We left Peschici on Thursday and drove to our next stop, Chieti. This took us out of the region of Puglia and into Abruzzo. It was the day before Good Friday and we travelled to Chieti for one specific purpose. They have a Good Friday procession here that started in the 13th century. That's 800 years ago. It's the oldest Good Friday procession in the whole of Italy.

To get to Chieti we had to take tiny little laneways that were built for horses, not cars. Chieti is set on top of a hill, as is the case with many small Italian towns. The population is 51,000. As with most towns this age, the streets are very narrow and cobblestoned with apartments and shops rising on each side.

After checking into our accommodation, we took a walk around the town, but everything was shut for siesta. We were told to go to a particular restaurant for dinner, which we tried. It was typical Abbruzzi cooking and absolutely delicious. Lidia had a mushroom pasta like no other and my spaghetti was also delicious. Our waiter was very friendly and I asked him to recommend a local digestivo to finish the meal. He suggested a local drink called genziana. He said it was quite bitter and I explained to him that I didn't want to try anything that wold turn my face inside out. He suggested a sweet digestivo, but Max had told us you really need a bitter one to round off a big meal, and I always love to try local products, so I took a chance and ordered the genziana. Well, I took one sip and it felt like my nose and mouth sucked into the back of head and my eyeballs touched. They didn't really, but you get the picture. The drink was so bitter it took over an hour for the taste to dissipate after drinking copious amounts of water. Chalk that one up to experience.

The next morning Lidia wanted to take a shower in our B&B. She couldn't figure out how the shower worked and so I went to the rescue. The shower was as complicated as a Japanese toilet. There were so many buttons, dials and jets all over the place it looked like the dashboard of the starship enterprise. There were buttons for different lights, a button to turn on music and settings for overhead shower, hand-held shower, multiple jets for a back massage and high-powered jets for a lower back massage. None of the dials explained what they were for, so it was trial and error. Needless to say, I inadvertently chose the combination of buttons and dials that turned on the cold water and the high-powered jets, so four massive jets of water shot straight out of the shower and soaked me to the bone. The whole bathroom was dripping in water and I had to change into something else and hang my jumper and jeans over the balcony of the room to dry.

After this we went for a walk around Chieti. It was much more lively this morning outside of siesta time and lots of tourists come here to watch the procession. The procession was due to begin at 7:00pm so we went to see where it would begin and familiarise ourselves with the route. We found the cathedral where the procession begins and went inside for a look. There was quite a large crowd inside already and we could see choir members standing at the main altar. We asked one of the officials what was happening and he explained that they were preparing for a rehearsal for the procession that night. As part of the procession, traditionally they have a 100 person male choir singing with an orchestra that contains 100 violinists. They have been performing a famous classical piece called Miserere which was written by Saverio Selecchy since 1740. We found a spot to watch the rehearsal right in the front of the section directly behind the pews. A fantastic viewing point. We had luckily just arrived minutes before a massive crowd came in behind us. The choir and orchestra started rehearsing shortly after and it was mind-blowing. The sound filled the whole cathedral and it was really quite moving. Lidia and I were quite emotional listening to the beautiful music.

When rehearsal was finished we went back to the same restaurant we had dinner in the night before to have our lunch. We went light and shared an entrée of home made rosemary potato crisps, which Lidia wanted to try because they reminded her of her grandmother, followed by a delicious eggplant parmigiana. I skipped the digestivo, and had coffee instead.

Just before 7:00 we positioned ourselves outside the cathedral in the piazza where the procession would be starting. At 7:10, just as the sun was setting, the procession began. It started with many different religious groups dressed in their traditional costumes, most with white or black hoods covering their faces. There were statues and various other artifacts representing the stations of the cross being carried throughout. The crowd and the participants were eerily quiet. Once all of the religious groups had passed, the church officials passed by, followed in the rear by the orchestra and choir. The music echoed around the piazza and was just as stunning outside as it had been earlier in the cathedral.

Once they had all passed, we walked back to our apartment. We knew the route of the procession and knew that they were due to pass very close to our apartment, so we waited for about half an hour and then went out to the place around the corner where the procession was due to pass. The groups were already passing and it wasn't long before the musicians passed us again. This time they were in a narrow alleyway and the sound was beautiful.

All in all a very moving experience in Chieti and we felt lucky to have seen this incredible sight.