Hours walked: 10:30 to 4:00
Kilometres walked: 11
Jesuses seen: 1
Quote of the day: “Please, you must come now, there has been a catastrophe!” -Italian refugio matron
We had a slow morning because we could: with only 11km to Refugio Solarie, how long could it take? We split the next stage into two days to give the kids a break from long days. But the truth is the kids have gotten a little quicker at walking so we don’t need a whole day to go 11 kilometres, even if they are very uphill. All this to say that the girls got to play in the playground this morning, while we sipped a tasty latte and a gelatinous cocoa. Jakob also got a bright blue baseball cap, because he’s finally joined the hat team after feeling mild symptoms of heat exhaustion the past two days.
Our first few kilometres were on small roads that circumvented old and large churches; both were locked, we’re not sure why there’s no public access to churches in Slovenia but it makes me wonder if it’s a less religious country. We passed by a small town with a grocery store, and even though we didn’t need anything, the novelty of a grocery store on trail meant we all trooped inside and got a bag of potato chips shaped like deformed faces.
And then we began our uphill, first on roads which meant that Jakob could be convinced to read some Harry Potter aloud, then on a trail that meant some serious vertical business. We gained a kilometre of elevation in a few sweaty hours; this was probably our last huge uphill walk of the trail. Aurora says it wasn’t much fun and there weren’t even any views .. which there weren’t until we reached the top, and then they made up for the thigh burns as we could see what looked like all of Slovenia, a good chunk of Italy, and the Mediterranean Sea glittering in the distance: our first glimpse of our destination!
The mountain we were on, Kolovat, is half in Slovenia and half in Italy and played a major role in WW1 battles. We got to explore an intricate network of trenches built into the hillside, and wonder that these quiet grassy mountains were the scene of bloodshed and war. We had a great time racing through the tunnels and caves, but we imagine they weren’t all fun and games when they were in use.
Next came another fun milestone: the border to Italy! The wonderful views made us excited about the new country. Sophia has been practicing her Italian for the last few months in preparation. We took a steep, slippery downhill trail that hopefully will convince some of our children that uphill is definitely better, then reached a large memorial, heaped with flowers, to Ricardo Giusto, the first Italian killed in WW1.
Then we arrived at Refugio Solarie, where we’ve been living the Italian life. On arrival we were greeted by 3 generations of women; each of them had a lot to tell us in Italian. We had ice cream and coffee, played some 3-on-3 soccer, relaxed. Then Jakob was dramatically called to our room: a catastrophe! Two German women of a certain age absolutely refused to stay with two young Austrian men, one of whom had fallen into the nearby tree above Asin’, the mean grey donkey, while paragliding, and had hurt his leg badly - hence they were unexpectedly staying longer until their parents picked them up tomorrow. So could the two women please stay in our room with us? Jakob graciously acceded, and now we have roommates for the night.
At dinner we enjoyed our first Italian meal, and it didn’t disappoint: never has spaghetti with pomodoro sauce tasted so good! We also had the local fritto, a potato-and-cheese pancake with grilled polenta on the side. Jakob overheard a discussion about the donkey under the tree, who reportedly had hurt its leg, and was being picked up by its owners tomorrow to return to Austria. We found this extremely bewildering and are still not sure what conclusions to draw.
As we dined, Italian life unfolded around us: a young boy drank juice from a baby bottle and acted our while the adults laughed indulgently; an old man limped up and talked with much gesticulation and a thick accent. The donkey brayed, the girls pet dogs with one hand while eating fritto with the other. Zadie has decided one of the dogs, Robbi, is her new best friend.
It was nice to move into a place today where people are very outgoing and talk to us - it made us realise that our conversation with other people has been pretty minimal. It’s also nice to be in a place where so much emotion is put into every conversation and where people don’t hesitate to holler for you to come eat your meal.
Sounds dreamy!!
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