Via francigena 2024 - Page 1

Chemnitz - Munich - La Spezia - Pontremoli

I became acquainted with the Via francigena on the Jerusalem Way in 2014. Coming from Ticino, I came across it in Pavia and walked to Rome. I always knew that I would come back to this beautiful path. With Manu, we walked the beautiful section over the Great Saint Bernard from Martigny to Pavia in 2017. This year we couldn't take the pilgrimage too seriously, we had to skip some stages or take trips off the Francigena. There was no other way, Manu had broken his little toe 14 days earlier, but neither of us wanted to drop the plan completely.

We set off early from Chemnitz by train and then had almost 8 hours in Munich. Of course we made the most of it and strolled through the beautiful city center in the sunniest weather: Frauenkirche, Marienplatz, Neues Rathaus, Viktualienmarkt and of course the Hofbräuhaus. Manu had another good tip: the Eisbach wave at the entrance to the English Garden. It is said to be the world's largest river wave in the middle of a big city. For 40 years, people have been surfing here on a fairly constant half-meter-high wave, a real eye-catcher 🙂.

In the early evening we tried to have dinner in a beer garden, but unfortunately they were closed due to a rain warning. We had a quick beer anyway. We stocked up on essentials at the main station and waited for our next train. This time we tried a train-only journey to our starting point in Italy. The Austrian Federal Railway's night train, the Nightexpress, was waiting for us. Deutsche Bahn had discontinued night trains years ago, once again misjudging the signs of the times. ÖBB is expanding night trains because of the good booking figures. We booked couchette coaches, which means 6 berths in one compartment. There were also seating cars and sleeping cars, but the latter was too expensive for us. Our compartment was also full. Nevertheless, we were able to sleep quite well thanks to the air conditioning and very friendly train attendants. In the morning we got our breakfast from the dining compartment and with the couches folded up there was plenty of room for 6 people to have breakfast.

The Nightexpress then passed Pavia and Milan. In Genoa, it ran very close to the houses and then continued along the beautiful Cinque Terre coast. After a very entertaining journey, the train reached our intermediate destination of La Spezia. Here, after a short stop, we boarded the Trenitalia train to Pontremoli. I had slept here in the monastery on the Jerusalem Way, so this time we tried a different hostel: Ostello Castello del Piagnaro. This is very modest accommodation in the pretty castle here.

It had become hot in the meantime and the accommodation had no fans or anything similar, the air was stagnant in the room. What's more, you didn't have to be squeamish about the cleanliness of the beds, which was borderline. Nevertheless, we tried to get into the pilgrim routine straight away: Showering and getting food and drink. This turned out to be more difficult than expected. There were only 2 alimentarii for shopping here, but they were all closed. Stupid, we had forgotten Ferragosto, a public holiday here on 15.8. We only had one of the few bars or restaurants in the center, well, it was a bit more expensive at the beginning.

There was no chance of an evening beer at the castle today. So we enjoyed the beautiful view from up there over the town and the foothills of the Apennines. After the long journey, we eventually got some sleep, despite the dreadful sultriness in the room.