On our way to Ravenna We Stop in Portamaggiore: You never know what the day will bring!
We have checked out of the campground and are planning to ride towards Ravenna. We need to find an Apple Store to get a new power plug for our MacBook Air. Luckily there is a store in town and our route goes through here and it will give us more time in Ferrara The cord has split by the charger once again. It is frustrating to have to replace this cord as we have followed Apple's instruction to wind the cord around the hooks on the charger when not in use. The tech guy at the Apple Store told us this is why the cord breaks. We will be in touch with Apple when we return to see what their response is. Two chargers in 3 years seems excessive and expensive.
The policeman and I had a great time chatting about all kinds of things, including the shared connection that he has family in Mission BC and Barry's mother lives there too. Suddenly it was like we did know each other after all. His shyness disappeared and he shook my hand...a good moment.
A handshake and well wishes from a proud Ferrara resident. Thankfully I remembered to hold on to the bike as the kickstand is not in place and it's a bit heavy for me to lift.
A little later, I realized that I was being scrutinized quite seriously by a policeman...an armed policeman. Barry had left me to look after the bike as he gone off to take some photos, so I was sitting on the bike. My thought was that he wanted me to move to the side of the road. But no, he was merely curious about where I was from and was trying to figure out our bike. It turns out that the stern expression was because he was shy about speaking to me in English. When I asked him about the rules of the road, he just laughed. Basically the gist of what he told me was that bikes ride where they like and cars have to be patient and find their way.
Appearances can be deceiving as this policeman was actually very friendly and not concerned about our bike being in the way.
The route we are following to Ravenna is a Dutch GPS track to Rome "Via Romea". Typically on the Dutch routes, stickers have been placed on poles (or a bridge in this case) to help you find your way.
Since coming south from Verona, squatting style toilets are more common. When there is one of each, Mary Ellen is often offered the choice of a regular toilet whereas the expectation is that Barry, a man, is fine with the squatting type.
We stopped for coffee at this very nice Bar. It was set in a tiny village but the facilities were extensive with a room for watching the game, a billiards room and a quieter room for reading the newspaper with coffee.
The billiards room in the Bar was clearly well used with an area set up for an audience. This Bar is in a small village and its use seems to be like a community centre.
We waited for this Tabachie in Gaibanella to open after lunch break and Francesco was very kind to me. After I bought some batteries, he took me to the back of his shop and gave us a bag full of pears from his garden. He and his granddaughter waved us off. He sent me a lovely email later inviting us to dine with him if we ever returned to his village. We find that giving out our business card with the Crazy Guy address breaks a lot of communication barriers.
After emerging from the grocery store in Portomaggiore, we were surprised to see that the streets of the city had been taken over by a huge festival. This group are watching a live band perform. To Barry's embarrassment, the band stopped and called out "Canada" and a local policeman came up to him and asked: "You are from Canada, do you need anything? Water? a toilet?
The food at the festival was plentiful, locally made and delicious. These sandwiches are made with piadine (a type of flat bread special to this region) and then grilled.
The church in Portomaggiore is unusual as it is modern. During the festival it was open for visits and the young organist provided lovely classical music.
There were many food trucks like these throughout the streets of Portomaggiore at the festival. All were crowded and people waited in long line ups to get their food.
It's hard to explain or show how massive and full of excitement this festival is. This festival has been held for 300 years and its purpose is to honour the agricultural life of the community. Everyone comes out for the food, displays, rides and games - but the real interest is in the tractors and farm equipment that dealers bring to the festival.
