John Edward Cooper’s Notes

DAY 7
MONTE SANT ANGELO

[i] The original information on the website was:

This morning we arrive at Monte Sant Angelo, a gorgeous hill-top village with superb 360 degree vistas of the surrounding forest. Here, the Archangel Michael appeared and in the 8th century an outstanding abbey was built. What appears to be medieval on the surface, as we descend, you notice the air cools and in the magnificent crypt below is an astonishing display of marble carvings and multi-coloured frescoes from the past 1,200 years. This was one of the most important of medieval pilgrimages visited by Popes, Monarchs and especially the Crusaders many of whom scratched messages of hope on the walls which can still be seen.
Our journey continues driving inland into the mysterious Foresta Umbra, a “Dark Forest” and natural wonderland of ancient trees and one of Europe’s finest orchid habitats. The road soars, twists and turns, as slivers of bright sunshine pierce the dense canopy, casting intriguing shadows on the forest floor below. We return to Vieste along the Gargano Peninsula, much of which is a National Park, with breathtaking coastal views and a green carpet of aromatic pine and oak forest shielding a kaleidoscope of colourful wild flowers. Arriving back in Vieste with time to relax before dinner.
This evening we dine in a local restaurant, set in a renovated natural cave located directly under the Duomo in the heart of Vieste, ran by a local family serving traditional dishes of this region of Apulia.

We got up ca.7am.… We went down for breakfast ca.8am, then after going up briefly to the room to pick up what we needed, we went down to join the others and to board the coach. We set off at 8.30am and proceeded through the mountainous and densely forested central part of Gargano, where pine trees gave way to ancient and original oak and beech. We were told that it was inhabited by wild boar, deer, and other animals, but we didn’t catch sight of any. Then we wound our way down then up to Monte Sant’Angelo on the southern ridge of the Gargano mountains. There was a sizeable car- and coach-park opposite the castle, and from there Paola conducted us down to the main attraction of the town, the Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel. This was built over a cavern, where, according to legend, the Archangel Michael appeared a number of times, ca.490AD, to the Bishop of Sipontum, instructing that the cave be consecrated for Christian worship, and promising protection of Sipontum, the nearby port-town, from pagan invaders.


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 10:20:52
The castle at Monte Sant’Angelo


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 10:21:32
Left: the castle
Right, in the distance: the bell-tower of the Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel

The narrow, steep, cobbled Via Castello led us down by a series of broad, shallow steps, with the potential for stumbling on them, masked as they were by the crowds of people thronging them. When we got to the bottom, just outside the Sanctuary, Paola pointed out to the right a less steep and hazardous, but less direct, way back: Via Giuseppe Garibaldi.


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 10:22:36
Proceeding down Via Castello
Ahead: the bell-tower of the Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 10:23:56
Bell-tower of the Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel

We all went our separate ways. Janet and I went into a bar/pasticceria/gelateria (Antica Pasticceria Napoletana) in Via Reale Basilica, a couple or so doors past the bell-tower of the Sanctuary. I had a caffè americano and Janet a Coca Cola Zero (€4.00 in total).


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 10:45:56
Octagonal bell-tower of the Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 10:48:16
Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 10:48:54
Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 10:50:00
Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel

Because the queue to the shrine extended from the two-arched portico of the sanctuary across the length of the forecourt almost to the entrance gate, with no telling how long the queue within the building was, we decided not to go to see it; instead, we followed a sign in Via Reale Basilica, saying “Centro storico” and pointing more or less southwards. We found ourselves in a network of narrow streets — often with steps, sometimes passing through arches under buildings — and of squares.


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 10:51:42
Baptistery of San Giovanni (also misnamed “Tomb” of Rothari), to our left


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 10:51:56
The way ahead


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 10:52:10
Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, to our left


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 10:53:22
The way ahead

We got to a piazza, with a church, Chiesa della Santissima Trinità (“Church of the Most Holy Trinity”), at the opposite end. The door was open, but as we approached we heard a Mass in progress so we didn’t enter. We continued to walk.


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 10:54:30
Chiesa della Santissima Trinità


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 10:54:46


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 10:55:14


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 10:58:36


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 10:58:24


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 10:59:54
Bell-tower of Chiesa della Santissima Trinità

We came to another church, Chiesa di San Francesco d’Assisi, also with its doors open. This had no service going on, just a singing group of five or six young women with a guitar practising, so we went in.


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 11:01:08
Chiesa di San Francesco d’Assisi


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 11:02:20
Chiesa di San Francesco d’Assisi


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 11:03:04
Chiesa di San Francesco d’Assisi


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 11:03:20
Chiesa di San Francesco d’Assisi


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 11:04:18
Chiesa di San Francesco d’Assisi


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 11:06:26
Chiesa di San Francesco d’Assisi
Luke 2:34,35: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 11:06:44
Chiesa di San Francesco d’Assisi
The Archangel Michael defeating Satan “the dragon, that ancient serpent”


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 11:07:28
Chiesa di San Francesco d’Assisi: old chapel off to the right of the nave


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 11:09:46
Chiesa di San Francesco d’Assisi: sarcophagus dated 1676 supposedly containing the remains of Queen Joanna I of Naples, murdered in 1382

Just south of there we found ourselves looking over a parapet, surprised by an uninterrupted view of the Gulf of Manfredonia below. We kept hearing loud bangs and then saw who the culprits were: three young delinquents letting off firecrackers! They looked sheepishly at us as we passed. Then we continued to hear bangs behind us, as we continued our way through more alleyways, making our way back up to the Sanctuary of Saint Michael the Archangel and thence to the castle.


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 11:11:10
Zoomed-in view north-west: (background:) the castle; (nearer:) bell-tower of Chiesa della Santissima Trinità


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 11:14:28
View south across the Gulf of Mandredonia


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 11:15:10
View south-east: tower of Chiesa di San Benedetto


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 11:17:12
Making our way back


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 11:24:18
Approaching the arch in Via Reale Basilica from the east


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 11:24:54
Arch in Via Reale Basilica from the east


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 11:25:56
Monument to “the leader of the archangels” in Via Reale Basilica


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 11:25:56 (detail 1)
Monument to “the leader of the archangels” in Via Reale Basilica


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 11:25:56 (detail 2)
Monument to “the leader of the archangels” in Via Reale Basilica

“We started to wend our way back,” Janet wrote, “and found a smart-looking bar. We had drinks, and [John] some coffee.” The coffee was in addition to some beer.


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 12:15:32
The castle at Monte Sant’Angelo

We returned to the coach for 12.30pm, and set off, winding down to the coast road, along which we went, as we did on Friday 23 September 2016, back to Vieste.


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 12:35:58
View from the coach over the Gulf of Manfredonia

Although I’d had a pee at the public toilets near the coach park, my bladder quickly started to re-fill and I felt uncomfortable and anxious for most of the trip. As soon as we arrived, I excused myself and got off first, using the toilets just beyond the lobby in the hotel. With all the winding and zigzagging on the way, Janet had felt a bit queasy on arrival at Monte Sant’Angelo (she recovered quite quickly), and similarly when we arrived back at the hotel. We went up to the room (just after 2pm), and perhaps 45 minutes later back down again to go out and find me something light to eat. We looked in vain a short way along Viale XXIV Maggio. Was it siesta? or just Sunday? Anyway, one of the first places we came across in Corso Lorenzo Fazzini, “Café del Moar” — just across the road from the little triangular park between street-intersections — was open and we went in. I had a 0.4ℓ glass of beer on tap and a slice of pizza from behind the glass-fronted counter. Janet had a Coca Cola Zero. Then I remembered that this was the last day, and I hadn’t till now had any gelato, so I had a scoop of pistacchio. I also had a caffè americano. I went back to the hotel, which Janet went off in search of confectionery to take home. She visited a couple of supermarkets (one of which had been closed earlier, till 4pm). Transferred 36 photos from my camera to the WD Elements HDD (16:18–16:22). Viewed them in Windows Photo Viewer, rotating 23 that needed it (16:23–16:26).… Janet returned to the room. I felt weary so had a sleep. Janet noticed the bruise on my left hip, from the fall on Wednesday 21 September 2016. At the time, it felt swollen and tender, but there was nothing visible; now, an extensive dark purple patch had surfaced. It remained confined to the area of injury; it didn’t “leak” downwards towards the knee, as the bruise had done when I was knocked off my bike. At 6.45pm we all met in the lobby and then went off to the restaurant. It was in the old town in Via Duomo, not far beyond the steps up to the Cathedral, in a long cave, partly barrel-vaulted, partly under the bare rock. In fact, the Riviera blurb for the day says that it’s located “located directly under the Duomo”.


Sunday 25 September 2016 — 19:10:24
Ristorante Dragone, Via Duomo 8, Vieste

The bottles of wine on the wine menu were prohibitively expensive, as were the grappe (sold, I assume, by measure) elsewhere on it. So I was surprised that the glass of house red wine that I ordered was only €4. I also had a bottle of water at a fairly reasonable €3. I quite enjoyed the starter — “macaroni” (pasta in thin cigar shapes — only, much smaller) — for although it had the ubiquitous courgettes and aubergines (which I border on disliking) these were in a pomodoro sauce, almost like a thick soup. Janet found her main course — fish — too bony and the salad too oily. I had stewed beef in a Primitivo sauce and roast potatoes, which were rather “ordinary”. I don’t normally have a sweet when I’m out (or at home, for that matter), but one was served so I ate and quite liked it. It was “lemon sorbet with fruit compôte,” according to Janet’s journal. I was waiting a long time outside the “uomini”, down some steps in a larger next-door cave — and eventually a woman from our party came out of it. She thought “uomini” meant “women”, she said! The “donne” had been free but I didn’t dare use it! We were all having an enjoyable time and chatting away in relaxed fashion, when ca.8.30pm the staff started to “prowl” and make it obvious that they were impatient with our still remaining there. And the people at a nearby table had only just started a bottle of wine. When the bill came, I just stumped up my share, €7 — and added not a cent extra for a tip. “It was all style and no substance,” Janet commented. Back in the hotel room, I transferred the further photo from my camera to the WD Elements HDD (21:11). We were in bed just after 10pm.

[Monday 26 September 2016]