We head out on the highway (really it's the world's curviest two lane road).
Our morning was off to a rocky start. Our bus in to town didn't arrive on time. This is not odd for busses in L'Aquila but our bus was really late. Then we figured out it didn't run at all on Saturday. Not to worry a 30 minute wait for its stand in, and we were on our way to the bus station. The reality of Abruzzo's public transportation system made it clear that we had to rent a car if we wanted to see the sites. So we broke down and rented a car for the next four days.
Paper work done, check
Tiny Euro car, check
Get your motor running, check
Head out to the cemetery, check
It was our last ditch effort to find an important grave site at the cemetery. This brings our total visits up to 3 (we don't even want to calculate the time spent). If any Italian's questioned Gabe's roots before there is no way they could now. When we arrived the young guy's car wasn't there (bad sign as he said he would be). Once again we headed in to the office. We're pretty sure we woke the old guy up (we think he lives there). Happy to see us again he told us he thought the young guy would be back in an hour...or so. This was as close to a schedule as these guys worked on so we decided to wait a half hour. Thirty-five minutes later we were defeated and started walking to the car. This would mean we would have to come back to the cemetery when we returned the car. Just as we started to pull out Gabe noticed a car careening in to the office parking lot and a reckless high speed. Still suffering the effect of nightmares from our ride in his car Gabe knew this could only be the young guy. We got out of the car and walk to the office filled with hope. The young guy was not happy to see us, more work for him to do. Our new info required pulling down the large dusty tome one more time. We were in luck; he wrote down the grave location and sent us on our way (there was no offer of a free ride, which was fine with us). Once we found the grave we took our photo's and bid farewell to L'Aquila's cemetery. It is hard to describe this moment. Think of children running out of the building on the last day of school. WEEEEEEEEE, no more cemetery, no more dusty books, no more cranky 70 year-olds, dirty looks.
Our first destination was the ruins of Alba Fucens. The drive was incredibly beautiful taking us over the mountains past tiny medieval towns. What we didn't know was how windy the roads were going to be. There were hundreds of hairpin turns followed by more hairpin turns while driving on the edge of a cliff. Shilo had the map out and we were both being pushed side to side in our tiny car. We were living the life of a Euro Rally racer. Perhaps we would have laughed more if we weren't constantly dodging packs of guys riding there crotch rockets at 150 miles per-hour. By the end of the day our sides were killing us from this intense ab workout.
When we finally arrived in Alba Fucens we weren't sure we were in the right place. As with most of Abruzzo you never feel like you are in the right place, due mostly to the complete lack of signage and locals interest in tourists. It really is a very small town out side of Avezzano. The reason for our stop in Alba was its Greco-Roman ruins embedded in the modern town. Originally the town was a major stop on an ancient trading route, it remains today because of its isolation allowing it to fade in to history. Recently Italy's national government decided to sell the land the ruins are on. Luckily the provincial government decided to buy the land. The charm of this site is the freedom to explore history. There is no entry fee, no gate, no one really working and seemingly no rules. Only the St. Peters church (build on the temple of Apollo) is locked up. There is a shop in town that will sell you a map and ring the person with the key to the church. For a small tip you get a guided tour and this interesting church.
A review- Chiesa di San Pietro/ Tempio di Apollo
Shilo's thoughts- Our first personally guided tour through a ruin! Also, a church and a ruin! (If only the guide had brought a pizza) Although the woman guiding us only spoke Italian, there was some broad information provided in English explaining the rich history of this sight. After several earth quakes and WWII bombings, its amazing how much of the temple origins were in tack. Particularly interesting was the Greek graffiti in the stone, similar to what we had seen in Pompeii.
Gabe's thoughts- It was interesting being in such a small church with so much history. I guess the fact that we were alone, no busloads of tedeschi or ragazzi making a lot of noise. It really made me feel like we were off the beaten path. The remaining columns of the temple were worn but had a wonderful delicacy to them. Our guide went to great lengths to tell us the steep walk to the church was too hot for her many children, so I added a Euro to her tip (I'm a sucker).
The remaining ruins were interesting, but the highlight was the large amphitheatre. Set in the side of a hill it really surprised us when we found it. There were old gates over the entrances to the underground tunnel system. All of the locks had been broken off so you could wander around freely. It was a little weird though (something about the small tunnels made you feel like you would find a dead body). It was really hot out so we pick up some ice cream in the Alba's main (and only) piazza and got back on the road.
Just past Avezzano we drove through the Conca del Fucino. At one time this was the location of Italy's third largest lake. It is notable as the world's largest artificial drained lake. First attempted by the Roman then later achieved in 1875. Now it is a flatter then flat, surreal plain of farm land in the middle of the mountains.
The rest of our day was spent driving through the mountains to Pescasseroli, a small town in Abruzzo's Parco National. Once again we showed up with no reservations, but with the help of a wonderful woman at the tourism office we stayed at the "Hotel Valle Del Lupo." Run by a delightfully cranky woman, it is perched on a hill in a serene valley. Pescasseroli is a major Italian's and Europeans who love to hike and ski. We were lucky to arrive just before the tourist season started so our room was cheep and everything in town was open. With a recommendation we drove back in to town to find "da Giorgio's" ristorante. It took some time to find as there was a tiny sign, but it was worth it. The restorant was decorated like a rustic cabin; complete with dead animals on the walls (Shilo loved this). The food was simple and amazing. We both had Strozzapretti (wide noodles called Priest stranglers) with a tomato spinach sauce. Shilo had salad and Gabe had the most amazing verdura cotta- Chicory sautéed with spicy peperincino. We finished the meal off with some strawberries and a shot of Amaro.
After our meal we went for a walk in the brisk mountain air and a moonlit drive to our hotel. The hotel was very quite and the stars were very bright in the sky (no light pollution). We left the doors to our balcony open and enjoyed the fresh air and starry sky as we drifted off to sleep.
"Tranquille" (Italian for tranquil)
Shi and Gabe
6 votes 
