Piemonte

I had the most incredible meal last night. It was a tasting menu with pasta as the star. I made it through the first eight courses, all small servings (anchovies, three types of sliced cured pork, vegetables in tomato sauce, blue cream cheese on celery, baked cornmeal, beets, an eggplant dish with some small frittatas, and a really refreshing shaved radish dish) but, I could not eat anything more and had to skip the made on-site pasta! I left Ivrea early, but not before I gave the castle a quick once over (what I could see from the outside) and checked out the cathedral (Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta). The cathedral was pretty dark with only very minimal lighting - luckily, there was natural light coming in from the high windows. Honestly, I felt lucky that it was even open before 8 am (though it is Sunday here). I managed to find the light switch for the crypt for Saint Gaudentius (the first bishop of Novara), but not until after I had walked around in there with my phone torch, and then I managed to get some photos of the beautiful art work from the 12th century. It rained the entire walk today, which has not bothered me anywhere near as much as it did last year. Now that I have the Great Pumpkin, I'm not stressed about keeping my front pockets dry, and the rain wasn't hard. The Way today (24.59 km) was more rural; trailing through small villages, along pathways around farm houses, and through vineyards. It really was quite lovely. My only complaint is that it got cold. Again, I had a hike to get to my accommodation, and again, it was worth it. I saw two VF Pilgrims today and could only exchange "buen camino" as we had no common language and met up with a young person who is doing the Cammino di Oropa over the next three days. She was lovely.Lue lisää