Raspberries & Festas

Yesterday we want on another raspberry finding mission.  This time we went to the other side of the mountains, where a friend was going to show us exactly where to loo.  We brought our latest little helper along, Athelas from Taiwan.  We are getting very international lately...

After passing through some beautiful beechwoods at about 1,100 metres altitude...

... we soon spotted our first raspberries.

We soon dived into the raspeberry bushes picking busily:

Athelas had never seen or tasted raspberries before!

 

We gathered over 3kg and made lots of jam.  Reason enough to hug a tree in thanks to nature:

Athelas was also lucky as she arrived at the height of the festa season.  She arrived on Friday and we took her directly from the station to our neighbour village of Caprigliola where there was a Festa della Contadina a Festival of the Farmer's Wife.  Part of the festivities included a fashion show, where young girls where showing off the wedding dresses of their grandmothers.

And yesterday after the raspberry picking we went to our town of Santo Stefano di Magra, which was turned into a scene of Monty Python for the annual Medieval Festa...

including whiches (BURN, BURN!!!):

...body collectiuons (BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!):

Fun was had by all ages:

Happy August everyone!