Appearances

... can be deceptive. You might think the shop in the background is a florist, but actually it's one of the dozens of shops in Sulmona selling flowers made out of sugared almonds.

Yes, we are back in Abruzzo, with some of the same gang and new additions (including S this time). Trip organised by lapsed blipper Bundle, and we have hired Lorenzo as guide and driver. Lovely to see him again.

I decided to get here by train this time, not solely because I couldn't find any flight options that didn't require us to spend a night at an airport hotel. I thought we might as well have a night out in Nice instead. Organising the remaining part of the journey was ... challenging. It involved four trains. I was aware when booking that this provided a number of opportunities for things to go pear-shaped, but each change had 20-30 minutes allowed. What could go wrong?

Well, based on this experience I can state that the Italian train system is a shambles. Within half an  hour of leaving Nice, the train was already half an hour late. Then it made up enough time for us to make our connection in Milan, before stopping in Ventimiglia for 20 minutes and losing it again. But luckily when we got off in Milan, there was a TGV on the other side of the platform we were on which was 20 minutes late and was stopping in Bologna, so we leapt onto it with seconds to spare. Almost back on schedule!

In Bologna, our next connection was flagged up as an hour late. Within minutes this changed to an hour and a quarter. S left me with the luggage and went off to find out more. While he was gone, the delay suddenly switched to 20 minutes, which meant it was leaving in about 3 minutes. I quickly phoned him and he dashed back to tell me it was leaving from the very furthest platform in the very large station. It seemed like miles, and running was not an option ... luckily by the time we got there it was 25 minutes late, so we caught it.

Of course, our last train from Pescara to Sulmona was on time. So we missed it :) But they run every hour, so we used the time drinking wine and sharing a slice of pizza. Glad to finally arrive and dine with our companions.

Today was a walking day ... 16 km and about 400 m of climbing. That was a no-no for me, so I stayed behind, explored Sulmona until my foot was too sore, lunched on pizza and gelato, and then spent a lovely hour in the hotel spa which I had to myself. Excellent dinner in a different restaurant, featuring a superb risotto with provolone and red wine.

Extras of delightful Italian dilapidation; click right from here.