Via Francigena 2022: Stage 32: Pavia to Santa Cristina e Bissone

19 km — 36^oC and sunny — We saw no new pilgrims today.

(By Jim)

“Grazie per la tua gentilezza” or “grazie per il tuo aiuto.”

“Thank you for your kindness” or “thank you for your help.”

These are two Italian phrases that I have learned from Google Translate, have practiced, and used on many occasions. Laurel and I constantly rely on the kindness of the people we meet: hosteleros, bar keepers, bus drivers, fellow pilgrims, strangers on the street. We have not been let down.

Laurel needed to break in her new shoes so we didn’t want to walk the entire 28 km of today’s stage (at least that’s her story). We tried to take a bus to San Leonardo to shorten the trip by 4 km, but to no avail so we ended up back at the Pavia train station on a commuter to Belgioioso. The walk to Santa Cristina e Bissone was hot, hot, hot! The fields of corn, soy beans, and sunflowers, although beautiful, provided no shade.

Laurel’s shoes performed wonderfully, they might be faster than her old ones! We arrived at our destination before noon, had a cold drink, then bought some canned tuna salads from a general store (florist shop?) and retired to a shady park to eat lunch and wait for the hostel to open at 2:30.

Check in was perfunctory. The priest handed us our keys, pointed to the stairs, said something in Italian then disappeared, never to be seen again.

We were too hot to do laundry so we riposoed until 7:00, when we ventured out to look for supper. The heat was still a stifling 32oC so we didn’t get far before the first pizza place we passed started to look pretty good. We returned to it and enjoyed a nice meal below a struggling air conditioner unit.

The hostel was an oven with high humidity and no breeze; we sous vided there until we were fully cooked at dawn.