Thursday, August 28th
We spent the morning and early afternoon in Pavia sightseeing. First to the Certosa di Pavia, a monastery complex built in the 15th century by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan. We were able to join an Italian language tour led by one of the monks. Although we were unable to understood what he was saying, we were able to see areas normally closed off to the public.
From the Certosa we went to the Chiesa di San Pietro Ciel d’Oro (Church of Saint Peter in the Golden Sky) where the remains of St. Augustine are interred. We also visited the Chiesa di San Teodoro (Church of St. Theodore).
Our plan was to then take the 3:12 train from Pavia to Santa Cristina where we were to meet our driver who would transport us to the Agriturismo San Bruno where we would spend the night. There are two train stations in Pavia and the station where I thought the train came through at 3:12 was actually the station where it came through at 3:06. To make a long story short, we missed our train and had to wait an hour for the next train, our driver refused to wait for us (said he had other work commitments), and we had to order a taxi from Pavia (no local taxis in Santa Cristina). By the time everything got sorted out and the taxi picked us up, it was after 6:00 and we were $100 poorer. The owner of the Agristurismo left the keys under the mat for us and we let ourselves in.
Our afternoon from hell didn’t stop there though. When I opened the door to our room, it was flooded with water! There had been a huge deluge of rain while we were waiting for our train in Pavia. The window of our room had been left open, but it also looked like the roof might have leaked. Took at least another hour plus for the owner to come back and move us into a new room. All in all, definitely not a day I want to repeat.
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| First order of the day - getting our pilgrim passports stamped at the Cathedral |
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| Walking toward the Certosa church |
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| Interior entry way with a view of the altar |
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| Interior courtyard of the monastery complex |
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| Each rooftop represents a monk's cell |
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| Reliquary with St. Augustine's bones |
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| Elaborate sarcophagus of St. Augustine's tomb |
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| Interior of the Church of St. Theodore |
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| Santa Cristina train station |
Friday, August 29th
Our journey today started with a ferry crossing of the Po River, followed by a flat 8.5 mile walk along paved country roads and busy highways. Our highlight of the day was definitely our ferry ride with Danilo. As we crossed the river we could see evidence of yesterday’s storm with lots of logs and debris floating in the river. Once we docked, Danilo invited us to his house where he stamped our passports, had us sign his log book, and offered us coffee.
We then left to continue our walk to Piacenza. We again crossed the Po River to enter the town of Piacenza and continued into town through an industrialized area. Rich met us along the way and walked with us the rest of the way into the charming old town city center and our lovely accommodations for the night.
After having a delicious lunch at a nearby coffee shop followed by a refreshing gelato, we did a bit of sightseeing of some of Piacenza’s more impressive churches. So far, Piacenza and Pavia have been my two favorite towns on this journey.
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| Our ferry across the Po River and driver Danilo |
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| Becky captured this photo of a heron as we were passing by |
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| Me, Danilo and Becky |
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| Tomatoes ready for harvesting |
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| Bridge into Piacenza |
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