From Calls to Prayer to Church Bells

I have left behind the "calls to prayer" I heard at 5:45 am in most places where I stayed in Turkey and have moved on to Italy where, I expect, they will soon be replaced by church bells beckoning people to mass.  We are staying in a hotel on a beach in a resort area so no such bells yet but I almost cannot wait to hear them.  It is interesting how different cultures have methods of reminding people to pray to their God.

Thursday, I flew from Istanbul to Rome's Fiumicino airport and spent the night at a nearby hotel.  It was convenient, modern and comfortable; that's for sure.  The views were of the train station across the street and, in the distance, the runways.  For my first night in Italy, it was pretty generic and I really could have been anywhere as nothing, aside from the wallpaper in my room, seemed remotely Italian.  Further, it was located almost in a shopping mall but, thankfully, there were some restaurants about a block away.  One of them was called "The Wild West", again not exactly Italian with an American West theme.  I picked one with an Italian name, Desco, where I ate a delicious pasta carbonara followed by a nougat semifreddo, all with wine, of course.

The next morning, I met my friend from Victoria at the airport.  Once we'd sorted out the car rental, we were on the road heading east.  It was a bit like Goldilocks - the first car was too big; then the next car didn't have the GPS system I wanted; finally, the lovely Europcar agent who had been more than lovely with me, upgraded our car without any additional charge and we were set.  She deserved major accolades for her patience with me.  Funnily enough, we ended up speaking some French, even though her English was perfect.  

The road system around Roma worked well and we were well on our way through the Apennines without much of a problem.  The scenery was spectacular and it was regrettable that there were no places to pull off the busy autostrada (later a toll road) to take pictures.  The hilltop villages, huge mountains, and various medieval castles were well worth photos but that was not to be.  The one logistical problem we had was that our VW T-Roc (a wonderful vehicle to drive, by the way, and a diesel which will save us money on gas) has some very new technology in it, including a USBC port rather than the standard USB port we are all so familiar with.  So, there was no way to charge my iPhone as we drove.  Thankfully, there was enough "juice" in it to help guide us to our hotel just north of Ortona.  It was a bit annoying as I have an adaptor for linking a USB to a USBC sitting on my kitchen counter at home.  For sure, that will be in my luggage the next time I plan to rent a car over here!  So, our first chore was going to be finding an electronics store to get a new "lightning" cord with that kind of port but that would have to wait until the next day.

The Hotel Mara where we are staying is lovely and it was certainly enjoyable to sit and have a glass (okay more than one) of dry Spumonte on the terrace by the pool and with gorgeous views of the Adriatic.  The reason we have come to this part of Italy is to visit the Canadian War Military Cemetery near San Donato.  That is on the agenda for tomorrow.  In the meantime, we will savour the lovely scenery and Italian food.

The next day, we made our way to the Centrale Commerciale Ortona, a big shopping mall, where for about 10 Euros I bought the necessary cord.  One mission, albeit pretty small, accomplished!  Next up, and worth it's own blog, a visit to the Canadian War Military ceremony nearby.