Jerusalem way - Page 6

Fiorenzuola d'Arda - Marina di Carrara

Early in the morning a young woman came into the kitchen, saw me lying there, laughed and gave me a lot of bread, cheese and fruit on the way. Super nice. The way to Fidenza ran for a long time dead straight along the road. Across a small river it went into the city center, the first bar was immediately for me 🙂. After the visit to the city center, the ascending path to Costa Mezzana ran again more scenic. Every now and then you cross small streams, means shoes off and on again, so rather a varied route. In the local trattoria I picked up the key for the Ostello, a single house on the outskirts of village. It was raining again today, there was not much to see here, so I ate at the trattoria and spent the rest of the evening planning tours.

Along quiet side roads the route led the next day via Medesano to Fornovo di Taro. After the bridge over the rather wide Taro the way begins to climb. These are the first foothills of the Apennines. Passing small villages you end up at a beautiful pilgrim hostel in Sivizzano. The dormitory was similar to a grotto and a sunny garden invited to sit. Only food and drink were missing, the only store I saw on the way was still closed. So I ran there again in the evening and got the necessary. Andrea went with me, I met the German pilgrim here for the first time and we walked together the next day. Alain and Gabrielle also came here in the evening.

We continued uphill on the Apennines, through small villages. In one of them a woman waved from the window, Andrea knew Italian, we were invited for a coffee. The landscape became more and more beautiful, we had wonderful views into the valley. Also the sun remained faithful to us. In Case Storti before Cassio we strengthened ourselves in a bar, then we went slightly downhill and uphill along the road to our destination in Berceto. At the Ostello di Cassio we considered whether we spent the night there, but it was still too early in the day. It was entertaining both of us, how fast we were moving. Andrea did not like it at all that we ran downhill so much road along, it hardly bothers me since Switzerland.

Alone again, a scenic route awaited me again. Further tightly uphill through the forest and green valleys to the Passo della Cisa, the 1041 m high Apennine Pass. There I visited the bar for refreshment, many wolves there would be here, I learned there. But I had seen none. Rather downward, but still up and down the serpentines wound through Montelungo to Pontremoli. I spent the night here in the Capuchin monastery, but before I went into the city for shopping.

In the morning I had to walk a bit before I found an open cafe for breakfast. In the valley between the mountains, the path today was rather flat along the road. But the view of the mountains on the left and right compensated for it. Only after Villafranca in Lunigiana there were again larger forest pieces to walk through. Arrived in Aulla, I was shown the nice accommodation in the attic of the church. On the terrace there I became aware for the first time of the beautiful chimes of the churches here. After shopping, I remained there and later came ... of course my 2 favorite French 🙂.

Today the last mountain ridge before the sea was on the plan. Steeply uphill led partly difficult to walk paths. Some ran along in the brook. But when the forest cleared, one had magnificent views, sometimes to La Spezia. On the way I overtook the two French, german express is coming, was their dry comment. They usually started earlier than me. Arrived in Sarzana, people were standing in front of a church. I wanted to ask where the parrocchia was, they waved me off like: Begging is not wanted here. I must have looked 🙂. When people saw me later with a monk, they put the misunderstanding quite sweetly right. Spartanic, but the room was completely ok. In the small garden were bergamot trees, a small sour orange form. Alain told me I could eat the greens already, so we stuffed our pockets full. In the evening we visited a bar in town.

I had meanwhile arrived emotionally in the beautiful country, enjoyed the landscape, people and way of life here. Through the flat Lombardy it had gone over the beautiful Apennines in the wonderful Tuscany. People spoke to one on the way or greeted friendly. In the hostels I met interesting people and occasionally went with someone. The Via Francigena is wonderful to walk, every day there was something moving, whether scenic or human. Time was running here. I learned to love this country. And how happy I was when, near Massa, I stood by the sea for the first time, where I had the feeling of having accomplished something and had been rewarded. The short distance to Massa, more precisely Marina di Carrara, led for the most part along a main road through suburbs.

Despite several cappucchinos, I was there much too early. In the hostel no hospitalero, no pilgrim. So I put down the backpack and went for a walk by the sea, it was not 10 m behind the accommodation. Despite cloudy weather, all beach chairs were empty, it was wonderful. Of course, my favorite Frenchmen came here later. From here you could see into the mountains behind and the Apuan Alps with the white quarries of the famous Carrara marble.