Category: Uncategorized
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Ceramic Beauty
Today, I discovered that the Portuguese love to adorn their homes and churches with ceramic tile. The effect can be quite pretty. These tiles provided the only beautiful aesthetic during our 11.6 mile journey from the outskirts of Porto to the small village of Vilarinho. Most of the trip looked like a visit to a…
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The Long Day
Today we hiked almost 20 miles from Vilarinho to Barcelos. The temperature was hot (80-85 degrees) and the route was up and down, mostly on cobblestones, but sometimes on dirt roads. This will be the longest leg of our trip, so I psyched myself that if I can get through this day, everything else will…
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A View from the Top … and the Bottom.
Today I want to talk about perspective. It is the way we see the world. And it shapes our impressions and feelings. I recall that Manila always looked best at night, so the poverty was obscured by the enveloping darkness. Some cities look best by day or when seen from offshore, like Paris from the…
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Foggy France
Flying overnight is always a mixed bag. Sometimes I sleep, and sometimes I don’t. This time I got about 3 hours of sleep, but that means I’ll probably crash around dinner time. My emotional fog was illustrated brilliantly by the rivers of fog swirling around the french countryside as we were landing. Even the Eiffel…
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Veni, vidi, vici
Yesterday, at 3:30 in the afternoon, we crossed into the city limits of Assisi. This marked the conclusion of our 160 mile hike. The day began with an early morning breakfast at a cafe in Foligno. From there, we quickly walked the 6km (4 miles) to the town of Spello in about 90 minutes. It…
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Simple things are the best
Today was Day 11 of our 12-Day walk across Italy. We hiked from Poreta to Trevi and then on to Foligno, for a total of 24 km or 16 miles. This was a double stage hike, which means we accomplished in one day, what the guidebooks suggest you do in two days. (Overachievers) As a…
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A day in the olive groves
Today we made the short trip from Spoleto to Poreta (about 15 km or 10 miles). Since we knew that we would get there relatively quickly, we did a bit of sightseeing in Spoleto first. There is a beautiful cathedral (duomo) which contains a letter from St. Francis to Friar Leone from 1222 (a thousand…
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Paths, Roads, and Highways
Today was the most arduous and difficult hike to date. The section from Pontuglia to Spoleto was not long (only 18 km), but the terrain was very challenging. The first 6.5 km (4 miles) was straight uphill. No flat land. Just a steep climb from 450 meters above sea level to 950 meters. The last…
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Down By The Riverside
Today was one of the longest walks of the entire trip. We walked from Piediluco to Pontuglia, a little town in the hills outside Secelli. In total we walked over 34 km ( about 21 miles) in 7.5 hours. The path was relatively flat because we followed a river from the lake in Piediluco. The…
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The Sausage You Follow
I couldn’t write my blog yesterday because I had no cell or internet service in the little town of Piediluco. Forgive me. So, tonight I am writing for both days. Yesterday, we covered the distance from Poggio Bustone to Piediluco (22km or 14 miles). As Day 6 of our 12 day journey to Assisi, we…
