Pilgrimage from Genova to Sori 24/07/07

I only have 16kms to walk today so I was happy to sleep in and take it easy.

I got out of bed around 09:30 and finally found a Laundromat!!! It was then off to have coffee and catch up on the internet.

By the time I checked out it was 11:30. The one thing I wanted to do before leaving town was get some pictures of the Basilica near my hotel. I went inside yesterday but there was a service on, so I couldn’t get a good look around.

It was well worth it! The churches here are all AMAZING! I don’t think I will ever have to visit another church again after leaving Italy ;)

I then casually strolled through town and down along the waterfront towards Sori. One of the main things I have noticed about European beaches is how developed they all are. There are tennis courts, soccer pitches, restaurants, hotels and even swimming pools all the way to the oceans edge. They must come to places like Australia and thing they are back in the Stone Age.

Upon arriving in Sori I still had a couple of hours to fill in, so I thought would go for a swim. The water temperature was great, a lot warmer than I was expecting and there were even some small waves. All good fun :)

I have managed to find another couch to sleep on and my host this time is Christian. He is a really cool guy and very relaxed. Tonight he is going to a concert with a few of his friends and invited me along.

It was really funny. I forget their name but they were from the Congo.

The bongo player was this young muscley guy in a tight white singlet. He looked like he had been raving all weekend and still hadn’t stopped. He even had a fluoro orange whistle that he blew constantly the whole show while bouncing continuously.

There were also two other young percussionists and the two main singers were probably 40ish. The man looked pretty western and the woman was dressed in a typical African floral dress.

Then there were these two old guys who would have been pushing 70, were dressed from the ‘30s and stood like statues the whole night. They played this wooden box thing that made sounds like a synthesizer, except with a lot less range. The more serious of the two would occasionally look at the crowd with this disapproving look like we were all misbehaving teenagers. It was very amusing but I was curious to know what he thought of their bongo player :)

I don’t know how to describe their music but it was pretty good. They definitely got the crowd going.

Then, when it was time to do an encore the bongo player was straight back on stage. It looked like he was happy to keep playing as long as there were people…actually I think if I came back tomorrow morning he will still be there regardless if he had a crowd or not ;)

But slowly the other members appeared until finally the serious old guy came back out. His performance all night must have been a show because he took centre stage, tied his jacket around his waist and proceeded to dance the night away. What a champion!