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Trip to Italy and SpainTrip to Italy and Spain
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Combined sightseeing, pilgrimage, and volunteer trip Read more

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  • Spain
  • Italy
  • United States
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  • Trip to Italy and Spain

    Coiano Casa Sofi

    February 16 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 54 °F

    I have been using a mapping app called Mapy.cz. today, that was a mistake. The app took us away from the Via Francigena route, down a steep hill, through a couple of vineyards, and then another up another steep hill and a bunch of mud. We were very far off the route, and instead of walking 7 5 mikes, my phone says I walked 12.5 miles.

    After walking 2 hours on the wrong path, we gave up on Mapy.cz, and I actually used the official Via Francigena app, which got us on the right path. I will use that from now on! I had forgotten I even had it on my phone!

    There were no towns today, just walking through Tuscan countryside. We came to the "middle" of the route in Tuscany, and there was a random picnic table, first aid box, and a book to sign.

    We met other pilgrims today. One large group and their leader said they are doing the route on weekends. They left us in the dust as we headed the wrong way early in the morning.

    Tonight, we are in a vacation cottage in Coiano. It is lovely and has a pellet stove and a hot tub. It sleeps 6 people. We may take a dip in the tub later. For now, we are just resting our feet.    Read more

  • Trip to Italy and Spain

    On to Gambassi Therme

    February 17 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 48 °F

    Another interesting day. We slept well. Our house for last night had a pellet stove which made for a cozy evening. We didn't use the hot tub.

    I made some lemon pasta with olives and ham bits for supper. Phil was in bed by 6:30 pm!

    We set out today at 8:30 again. Our route was going to take us right through a huge muddy valley, so we purposely took a road detour. Again, today, there was nowhere to stop for coffee, but we had some snacks. We shared apple slices and had some chocolate bar and a couple of cheese sandwiches on breaks.

    The countryside is really breathtaking with in it's beauty and the steepness of the hills.

    We met two other pilgrims. One from Spain and the other from the Netherlands. They were walking in the opposite direction, but we had a nice chat.

    Gambassi Therme is on a huge hill. We went up and up and through the mud, vineyards, olive groves. We were near the top and finally back on an actual road. There was a bus stop and the bus was supposed to come in 3 minutes. I felt it was our destiny to ride the remaining 2 miles up the hill.

    This time, I managed to pay for one of us, but the machine only took one credit card per person, and Phil didn't have his card out. The driver just waived us on and shut the door. Maybe we'll get it right another day...

    Our apartment is awesome again. I am washing our muddy clothes right now, and we'll walk to the grocery store to get supper supplies when the clothes are finished.

    Tomorrow, we walk to San Gimignano, which is supposed to be a very cool town with lots of "tower" houses. People built their own equivalent of a family castle or "keep" .    Read more

  • Trip to Italy and Spain

    San Gimignano

    February 18 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 50 °F

    It was another strenuous day of walking. I thought I might lose Phil for a little bit, but everything straightened out and we made it to our destinstion.

    Early this morning, we met 4 Italian pilgrims. They seemed very fit and quickly left us in the dust. We stopped at a winery to get a stamp and then a short while later, Phil was having trouble with his pack and walking really funny. At one point he really scared me and said he just couldn't carry his pack any further. I knew I could not carry both our loads, but after stopping for a rest, he unpacked and repacked things more evenly and seemed better.

    We hiked through mud, vineyards, and olive groves again. We met a man named Mario who owned a large tourist villa and was out walking his dog. It was good to chat with him as we walked. He told us there were deer and wild boar in the area and at least two wolves, which is quite rare in Europe. He told us how it was to the next road, etc.

    We managed to get on the road 40 minutes too late for today's bus, so we just walked the last 4 miles. Lots of very steep hills. We are pooped, but I am proud of us. We'll shower and treat ourselves to a restaurant supper tonight if we can stay awake that long.    Read more

  • Trip to Italy and Spain

    Less mud, other events

    February 19 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 46 °F

    Today, we walked to Colle Val d'Else, which was supposed to be about 9 miles. My phone says I walked about 12 miles. I'm not sure who is right, but it seemed like a long 9 miles.

    We met another pilgrim couple. I think they were French, but they scurried off ahead of us. Today, we crossed up and down 3 large hills. It was about a mile up and then down again on each.Each very steep and a stream at the bottom of each one.

    The first two were easy to cross, but the third, we had to take off our boots and wade across in our Crocs. Very cold! There was also a cruel tease of a coffee shop about halfway, but when we arrived, it was either not open or had gone out of business. No sign of it.

    We passed by the location of an Etruscan tomb today. The Etruscans were here before the Roman's, but left very little written language. The Roman's conquered them and assimilated their technology and their people. We were on part of an old Roman/Etruscan road today.

    We finally found a coffee shop about 45 minutes before we found our apartment. We are in the old town of the city on a very steep street. This town is noted for its fine crystal.

    Tomorrow, Monteriggioni, another walled city. We are staying in a castle there.    Read more

  • Trip to Italy and Spain

    Rest day at Monteriggioni

    February 20 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F

    It rained overnight and was still wet and cold this morning. As we were walking toward our destination, we came upon a taxi stand and a bus station. I asked Phil if he would like to ride to Monteriggioni instead of walking, and he said yes.

    Part of my reasoning is that the path went by the river and had several river crossings. The photos show pilgrims crossing on flat stones hanging onto cables. Not really my thing in the cold, and with rain, I knew we'd be going through lots of mud again.

    I bought 2 bus tickets to Monteriggioni, which is a tiny walled village on top of a hill. It still has towers and only 2 gates. Today it is mostly a tourist destination and in winter it is very quiet and not crowded.

    We caught the bus and walked up the hill to our apartment. It is inside the walls of the village and it is really cold with authentic stone walls. We're sitting with our jackets on directly under the heater!

    When we arrived, we walked around and then picked out a place for lunch. We had a Tuscan tasting menu with appetizers, pasta, steak, and cookies with Sherry for dessert.

    The first references to this town were in the 900s. It was a stronghold due to its towers and location. It was also an important church headquarters. It survived because in the Middle Ages, it was hit hard by the plague, and it was in an out of the way location. People kind of forgot about it until more recent times.

    Tomorrow the route is very long so I bought bus tickets to shorten the walk. We'll catch a bus about 9:30 and walk the last 5 miles or so into Siena. That will be our last pilgrim day until Spain.    Read more

  • Trip to Italy and Spain

    Siena and end of the Via Francigena walk

    February 21 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 57 °F

    Last night, our castle room was a major disappointment. It was really expensive and the VERY cold. We had the heat on full blast, but the room never really warmed up. We did have good warm covers, though.

    We just had snacks in our room instead of going back out last night. This morning, the coffee machine didn't work right, and it was good that I had extra instant packets with me, or I would have really been crabby!

    We caught our 9:30 bus and rode just a few miles toward Siena. Phil had read in the official VF app said that the walking path went "through the brush and down a riverbed and through a woods. The route short and easy is made hard by the total shortage of water and roadhouses." I paraphrased, but basically, it went into no man's land. The bike route was recommended by one of our other guides, so we took the bus to about 4 miles from Siena and walked through the suburbs the rest of the way.

    Fortunately, our bus stop was near a good coffee shop and pharmacy. We got a "good" coffee and had a couple of apple tarts. I went to the pharmacy to get more Tylenol.

    We walked into town and arrived before our room was ready. The hotel held our luggage while we had lunch. We went to a real trattoria where the menus were not in English. Phil had spaghetti carbonara, and I had polenta cake with meat and mushroom gravy. Very tasty!

    After we got checked in, we went to see the Duomo or cathedral. It was really fabulous and lots of artwork. Then we stopped at the Campo, where they have the annual horse race each year.

    Tomorrow is a travel day so I don't know if I will have much to write. We have 4 nights in Rome at an AirBNB.

    Our accommodation tonight is pretty simple, but it has a good price, has heat, and includes breakfast!. It is also in a good location.    Read more

  • Trip to Italy and Spain

    Made it to Rome

    February 22 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 54 °F

    We spent much of the day traveling. Met a very nice German woman on the train who was biking the Via Francigena, but also tired of the mud, so taking an alternate course.

    More tomorrow. We arrived about dark. The apartment is nice. The grocery store is not too far away.Read more

  • Trip to Italy and Spain

    Walking around in Rome

    February 23 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

    I can't imagine how busy it will be here in the tourist season! It is already really busy and crowded and it is only February!

    Today, we had lovely weather for walking around. We did a couple of loads of laundry early and hung everything up on the balcony. We washed everything we were not wearing. We'll wash what we are wearing now tomorrow. I want to leave here with a backpack of clean clothes since we've been on the road for more than 3 weeks now.

    After breakfast and chores, we walked down to the piazza or large plaza by our apartment. It is called
    Piazza de Popolo. We bought 72-hour passes to ride buses, subways, streetcar, etc, and then after faffing around for 30 minutes, I figured out which bus going which way would take us to the Coloseum.

    Phil managed to figure out how to validate the tickets using the machine. A short while later, we watched some other tourists who were baffled by the process.

    We got off the bus at Circus Maximus, which is the archeological chariot racing stadium. We walked over to the Coloseum and took photos, and then took a bus up to the Pantheon. There are just Roman ruins everywhere here. We did not buy tickets to go into anything today, but we enjoyed photographing things from the outside.

    On our walk back, we stopped for tonight's groceries. Tonight, we'll have chicken and salad and maybe pasta.

    I bought tickets for entry to the Vatican at 9:30 am on Tuesday. Tickets for Monday morning were already sold out. Since we have the transit pass, it will be easy to map our route there and back.

    The Pope is in the hospital, so I doubt there is any chance of seeing him this week. It is supposed to rain Monday and Tuesday. Thankfully, there are umbrellas here in the apartment for our use.

    If it is raining tomorrow we'll go to some museums. The Leonardo di Vince museum is just steps away from our apartment.    Read more

  • Trip to Italy and Spain

    Rainy day in Rome

    February 24 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 55 °F

    We did another load of laundry, but this time, we had to hang it inside the apartment. It rained on and off most of the day--mostly on--so it was good to have some inside activities this afternoon.

    Before the rain, we walked out and found the Spanish Steps, which are a famous architectural feature built on the request of a French diplomat. Unfortunately, the fountain at the bottom was under updates for the Jubilee, so the view wasn't that great.

    We walked back and had a coffee on the Piazza del Popolo, and then went to see the Basilica of Maria de Popolo. The art was really fantastic and it was free to enter. It is an active church, so it is closed throughout the day for Mass.

    After we walked over to the Tiber River and found a different grocery store to pick up today's supplies. We saw people rowing on the river and also a heron fishing from a tree. On our way back, it began to rain more, so we brought our groceries back and had lunch.

    Since it was raining, we decided to go to the Leonardo di Vince museum near our house. It was not really worth the 26 euros we paid to get in. We had just watched a PBS special on Leonardo, and most of this was a repeat. Only replicas inside the museum, although everything was nicely displayed, and there were about 50 machine replicas on hand from military inventions, attempts at flight, and lots of others.

    It was really raining hard when we came out so we came home and I made Tomato, Potato, Basil Soup for supper. It's our favorite in a cold, dreary day and only takes a few ingredients.

    Tomorrow we go to the Vatican. I have tickets at 9:30 to enter. There are two buses and the Metro that will get us there near our house.    Read more

  • Trip to Italy and Spain

    Sistine Chapel and Vatican City

    February 25 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 59 °F

    We got up early and left the apartment by about 8:25 to catch our bus to the Vatican. I purchased a timed entry at 9:30 am. If you come here, definitely pay for the timed entry. Loads of people waiting to get in and buy tickets. The morning entries were already sold out a couple of days ago!

    We had to show our passports (it is another country) and our tickets, go through security, check our long umbrella, and show our tickets a second time to get into the museum and Sistine Chapel. The place was packed!

    We stopped and mailed a postcard to my step-mom, Chris, at the Vatican Post Office. Then I waited in a really long line for the women's restroom while Phil just zoomed right into his. Several women were firmly evicted from men's bathroom by the female attendant, which had no line. I tried to leave a tip as the sign said tips were appreciated, but the attendant declined with a thank you.

    We walked through endless hallways and rooms filled with art, sculptures, murals, etc. We went up and down stairs. Finally, we arrived at the Sistine Chapel. No photos allowed, and quiet is enforced. Honestly, it wasn't much more special than what we'd already seen! This is where the new popes are elected when it isn't filled with tourists. It was beautiful, but so was everything!

    If you aren't special, you have to walk all the way around the block to see St Peter's Basilica. I didn't realize we also needed a special entry time to see inside, and by the time I checked, it was sold out for the next 2 days. There is no charge to go in, but it does cost 5 euros to book an entry time. The lines were crazy for late February. I can't imagine what tourist season will be like!

    We came back home and had leftover warm soup for lunch. We'll organize ourselves today. We get picked up for a ride to the airport tomorrow at 8:30 am, so we will run more load of undies later today. When you only have 3 sets, you have to wash often! From here on, we'll be just washing in a sink or looking for a laundromat. I don't reserve on the Camino, and we'll be staying mostly in hostels with bunkbeds.    Read more

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