http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=4081960
As well as providing some information about hikes all over the world, this site also provides GPS files that you can download and load into Google Earth or a Garmin GPS unit. I gave this a try, and managed to successfully load the trail into Google Earth (but unfortunately not Google Maps, which is what we've actually been using for navigating). The downside to Google Earth is that it is not available offline. I was hoping I could get something where we could follow our progress as we hiked the trail (and therefore reduce our chances of getting lost) but sadly was unable to do so :-(
This hike was categorized as "easy", however "easy" in Italian must translate as "very steep", or "straight up", because that's what this hike was! So as soon as we came to the first flat area (after about an hour) we stopped and had our picnic - leftover pizza, grapes, chips and "green lemon beer".
After this the trail flattened out so we continued, and we ran into a very nice surprise! (Although if we'd actually read the description of the trail beforehand, or read any of the signs along the route (which were all in Italian) it would have been a bit less of a surprise.) High up in the mountain was an old abandoned monastery from the 12th century.
It was mentioned in the write up on the web site, but was a surprise for us when we stumbled across it.
Most of the buildings were overgrown.
Some of the entrances were blocked with barbed wire, but others were open and you could wander about in the ruined buildings.
Can you see me in this picture? This building has a spectacular view of Pisa, which s about 20-30 km away.
Inside were scattered water and wine bottles, and lots of graffiti on the walls. This is obviously a popular party spot for the local teens, despite the difficulty of getting here.
"Don't move!" I made them stand like this for about 5 minutes while I looked for the perfect shot.
Heading towards the church. The walls were in pretty much prefect condition, the structure was just missing a roof. Contrast with the rest of the buildings, which were in various stages of crumbling. We should probably have heeded the warning signs to stay out, but of course they were all in Italian.
A view from the trail head. You can just make out the monastery on the first ridge, just above the roof of the yellow building in the foreground.
As I mentioned the ruins were a bit of a surprise to us when we came across them. Afterwards I noticed that the trail write-up mentioned them, but if it were me I would have named this trail something like "Steep hike up to a very cool set of ruins from the 12th century!!!"
(Ed note. The trail is called "Valle delle Fonti Eremo del Mirteto Foce Pennecchio", which is actually something like I suggest, although not quite so clear for us gringo tourists.)
I think the Italians get a bit blase about seeing old ruined buildings, and they only make special note if a trail does NOT lead to an old ruin. We were discussing how our Italian counterparts are doing in Canada and decided that they must be disappointed with all the trails we recommended for them because all they lead to are spectacular viewpoints but no old ruins :-(
After the hike we tried to stop for a gelatto, but it was around 3PM which is siesta time here (have I mentioned how civilized the Italians are?) and all we could find were some cold beers.
No comments:
Post a Comment