Montefiascone to Viterbo, and a day waiting for "the call"

9/20 - Montefiascone to Viterbo - 13.36 miles
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I had promised myself to give this charming little town a closer look, and I am glad that I did, as it was beautiful and devoid of tourists. Since it was a hill town, I slowly made my way up to the top, and when I reached it, I saw stretched out before me Lago Bolsena and the surrounding hills. I took a large panorama photo, studied the landscape, and went on my way, having found the signs for the Via Francigena.

The walk was, again, not a very long one, so I was not too worried when I realized that I had missed a turn to remain on the Via Francigena. I was in the middle of a vast expanse of farmland, so I walked until lunchtime, then ate my lunch against an electrical pole with a view of a flock of sheep. Laying down for a quick nap, I was awakened by a fire truck, which had stopped to see if I needed rescuing. Laughing, I got up and continued my walk, and when the road started to turn ugly and polluted, I realized that I had reached the city of Viterbo.

Then I missed the right road again, ended up encircliing the city on a busy circumnavigation ring, and so entered Viterbo in anything but triumph. Worse still, the religious places on my list were full, but I did find a room at the Bed & Breakfast, which was just a bit out of the Medieval town. The man on the phone gave me instructions to get there, and only understanding about 80% of it, I decided to head in that general direction and see what was around.

When I got to the general vicinity he had described, I couldn't find the place, so while making calls every few minutes to try and reach the man again, I patiently waited and finally finished the Brothers Karamazov, having enjoyed it even more this time around. Looking up from the book, I realized that night was fast approaching, and when the man did not respond to the last of multiple phone calls, I decided to try my luck elsewhere.

Walking away, a man came out onto a nearby balcony, asked me if I was looking for the B+B, and then pointed me to the house 50 yards from where I had been sitting for two hours. It was the only house I had not tried, as the gate had no doorbell or signs. Now I tried the gate, found it unlocked, and walked to the B+B, where they had been waiting for me. Good thing I've learned to be patient...

I had a pizza in town, went to bed early, and awoke the next morning excited, as this was the day I would go to the farm for the wine harvest. While I waited for the phone call, I wandered around Viterbo, found the medieval town bigger than the others I had seen lately, and settled on a grassy patch to write down my thoughts.

After a lunchtime kebab and a few hours at the internet cafe, I finally got the call, and rushed to meet my contact. As he had some business in town to attend to, he left me with a friend of his, who showed me a bit of the city, and took me up to the roof of his apartment for a great view. We went for an aperitivo, which I found out is one of the best deals in Italy, as one drink buys you full access to the vast array of dishes that the bar lays out. So, as we got to know each other, I had a full dinner for the price of one glass of wine, which he generously offered.

Since he had to go meet a friend to see a movie, I headed off alone again, and waited until 9:30, when my contact called again. I met him once more, went to pick up my backpack at the B+B, then headed to a wine bar, where he introduced me to six beautiful girls, Italian students at the University of Viterbo. Actually, he sort of dared me to go up to them, as they had asked about me before, and introduce myself to one of the girls. I hesitated, a bit daunted, but there was nothing to lose, and soon I was seated amongst these girls chatting away, telling stories about my trip. They were a very captive audience, had lots of great questions, and were very sweet and welcoming.

If the whole week was going to be this way, I would be one lucky guy, I thought! I saw the girls off, as they had exams the next morning, then got into the van and headed to Castiglione in Teverina. And you know most of the story from there: work, life on a farm, playing with the dogs, work, catching a fever, working through it, making pizza with friends in the pizza oven, then heading off after day five to walk for two days before returning for the harvest.