Day 50 San Germano Vercellese to Vercelli:
All the rice fields today are reminiscient of last year’s Japan 88 Temple Pilgrimage but a bit boring.
Around noon on a Saturday of a festival weekend we walked into the historic crossroads of Vercelli.
Here we could veer west for Santiago de Compostela or east for Jerusalem. Tempting but we will continue on our journey to Rome.
We had no reservations but the friendly girl at the local tourist office the girl reserved us beds at Sancte Eusebi which we had been told was full earlier.
We were greeted by our host, Nelo, at Hostel Sancte Eusebi in Vercelli who had already invited our young Italian friends to join him for lunch. He kindly let us in early before the normal opening of 2 PM. We luckily were included as Nelo cooked up a delicious pumpkin and gorgonzola risotto.
After the delicious lunch we walked around the beautiful town.
The two churches we visited in Vercelli were both beautiful but totally different.
The Cathedral of Sant Eusebi was fulled with magnificent artwork; Statues paintings, even the columns were impressive.
Then in stark contrast the Basilica of Sant Andrea a combination Gothic and Romanesque Church designed in the simple Cistercian way.
Dinner was excellent; a simple Penne Pasta with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella. Really enjoyed this place as it was a real pilgrims hostel. I was surprised there were 8 pilgrims sleeping here.
6 Italians and us. Vercelli is a crossroads for pilgrimages and there is a route that goes west to Turin and on to Camino Arles and Santiago.
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