5/23 –Week One: Chieti is the only place where we have an extended stay. Abruzzo has much to see so Chieti is a good place to sit as we travel all around seeing different sights. Sundays are usually quiet days in the towns. Folks sit at the bars drinking coffee, eating pastries and most will have a home cooked meal while others will find a restaurant to enjoy a meal. We usually take Sunday’s to relax and figure out what we might want to do during our time in town. We walked around the town and tried to get a feel for where things were such as the grocery store, market, bakery. Of course on Monday when we headed out, we realized there are so many more places that we did not see on Sunday. We headed up one of the streets that had a few ladies selling their fruits and vegetables so we picked up a few things.

We walked around the town checking out the shops. Haven’t tried any of the restaurants here yet but it seems nothing is ever open when I am hungry! The Italians are all sitting at bars having coffee and pastries – actually it’s mostly the men sitting at bars, drinking coffee and chatting up a storm. The women are usually shopping for groceries or just plain old shopping for anything and chatting with one another as they stroll around the town. There are not too many Americans here so Jim and I do not go unnoticed. We get some stares but I stare right back, smile and say Buongiorno and guess what? They smile back and say the same to me. It has been a fun experience and once again when we struggle with our Italian, they help us by saying it the correct way. I really appreciate that!

After putting the groceries away we head back out to see the sites. A church? Well, imagine that! Yep, sure enough I found another one. It is right smack dab in the middle of construction all around it but the church is in tact and quite nice looking from the outside, with it’s very own statues standing guard.

The inside was quite different. The crypt, the basement-level original 11th-century structure, with fine frescoes and other works of art, had a cave feeling to it and it was dark but still very nice.

While looking around we found a glass door and looked up to find the main church was actually upstairs. The door was blocked so we could not go up but we found another door and it was not blocked or locked so we quietly opened it and decided to check out what was on the floor above, hoping we didn’t get caught or told we were not supposed to be up there. We were stunned when we got upstairs. It was huge and absolutely gorgeous. Once again, another church, very different and very beautiful! Gotta love it, we just keep finding them everywhere we go. As we took photos inside the church, I kept looking around, certain we were going be discovered but thankfully that did not happen and there were no signs saying we couldn’t be there. Enjoy the photos we captured.

In the same area of the church was the Palazzo Di Giustizia (Justice Palace).

As we walked around the town we discovered some ruins. This one goes back to the 6th Century, B.C., starting as a protected water well and having had several variations of temples built by various sects on top of earlier temples. The bricks and layout you see here date back to 1st Century, A.D.

My fascination with these little cars continues. This one has the design on the door that is exactly how the roads we have been traveling look. I’m thinking about buying one and putting it on the plane as checked baggage and tooling around PTC with this little buggy!

We toured the Museo Universitario di Chieti which was very interesting. Took just a few photos. This museum was a little noisy due to the school children who were on a day trip. We did our best to skip ahead of them and catch as much of this museum as we could. It was comical to hear some of the comments and giggles when the children got to the monkey area. It just reminded me of when I would go on the field trips as a volunteer mom with my children’s classes. Memories are nice to have and it is good to see schools still have field trips for the children.

Seemed like hundreds of animals including birds, rodents and turtles preserved by taxidermists and on display, not to mention hundreds more insects that were pinned under glass. You can see some of the butterflies under glass in the right display case above.

la Civitella is a national archeological museum we discovered while out on a walk to a yet unexplored part of town so in we go. It was very large and we just followed the yellow arrows on the floor after being told where to start and how to go around the museum. There were several different classes of school kids on a field trip. Apparently they divided into different small groups, each with note pads of items they were to look for and write something down about them. Funny to see them running all over the place trying to find whatever they were to write about, but it was a great way to learn and a wonderful way to teach the kids. We were around long enough to observe several returning to a central point and then sharing the information they collected.

It was interesting to see different archaeological pieces that were discovered, placed on a wall with a sketched drawing of how this piece fit into the original statue. I’ve never seen this before so I was really impressed with it.

There were a lot of ceramic pieces, stones, bronze statues, jewelry and and area with tombstones.

After seeing all of this we thought we were finished but the gal at the desk told us to go up the stairs and continue. We came to what was an amphitheater discovered as the city of Chieti was constructing a new city water storage tank. It was discovered about 40 years ago, reconstructed and now is often used for shows, competitions and theater.

We walked around the top, saw a view of the city, followed all the signs and when we came to the exit, it was locked, so we kept following more signs and I asked Jim if we were going to be able to get out of here? As we looked around I said ok I’m not staying here any longer – I’m going right down the same way we came up so that is what we did and it worked.

Thursday we hopped on the bus to Pescara. Turned out that rather than the bus that went straight to Pescara, we were on the bus that made quite a few stops along the way to pick up or drop off passengers. No problem, saw more sights and it only took an hour. We will never figure out how these bus drivers navigate the tight spots along the way; really amazing driving.

Pescara was nice, had a great walkway along the beach and a bridge that curves up and over the Pescara River allowing you a gorgeous view of the sea, the area and all the fishing boats that have returned with the day’s catch. The bridge is for pedestrians and bicycles only.

All those pointy things lined up in rows and essentially covering the beach from the tops of the trees to as far as you can see are beach umbrellas.

On the way down the bridge onto the South side of the river, we noticed a gas station not seen much if at all in the States any more. In fact, Jim thinks there are none. To bring back a few memories and illustrate once again that the Europeans have kept certain icons while we seem to change everything, when was the last time you pulled into this brand of gas station?

We walked all around for a couple of hours until we decided to find a restaurant. Found a very nice little place along one of the side roads so we sat outside to enjoy our fish along the nice, cool, tree-lined street. They brought out small appetizers: one was some sort of fish cream and the other was some green vegetable thing – sorry but we did not understand what the waitress was telling us and she didn’t speak English. We ate the two appetizers and the green thing which was actually delicious; the fish cream – well not so much. Next came our fish lunches and they were delicious. We sat there for almost two hours just chatting and enjoying our nice, slow meal. No rush and very relaxing. We needed it after walking all morning long.

On the way back to the bus station, we returned to Via Firenze, the primary shopping and restaurant street in downtown Pescara. Pretty nice layout and most of the stores (negozio) were the classy type. Uh, main market street? Where is everyone? Answer: we were there in the 2:00PM to 4:00PM timeframe when folks are mostly taking their afternoon naps and most shops and even restaurants are closed.

Friday we decided to find another museum that Jim wanted to see. Chieti Museo Archeologico Nazionale Villa Frigerj. Along the way, we had to go through the city center where we discovered the Friday outdoor market with fruit, vegetables, meats, cheeses and of course clothing, housewares and a few other things was in full swing. We picked up aprons for our cooking class next weekend as well as tomatoes, parsley, strawberries and other veggies I’ll need in the kitchen.

On to the museum where we went through a beautiful park to get there. This museum was the private house of Baron Ferrante Friggerj who was quite the art collector and who established the park surrounding the home. The palazzo (most of the very large houses are called palaces or palazzi) was purchased by the government in 1959, renovated and turned into the museum it is today.

Most all of the artifacts in this museum and in our photos are essentially from cemeteries – necropoli of various families or clans. From the artifacts, archaeologists can determine the status of each person based on what was in his or her tomb. Below is a 1/50 scale layout of a section of one such necropolis.

Finally, a major objective of both our stay in Chieti and in visiting this museum — the Guerriero di Capestrano or Warrior of Capestrano. During some construction on a farm near the town of Capestrano, several relics suggesting the presence of a necropolis beneath the site were discovered. Among these was a mysterious statue broken in two pieces.  The statue dated to early 6th century BCE. It was made using local stone and marble and measures just over 6 feet tall with a stone base underneath its feet and two vertical struts keeping the figure in place. Based on analysis of the carvings in the weapons, belts and sides of those pillars on each side, the archaeologists believe this guy was a warrior, a leader and an aristocrat of some degree. He sure looks pretty impressive to us. The warrior in my family wanted a closer look and to get a photo standing next to the guerriero but got a little too close and set off the alarm. The only penalty if you can call it that was that I spent 10 minutes as we were leaving talking with the two female docents about how my warrior looked like a Greek! Oh brother, it’s really getting even more difficult to live with him now.

We have a busy four or five days coming up so it might be awhile before you hear from us. You know how it is, mountains to climb, pasta to eat, wine to drink and of course the whole time — family demanding all our time. We love it. Wish ya’ll could be here.