Week 2 in Italy - Marostica

We took a day trip to the City of Marostica. It was so pretty. The city is surrounded by a HUGE wall. It was originally built to protect the people from attacks.

When we came near the town there were people everywhere. It was our first experience with the Italian outdoor markets. They sell EVERYTHING at the markets: cheese, meat, bread, clothes, toys, fruits & veggies, even FISH…

As we went through the monsterous walls of the city we discovered that the Town Centro is actually a GIANT chess board. Every other year in September this town will have a “human chess game”! They all dress up and act out different chess matches. I think that is really a neat idea!

We had to walk through the market and past some beautiful churches to start our trek up the mountain.

The path is actually sort of hidden behind a church.

We climbed up the side of the mountain to see the remains of the castle that is at the top.

This castle was the towns “last resort” and after climbing up the mountain – I can see why! The trek was STEEP and very rocky, but the view was breathtaking!

We had to stop and rest along the way...

You are literally "climbing" up rocks that keep slipping. There is no path just rocks and gravel.

Once we reached the top we rested, relieved that we had made it and excited about what lay ahead.

The gate to the castle is also a road. Here in Italy anything qualifies as a road. Here is a bus trying to get past us. It had to pull in its mirrors in order to fit through the gate.

We climed up steps to the top of the remnants of the castle. It all looked very unsafe!

Here is the view from the top....

When we came down we rewarded ourselves with GELATO!!