Every day is a tough day, on the Via del Volto Santo! What looked like a short and easy day on paper - "only" 15 km - started out with a climb up "Monte Altissimo", continued with a detour up dozens of steps to see a church dedicated to San Jacopo (Santiago/Saint Jacques/St James); and just when we finally seemed to be nearing our destination, we lost the track in the woods and then found it again, only to come across a section that was closed and barricaded off due to a landslide! A short detour scrambling through the bushes and trespassing on some private gardens got us back onto a long, straight road that climbed up and up and up through the outskirts of the town of Barga, which suddenly seemed as big as New York!
But finally we made it to the "new" part of the town centre, and checked into our hostel in a 16th century villa, Villa Gherardi, with a magnificent view of the old town across the ravine. The old and "new" towns of Barga - the new one is still pretty old - are connected by a series of fairy-tale-like stone bridges and an aqueduct dramatically spanning the ravine. At the very top of the old town is the beautiful cathedral of San Cristoforo, built between 1000 and 1500, where we enjoyed a breath-taking view of the sun setting behind the mountains...
The mountains we walked through on our way here from La Spezia on the coast!!
Total so far: 236 km!
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| Castelnuovo Garfagnana at dawn |
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Castelnuovo Garfagnana cathedral
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| Leaving Castelnuovo Garfagnana |
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| Ominous street name! |
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It's chestnut season!
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Wild cyclamens
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| Abandoned 13th century church of Santa Maria Maddalena |
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| Cascio |
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Rest stop in Cascio
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First glimpse of Barga in the distance
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Detour to the church of San Jacopo in Gallicano
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| Gallicano: Pieve di San Jacopo |
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View of Gallicano from the church
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Gallicano: Pieve di San Jacopo
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What's that flag doing here?
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| Gallicano: Pieve di San Jacopo, seen from below |
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Laundry day in Gallicano
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The Serchio River
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Gallicano, now far behind us
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A vineyard with a view of the Alpi Apuane, on the way up to Barga
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| Barga: View of the old city from the patio at our hostel! |
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| Barga: 15th-century aqueduct |
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| Barga: Collegiata di San Cristoforo |
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View over Barga from the cathedral square
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| Villa Gherardi: our humble home for the night |
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Our room, before stringing up our laundry!
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Castelnuovo Garfagnana - Barga 18.5 km
Lucca is getting closer! |
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