Next on the list was Viscri, only about 15 mins along the road. As before we drove through long strung out villages which lined the road. All pretty much the same design but some more beautifully kept with uniform flower planters (unfortunately my co-pilot doesn't take photos).
On arriving in Viscri we parked in the parking lot at the bottom of the hill where there were a couple of horse and carts waiting around so presumably a tour party was due to arrive, although strangely I only took a head shot of a grazing horse.
We then followed the sign which said 7 mins walk to the church and the path took us through wooded areas with grazing sheep and past a turkey farm. After 10 mins we were still only halfway up the hill, despite signposts saying 2 mins to go and when we finally reached the edge of the village it’d taken about 15 mins and the church was still another 5 mins away - it was a jolly hot and tiring walk in the midday sun.
We could have been in any of the villages really, they're all starting to look the same.
I got quite excited when this horse and cart came out from a house but typical of my luck, he turned in the other direction and headed off away from us.
At last we got to the church.
As we've found in other places, the lady selling the entrance tickets was German, as were all of the other visitors. She agreed the signage was totally incorrect and had been trying to get more realistic times shown. A quick word about loos; our ancient guidebook had said that public loos were few and far between and those that could be found often left a lot to be desired with the recommendation that we carry our own loo paper. Well so far every one we’ve visited has been spotless and these were no exception; fully furnished and washing facilities too.
These two beautiful puppies belonged to the caretaker lady and were from a stray she'd taken in, of which there are many she said but I can’t say we’ve noticed a large dog population anywhere yet.
The inside was of the standard design we've seen, with the organ pipes at the front, stalls around the sides and backless pews in the middle. I asked the caretaker lady about the pew layout and she explained that pews with backs (just 1 front left) were reserved for teachers and doctors. Unmarried women sat in the side pews on the first floor and unmarried men in the lower side pews. Everyone else sat in the middle pews with no backs (must have had great posture).
I'm not entirely sure what Ian's doing here?
One thing we'd not come across before was the Lard Tower. Until early 1990s most villagers didn't have fridges or freezers and each family would keep their lard and ham in this tower which maintained a constant temperature through the year. The owner's house number was written all over the skin of the lard and each Sunday at 0700 the gate of the tower would be opened by two trusted people so that each villager could take a piece of lard to last this family the week. On leaving the tower the lard was checked to make sure it was from the villager's own supply and didn't belong to someone else. As the tower only opened once a week sufficient lard and or ham had to be taken out each Sunday.
A piece of lard.
We didn't climb the clock tower but we did go up onto the wooden first floor which had been built on top of the walls.
Back out into the village and we had a wander around before making our way back to the car.
We certainly haven't seen any buildings like this before and can't find out what it is. I love the stork nest on top though.
Whilst searching for information on the above house though I did find out that King Charles III owns a house in this village, at the far end from the church.
This felled tree has been turned into a water trough for the livestock.
When I first clocked this horse and cart it was on its own and so I headed towards it to take some photos. As I was nearing a man and child came out of a house and got in the cart so I repeatedly asked if I could take a photo and waived my camera about in case of language difficulties. I didn't get any response so I merrily snapped away.
Judging by the scowl though I don't think my presence was welcome.
The horse seemed well looked after and had its own personal supply of flies.
The geese also seemed to take exception to having their pictures taken.
There was a middle aged lady operating this thing and this time I got a clear nod that I could take photos, although she did nip out of sight pretty quickly.
Walking back past the turkey farm on the way to the car, Ian decided to choose one for Christmas.
They really are incredible ugly birds.
