Our host, ever solicitous of our welfare,
enquired if the dog(s) had impacted on our nocturnal experience. I informed him
this had indeed occurred. He obviously felt badly about it because he gave us a
significant discount on our room rate. He will get a good Tripadvisor writeup because it was a pleasant place to stay.
We set off in convoy fashion just after
nine, heading for Cassino. Joan
wanted to see the place where her father had served during the war. Monte Cassino sits, as the name implies,
on a mountain, where one finds a large Abbey. The journey was southeast along
the A1 – an easy drive, before ascending countless switchbacks to get to the
Abbey. There’s a lot of info about this battleground on Wikipedia, but the
facts that stuck in my mind is that there are graves for 16,00 men from WW-I
and 107,000 from WW-II – mind boggling slaughter. The Abbey itself was completely
destroyed during the second conflict, but subsequently rebuilt.
Being Sunday, nothing was open in Cassino.
One bar had pity on us and re-opened so we could get some sandwiches and a
drink. I also found an ATM that worked, which as a great relief after two
failures in Tivoli.
From there we headed east to the Adriatic
coast via secondary, but in parts very scenic roads (S650). The drive, while
smooth and easy was extremely frustrating because there were no
opportunities to stop and admire the scenery. At the coast we were desperate
for some caffeine and headed off the major roads into San Salvo, where fortunately
we found a very pleasant coffee place tat catered to our needs. Here off the beaten
track four coffees and three pastries came to only €5.80 – a bargain.
Our route followed the autostrada to Bari
until we reached turnoff for the Gargano
Peninsula. We were delighted to see that much of this route was lined with oleander in bloom. This is an elevated
area that looks small on the map but is actually quite large. In on corner
there is a very sizeable (very small by Canadian standards) lake, only barely
not part of the Med. Very attractive scenery. Our GPSes thought they were smart
in taking us along supposedly faster routes through the many olive groves, but
I have my doubts. I always feel nervous when we are led off the beaten path. In
the end we were led to the right place, Residence
Maresol, which sits on a hill looking out to sea. Quite a romantic setting
really. Our hosts Giovanna and Enzo are very friendly and helpful. Enzo even
brought us a (possibly gratis) of white wine while we sitting in the courtyard
recovering from our journey of over 400 Km. Italy is a lot bigger than one
might imagine.
We drove into Vieste to have dinner on the
beach at an establishment recommended by the hosts. We had an excellent meal
there for a more reasonable price than in Tivoli, a nice development.
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