Once again, we had
to pack up and leave in the rain – not ideal as I have to unpack
the car a bit before I can pack it, so everything got a bit moist.
Eventually, we got away and headed north through more of Abruzzo –
passing some quite dramatic scenery, and plenty of little hill-top
villages (indeed, it seemed as though half of the hills had villages
on them).
We stopped for lunch
in Rieti, an ancient city on the Velino River (there's the remains of
a Roman bridge that dates back to the third century). It was a public
holiday, so we struggled a little to find somewhere to eat, but that
worked in our favour because it meant that we got to see more of the
city, which had a lot of charm – and some impressive buildings. A
lot of the areas we've been in so far have been on the poor side, and
Rieti was probably the first time that we saw the sort of
architecture that we typically associate with Italy – big, grand
buildings, towers, vaulted ceilings and so forth.
After a pretty basic
lunch at a time-warped bar, and a really nice coffee in a nicer bar
by the river we stopped off in a park near the car park for the girls
to chew up a bit of energy. We then drove to the fortified hill-top
town of Todi in Umbria, which dates back to around the seventh
century BC. We parked outside the walls and walked up to the town's
main square. I bought a bottle of wine and we all checked out the
cathedral. Back outside, we visited one of
the now-ubiquitous truffle shops, where I made good use of the
taste-testers – and eventually bought a small jar of white-truffle
salsa – and we all patted the stuffed wild boar out front.
It was dark by the
time we reached our destination – the youth hostel in Perugia,
Umbria's capital. After checking in (and discovering that their wi fi
wasn't working), we walked across the road, where there was a
bar/bakery/gelateria and a few other small restaurant/cafe/bars. The
former was absolutely heaving with people – all of whom had little
orange plastic plates that they were filling at a big buffet. We
eventually figured out that for six euros you could get a drink
(wine, cocktail, soft drink) and as much food as you wanted. Youth
hostel heaven! As the crowd thinned a little, we found a spot at a
table and started gorging ourselves. There was pasta, polenta with
mushrooms and truffle oil, a lovely cannellini bean and pork
casserole, amazing olives, incredible roasted almonds, various vege
dishes that had Kate in raptures and some of the best pizza I've ever
eaten.
After we had been
eating for a while, Kate came back from another foraging run with a
triumphant look on her face – on her plate was something we hadn't
eaten since we were both backpacking in Italy in 1992, something we
call focaccini: deep-fried bread dough, sprinkled with sea salt. I
quickly rushed over to grab as much as I could, which wasn't all that
much as it was obviously as popular with everyone else. I also
grabbed a couple more glasses of wine for Kate and I – for four
euros each, which meant that we were effectively eating for two euros
per person. Nice! The whole vibe in the place was great – a mix of
ages, socio-economic groups – and the staff were friendly and
helpful. Towards the end of the meal, one of the waiters took the
girls away and gave them a little bowl of Smarties each.
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