Exciting Excursion to Barga - Sorry, posted out of sequence

Tuesday Nov. 23--another adventure!!  

First View of Snow on the Mountains

We left our first "home" near Bologna and headed out about 9Am.  We had been given directions sent us from the new place but it was mostly on a main toll road and did not look as fun as the back roads so we started out early knowing it would take us longer than the supposed 2 and half hrs we were told.  Especially with our experience of confusing maps and road signs.  Anyone want to guess how long it took?  Only 6 hours!!  We were on winding mountain roads most of the time...and I mean winding.  Our avg speed was about 40 mph...so 200 kilometers took awhile .  We did stop frequently to gawk at the amazing views and had lunch in a little pizzeria along the way but overall it was scooting down the roads. We were so thankful we found all the roads when it was time to turn on a new one.  

The most amazing view we saw was of the snow covered mountain tops.(one mt we went up was at over 10,000 ft)  Followed by the different greens in the valleys and the hillsides dotted with farm houses and then an amazing little village on the side of a mountain with a tower of some sort from the big church in the center of the town....how in earth did people settle there in the first place?  and why?  and how in earth would you get up there?  I am not sure what makes it so different but Italy is beautiful and has a different look about it ...that is for sure.  

Mountains out the opposite side from our apartment

About the time we thought we could not stand the car any more we arrived in Barga, the town near where we are staying. We got out the directions given to us by the owners of the "agritourism bed and breakfast" out to read and followed them to the T...well it took us up a curving road that was quite narrow for about 4 kilometers and then we turned off at the sign where it said to turn off but it was such a narrow road thru the thick woods we just could not believe it was right.  It said to go 1 and half kms but at that point we came to a narrow scary looking bridge so we turned around to go check our signs and roads etc.  we were on the right road...okay we will go further...went over the bridge and came to another turn after a total of 3 kms that you would not believe.  I took a video (wait to you hear my comments) that we hope to post if we ever get good Internet connection.  It was a sharp turn down an extremely steep road that was about 8-10 ft wide (we will measure tomorrow to verify) and had very sharp turns with buildings on each side the whole way down.  Granted it was only about about 200 yards but it felt like a mile.  I could not believe this was where we were staying.  The place we are at is a walled city or village called Tiglio.  Its very cool...very Italian...on a hillside...overlooking Barga which is beautiful.  When we got to the bottom I sighed a great sigh of relief and said yeah we are really in Italy and I love it.  We have a small apt with kitchen so we hope to eat some meals here.  In fact after we got settled we actually turned around and drove up that hill and back to Barga to buy some groceries and I made pasta and veggies with sausage...delicious if I say so myself !! I was kind of missing cooking and overtime I would see the wonderfully fresh veggies and fruit in the stores I just wanted to fix a meal with them.  I know...strange huh?

  So there is much exploring to be done.  We are unpacked and settled in for a week and there are so many places around here to see.  Not sure I look forward to driving back in the dark each night up that winding road and down the "driveway".... But its home so of course we will!!