Abruzzo

4 June
4 day countdown! Today we drove through Abruzzo, which forms the southern border of the Marche and reminds one somewhat of Colorado but with less well maintained roads. You can get your mountain fix here as well as in the western part of the Marche. We were on a Quixotian mission to find a good producer of pecorino which is the common cheese found in this region, because sheep are better adapted to the landscape which is anything but flat! No success however. When you want to find the really good cheeses in Italy, many times you are better off with small to medium size producers with a more artisanal product. Anyway, the hiking in the zone is plentiful even if you have to buy your cheese at the supermarket. Here are some pictures, one of which is alongside a trail to a mountain summit and shows a watering hole for us hikers and one finds these at intervals along the hiking trails and they are indicated on maps for you. The other shows a pic of the diverse flowers on the mountain side which hopefully the bees are using for miele millifiore or thousand flower honey and the sheep are eating to make tasty milk and then cheese! ciao. d