Travel Journal: Italy – Self-Guided Walk Day 1

In September, I traveled to Italy for two weeks with some of my family, which included an 85-mile, 6 day self-guided walking tour through the Italian countryside. We also spent time in Rome, Venice, Florence, Pompeii and Naples. 

Catch up on my other posts about this trip here:

Walking Rieti to Rome – Summary
Doors of Italy
Exploring Rieti
Self-Guided Walk Day 1
Self-Guided Walk Day 2
Self-Guided Walk Day 3
Castello Orsini Hotel
Self-Guided Walk Days 4 and 5
Self-Guided Walk Day 6
The Colosseum and Exploring Rome
St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museum
Pompeii and Naples
Venice
Florence

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The first day of our self-guided walk started in Rieti and took us to Poggio San Lorenzo. It covered a bit over 13 miles, taking us along creeks and through fields and forests, and across a 4th century Roman bridge . On this day we didn’t pass through any other towns so we had the hotel in Rieti pack us some lunches.

I’ll add here, as I mentioned in my summary intro post, part of our tour package included a baggage transfer service. So at every place we stayed we collected our luggage together usually in the lobby and the service came to pick it up and take it to the next location for us. It was always there when we arrived at the end of the day and we never had anything missing. It was really great.

Each of us carried a backpack of some sort with water, snacks, bandaids, bug spray and obvious other things we thought we might need throughout the day. I brought my backpack, which has a compartment for my DSLR camera and extra lens that you access from the back side. I bought it back when I first got my camera in 2015 and it is hands down one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. It functions well for my needs (including a spot that is perfect for my Surface when I am carrying that), its lightweight, super comfy even when its full and breathes well if I sweat. It even comes with a rain cover that otherwise lays flat and is stored in the very base of the backpack. I have taken it everywhere with me over the past 3 years and it is only starting to show a little wear and tear now. It doesn’t look like it is available anymore, but I’ve linked it here regardless. I’m sure something else from this brand would be just as good.

Two florists checking out a flower shop in a different country.

One thing that we thought was interesting was that most homes and fenced in business had guard dogs of some sort, with Great Pyrenees probably being the most common breed. This guy looked friendly but I decided it was best to not stick my arm in there to pet him.

Probably not even a minute or so after taking this picture is when I stepped into the pothole and sprained my ankle. We weren’t even a full 2 miles into the walk. I recapped all of that in my first summary post which you can read here.

Since I wasn’t joining them on the walk for the rest of the day I asked my Mom to take my camera with her. And I just have to say that I am so happy that she went outside her comfort zone. She claims that she “so bad” at it when someone hands her a cell phone to take a photo but I think she did a great job considering I don’t think she has ever touched a DSLR before. Now I’m pretty sure she just took it because she just felt really bad for me, but for the rest of the walk she continued to carry it off and on and actually started to enjoy using it.

This is the 4th century bridge that was almost completely covered by vegetation.

My family said that this guy (a donkey) snuck up on them to say hello. We found that it wasn’t uncommon for homes, especially out in the country, to be hidden behind fences and stone walls that were overgrown with vegetation.

I put my name mark on some of these for the sake of consistency, but this pretty one was all my Mom 🙂

And so was this one!

Our first nights stay was at the Agriturismo Santa Giusta, which was just outside of Poggio San Lorenzo. Agriturismo’s are essentially bed and breakfasts, and while nothing compares to the castle we stayed in later in the week, this was by far my 2nd favorite place that we stayed.

I am also really thankful that this happened to be the place we were staying on the day that I sprained my ankle. There were only two other guests besides my family and just a few staff (I think it was a family that ran it). Once I arrived I was able to relax outside in a chair with my ankle propped up and enjoyed a beautiful view and some wine. There was even a small pool that was nice to soak my ankle in for a while.

 

We took quite a few pictures of our rooms in most of the places we stayed, but I didn’t know I really wanted to fill my posts up with those. This room below is where my Mom and I stayed. The ladder leads up to a small loft that had another bed. In every place we stayed all of our rooms were a little different from each other instead of being really cookie cutter like a traditional hotel.

 

Thanks for stopping by again! I have a post for Day 2 of our walk almost ready to go, so I should be back tomorrow!

Have a great rest of your weekend!

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And just for fun here are some of my other past Travel Journal posts:

Nashville, Tennessee – Girls Weekend
London, England
Estes Park, Colorado
Thailand and the Philippines
Tumon Bay, Guam
New York City – Girls Weekend
Lake Tahoe, Nevada
Antigua, Guatemala