~ Rainbow & Italy ~

This story begins at Rainbow Gathering, where people meet each other in the wilderness to live together for a while and build something meaningful ... or just to have fun :)

Precious love is random
But we inhale the slightest breeze - Beyond the Black, "Breeze"
Often people who met just on their way to Rainbow(or back home) find friends in each other even more easily than on Rainbow itself, following their path through some adventures - as we did, encountering a river called Dragon Stream

So we have had very refreshing bath in it - and felt really amazing! And, after a week of the Gathering, our path back was through it again - and so another adventure began, with another pack of wanderers :)

The first evening after the rainbow was very intense both in sense of hapiness and inner work, as I needed to get through a quite a rare type of conflict for me...And first time someone told he fears me :D
After all, I found myself on the night road, feeling strong, and confident doing the right thing at the moment. I had a nice sleep in a tent nearby another water stream, had nice short rest, and met the morning in a small italian city - on the picture.

My next alpine destination i marked on my map long ago - it has both amazing nature, fast connection to the "big world", but no tourist crowds.
Here you can see one of my "secret gem" places I found there. Guess the location :)

Mountain river here comes just though the city, and I can feel it freshness, strength and beaty walking around

People here do a lot of traditional staff, including horse-riding :)

So my goal for that day was to reach the top of a mountain above the city. At first I planned to cheat and get a cable car - but it appeared to be out of service :)
Of course I did not give up and so the new way forward was to hike up! And the route started near very specific place... easy to guess what it is, right ?

Exactly, it is a cemetry - and maybe one of the most beautiful I ever saw!
As my relationship with death & suffering eventually were quite close, I do not hesistate to visit them time to time.

On the entrance to the cemetry there was a church, and amazing painting - and also very non-typical, I would say. His eyes ... like he is one of us, also suffering, but understanding, supporting and leading the way. Was it the thought the author had ? I am very curious to know. However -
"yes I will die, but not today"(supposedly) - Діти інженерів, "Непотріб"
So my path continues.

Nearby was a water pot, and it was hot :) So I drank a lot, and had some fun also making my mozarella & tiramisu to be cool :)

While climbing above the cemetry I was thinking - usually it all ends there, but for now I start from it... to go up, closer to the skies. And freedom.

Wow! I saw that and first silly thought was - its like gate to another world to start kinda shamanic journey :)

Surprisingly, this road lead to some kind of abandoned manor - its a really amazing place I would say!
The roof is destroyed, but it seems someone still use a place as hideaway - scrpiture on the wall says: "Guarded by attacks of my madness", and a lovely blanket lies under the balcony.

Some furniture was still inside, so it seems that leaving the place forever was not the original plan of the owners...

Here another signs of recent activity - a stack of wood for making fire, and a large plastic can full of water. Funnily, I forgot here a packet with some crostatines & another tiramisu :) Would be a gift for "residents" :)

So I continued my hike, ignoring some "private property" signs, same way like local runners did, whom I met onwards :) After a while, I reached a mid-mountain flatland, and a crossroad - on which I have chosen longer but more foresty trail

Eventually I put attention to small details :) Whom do you see inside that flower?

On the way I found a lot of shelter huts, very authentic!

Around them I also found bunch of beatiful ceramic figures, making the place really cosy and fun!

Seems local italians also have their own taste in erotic art, so I could not miss that one :)

And the scripture on the door of that place says-"The Crazy Woman's Hut", quite ironic to me :)

Soon the top became visible

...and the village below, flowing in the rays of slowly setting sun

Nearby there was more well-maintained shelter hut - and it has surveillance camera on it :) Such a contrast to the wilderness around

But no surveillance can stop ignorant & careless people - I needed to remove bunch of trash out of that fireplace... despite the fact that trash bin is actually few steps from there.

Nearby the shelter I also saw this - pay attention to the heart and the flowers below the cross...
It made me to think about similarities between buddhism and christianity - what if originally it was not about sin, god, heaven and hell whatever? What if its about inevitable suffering - so even the most wise one suffers also?
And compassion and serenity is a way forward.

This place felt like a pilgrimage site... and maybe it was

The Shining Way

The Valley

Somewhere here I saw a deer - and if I would believe in signs, it would be a nice one :)

And then I met a cute gnome Mario :)

And around another corner there was a statue of some Pope - I wonder what he is doing here, but the emotion & mountains behind it make that statue really impressive

I feel like I need to climb that ones eventially, and take some time meditating :)

Sometimes blurry photos like give some behind the scenes feeling ...

So the sunset went on

When I was planning my trip, I was considering to hike all of these ridges also... But I still see them from here too! So its better not to rush and explore carefully, not to make a journey to be exhausting one, but fullfilling... like it really was this time

On the ridge

I adore sunsets and sunrises in the mountains, in Alps or in Himalaya, in Turkey or in Andes - always stunning!

So this day was finished, bringing a lot of thoughts, experiences, and with the first stars above I also got good news from a friend :)
So enjoying the night fully, I setup my tent, had my simple mozarella+bagette supper, and went to sleep after a while.
Worth mentioning that I needed to hide behind the mountain from the loud music down the valley, as it was Saturday evening :)

In the morning i had a smooth, beautiful & green road down the valley

...where I did some urban exploration, also quite satisfying, but this is another story :)