Day 3 of 8: Monday 27th June 2011

After yesterday's alarm call, we were awake and were the first people down for breakfast at 0800.

We had worked out a plan for the day that would involve taking the open top bus tour to Grotto di Nettuno (Neptune's Grotto) which would involve a climb down the 656 steps cliff path to the caves, then back up to catch the next bus 2 hours later. The bus would cost us €18 each. Wandering around the harbour we saw a boat trip advertised for €15 each that would deliver us to the mouth of the cave without having to use the Escala del Cabirol (goat's steps) cut into the cliff. It was not a difficult choice...

Escala del Cabirol

Our boat was filled with a large group of French tourists as well as several Italians and a few other europeans. The caves were beautiful but with lots of people in the party, walking through them in a line meant that we didn't hear much of the commentary that was being given up at the front.



For the boat trip back we sat in the bow and saw more of the coast, plus I was not being squashed by a large dutchman.

Lunch was eaten in the Placa Civica Ristorante at the end of Piazza Civica near the cathedral. The young waitress had no English and we spoke poor phrase book Italian but between us all we managed to work out a meal order. Sonia had steak and potatoes while I went for sea bream and vegetables. Both were cooked to order so we worked our way through 1/4 litre of local white wine and a bottle of water. The food was great but very large portions so we slept well in the hotel for our afternoon siesta (though the wine helped). That afternoon I finished the book I had bought with me while sat in the shade of the cloister.

With the shops opening at 1800 we headed out and wandered along the main "new" town shopping streets looking for some shoes for Sonia. We stopped off for a gelato and drink in Cafe Orange on Via 20 Settembre. Sonia had a mint tea while I had a cafe macchiatto. Sitting outside under the canopy, we realised we were just round the corner from Torre di Sulis so we wandered back into the old town to look for a creperie that Sonia had seen earlier in the day. We couldn't find it so decided to try the Il Ghiotto self service cafe/bar on the corner of Piazza Civica where the nice young man made Sonia a fresh sandwich "senza formaggio". The sandwiches were eaten at a small table in the cafe/bar with a glass of wine each, then another glass of wine for me while Sonia had a Bailey's coffee.



From the cafe/bar, it was a short stroll back to the hotel although we managed to fit in a visit to a book shop to buy a english language novel and a corner shop for a couple of boftles of water. when we go back to the hotel we bought a couple of tins of iced tea to drink on the cloisters while we read in the twilight, listening to a lecture in the courtyard below.

We headed back to our air conditioned room at about 2100 as the light fell, full of anticipation for the sailing boat trip. And I was looking forward to the English newspapers arriving...