Absolutely remarkable silk embroidery on linen. Originally the women of the valley raised their own silkworms and died the yarns to embroider with.
They also used the silk wool hemp and linen to weave bands. This loom was used by almost a half a century to weave these bands, and was donated to the museum after the woman passed away.
The costumes are remarkable. Incorporating multiple elements of embroidery and gold work.
We want to this ethnographic museum and exhibition of traditional dance today in Cilipi in the Konavale Valley here in the southern end of Croatia. The dances were familiar as were the songs. Lovely singing voices and very unusual regional instruments. There was one that looked like a large gourd and sounded somewhat like a hurdy gurdy. There was a remarkable dance around the player with a lot of spinning.
I was very taken with the men’s costume- particularly their hand knit socks/stockings. One gentleman had even had the feet on his replaced - you could see slightly different coloured wool on the feet compared to the legs. Men and women alike wore the glorious red slippers.
We left Vasto de Mariana on the TrenItalia intercity 605 in the afternoon. We arrived in Barri Centrale it just before 6 o’clock. I had no idea what a bustling metropolis and tourist attraction. This town is. Bari Vecchia is the old town shaped kind of like a spear point with ports on either side defended by a substantial wall and a number of castles as well as fortified churches. Apparently one of their many claims to fame because that Santa Claus’s relics are here.
We came out for a drink after dinner and saw many many young people lounging on the back of this wonderful lion. His entire back is glazed and slippery, and no longer carved from the love of centuries. The kids lay on the back of the lion and put their feet up on the post. It really is lovely to see people able to interact so directly with history.
This is the view from our apartment. Everything is clean and sparkly because there was an intense thunderstorm overnight.
The atmosphere is impossible for me to capture in photos. Suffice to say it was amazing being able to walk in and out of the walls of the old city.
We dying on the local specialty pasta orchetti- made by local women by hand everywhere in the city old city.
We stayed in the marine Summer village that the residence of this town have enjoyed for a long time during the summer months. The original town is up the hill and highly defensible.
A little seaside Village of Vasto Di Marina is just beneath in this picture.
A very atmospheric Vasto evening.
We’ve had a lovely few days relaxing and enjoying the Adriatic coast of Italy. We were able to rent a car for the day and tool around the province and it is a part of Italy I’d like to see more of. The coast is lovely, but the mountains are magnificent.
We sealed the deal for the €60 rental car with an espresso and a few signatures. The most complicated thing about it were the two different fuel types. More on that later.
This was our first fuel stop when we realized that the orange dashboard light was the low gasoline warning. And no, Christopher didn’t drink the wine. He just posed with it.
We stopped for lunch in Lanciano, which has been a town for more than 2000 years. Neither of us took a photo of it, but the lovely restaurant we stopped in the bathroom window was an arrow slit from the old castle wall.
Lunch was delicious. I asked our lovely waitress to tell me what these phenomenal cheese ball things were, but I fail to write it down, and it has now slipped from memory - we ate at Abruzzo Gourmet Restaurant
This has been a town for more than 2 thousand years.
After lunch I thought it would be nice to see a bit more of the countryside.
Sadly, we couldn’t find anywhere to pull over to take pictures. This is the best I could do. Vines are trained in a more traditional way when they make out shady Avenue for the grapes to grow underneath wood in the background is one of the beautiful surrounding mountains.
Down that road came a horse and cart at an incredible rate of speed. The horse and driver are in the background on the road of this photo. The video is even more remarkable.
I wonder if I’m just unlucky, or if everyone else has the same experience? 50% of the time I experience air travel delay. Arriving here I had two flights one flight was delayed. I qualify that it is 50%. Christopher travelling to Rome had two flights one flight was delayed which made him miss the next flight. Notify that is 50%. Is this normal?
I am just heading to the airport and caught a lovely photo of the cathedral lit up pink in honour of breast cancer survivors.
It’s been a busy week and I’m still not done processing at all. When I come back? I’d love to if I come into some money. When we were at the gift shop for the national Gallery, there was a postcard and mug that said on one side the weather is terrible and on the other side and it’s expensive too.
