Time To Slow Down - At The Beach Eastern Italy

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Off the coast of Pescara, Italy which is on the east side of the country!

Walking along the beach we saw a castle.  Heading there I read a sign that said "Torre il Cerrano".   Google says it's open seven days a week.  As we got closer we realized it was closed for remodeling but it looks like nothing has been done for quite a while.  The tower was actually a port built in the 1400s.  Ships would arrive with grains and merchandise.  Vessels of grain have been found off the coast proving so.  It looked like a very interesting place to visit.  

This area is similar to the southern California coast made up of many small towns that are connected.  There are good bus and public trans options.  The train is one of them and people use it to pass from town to town.  We are anxious to get back to Rome and take a day trip by train.

Here we were in the town of Pineta just 4 km from our apartment.  We waited for the train to pass to get a good shot.  

Trenitalia flies by at 400 kph.  They really move and you can barely hear them as they pass by.  

We had a much longer drive yesterday.  Time flies and we are getting closer to return to Rome for our last week.  We haven't pooped out but our eyes and minds are pretty full right now digesting all the places we have visited, sights we've seen and food we've eaten.  Well, the food could continue without issue.

A collage of all the naves or side altars in the Cathedral in Parma built in 1073.  Imagine people have been praying in this church for almost 1000 years.  Truly unbelievable how religion has managed the masses for centuries.  

You can't leave Parma without the cheese!  It is super rich and in this case they were selling 20 month old parmesan.  Delicious.  It was 17.50 Euros a kilo.  Wheels of cheese were everywhere.

A chocolate exposition in the town square.  Lots of samples along with coffee.  Everyone drinks coffee.  Amazing how they do it.  They walk up to a coffee bar, ask for an expresso, gulp it down in three or four swallows and off they go.  The same with food.  In Rome, it's always pizza on the go or as they say "take away" in English.  Pizza is sold by the grams or kilo so a slice is about 1.70.  

Wrestling naked?  No comments here!

The Cathedral of San Vitalli di Parma.  We were walking along the street and heard organ music.  We stopped in and I took a short video of the rehearsal in session.  I enjoy this music, it brings back memories of my childhood.  

We headed out of Parma, home of the Italian cheeseheads.  What a place to eat and buy parmesan cheese.  Wheels of cheese are stock on shelves in small shops throughout the centro area.  

It was chilly and wet most of the time and the sun decided to shine brightly on our way out of town yesterday.  We stopped by an Aldi's market and picked up a few more things for the road.   We met an American woman with her Italian husband.  They are expecting their second child.  She said she loves living in Italy especially Parma.  

Parma was much more relaxing.  Milan was a mess and I will do a post later on that visit.  The Airbnb was a nice apartment but the logistics were a PIA.  To make it short, across the street from the building are four parking spots with a fence similar to a bicycle rack.  For some strange reason, the host has a lock box on that fence which is over 200 meters from the front door on the third floor of the building.  There was no mention of it other than the box was at the apartment.  

He later came by to pick up the city tax charged in Italy.  He told us that one of the guests stole the oven from the kitchen.