Hello to one and all sorry for the delay in the next post. In the past I have always had a concept of the theme for a given hike but for some reason this time it has escaped me. So this series of blog posts will kind of operate the way I used to writeContinue reading “Sorry for the delay. Have been searching for my muse to no avail 🙃”
Tag Archives: retirement
A visit to an ancestral home – San Giovanni in Fiore (part 2) Abbazia Florense
HISTORY OF SAN GIOVANNI IN FIORE From Wikipedia – “In 1189, Gioacchino da Fiore founded his abbey outside today’s town center in what is called the Fiore Vètere neighborhood. Several years later in 1194, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI of the Hohenstaufen family granted the abbot a vast plot of land corresponding to SanContinue reading “A visit to an ancestral home – San Giovanni in Fiore (part 2) Abbazia Florense”
A visit to an ancestral home – San Giovanni in Fiore. (part 1) Home of house Succurro and my cousin (?) the mayor :-)
This story begins about nine months ago when I got a notice from ancestry.com that my great grandfather’s naturalization papers had been posted on line. While I am not hugely into genealogy, I do dabble just to see what I can see. I am one half Italian (third generation), on my father’s side, but theContinue reading “A visit to an ancestral home – San Giovanni in Fiore. (part 1) Home of house Succurro and my cousin (?) the mayor :-)”
Soverato, the Ionian Sea resort….”missed it by that much” (Maxwell Smart, Get Smart)
Soverato appears to be a lovely little seaside resort located on the eastern shore of the Italian peninsula on the Ionian sea. I say “appears” because we arrived in town one week after the end of high season and most of the “tourist” type venues had buttoned up for the season. So, we ended upContinue reading “Soverato, the Ionian Sea resort….”missed it by that much” (Maxwell Smart, Get Smart)”
So, another slight detour, but I think you will like this one. There were two other people taking pictures on this hike and they are better photographers than I am
So, I consider my self to be a mediocre photographer at best I do not take the time to block my shots very well, and my motivation often times while hiking is “oh hell, I need to be taking some pictures for the blog”. Now, there are definitely times when the beauty of a particularContinue reading “So, another slight detour, but I think you will like this one. There were two other people taking pictures on this hike and they are better photographers than I am”
Ok heads up everyone in this post I get my hiking geek on. More travelog on our journey next post :-)
Having arrived at the Ionian Sea the Kalabrian Coast to Coast trek was complete. Subtracting the drive around the mountain, (which cut out 6.0 miles (10k) and 2,200′ (677m) of elevation) we hiked 33 miles (55k) (I am including our brief off trail adventure the last day) and gained in elevation, or went uphill, accordingContinue reading “Ok heads up everyone in this post I get my hiking geek on. More travelog on our journey next post :-)”
Calling an audible, aka the day I realized I have no business driving in Italy :-)
So after resting a day a decision needed to be made for me by me. Do we scale Monte Acido (Sour Mountain). This entailed an elevation gain of 2,200 feet (677m) over 4.5 miles (7.5 k). This was not a hard decision. Maria Theresa had a car and was willing to drive us to aContinue reading “Calling an audible, aka the day I realized I have no business driving in Italy :-)”
Monterosso VV a church, home cooked meal and Calabrian singalong.
The church was right across the palazzo from my room. I knew this but was reminded of this fact when the bells rang for 6 am Mass. Later that morning we walked around town a bit. William commented on the unique statute of the Virgin Mary atop the front of the church. One will noticesContinue reading “Monterosso VV a church, home cooked meal and Calabrian singalong.”
Monterosso the night before a day of much rest (La notte prima una giornata di tanto riposo)
This post begins shortly after that brutal day one. As noted previously we were beat. There was a bar a block away. A bar in Italy is kind of an all encompassing term for a shop that sells coffee, beer, pop, mixed drinks, gelato. They are typically very small and are quick serve for theContinue reading “Monterosso the night before a day of much rest (La notte prima una giornata di tanto riposo)”
Day 1 Pizzo to Monterosso ….13.5 miles 2,400’ of elevation gain. Huh? Yep, 2,400’ count ‘em. We did 😊
I knew the early section of this hike was going to be challenging given that we started with an 800’ climb out of Pizzo. But, I had planned, originally, that we would only hike five miles that day and spend the night at an agriturismo (a working farm that has a B&B side hustle) andContinue reading “Day 1 Pizzo to Monterosso ….13.5 miles 2,400’ of elevation gain. Huh? Yep, 2,400’ count ‘em. We did 😊”
Lou Hikes? 