Category: Europe

Mock horror at the sight of a bear-shaped cutout on the Premužić Trail, Croatia

Premužić Trail, Croatia

Our Wanderlust 7 Comments

Zagreb is scaffolded, still in a state of repair after the 2020 earthquake that struck hours after the city went into lockdown. There are rules for when there is an earthquake, but when there is an earthquake at the same time as there is a global pandemic, then it’s a much more complex situation.

We have time enough to wander the streets and visit the enchanting Gallery of Naive Art and the poignant Museum of Broken Relationships but we are here to walk the Premužić Trail with our Zagreb-based friend Kaylee. Early one morning, we leave the city and drive up through mist and fog to the Zavižan mountain refuge, the start of the walk.

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Anna walking a winding dirt road towards Sutera nestled at the foot of Mount San Paolino

Magna Via Francigena, Sicily

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A last wander along the shoreline before we turn inland to walk across the mountains and plains of Sicily on the Magna Via Francigena. Fishermen mending their nets. A large-scale mural; a memorial to the magistrates Falcone and Borsellino, both assassinated by the Mafia. It is bold in its presence and tender in its rendering.

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Michel walks past a wall covered with graffiti including the text BUON CAMMINO

Finis Terrae: to the end of the earth on the Via Francigena Sud

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Waves breaking on the rocky shore. Pebbles sighing. Ferries plying the waters of the Adriatic. Fishing boats out at sea. We’re walking the Via Francigena Sud, a 950-kilometre route following the ancient Appian Way southwards from Rome. After walking through Lazio and across the mountains of Campania, we arrive in the port city of Bari. From here, we’ll hug the coastline until we reach Santa Maria di Leuca on the southernmost tip of the Salento peninsula, where the Adriatic and the Ionian Sea meet.

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On the Via Francigena, pilgrim walks along a ridgetop track towards a lone tree on the horizon

Six things you need to know about the Via Francigena

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1. Why would anyone want to walk 2,000 km?

It’s a very good question and one that we asked ourselves when we met Helaine on the Via de la Plata in 2008. She had started and intended to finish the Via Francigena. To be honest, we thought it a crazy notion.

Then, towards the end of 2021, after two years of COVID lockdowns and restrictions, we started wondering how we should respond to the constraints; sometimes we hadn’t been able to walk further than 5 km from our home (Melbourne, Australia). As we talked, it became clear that to put COVID-19 behind us we needed to walk, and the further the better. Helaine and the Via Francigena re-entered our consciousness. To walk 2,000 km over three months through five countries felt like the appropriate way to embrace a newly re-opened world.

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Looking back on the Via degli Dei, a Medici villa sits high on a ridge, highlighted by the sun

Via degli Dei (Path of Gods), Italy

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Late one summer, we set out to walk the Via degli Dei, an ancient pathway travelled since the time of the Etruscans. The 130-kilometre-long path crosses the beautiful Apennines, linking Bologna with Florence. It threads through forests, across mountain ridges and in and out of old Italian villages.

Pagan divinities give names to the mountains that the route crosses; Adonis, Jupiter, Venus and Lua, the goddess of atonement. They also give the route its name; the Path of Gods. 

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Geoff and Finn examine the mural depicting each of the towns along the Thames Path

Thames Path, England

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Mid-Summer, 2022

Our Thames Path walk takes us from the source of the river in the rolling Cotswold Hills, through historic cities, quaint villages and beguiling English countryside before passing through the heart of London and finishing at the Thames flood barrier. It’s a meandering journey of 185 miles (300 kilometres).

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A pilgrim, red hair glowing in the morning sun, walks on the Via Francigena

Via Francigena: Walking into Tuscany

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After we leave the beautiful mountains of the Alps behind, we descend through the foothills of Piedmont and enter the flatlands of the Po Valley.

For hundreds of kilometres, we walk among flooded rice paddies and follow canals, past abandoned and now derelict Cascine, farm complexes where peasant families lived and worked their entire life under the control of the farm owner.

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A view across a glittering alpine lake to a village backed by snow-scattered mountains

Via Francigena: Crossing the Grand St Bernard Pass

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The Grand St Bernard Pass at 2,469 metres is one of the highest and most ancient routes through the Alps. It has been in use since the Bronze Age when people forged a trading route between northern Europe and Italy. It is snowbound for at least eight months of the year and the crossing can be hazardous, even in summer.

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