The end for now

Our last two days on the route were hot but stunningly beautiful. Yesterday we passed through Saint-Rémy-de Provence. Even though no Van Gogh paintings remained in Provence, many were painted near Saint-Rémy and Arles. The route is now an Art pilgrimage passing many...
Another day another UNESCO site.

Another day another UNESCO site.

Today we passed through the small town of Sabbioneta.  It is completely enclosed within Renaissance walls, and has UNESCO status in conjunction with the city of Mantova (Mantua).  Both places were ruled by the Gonzaga family, who produced a saint and a shocking number...

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Into Verona on the Via Postumia

Into Verona on the Via Postumia

We have spent the last two weeks moving slowly across Italy on and off the Via Postumia. Our best days are always the ones Andrea Vitiello has carefully planned on either the cycling or walking Via Postumia . For reasons of time and availability of affordable...

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Vicenza to Lonigo

Vicenza to Lonigo

There are few things more annoying than reading endless blogs about beautiful towns and villages. Wouldn’t it be refreshing to read for once that we arrived in a cesspool of a place that smelled like sewer gas and looked like a dollar store exploded in the central...

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Gluttony Tick Style

Gluttony Tick Style

I’m sitting in the waiting room in the hospital at Cittadella.  I had a brief glimpse of the intact medieval walls before turning into this large modern brick structure.  Yesterday a watched a blood engorged tick backing out of my leg after a good feed. I...

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Treviso

Treviso

After a 34 km walk and half a tub of ice cream Gord was still up for a walk around Treviso. Italy is amazing; step into a Cathedral and stumble upon a painting by Titian. In Treviso it’s his Annunciation. We also were treated to some frescos in the crypt from the 13...

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“ Stai Attento!”

“ Stai Attento!”

We are staying at a lovely house with our host Lilica in a small community halfway between Portogruaro and Treviso. I offered to cook spaghetti carbonara and she laughed and said that’s what she was going to make. She insisted on making us dinner and we had a lively...

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It’s magic after the rain!

It’s magic after the rain!

Yesterday was a rain day. It was only the fourth soaker on the trip so far.  It feels like something magic when the rain stops. Suddenly an overcast day is fantastic and a small square of blue, or a ray of sunshine makes me feel jubilant. Today we had a number...

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Palmanova

Palmanova

Before we departed for this Camino I had a casual look at our route across Italy on our mapping app.  Zooming into one of the many undulations on the track, I was surprised to see a perfectly symmetrical nine pointed star.  This is the town of Palmanova, which we...

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Aquileia

Aquileia

Gordon:  Have you ever heard of the city of Aquileia?  Neither had I, but in the second century AD it was the second largest city in Roman Italy.  Attila the Hun gave it pride of place in his depredations in Italy, almost completely destroying the city...

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Last Coffee in Slovenia

Last Coffee in Slovenia

Today we left Slovenia and walked across the border into Italy. We made our way across Slovenia on the Jacobova Pot between the Hungarian and Italian borders in 13 days and 323 kms. We have now come 751 kms from Budapest.  The Camino in Slovenia is well...

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Camino Spirit in Slovenia

Camino Spirit in Slovenia

Tomorrow we climb out of the village of Podraga in the beautiful, deep Vipava Valley and say goodbye to Slovenia. It was our first time in the country and certainly won’t be our last.When we first crossed into Slovenia in stormy weather, one of the members of the...

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Lake Bled

Lake Bled

Gordon:  We met Maja, a Slovenian pilgrim, on the Camino Francés in 2011.  In the intervening years I have accumulated wrinkles and Arctic blonde hair (to use Mary’s euphemism) but Maja has been considerably more busy.  She has acquired a charming...

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