesting structures. Modern, linear, robust, simple.

Some of the structures, curvilinear, quite quirky.

Block of flats, none of them in the usual colonial style you often find on coastline towns.

Right, 45 minutes walk, and Pescara is done. We have not been very impressed with the east coast so far. The west feels more affluent.

It is now time to get back to Dora and head off to the nearest beach outside town and get some lunch.

 

We drive now inland. We will spend the night in Lanciano, another hilltop town. After two hours driving on a windy and narrow road, we get there just before dusk.

Before dinner, we go for a quick stroll. We have already seen a few hilltop towns. All very similar but each with their little quirks. So what does Lanciano have that the others don’t? What will we remember about Lanciano?

We will remember the Aire, located under the hill, with a lift to access the historic centre.

We will remember the magnificent sunset before getting the lift to the top.

The walk to the main square through the silent backstreets.

Some sort of organization meeting by this building. We don’t understand why?

They seem to be part of some sort of national organization which funds the restoration of old buildings. Maybe they are manifesting today to get more money or trying to collect it from the public.

They look similar to the National Trust. GDR

The main square. The cathedral on our left and coffee bars all around it.

We get to the main square. A sign board is on our right. We go and take a look. A middle age man is sitting there. He starts talking to us, offering his help. “Thanks, we don’t need it”. He insists, pointing out different places on the map. He looks slightly nuts by the way he talks. We can’t work out where we are as he doesn’t stop talking. We have to leave.

We enter the cathedral. Suddenly the priest comes out and everybody stands up. It is 18.00, time for mass.

I used to be a strong believer. I was brought up in a catholic family and educated in a catholic school, run by nuns, until I was fourteen. Thereafter, I went to college but continued to go to church. Gradually, I started to question my religion. But it wasn’t  until I went to University when I realised that things didn’t make any sense. I couldn’t pretend any longer and I declared I was a non-believer.

Being wrapped up in catholism for the first fourteen years of my life had a significant impact on my way of thinking, values and beliefs – values and beliefs that have taken me years to shake off – . When the priest has started to give mass, everything has come back to me. Although the mass is given in Italian, I can follow it and answer the priest back. Really scary.

We enter another church. A dozen people are praying altogether. They are led by a nun. Gary doesn’t understand, “a catholic nun giving mass, I was always taught women were inferior in the eyes of  the lord?” He asks. “This is not mass. It is ‘la letania’, a pretty long, repetitive, meaningless pray to the virgin Mary. Nuns are allowed to say this pray” I explain. “I might still remember it”. “Prove it” Gary says. And I did, and I remembered every single word. Isn’t it scary again?

Anyway, enough of all religion nonsense. Outside, in the main square, a couple of guys dressed up as priests. It seems that some sort of procession is going on, probably to do with Easter.

The guys dressed up like priests seem to be having lots of fun with their speakers by shouting at people nearby, like children. They are not taking this stuff very seriously, are they?

Anyway, it is getting dark. Here it is the end of our wander, it is time to get back to Dora.

Tomorrow we will head to Majella National park. We hope we will get some trekking done in that one.

SM