having slept a little more, definitely helped. Check out seems to be earlier, 10am. Weather was sunny and it gets humid hot which hits me midday hard. I walked through several villages and the colors of houses in this area really struck me, rose, orange, salmon, gold...warm fruit sherbet colors.
Around Romito I saw a man with a back-pack hiking the other way. He yelled from across the street asking if I was a pilgrim, I said yes, he came over to my side. He was a young french man traveling very light. He was totally the image of a modern pilgrim, felt hat with feather in it, big wood bead rosary across his chest. His name was Oliver. He was doing the journey reverse from me, he'd started in Santiago and was headed towards Rome. He had only two months off so it sounds like he was covering prob over twice the distance a day that I was. He was super nice and supportive and assured me the french part was going to be fine. His energy was complete opposite of the older french man I had met in San Miniato, that man had been brooding and saw hardship in things, Oliver made everything sound really simple and not to worry about. He insisted I should not have to pay for food or lodging at all being that I was a pilgrim. I did not have the heart to tell him that I did not have the energy to hike of 30kms or a day yet, just to reach a place were there was free lodging.. also often churches and tourist info were empty and I could not get the required info. Basically he was a hardier lower budget pilgrim than I. But he was really wonderful totally lifted my spirits. He had this very open 'no problem' attitude.. he had nothing to loose so he had no chip on his shoulder and he was generous with giving me time and information. After we said our fare wells I was buoyed by having met him.
I arrived the outskirts of La Spezia around 2ish but I knew I had a good hour or so to hit center of town. The entry was on the shipping harbor side of things so not very pretty, which made the walk seem longer... once I got into the city I could not figure out 'town center' I felt like I was approaching the wrong side so all the tourist signs were coming from other direction. I found a tourist info but it was closed. Then the sky opened up and it was a pour down. I did not have my rain gear super accessible so I waited it out in a cafe... it was quickly over... I decided to climb up the city since I could not find anything. I was near a castle ruins took the lift up but it was closed. I went to the church up on the hill and there was no one around, It was a pretty church and the feel of it was quite different. A lot of wood carving, the walls were plainer and the contrast of white against dark wood was strong. The main altar had a 'living' Christ standing with arms outstretched not the usual christ on a cross.... the stain glass windows had a nautical theme with sail ships in it. So these were sea faring people....perhaps that has to do with the shift of energy... no longer the earthy Umbria or Tuscany, now it was people who for generations made there living off the ocean...Then I found a very posh hotel near there and they were really nice and helped me find really cheap (not free) lodging by doing a search on the internet. Once I descended from there, I was in the hub of the more attractive part of town, now... nice little shops and restaurants, well dressed italians and the usual smattering of tourists. After a while I found the hotel. It was a simple affair but affordable. The man running it gave me lots of info..one of the issues I had had coming in the back way, was I could not even get a town map because there was no tourist business that way, which made finding things that much harder. ...and after showering and resting a bit I had a pizza and salad dinner...then back to my room for mantra-journaling-updating photos.
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