San Liberatore a Majella

My friend had her sister to stay for just over a week, cue a good excuse to hire a car.

I picked up a hire car on Friday evening and, oh boy, what a palava!  There is now, somewhere in Pescara, a lad who thinks I'm totally 'bimbo' when it comes to driving as I pulled up to the petrol station exclaiming (in Italian) "I don't understand anything, this is a hire car and I don't understand.".  He looks at me and then checks the fuel cap: "diesel, you need to go over there."  Well, that's easier said than done, the engine was off and could I get it back on again?!  No.  Turns out that initially, an automatic car is not as automatic as it sounds.  It took both myself and the lad to figure out how to actually start the engine again (put the car in neutral, push the brake and start the engine, duhhhh!).

As I drive off I saw him laughing at me, bet he didn't think I'd be getting very far.  In reality I managed to drive all the way to...just past Manopello...where I've been quite a few times now.  There's an Abbey, really far up a hill that has a river running past it and it's quite an awesome place to go and chill.  You have to ignore the "Path closed for safety reasons" signs twice to actually go exploring but being extra careful makes amends for the slippery-ness.

The Abbey itself was shut tight, one door had a key hole which I peered through and managed to get a photo of...some chairs...original.  But it was so peaceful.  I love the sound of rushing water.  It's a sound, that if you think about it hard enough, is very unlikely to ever stop.  Ever.  And that to me was quite the thing I needed to hear.  Stress seems to have gotten the best of me recently, but I'm back on the Bible reading, yoga meditating, studying in the morning action plan so will be soon out of that niche.  Booya.
impressive stone carving
The bell tower
the 'back end'
The only keyhole of 3 front doors
Through the keyhole
Primroses! It's Spring :-)
Three shadows

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