Ferrara, Traghetto, Argenta, Casalborsetti (via Ravenna) – Day 77, 78, 79 & 80 on the Via Romea

As I mentioned last time, I had to consider catching a train to make up some time.  When it came time to leave Quarti I decided that it would be prudent to do just that.  My feet were a bit sore from the previous solid day’s walking, it was going to be hot, and my friend Jill was waiting in Ferrara for me.  My host kindly offered to drive me (backwards) to Rovigo where I could easily catch a train and so we set off in the early morning for the train station.  What took me a whole day to walk the previous day, took less that half an hour to drive, and I caught the train within 15 mins!

It was really good to catch up with Jill in Ferrara.  We got ourselves organised and spent a considerable time sitting watching the bikes go to and fro.  Despite the fact that I have been through many towns where the residents ride bikes of all types Ferrara still wins as “bike city”.  While in Ferrara I had several meals of my favourite pasta – pumpkin cappalletti with butter and sage!  It is delicious and I have fond memories of this dish from the last time I was in Ferrara. 

We both had excess baggage, and I came up with the idea of sending some stuff ahead to save the weight in our packs.  After being seriously callous with what we would need for the next stages we trotted off to the post office and offloaded (over the course of an hour - you can’t hurry things here) almost 4 kgs of extra gear  – clothes, and in my case pamphlets – into a big box which Jill will collect at her hotel in Rome and take home with her.  The difference in weight for me has been wonderful, and I think Jill was pretty pleased too. 

Bikes parked at the train staion

Sharing our first meal on this journey.  Jill (right) and I about to tuck into our pumpkin cappalletti 

Pumpkin cappalletti - delicious!

      

Ferrara, and its buildings.

                         

We left Ferrara a little later in the morning than we intended and spent the day walking towards Traghetto in VERY hot conditions.  We chuckled as we walked towards the heavy bike traffic of commuters heading into the city for work, we grumbled as we walked along a busy road with very little verge, and we were very grateful whenever we found a patch of shade to rest in.  We were meant to get to Traghetto on this day, but when we got as far as Marrara where we called our hostess for the night and she came and collected us in the car.  What bliss – a lovely comfortable room, an offer (gratefully accepted), of washing our clothes in a machine, and driving us to a pizzeria to collect a takeaway pizza.  Theresa even made us a salad to have with the pizza.  Real service. 

About to set off for the first day's walk

Heading out of  Ferrara. You can see the tiny sign we follow on the pedestiran post.

It was so hot my umbrella went up!

The following day to Argenta was a different story.  Shade most of the way, a cafe to stop for a rest, and even a rest stop complete with a “seat”!  Actually it might have been a roadside bench for putting fruit and vege on for sale – but there was nothing there and it was a perfect rest stop - so we sat!  We had a room right in the centre of town in Argenta and we arrived early enough to wash and go out for aperitifs before dinner.  

      

On the way to Argenta we passed some interesting gateposts marking the entrance to some derelict buildings (above left), and just part of the shady path we walked on (above right)

As we approached Argenta, we kept a keen eye on the approaching storm.

      

Brightly coloured buildings entering Argenta, and the bell tower in the town

We changed our plans for the next day though, leaving our packs at the hotel and walking around the Valli di Comacchio, a place laden with bird life – AND – king sized mosquitos!  There had been a big thunderstorm in the early hours of the morning and so the humidity was pretty high, as was the mud in one place, but a truly beautiful park, and well worth visiting, despite the mud that made us a few inches taller.  We then returned to the hotel, collected our packs and headed to the train station where we caught the train to Ravenna. 

 The start of the Valli di Comacchio, with just some of the birds we saw.

      

 Pieve di San Giorgio.  Note the poor man being turned on the wheel above the door!

The mud

By doing this we have been able to have 5 nights in the one place, walk pack free for another day.  After a night in Ravenna, and more of that later, we set off early the next morning by bus to Casalborsetti.  This is a town on the Adriatic coast – the first sight of ocean / sea for me since departing.  After a coffee and brioche on the waterfront, and many photos we set off, first through a park, then a diversion out to the beach so that we could walk along the coastline – I won’t call it a beach, because there were not too many places that had access to expanses of sand, and many places where giant rocks were the place of choice for sunbathing.  That word, sunbathing, gets me started!  I do not understand peoples attitude here in Europe to the sun.  People say it is not as bad as in Australia, but believe me it has a lot of punch in it, and I am sure could cause a lot of damage.  Perhaps when melanomas start increasing people might take more care.  We passed many people who were very brown, skin starting to look very leathery, and yet they still lay out in the hot sun.  My shirt is testimony to the effects of the sun as it is distinctly striped where the sun has faded the exposed parts of it, yet here there seems to be little concern about skin cancers.  We are the oddities, walking in long trousers / shorts, long-sleeved shirts, and a big hat on our head.  The locals on the beach were in the briefest of clothes and often without any hats. 

 The beach at Casalborsetti (above and below) ......   

     

 ....... and then further along the coast line.

 The Adriatic Sea, oil rigs on the horizon.

 The brolly goes up, presumably to provide shade for the bags and towels, and then the chairs are placed in the sun for people sit, while their belongings are protected from the sun!!

After our brief “beach” experience we returned to the path which, after a spell running along a canal,  went for about 8kms through lovely bush with lots of pines known as Pineta di San Vitale.  It was here that the monks from the Abbey in Ravenna made herbal remedies and stored pine nuts.  We were chuckling as we walked because the notes said that we would enter two clearings.  The second one was a “vast clearing, where one can meet horses”, and then we were to continue on this “earthly paradise”!   We did come across a “herd” (about 20 of them) of horses, though they didn’t shake hands when we met, they were VERY curious about us.   It was lovely, but again, we had to be careful of the mosquitos which were plentiful due to the reasonably stagnant water in the canals we were passing.  It was really interesting for me seeing the fishermen’s cottages along the canals, just prior to the forest.  It is here in this region that the fishermen use big nets that they lower into the water, then lift out, by a pulley system.

 The nets used by the fishermen (above & below)

 Lots of still water for mozzies to breed in!

      

 The path in Pineta di San Vitale and the “vast clearing” where we saw the horses.  They showed and instant interest in us from when they heard us approaching.  They did want to greet us, but were soon more intent on grazing.  We have no idea who they belonged to how they are looked after them.  

      

 As we approached Ravenna we had to cross the dodgy bridge, complete with a big gap between the edge and the pipeline - big enough to fall through.  It was either walk on this or cross the bridge with fast, heavy traffic crossing the bridge.  

We arrived in Ravenna for the second time passing the first of the UNESCO monuments we were to see throughout our time in the beautiful city.  This was the Mausoleum of Theoderic, the Ostrogoth King who lived 454 - 526 from and reigned in Ravenna for the last 30 years of his life.  He himself ordered that his mausoleum be built in 520.  This is quite an amazing building when one considers when it was built.  It is decagonal, and the roof is made from a single stone weighing almost 5 tons and 11 metres in diameter.  It was built from Istria stone and was, in its day, the only building in Ravenna not made of bricks.  

The Mausoleum of Theoderic

After our visit to the Mausoleum we headed the last kilometre or so to our room and were glad to have a shower – and rest.  Though we didn’t do much of the latter, but more of that in the next post.