5/30-31 – Jim and I decided it was time to hop in the car and take a small road trip. Monday we began with Santa Maria Aradona Chiesa. Yep, yet another church but let me just tell you, this will not be the last one. We have already decided since they are all so different, we are going to continue to stop in to see them. This one was simple and the grounds behind were gorgeous. We could not walk back into the gardens so I had to take some photos through the fence – again!

We continued on down the road and found Volto Santo Di Manoppello with a beautiful Altar. These were the only photos we were allowed to take inside but it was another beauty. Volto Santo translates to Holy Face. A soft veil that portrays the image of a male face with long hair and a beard divided into bands, believed by some to be the face of Jesus, is encased in glass above the main altar — see altar photo.

The Cappuccini Friars, an order of the Franciscan Friars, are apparently celebrating 400 years of being at this church in Manoppello. There were two friars at the church while we were there.

As we continued our drive to Pratola Peligna where we would spend two nights in a B&B, we continued to enjoy the views. We came to a beautiful vineyard and managed to capture a photo of two workers in the vineyard. Can you find them? Guy on the left is wearing a dark baseball cap.

Pratola Peligna is a very small town but had so much around it to see that it was a good place to use as a home base. The landscape was beautiful with its mountains and windmills. The road up there was another one of those “grip the door while pushing my feet through the floor” drives, like this was going to slow us down?? Hair pin turns, hold your breath all while trying to enjoy the scenery. Mamma Mia!

In town though, there must have been a dozen of these “side streets/alleys” paralleling each other as we walked down the street perpendicular to this via.

Tuesday and a road trip to Lago di S. Domenico which was beautiful. We walked across the bridge and stopped in the little church then walked around that side of the lake. Fun watching a few puppies trying to figure out how to get to the middle of the lake where the ducks were. We walked around the perimeter of the lake and found this waterfall.

We then continued our drive to Lago di Scanno. This lake is a summer resort area and very pretty. We walked around the walking path and saw quite a few of our lizard friends sunning themselves. The lake is surrounded by mountains and is a beautiful sight to see. From a good angle, and up the hill a bit, the lake looks like a Valentine heart.

As we were starting to return back to the B&B, we were reminded that we are up in the mountains. One lane dark tunnels presented as much of a challenge as the hairpin turn roads.

Outside the tunnels, we were once again blessed with a beautiful landscape and appropriate for the Memorial Day weekend, a field of poppies! We couldn’t believe it, how lucky was this? Poppies are everywhere in Italy and a beautiful sight. This was the biggest field so far and on a very special weekend.

Continuing on we came to Sulmona, the town that created the hard candy covered almonds that are used as favors at Italian weddings, baptisms and every special gathering of families. We stopped at the Confetti Pellino museum/store. We were too late to go into the museum but are planning to do that before we leave Chieti. However, we were not too late to purchase some of the almonds so those are going back to GA with us! Leaving the parking lot we saw a statue of Il Guerriero, so Jim decided to have his photo taken with The Warrior.

When we got back to Pratola Peligna, we walked to the center of town and went inside the Madonna dell Libera. Nothing too spectacular about the exterior but the interior blew us away. Once again, we have no clue how these small towns throughout Italy designed, built and embellished their churches.

It was early evening so we stopped at a bar for a drink in the Centro piazza, where the elderly gentlemen were sitting around chatting. We were the only Americans here so we got a few stares – what to do? Smile, buonasera – yep, you guessed it. They all smiled and said buonasera back at us. By the way, I do not think we have seen but three or four Americans during the two months we have been in Italy!

Wednesday – time to head back to Chieti with a stop at Eremo di San Bartolomeo, a hermitage, where there is a wonderful hiking trail. We went down the trail, enjoying the landscape, very tall ferns, flowers, trees. Had to be careful because of the steep trail with steps and many stones along the way. I got most of the way down but had to stop. It was too rocky for me and I was in no mood to take a flop. Jim continued along the way and between both of us we captured some good photos.

While I was waiting for Jim to come back up the hill, another couple who had already been down to the bottom, came back up and when they saw me, told me Jim was ok and heading back up. I was relieved because he was far enough down that I could not see him and we couldn’t hear each other to stay in constant contact. He thinks I’m a nervous nellie! After a few minutes he returned back to where I was and we continued back up the hill. It was hot and it took a while to get back to the top.

Once at the top, there was a restaurant so we sat outdoors to have lunch. The couple we met on the trail were sitting there as well so we started chatting. They are Italian but the gentleman spoke English very well and was telling us they live in Bergamo, up near Lago di Como and above Milan. His wife’s sister-in-law is the sister of Pope John Paul II. Boy were we impressed and soon realized that this is a very small world and we were going to continue to meet some fascinating people during our travels.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch of fettuccine with asparagus cream sauce, absolutely delicious.

Got back to our apartment in Chieti by mid-afternoon, in time to do some laundry and relax. Follow us on our next journey where we will visit our extended family in Monteferrante which is a lovely town atop a beautiful mountain. Ciao!