VIA FRANCIGENA-Canterbury to Rome Day 53

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Some pleasant walking around the River Ticino coming into Pavia where we came to the beautiful Ponte Coperto rebuilt in 1947 after undergoing damage from Allied bombing.

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Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to our Italian Pilgrim buddies, Barbara and Selene, who are heading home to Trento to begin teaching internships.

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The Cathedral of Saint Stephen and Santa Maria was fabulous.

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Having a tea in the yard behind Santa Maria Hostel in Betlem

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But I particularly enjoyed sitting out at a street cafeteria, Il Posticino, slowly enjoying an excellent Chianti Reserva and a Tagliere plate; prosciutto, ham, salami and 3 different cheeses and a crispy cristed bread warm from the oven.
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Happy to walk back across the bridge again to return to the top notch ostello, Santa Maria in Betlem.

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I think some local guys got into a “keeping up with the Jones’ here a few hundred years ago.

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Actually there are just 5 towers left out of hundred or so in Pavia. They were built in the 11th and 12th centuries. They were symbols of powerful families so very much a status symbol.

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Coming into Pavia along the River Ticino

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More rice fields

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Santa Maria di Betlem
Goodbye to Barbara and Selene heading home

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