Chiavenna in Italy

Yesterday we heard we had the day off today. It might sound that we often have days off, but we only have one day off in a week.
This morning we decided to go to Chiavenna, which is in Italy. It’s one of the first villages you find when you go down the Maloja pass.
Maria and I thought it best to start early and try our luck by hitching a ride. If we didn’t get a lift we could always take the bus. The third car passing us took us all the way into the city centre of Chiavenna. In Switzerland in the mountains it’s so easy to find a ride.

Our chauffeur was a very pleasant person who lives in St Moritz and was on his way to Lugano. He was full of knowledge and told me that it’s not likely that I’ll see the golden eagles very easy. He also told me they’ve set out Lammergeiers, but I don’t know where exactly. This winter they even had a bear that came over the mountains from Italy, but it was shot because of safety reasons. There are no lynxes either. Talk of man being invasive!

Chiavenna is a quaint old village with narrow streets and high buildings, about 2 or 3 stories not counting ground floor, but no more than that. A colourfull village built long before there were cars. It’s surrounded by mountains and the temperature is much higher than up in the mountains, but in spite of that the italians were wearing coats – even when they sat in the sun, while we carried ours.

Every piazza were taken in by tables and chairs of little bars or gelateria, giving it all such a pleasant and relaxed sphere. We sat down to enjoy the sun and watch the people on the Piazza Rodolfo Pestalozzi which had a fountain in the middle. The water must be drinking water, because I saw a grandmother letting her grandchild drink from the fountain. I was told that it becomes very hot here in summer and then a fountain must be refreshing.

Maria can’t walk too much because of her bad knee, so we rest often when we find benches. It is so pleasant in the mountains and in this village in Italy, they have clean benches all over. It gives me time to look for birds and I can add new ones to my list. I especially enjoyed seeing barn swallows flying in the narrow little streets. You would expect them to fly in the country. I did see one swallow which I couldn’t identify. I will have to google seriously to try and find it.
All shops close from 12 till half past two! Only eating places stay open.
We had our lunch near the market square amidst hugh old trees. We are such frugal people and always take sandwiches with. haha!

It’s remarkable to see how many old and tall trees are there in this village.

Spring has really made it’s entrance below the pass. We were enanamoured by the camelias we saw blooming in the gardens on our way into town. Along the river Mera which cuts the town in half we saw many blossoming trees. Also when you look up the mountain there are many trees covered in white blossoms which we thought might be cherry trees. We wondered if they got there because of birds?

We were not that lucky in finding a lift back to Maloja and we took the bus. Spring has sprung on the mountain slopes too. It was covered with tiny alpine crocusses. From the bus I could see them only in white and the occasional purple one.
Ag, another shitty day in the mountains!