Whether we’re in the car, on bike or foot, we are enjoying the quieter times of winter. We laugh when I get a message on my phone saying the traffic is heavier than usual on the local provincial road.  That means there may be two cars nearby instead of one. We realize, with the beach to our east and Atri to our west, that road will become busier this summer. The beaches here are gorgeous and pull many tourists during the hot summer months. Atri, a stunning hill town is just up the road from the beaches, much cooler there with a well-preserved medieval center, breathtaking in-your-face views of the Gran Sasso Mountains & the Adriatic Sea, and lovely bars to relax and people watch. We’re gauging that there may be an increase in traffic. But until then, we are cocooned here in the valley, venturing out when the need or desire arises.

Lately, with the house hunting, we’ve done a bit of driving around some spots in Abruzzo. We’re looking for a house with a price tag that means a little bit of fixing up will be required and John is already rubbing his hands together for a few small projects.  We’re ok with a bit of work, but at our age, we are not going to get caught up in a major restoration project. We’d rather spend more time enjoying Italy. I have to say, all the views, whether mountains, rivers, sea,  quaint villages, have been eye candy for us. If you stick to the countryside away from the industrialized larger cities, you just can’t find a bad view. Here are a few from our house hunting …

If you shoot a straight ‘as the crow flies’ line south to a town we just visited, it’s only 41 miles (about 66 km), but it takes 2 hours from our valley to drive there. Sure there’s the Autostrade, but once you get off it, the roads wind, narrow, and climb. We love the adventure and John is happiest behind the wheel being way too much like an Italian driver!

Now house hunting can, for the most part, be lots of fun, but thinking about the financial side, here in Italy, is a bit of a brain drain. Back in the States, we’d just go into our bank of many years, check out the current rates, apply and, in most cases, get a loan. Here, not so… For one, they don’t know us. We do not have a banking history with an Italian bank. And we are finding out that some banks are not user-friendly for American citizens. Even though it will be easier to buy a house as an Italian citizen, all our investments and  our Social Security checks (what they call here ‘our pension’) are from the USA. Our current bank will not give us a loan because our pension is not Italian. Not a question we even thought to ask when we applied for an account with them. So we’re checking out a few other banks that are a bit more forward thinking, and will make a switch here shortly. I did preface a remark in an early posting, saying our paperwork was over with for now. Well we just got past ‘now’. 😉

Also this winter, we purchased some mountain bikes, mostly for perusing farm roads as well as the never-ending bike path along the Adriatic. If you Google Adriatic cycle paths, you will find many sections available to cycle on both the west and east coastlines of the sea. We’re blessed to be near the Abruzzo Adriatic Cycle Path (Ciclovia adriatica). It begins in the beach town of Martinsicuro north of here close to the Marche region line. It heads south to San Salvo Marina, a distance of 134 km. I’d say the northern half is designated bike path, but the southern part is provincial roads along the coast. We’re going to stick to the actual bike path…for now.

Here is a short section of the path in the town of Pineto, with its majestic sentinel pine trees shading the path. We enjoyed a few hours on a very chilly, foggy day with our new friend, Christina. I met Christina on a closed FB page for those applying or already with Italian/American dual citizenship. She rents an apartment miraculously about 30 minutes from us! When she returns to Wisconsin in April, she hopes a letter awaits her confirming her Italian citizenship. 🙂 We feel blessed to have met her and look forward to some treks and more bike rides with her. And to Sandra M. S, Sandra S., Julie A.  & Rose M., Facebook does help to make our world smaller in a wonderful way!

Getting our cycle legs back, after a number of years of not riding, has been a ‘lovely’ eye opener. We definitely are challenged to get back into shape and to relearn the joys of rocky roads!

But we are not discouraged, only determined to get over these new little challenges. What are a few little bumps on this adventurous and breathtaking road called ‘Italia’!

I leave you with a vista shot of the Gran Sasso emerging from the fog. Living close to the sea, as we do, inevitably brings in fog, especially in the winter months. I captured this shot, did a little adjusting…enjoy and ciao for now..