(Sunday 27th June – It’s been a while since the last post as interweb access is a little difficult, and we’ve been busy getting out & about, so here’s a few posts to try and catch you up.)There was very heavy rain overnight in Cosenza and nice to hear it on the roof, except for when it started raining inside the room… We were on the top floor and it was just a small leak that lasted for a few minutes and got mopped up with a towel – happy that it wasn’t over the bed!
Morning with blue skies with fluffy white clouds up behind the castle. During breakfast down in the kitchen with its long (like most of the of the side of the room of about 3 mtrs) white enamel wood stove with a modern gas hot plate installed, it started raining again and it now it looks like it’s here to stay for the day. We did venture out to get some supplies from a small supermarket and did a quick tour of the old town and visited the duomo, and then down to the confluence of the two rivers that join at one corner of the old town. Both were flowing well after the rain, and the water was brown with mud. We’d heard that a scenic steam train ride from here up through the mountains has been closed because of landslides – apparently they have had a lot of unseasonal rain. Seeing lots of tokens of love locked onto significant landmarks, I remember we saw this phenomenon first on a bridge in Vilnius on 2007. Padlocks with engraving or black texta left by couple betrothing love to each other.
Back to the room for bags and then down to the old station and bought tickets for the short ride to the new station where the intercity trains leave from. Met an American girl who was spending a couple of weeks travelling at the end of a year of study abroad. She’d been studying art history (in Italian!) and applied for a travel scholarship to see some of the churches in the south and was hoping to catch up with her mother in the next day or two. The train ride was great, travelling through some picturesque countryside with farms and orchards and olive groves galore. The train wasn’t crowded, the people were happy and in good humour, and conductor was helpful. At one point we stopped on a siding and all the Trenitallia personnel hopped off the train and lit up a smoke – we apparently had to stop here to let another train through on the single track. The Italians do seem to smoke a lot (not inside of course) and at all ages. We clicketty-clacked through a wide valley lined with mountains, very cultivated with more olives, peaches, citrus, rolled hay bales, and cows and appreciated that the rain stopped. Lots of wind turbines sprouting in stands along ridges and rotating gently, and I’m guessing, supplying the electricity needed for all the trains. We changed trains in Taranto and again in Brindisi before getting down to Lecce in the early evening.
Found our way into the old city and our B&B where Tullio gave us the run down on how things worked, a quick survey of the old town and where we could go for some dinner. He gave us some vouchers for a cafe where we need to go for breakfast and have a 1.80 euro credit for a coffee and a pastry and he suggested we try a pastiacotto which is a local pastry from the Puglia region. He lived another floor up, on the roof-top terrace and showed us the view and landmarks from there. The room was nice enough but a couple of draw backs. You need to use your room key to turn on the lights, power and airconditioning. So, when you go out, nothing gets re-charged (netbook, phone, batteries etc.) and the room doesn’t keep cool. We grabbed a map and did a bit of a tour around the old town as the locals and heaps of Italian tourists were doing their stroll. Found the Roman amphitheatre (being set up with red plastic chairs and a stage for some dance recital), the Cin Cin cafe (breakfast destination), and some other landmarks that we’ll need to check out more thoroughly tomorrow.
