Castelmonte - Sunday September 20, 2015

Today we were going to bypass Castelmonte as they had church services every hour on the hour, however John asked the navigator for tourist attractions and we ended up there anyway.  It turned out to be a beautiful place to visit.  By the time we arrived, a bus load of tourists had arrived as well so timing was impeccable.  I was unable to enter a cathedral as I had on a sleeveless blouse which prohibited me from entering the chapel out of respect.  John however was able to enter and take a quick photo.  As in all our wondering we stopped at an indoor bistro.

Once back at the B&B Teresa took me to San Pietro Nasionale sp? To visit her sister and have gelato.  Our sundae's have nothing on the Italian concoctions they make here. (I don't understand how Italians are so thin).  While at Teresa's sisters I took a picture that has Mount Matajur in the background.  Mount Matajur is 1,660 m.  1,400 m can be driven by car, the rest must be done on foot.  This mountain resides 1/2 in Italy and 1/2 in Slovena.  

Aside:  when at my grandmother's gravesite and we ask the navigator for tourist attractions, all tourist attractions 5 to 15 km's away were in Slovena where we are forbidden to take the rental.  Derek, this is how close we are.  

Some of the streets around Stregna are a little narrow as you can see.

We retired early as Venice is tomorrow.

Street Market

On Saturday, we went to Cividale as it was market day.  We took pictures of "The Devil's Bridge" which  dad had recognized in the Italy book we had bought him for Christmas.  He saw the picture and said the name clear as day.

We then took a turn about the square looking at the the various shops and outdoor kiosks. We stopped at a cafe to replenish our energy for the remainder of our walk.  It so happened to be fitness weekend in Cividale and we saw multiple events from stationary bicycles, dancercise and something new.  The instructor was sure giving the girls a work out.

I wonder if this will catch on in Canada.  It looked like it could be tricky.

Continuing about the square return us to The Devil's bridge where more exploring occurred and we did stairs down to the water line.  We also took pictures of what use to be the city walls.

After returning from Cividale we went up to our cousins where we met Renata, another cousin from Udine.  As she spoke some English she provided some information on the family tree which helped me understand how we were related.  After Renata left, Maria and Renato showed John and I where my grandmother was born.