Monte Berico

Rob and I have been talking about taking on Monte Berico pretty much since we got here. It's a tourist attraction, of course, but the guys also use it for PT sometimes and Rob is very interested in seeing how well I can handle the mountain. We keep talking about going one weekend, assuming we'll need the entire day to get to the top and back (I'm not exactly in stellar shape!) and the big question is what to do with Felix. Today, however, Rob was released from work early and the weather is still perfect, so we decided to go with Felix. This should be especially good for us since Felix decided to start doing Insanity with me a few days ago. I'm ridiculously sore from the workouts (Felix not so much!) and Rob wants us to take the stairs.


The drive is short, it's about 5 kilometers from the apartment, and we get there right around 1300. Rob's slightly irritated that it was so easy to get to the top of the mountain in the car (I just drove where Garmin told me to) because he's only ever gone up the mountain on foot and it's a lot longer when you're running! I found a parking space at about the halfway point and we all headed to the bottom to see if we could find the stairs Rob wanted to take. When we got there, Felix and I waited on the street corner while Rob went in search of the stairs. I'm not sure yet how happy I am about it, but for now I think I'm glad he couldn't find them.

We start the walk trying to explain to Felix what he'll see on the way up. Sadly, Rob and I are not familiar enough to really explain it but it was clear that he needed to be calm and respectful and he was. Apparently, on this pathway are the stations of the cross and on certain holy days people will make the trek (some on their knees) in reverence and repentance and all other things generally holy. I personally do not know the stations of the cross (or even if that should be capitalized) but the murals are beautiful and certainly evoke religious sentiments. Even more sadly, there is some pretty disgusting graffiti on some of the walls here. I understand that there are some people here who don't want us here and they are absolutely welcome to feel that way: it's their country and their lives and I wouldn't want anyone to tell me how to feel, so I won't even pretend that it's my place to tell them HOWEVER it is absolutely inappropriate to defile this place (which is Italian!!) in an effort to make the Americans here feel less welcome. Hold a rally or something, don't destroy ancient relics! Enough of that... I took around 100 pictures here: everywhere I looked there was something beautiful to see.

The trip up was slow, not because it was a steep climb but because there was a lot to look at... and trying to read Italian can be a challenge, even if you do have a decent grasp of other Latin-based languages! I was impressed by both boys' patience... neither one of them tends to have much of it in situations like this, but they were very patient with my incessant picture-taking and general slowness. We did run into one of Rob's friends on the way up... some guys just live to PT, I guess! More power to him... I don't see myself ever running a trail like that, although it was a nice walk and now that I know where it is, I think I might like to go find those stairs... or explore the path we found at the top!

There is, of course, the cathedral at the top of the mountain and a nice viewing platform with a decent sized parking area. Before the cathedral itself, there is a cute little statue of a pregnant woman with two small children and the statement "Grazie Mamma per la Vita" which is such a sweet statement (Thank you, mom, for life). Behind the statue is a slight uphill grade with a spectacular view. I'm going to have a very hard time trying to weed out which pictures to scrapbook when the time comes! There are also public restrooms built into the side of the mountain, which amuses me. Around the corner from the restrooms is a nice little restaurant where we decided to have lunch. Felix and Rob both had the pizze della inglese, which I don't understand at all... how is pizza with slices of roast beef, baby tomatoes and "fresh cheese" English pizza? Perhaps someone can enlighten me. I don't remember the name of my pizza (fumata or something similar) but it had rosemary and oregano on it and it was delish! On a side note, something that I absolutely love about Italy in general is the lack of rushing around (besides when driving, of course!) because something I pretty much hated in the States was feeling like I could never just take my time and enjoy whatever it was that I was doing, like having a meal with my family. At this little restaurant, as with every other place I've been so far, there was no rush. We took our time eating and having a decent conversation before deciding for ourselves that it was time to go, rather than being "encouraged" to leave.

Finally, we find ourselves heading back down the mountain, past the lovely vistas and in pretty good spirits. This was definitely a more family-friendly adventure than I expected and for that, I am definitely grateful.