My dinner last night was exquisite. Dave was staying at the same hotel so I had some company. We both started with pasta, as is the norm here in Italy. I can't remember the name of the pasta but it is the one that translates to "little purse". My little purses were filled with pears and ground walnuts and the pasta was in an olive oil, with a little garlic and good parmesano. The sweetness of the pears, combined with the light garlic was a full symphony on the taste buds. My secondo was translated as pork casserole. It was more aptly, chunks of tender pork in a sun-dried tomato, onion and red wine sauce accompanied by a fresh green salad with walnuts and feta. Fabuloso! And as stuffed as I was I couldn't resist the dessert. It was puff-pastry sticks over the best creme anglais that I have ever had. I wish my night's sleep could be described as well. In the next room was an Italian couple that argued until about 11:00 and when Italian couples fight, they are very loud. Finally, it was quiet. Then at 1:00 am they resumed the argument screaming at each other. At that point, I beat on the adjoining wall and it was quiet until about 4:00 am when the garbage truck arrived. Jeez! When I got up at 7:30, I was so tempted to beat on the Italian couples door as I went downstairs for breakfast. I tried to put on my halo, (a bit tarnished by this age) and I told myself that if they were having this much trouble, maybe some sleep would help. I didn't beat on their door but the devil in me sure wanted to.
I saw this beautiful church as I was leaving this morning. The inside was much plainer than the outside. In fact, it was lined with large rather modern posters. It was still a good way to begin the day.
The first part of the day was flat. Dennis and I learned that when someone here says flat, they don't mean Lake County (West Tennessee) or Kansas flat. Italian flat can include some big hills and small mountains. We called it Italian flat. But today for about 3 or 4 miles, it was actually flat. The good thing about that was there was honeysuckle which perfumed the air with such sweetness. I felt like one of the novels where the heroine suddenly finds herself in another era. I was instantly transported to my childhood in West Tennessee where the honeysuckle is abundant. I stopped in a little bar about halfway and Dave caught up to me. I started laughing because he looked like big bird. This is him from the back. Even the light rain didn't take away from the views of the lake.
The last part of the journey was quite up and down and we crossed over two smallish mountains.
My first views of Bolsena.
Look at this guy. He was standing downhill and munching the grass on the hillside. He looks like a pony but he was a pretty big horse. Quite friendly too.
This church is on the edge of Bolsena. It is called Chiesa di San Salvatore.
The main altar.
This painting is of a knight slaying a dragon. Odd for a painting in a church.
The castle walls
The entry way to the castle.
It is hard to tell but this stone walkway is so steep that people were holding on the the side walls to keep from sliding downward.
After I got cleaned up I headed into town and had the best piece of pizza with fresh tomatoes and mushrooms. I wolfed it downt. When you get pizza here it is about a six inch square. Nice not to have to get a whole pizza.
Bolsena it truly built on the side of the mountain and it is a very steep climb back to the top.
My beautiful hotel, right on the lake.
This is Italy's largest Lake...Lago di Bolsena. It was actually formed on top of a volcano.
There is a big storm brewing so I am trying to send this as the electricity keeps going off, knocking out the internet.
No comments:
Post a Comment