We ended up down at the harbourside to see about the Il Cocchio "horse drawn" carriage tour. They were waiting for the second carriage and the 2 horses to arrive so we went for a drink in a cafe across the way. A coffee for me and a coke for Sonia as the waitress could not get the concept of a coke float so didn't serve the ice cream. We watched the carriage arrive under it's own power along Via Garibaldi. Electric motors on the back wheels mean that the horses do not have to pull the wagons, just steer them through the narrow streets.
After our tour, I called in at another news vendor by Torre di San Giovanni who explained that no English papers had arrived that day and he did not know why. We then walked along the bastion to Torre San Giacomo which had an exhibition about the local sea conservation area. It looked like an official opening event with TV camera and a very slick presenter but we were told it was OK to go in. After looking at a desalination plant in the cellar, we headed off along Bastioni Marco Polo but the gelatteria was closed, as was the one on Piazza Civica so we looked a a few tee shirt shops before ending up at the little Ristorante 10 Metri on Via Barcellonetta, just round the corner from the hotel, for a light pasta lunch.
It was an easy stroll round the corner back to the hotel for a siesta at 1330. 3 doses of coffee that morning meant that I only slept for an hour so I went down to the cloister to read. When I returned to the room at 1700, I woke Sonia from a dream about 2 types of robot (1 skeletal and 1 cylon-like) separately robbing an orange and white building...hmmm. It was good wine at lunchtime!
We eventually headed out in search of a tee shirt for me, something for Sonia, a photo of the bell tower and something to eat. I took a few photos of the quiet streets...
Couldn't find the right tee shirt at first but Sonia spotted a shirt shop as it had a handmade light purple blouse on display. While she tried that on, I found 2 handmade shirts which I tried on. We (I) ended up buying all three. After a bit more wandering we found La Botteghina which ticked many boxes - organic, fair trade, home made (and a rainbow flag sticker in the door) but they didn't open until 1930 and it was only 1845. So we did some more wandering and found my tee shirt. Once we had dropped the bags off back at the hotel (the shop was just round the corner from the hotel) we did a bit more meandering and refound La Botteghina at 1930 so we were their first customers of the night. My notes for the night say "food very good, wine very good, atmosphere very good". I think we can safely assume that I enjoyed it.
As it as coming up to 2100, we strolled back to the hotel to begin packing, listening to the "shree" of the swifts as they hunted the mosquitos. I eventually dropped off after reading a chapter of my book while waiting for the aloe vera to dry on my back.
No comments:
Post a Comment