April 22, 2017. Visiting a medieval castle and town

LOCATION:  Housesitting outside of Casoli, Italy in the Abruzzo region

WEATHER:  Back to glorious sun and temps.  Highs in 60s

 

Our British friends came over to check on the homeowners' house and to say goodbye to us.  Tony helped us clean the pool. They are such nice people.

We did some gardening work, then took off for the day.  Today's destination was Roccocascalegna, home of an 11th century castle.  It is a short drive, about 30 minutes away.  As we approached the village, the castle appeared before us.

It is perched high on a rock in the middle of the village.  It must have been a mighty fortress, difficult to fight against, in its day. We opted to stroll around the town, vieiwng the castle from below, rather than try the steep, grueling steps up to the castle itself.

The village itself is also from medieval times. Everything looks ancient but has been lovingly kept.  The doors and windows were particularly fascinating. 

Here, and in many villages, workers use these little tuk-tuk trucks, similar to ones we saw in India a few years ago.

After our stroll, we found a nice cafe with outdoor seating (good for Gino the dog).  I could read part of the sign out front.... "Pasta made in-house".  I didn't know what oggi means.  I assumed it was a kind of pasta.  

So, when the waiter came by to take our order, I asked for the oggi pasta.  He looked a bit confused, but explained (in Italian) that yes, homemade pasta is one of their specialties, and we could choose from 3 styles.  The menu talked about the culture of the cafe, priding itself in only local products.  We ordered a bruschetta/antipasti and one of the pasta plates.  Once again, the waiter checked a few times to make sure that we didn't want second plates.  

 

The antipasti was super.  It had some unusual items that we could not identify, one like a super tempura roll, and something like a slice of omelette on bread.

The pasta dish's name was something like "perfume of the forest".  It came in a beautiful sauce with slices of mushrooms and wild asparagus.  The homemade pasta was tender and delicious.

 

Back home, I looked up the word oggi.  Much to my chagrin I learned it means "today".  So, the sign read "Today we have homemade pasta".  No wonder the waiter looked so confused when I asked for the oggi pasta!  I also looked up the pasta's name, spagne, and learned that it is a specialty of the Abruzzo region.  

The view of the castle from the cafe was magnificent.  We could have sat there all day!

We did some yard work and I skyped with the homeowner.  

 

DINNER:  Not being too hungry after such a good and big lunch, I made a small batch of pasta using leftovers.....artichoke hearts, onion, garlic, and bit of chicken in a sauce made of pesto and ricotto cheese.  I made another chicken cacciatore casserole to give to the homeowner for his dinner when he returns tomorrow night.   

 

 

April 21, 2017. A visit to another hilltop village

LOCATION:  Housesitting outside of Casoli,  Italy in the Abruzzo region

WEATHER:  Horrid in the AM -- high winds, rain and cold. Clearing in the PM. Highs about 50

 

We hibernated indoors in the morning as the weather was so awful.  We were finally able to corral the second cat inside the house.  Tonight's low temperature is supposed to get down to below freezing, so we are glad she is in.  She is not....she whines all of the time to go out.  

By mid-afternoon, the clouds started clearing and the rain stopped.  We decided to go to one more town on our "to see" list.  It is about 15 miles from here, way up in the mountains. Our little Fiat struggled to climb up the entrance road to the town.

 

With no particular agenda, we started walking around the town.  It is one of the oldest towns around here.  

As we were walking around, this lady approached us and said in Italian/English, "come with me and I will show you the church".  We followed her like sheep around.  It was our personal tour.  She was very animated.  Her English vocabulary consisted mostly of "very beautiful".  She proudly took us inside the church, built back in the 1100s.

Indoors, she said that these 23 entrance steps are unique in church designs.

She was insistent about my taking pictures of all the beautiful artwork, and recommended different positions from which to snap the photos.

  It really is a pretty church.  After about 20 minutes, when she finished our tour, she asked for a contribution to the church (we think).   It was a unique experience!  We are not sure if she works in any official capacity, or is just making a euro or two.  In any case, it helped us experience the village a bit more.

  We stopped at the grocery store on our way home for a few final supplies to restock items the homeowners had bought for us.  

DINNER:  Chicken cacciatore.  I'm not sure if this is authentic Italian or some sort of American Italian invention. In any case, I made a thick tomato sauce with onions, garlic, whole tomatoes, bell peppers and chicken pieces and served it with pasta.  Side dish was baby artichokes.  

April 20, 2017. Snowflakes in the gorge

LOCATION:  Housesitting at a villa outside of Casoli, Italy in the Abruzzo region.   

WEATHER:  Cold, windy and rainy.  Highs in 40s

 

Even though the weather isn't great today, we decided to get out and take a hike.  We returned to the town where the De Cecco pasta is made.  It is a huge factory.  

Tony, our British friend, had told us about some nice hikes into the gorge near the factory.  We drove up into the mountain, searchng for hiking trails.  Twice I had to get out of the car to guide George as he made tight turns on rocky, steep,  narrow roads.  Even though the town is perched high on a hill, we were even higher in the mountains and looked down upon the town.

As we were descending back into the town, we encountered this shepherd with his goats and sheep.

We finally found the hiking trails on the other side of the pasta factory.  As we climbed up into the gorge, it started snowing on us.  The wind funneled through the rocks and it was really cold.

In parts, it is so narrow you can touch both sides of the gorge.

The stream runs through town, right through the pasta factory.  The water is crystal clear.  This fresh water source flows right through the factory and is the reason the factory is located here.

By this time, it is about 1:30.  We heard the 1:00 whistle at the factory signaling lunch time.  We drove through the town.  It was like a ghost town as everything was closed for siesta.  This is typical in small towns.  All the shops close from about 1:30 - 4:00.  We found one restaurant open.  It turned out to be great.

 

The waitress came to our table to welcome us.  It is one of those restaurants without printed menus.  It is typical for the staff to just talk about the 4-5 options for first course and 4-5 options for the second course.  Uh-oh.  She was very nice and spoke very slowly.  I could understand almost everything.  For the first course, we got a beautiful antipasti platter with local cheeses and meats.   

I was even able to order a dark beer for George.  He said it is the best one he has had in Italy.

For the second course, we split an order of fettucini.  Again, the waitress asked us if we were sure that is ALL we wanted.  Quite concerned that we didn't order more.  It was more than enough!  

Back home, we rested up for our evening out with our British friends.  They had invited us to go out for arrostinci.  It is a local, typical dish.  Essentially, it is skewered meats.  We had one order of "el clasico" which is lamb, and one order of BBQed beef ones.  They serve them in special jugs to keep them warm.  

We also shared a platter of their roasted potato skins.  All quite yummy!  

It was a tasty and fun evening.  The Brits have lived here for about 5 years and have been so kind and helpful.  It doesn't seem possible that we only have a few more days here.  Today, we booked our bus trip from Pescara to Rome for the day after the homeowners return.  We'll spend two days in Rome before we take a train to France for the next assignment.  Good times!  

April 19, 2017. Flat tire false alarm

LOCATION:  Housesitting in a villa outside of Casoli, Italy in the Abruzzo region

WEATHER:  Cold, windy and rainy. Highs in 40s

  It was a dark and stormy night!  The wind howled all night long.   

Our British friend Tony came over in the morning to help with the flat tire.  After a lot of checking, he and George decided the tire wasn't flat after all.  It just looked flat because of the way it was parked.  The low pressure light had come on due to the placement of the spare tire.  They were able to turn that off.

 

So, back with wheels again, we decided to go to the beach.  Our homeowner had told us about one town on the Adriatric that has "tapas" restaurants along the beach.   It was about a 30-minute drive.

The weather was a bit better on the coast, but still chilly and windy.  This part of Italy is called the Trabocchi Coast, named after these fishermen's huts that dot the coastline.

 

We couldn't find the tapas restaurants; probably they are not yet open for the season.  But, we did find a really nice seafood restaurant.

We ordered their house wine and it was served in a pitcher with the trabocchi picture painted on it.

We shared a seafood salad, not unlike ceviche.

Then for the main course, we split a seafood mixed grill.  Delicious!

We have discovered that restaurants serve little pots of olive oil with pepperoncini if you ask for it.  It is their version of hot sauce.

We drove home avoiding the toll highway, seeing a few different towns.   Back home, we fed all the animals and hunkered down for the evening.    

DINNER:  Lamb stew, using the leftover lamb from the restaurant a few days ago. Good on a cold evening! 

 

April 18, 2017. Flat tire blues

LOCATION:  House-sitting in a villa outside of Casoli, Italy in the Abruzzo region

WEATHER:  Cool and partly cloudy. High about 50.  Gusty winds in the afternoon and evening.  

 

Our British neighbor friend came to help George figure out what to do with the flat tire.  They decided that the leak must be pretty slow, so they pumped the tire up.  We will take the car in to Pescara tomorrow to the car rental place to see what they want to do. Tony, the British friend, said things like this are better to do in person in Italy, rather than the phone.

Tony left, and we decided to go on a short local trip today.  However, when we got in the car, we saw a warning light that the tire pressure was too low.  So, we had to forego today's day trip plans.

 

George put the spare time back on.  Italy has some strange rules about this sort of thing that Tony explained to us.  First, you cannot drive with a front spare tire.  So, George moved the tires around.  

 

 

 

 

 

   

Second,  they do not repair tires in Italy, just replace them.  Also, generally they replace two at a time, not just one.  With all of these complications, we think it is best to let the rental agency deal with it. Tony was also surprised not to see chains in our "boot",  as cars are required to carry chains through April 15.  He said we would have been fined if a policeman had stopped us before the 15th.

 

We stayed home all day, eating our picnic lunch inside.  The weather worsened in the afternoon.  By evening, the wind was fiercely blowing in the hills. We moved the patio furniture out of harm's way.  With the animals fed and safely enclosed for the storm, we listened to the wind howl and read books.  

 

DINNER:  Spaghehtti with a red sauce.  I made the sauce with leftover grilled sausages (good), onion, garlic and some of the broccolini.  I obviously bought too much broccolini at the market last week, so am putting it in everything!  Adds fibers and vitamins, I guess.      

April 17, 2017. Steep and flat!

LOCATION:  Housesitting at a villa outside of Casoli, Italy in the Abruzzo region

WEATHER:  Stormy during the night.  Some rain.  Then, nice.  Highs in 50s

 

During the night, it rained and was very windy.  We awoke to this beautiful rainbow over the valley.

You can see how STEEP the hills are.  When I watch the farmers on their tractors, it looks like they are heading straight down, then up.  I asked someone the other day where the cows and pigs are, as people  seem to eat lot of beef and pork products.  I was told that they stay in barns all of the time.  The hills are too steep for them.  Cows, especially, get frightened and run when it is windy.  Then, they topple over and die as they spin out of control down the mountains.   Since it was cool and rainy, we kept Luna the cat inside.  In the morning, our fox came to visit and to torment Gino the dog.  This time, Luna acted quite interested....

We decided to go into town to see if anything was open for lunch on this Easter Monday.  The town was really dead.  This restaurant was open so we had a special Easter lunch there.  it was a set menu.....antipasti, then lasagne, then salad, beef for George and lamb for me, then fruit salad, then coffee.  And, a jar of house wine.  Normally all of this is $10 per person, although today it was a bit higher due to Easter.  

 

 We discovered that our rental car, a cute little Fiat Panda, has a FLAT tire.  George put on the spare.

We contacted our British neighbors to see what to do.  They came over and we had a nice chat.  Being Easter Monday, nobody could really help us, so we will try to figure it out tomorrow.   DINNER:  Chicken on the grill with rosemary.  Salad and roasted potatoes.  We were still full from the large lunch, so didn't eat much......leftovers will be in our future!  

April 16, 2017. Quiet Easter Day

LOCATION:  Housesitting outside of Casoli in the Abruzzo region of Italy

WEATHER:  Windy.  Cooler.  Spotty rain.  Highs about 60

 

Everything here pretty much closes up on Sundays, especially today, Easter.  We heard the church bells ringing.  The farmers who are  usually puttering around on their tractors in the olive groves took a break today.  

We spent a quiet day here at the villa.  Since this is a guest apartment, there is not a washing machine.  I do a bit of hand laundry daily.  It dries nicely in the sun.

Italians are keen about recycling.  We have some type of pick-up daily (except Sundays).  Each colored  bin represents a different type of material that is picked up......plastics, glass, aluminum, etc.  

The homeowners advised us to be very careful about what we put in each bin.  If you put the wrong stuff in one, the garbage collector will rummage around in it, then leave it for you, rather than pick up the offensive bit.  One day (plastics, I think) the bin was not picked up although I had seen empty bins in other people's driveways.  I thought I had messed up.  Fortunately, the bin was picked up later in the day, after siesta.  

The fox came up to our patio window, partly to tease Gino our dog, and partly to beg for food.  When I took Suki, the reclusive cat, her food dish, the fox followed me around.  It was a little creepy.   

Luna, our other cat, brought us a mouse for Easter.  

In the evening, we listened to a few Minnesota Public Radio podcasts that our daughter had kindly loaded onto my ipad.  Nice to hear Garrison Keillor in a rerun telling about Lake Wobegon in April.  

DINNER:  Spaghetti in pesto sauce with artichoke hearts, chick peas, onion and garlic.  Great meatless dish.