Last February I received an email from Ferrrovia dei Parchi offering a 3-day guided tour in April that included tours of historic towns and included a ride on the historic train in Sulmona. The tour was billed as being offered in English, so of course it caught my attention.
I forwarded the message to our friends Valerie and Cecil in Evanston, Illinois. They have an apartment in Pescara and spend a few months there in the Spring and Fall. They agreed it would be a fun trip, so we all signed up for it.
Well, a week before the tour, I received an email stating that there were not enough people to qualify for an English guide. So. Do we go anyway, and try to understand what’s going on? The decision was unanimous: Hell, yes! We should get the gist of things, and with Google Translate, we should be fine.
The first problem we had was with our ability to understand the itinerary. The four of us sat down together and read carefully the documents that had been sent to us. It was confusing at best. Are we expected to drive ourselves? We begin the tour at 3:30 in the afternoon on a Saturday in Pacentro, then stay at a hotel in Popoli? We have to drive from Popoli to the Sulmona train station and arrive by 8:30 in the morning? Then on the third day, we drive ourselves to L’Aquila?
Well, yes, that’s how it was. To us Americans, it seems a bit of an ask to offer a tour, then make the participants provide their own transportation. Well, it’s Italy, right?
We had all been to Sulmona before, but only for a short time. So we decided to take off a day early, and made a reservation at the hotel for Friday evening. This way, we could spend a day in Sulmona, have a relaxing evening at the hotel, then spend some time in Popoli before taking off for Pacentro and beginning the tours.
Mike and I picked up Valerie and Cecil in Pescara on Friday morning and had a lovely hour’s drive to Sulmona.
We just wandered around the charming town, ducking into shops and buying tons of confetti – you know, those candy-coated almonds? So many different flavors!
Mike’s keen eyes found us a wonderful restaurant where we had an amazing lunch. The photos don’t do it justice. It would be worth a trip back to Sulmona just to have lunch there again.
Finding our hotel in Popoli turned out to be another adventure, but in the end, Google Maps got us there. The hotel was comfortable, and we all took a short nap before dinner at the hotel’s restaurant.
The next morning we had a good breakfast at the hotel and took off for Popoli, another charming hill town. Since we had to be Pacentro at 3:30 that afternoon, we just grabbed a light snack.
The first time Mike and I took the historic train from Sulmona, we were newbies, and it was really lots of fun. I think Valerie and Cecil felt the same. For us, our second trip, it was fun, but the newness and excitement wasn’t there. The views were still amazing, though, and the music and food at the stop was very Italian. The train stopped at the Palena station where vendors offered hand-made items and food. The station is located on the Forchetta pass at almost 1300 meters above sea level. The views were quite nice.
Our next stop was at the Alfedena-Scontrone station, and we hopped off of the train for a guided tour of the town of Barrea. We all got on a bus for a short ride to a small archaeological museum, then bussed to the edge of town. Here, we again struggled with understanding the guide, and finally used Google Translate so we could pick up more than just a few words. We had not made reservations for lunch ahead of time and found ourselves settling for sandwiches are a bar. The bus took us back to the train, and our return to Sulmona.
That evening at the restaurant there were a couple of bus loads of people. One big room was set up for tour groups. A very loud and not great band of sorts played without a break for several hours. We ordered food and waited for an hour to be served. So hungry!
The next morning after breakfast we took off the L’Aquila. We all agreed that following the tour guide around and trying to translate was exhausting. So, we decided to ditch the tour and just see L’Aquila on our own. It is indeed a lovely town. Sadly, it was heavily damaged by an earthquake in 2009 and has not yet been restored. Many buildings are still propped up with scaffolding, awaiting repairs.
But we did find a little out-of-the-way restaurant and had a very nice lunch. Some day we will return to L’Aquila.
The photos tell a better story. Click here to see them.
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