Friday, June 10th
Breakfast at my hotel in Spello was wonderful! There was a large assortment of fruits, yogurt, cheeses, meats, sweets, and muesli. After breakfast, I walked to the train station. It was only a 10 minute walk downhill. I stopped at Bar Angelo (the corner bar) to purchase a train ticket. The train station was unmanned, although a woman’s voice announced the arrival of the train (not sure where exactly she was – perhaps in Roma?).
I had about 30 minutes to kill while in Foligno. I wandered about five minutes away from the train station and saw this cool arch in the middle of this modern city.
The train ride to Trevi was quick. While doing research before my trip, I read that there was supposed to be a connecting bus to take people to the town of Trevi which is perched high above the train station.
I found the schedule (orario) and the next bus was scheduled to arrive in one hour. I decided to wander around the little town below called Borgo Trevi. Not much to do. Stopped to get a quick cafè and asked about the bus, where to purchase a ticket, etc.
The bar close by sold tickets and the bus station was out front. When the woman told me the price of the ticket, it seemed that she was charging me the wrong price. When I asked to make sure, the woman seemed insulted. I decided to purchase the return ticket once up in Trevi and the price indeed was much less. The price I paid for the ride up ended up costing almost three times as much as the returning ticket cost.
The bus arrived on time. I was the only person on the bus for the ride up to the town of Trevi. The road was very narrow and had many very sharp turns. I would not have wanted to walk that road.
I enjoyed exploring the town of Trevi. Very kind people, beautiful views, great food! Unfortunately many of the sites were closed, but I was able to visit a couple of museums.
The small Museo della Civilta dell’Ulivo / Museum of the Olive Civilization had some interesting displays about olive oil production.
The Museo Archeologico and the Flash Museo (a modern museum) was actually closed, but the woman inside let me wander around for free. There was a very moving video which was playing on a small screen (quick flashes of different photos of September 11th continuously running).
I had lunch at Osteria La Vecchia Posta. I ordered a very delicious bruschetta con pomodori and strongozzi piccante (a thick homemade pasta famous in this area with a spicy sauce) . Lunch was wonderful and the inside of the restaurant was beautiful.
After lunch, everything in the the town was closed for the afternoon (typical in most towns in Italy). Here are more photos of Trevi… (some of my photos have the wrong day on them / forgot to change the clock time on my camera from Hawaii to Italy time/12 hours difference in time).
I waited a short while to catch the bus back to the station. An older lady with a heavy bag all dressed up also boarded the bus. She asked the bus driver if this bus was going to the stazione. Later, when the bus driver did not turn at the sign that said “stazione”, she became upset and rapidly spoke in Italian about the fact that he said it was the bus to the station and why didn’t he turn at the sign. Once the bus driver turned at the next street corner and the station was in site, she apologized over and over. I offered to help her carry her bag. Her train arrived just as we got into the station and she just made her train to Roma.
My train of course was “in ritardo”. The same woman who mysteriously announced the train arrival in Spello, announced that the train to Foligno was to arrive 10 minutes late. I waited with a few other people and just before the train was to arrive, I realized that I forgot to validate my ticket! I ran back under the sottopassagiata to binario one to validate my ticket, and then ran back to my binario and made it just as the train arrived. The train then sat for 10 more minutes more before departing.
Back in Spello, I took an early evening nap as jet lag was setting in and then had dinner at il Molino. I had pasta taglietti con d’oca (goose) and an insalata mista (mixed salad). The pasta was ok, the salad was very good. I also had my first panna cotta with strawberries, delicious!
The temperature at night here has been in the upper 40’s/low 50’s…brrrrrr!!! Temps colder than it ever gets in Hawaii!! I was thankful that the restaurant was very close to my hotel. I am also SO glad that Italy now is smoke free in restaurants and bars as it was too cold to sit outside.
Fun day in Trevi / So happy to be back in Italy!
Thoughts on Trevi: I really enjoyed visiting Trevi. Osteria La Vecchia Posta had the BEST bruschetta! Because of the limited bus service, Trevi may be a more difficult place to stay without a car, especially if you wanted to do day trips from Trevi, but it is a lovely town to visit.
shave ice & gelato 