alleys and doors

It has been unseasonably cold and wet here, all the locals are complaining. There have been snow falls on the mountains and floods in other regions. I spent a showery Monday with Anna and her family, took myself to the nearby museum on Tuesday morning (it was warm and dry inside) and then had lunch with Vincenzo and Giuseppina. Today was cloudy but not showery and the possibility of getting out and about was appealing. I haven't had a day to myself since I arrived so planned an excursion by bus to a local town.

Taking the bus here is not quite as straight forward as you would imagine but my limited Italian got me where I wanted to go. I had to rush to catch the bus (only one each hour or less) and missed breakfast, so on arrival in Casalbordino I found a bar to have an Italian breakfast - an espresso and cornetto (croissant). I was a bit unsure if I should go in or not as there were quite a few blokes standing outside chatting, maybe this was a blokes only kind of place. But when I looked inside I saw a couple of females so decided it was ok. I am developing a taste for an espresso each day (along with pasta and dolce/biscotti). It is amazing how easy it is to adapt to a multi course lunch each day!

I went for a walk with Anna around the country roads near her house. That is Casalbordino in the distance

There wasn't much open in Casalbordino so I spent a very pleasant couple of hours wandering around the alleys and laneways taking photos of all the amazing old doors.

one of the many alleys I wandered through

And here are some of the old doors that captured my eye (nothing appears straight in the alleys)

I turned up early to catch the bus back (didn't want to miss it because the next one was a two hour wait) and ended up chatting with an old lady who had lived in Canada and the US for 14 years and spoke English. We used a mixture of Italian and English as she hadn't really spoken English for the last 20 years and my Italian is rudimentary. She was also going to Vasto and ensured I caught the correct bus home!