The rest of the 3rd was spent exploring Vernazza and Monterosso. Monterosso is very much a resort town, and Gibson did not like the look of it one bit. But there we had some great foccacia and beers in a little park and then headed for the beach. We found out that the city’s commerce is all mostly aimed toward people paying 50 cents for a bathroom to change in, 9 euros for a towel and then 5 Euro for a beach chair. Troppo costo! We went back to Vernazza where the water was perfect and the rocks to sit on were free. We spent hours swimming and lying in the warm sun. God, is this vacation or what?
For dinner, we wanted to try the restaurant by our hotel as it is way up on this hill and out of the way of tourists, but it was closed on Mondays. So we went back down to the bottom of town and found a restaurant that had tons of fresh seafood.
Our meal included: Whole fish and shrimp (heads, tails, skin, eyeballs) floured and fried in olive oil. Stuffed muscles in their shells filled with parsley, garlic, breadcrumbs and cheese, a stew of whole shrimp and something tricky and delicious that looked like Giger’s Alien in a clay pot. Roasted, sliced cuddlefish in a simple olive oil and fennel salad. Tiny gnocchi in a meat and tomato sauce. Pesto spaghetti with anchovies and a gorgeous vegetarian platter with roasted zucchini, potato and tomato and three kinds of baked savory tortes. We topped it off with two great bottles of local wine. Freaking fantastic.
Jon and Gibson’s meal went something like this:
Gibson: Jon, this fish head is for you.
Jon: I can’t eat that. It’s looking at me.
(Gibson stabs out the eyeballs of the fried fish.)
Gibson: There.
Jon: Still, no.
Gibson summed up the meal perfectly: You just put it in your mouth and see if it works!
July 4: Hey, it’s my birthday! Up around 7:30 to type and make coffee. The rock mover is moving rocks. We’re heading to Toscano today… renting a car and braving the roads. Time to wake Jon up and get moving!
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2 comments:
Happy Birthday, Ellen! And Happy Belated Birthday, Alex!
Hey everyone -- the blog has been a bit harder than expected lately... internet is proving to be very very hard to find! Now I am in an internet point, but they don't have wi-fi and fpr some reason, my blogger account won't let me update.
But I can comment, so rest assured, we are having a FABULOUS time! I have written several blog enteries and we'll post them as soon as we can.
We're in Venice now and it is amazing. At night, all the tourists go home and we have the city practically to ourselves.
Rome was amazing and as many of you know Italy won the world cup while we were there and it was crazy! Jon and Gibson took to the streets with no shirts on. wow.
We part company tomorrow and make our seperate ways back home. Jon and I are going to Verona, Genoa, the big rabbit and then Nice to go home. The Holubs are going to Munich on an 8 hour train and then home from there.
More soon, I hope! We have taken so many pictures, I can't wait to post some of them. Ciao!
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