After superb pasta next door, Angela invited us to chat with her, her husband and a young pharmacist in the courtyard near the peach tree under the lights of the sky – it was delightful.
The next morning she hovered around quietly and curiously as we ate her delicately prepared breakfast. Two peaches from the peach tree were ‘for our camino’ as she kissed and hugged us on our way.
The walk took us along the shadeless highway for some kms. As we stopped for coffee, Batista, our French friend called by and we joked and laughed in our own languages and bits of the other, relishing our first glimpse of the Apennines. Our Swiss friend had taken the alternate route over them due to his dislike of the flat terrain. After following Batista with his rhythmic pace, we farewelled him 3km later to sit for a while in the shade of a listless tree, dodging the white-furry caterpillars falling from its branches. While dodging, an unusually friendly biker pulled over and introduced himself as the mayor of Orio Litta where we will be in 2 days. Pierre Luigi offered us a free bed in his Parrocchia (where we pay a donation) and will look after us on our arrival.
Passing through a pretty garden village, two women offered us shade, water, a chair; while the heat-exhausted black cat lay motionless with its pink tongue out, and the dog couldn’t raise a bark. A few more sun drenched, partly shaded kms and we were in Belgioioso (try pronouncing it!) and eating the best and only kebab in town made by an engaging muslim mum – after, her kids guided us around to check out the hotels. It’s very hot, so we chose the nearest one and turned on the a/c.
The restaurant in our hotel was atmospheric, serving 1 metre long pizzas, elegantly on trolleys. Our pastas, Carbonara and Amatriciana, were high-scorers, and the white wine tasted more like Prosecco than white wine with gas. FYI: white wine without gas only comes in a bottle in these parts.
It was not about gas in our room though – it was the a/c – and we had a complaint about it – who do we think we are after 3 ‘donation only’ lodgings?, but it lent for an interesting evening. The tall excitable waiter-man said the price was Eu40. When we got to the room he read a note on the wall and then said Eu60, saw my downcast face then said Eu50, then saw my excited face and said Eu55, I then said a final Eu50. While eating our pasta in the evening, the a/c topic came up. The other waiter man said he would see to it but didn’t; then the previous waiter man who spoke some English said he now didn’t; then winked and nodded towards the young woman waitress who said it would work only when the hotel closed but it didn’t (work that is) then said, why don’t you go for a walk (but that is why we wanted a/c) so we didn’t.
What we did do, was open the top door at the end of our hallway creating an effective wind tunnel so we needed to leave our room door open, 30 metres away. Outside the door was a huge unused balcony with lots of natural a/c so we stayed there until our room at the other end had been cooled.
At the time of writing, we may not be able to post. Such intrepid travellers are not daunted by a 29 letter password challenge, though we haven’t yet won. Hopefully they don’t add a few more letters while we try.
