Thursday, 5 May 2016

Barolo et La Morra


Tuesday dawned fine and crisp.  There was not a cloud in the sky and when I looked out from our balcony to the west I could see the tops of the snow covered alps rising about the tops of the apartment blocks. 

Barolo
We went to Barolo which is west of Alba.  It is about 12 kilometres away.  I had been there about nine years ago when on a whim we drove from Menton to Barolo.  I did not remember much about it except that it was very pretty and that the food at a local restaurant was very good.  Not only that I had to find the place using only a physical map,  not a GPS.  In some ways I think I like using maps better although stopping to study them is a bit time consuming.  Regardless, I have a better map in my head when I do that. 

Street sign Barolo
We wandered around the place for a little while.  We called into an Enoteca or wine shop where we were encouraged to taste some wines.  In the end we bought a couple of them.  They were very nice.



Our next stop was another hilltop village called La Morra.  Once we had found a park for the truck (it is a challenge finding parks for this large vehicle) we walked up part of the hill and found a wonderful view of the surrounding countryside.  As it was lunchtime we decided to have lunch at a cute Osteria looking out into the sun.  I had a nice salad of tomatoes and mozzarella, and Bev a risotto with leeks and veal sausage.  We noticed a number if cyclists when driving up the hill.  I think they must like it as it would give them quite a workout.  Lunch took a leisurely hour or so to arrive.  At the end we talked to a local who was very nice and had some good English.  He said he had had to use it because he worked in Serbia where it is the common language for everyone. 
Bell ringing on Barolo church

Once we got back to Alba Bev went to have her hair done.  While she did that I went looking for breakfast things.  I found that an Italian breakfast consists of bread and jam with a caffe latte or cappuccino.  The usual cereals that we have are in short supply although I did find something like that in one out of three supermarkets visited.  I also got a bottle of arneis which is a white wine that is from this area and rather nice.  When I got back to the apartment I set myself up with a glass of wine sitting on the balcony reading my book in the early evening sun.    
 
Piazza La Morra
Bev came back very pleased with her experience at the hairdresser and as the resident male I was obliged to make approving noises (actually she did look good). 

Our meal at the Osteria that night was a mixture of good and not so good.  We found out later that it serves genuine local dishes and that it is good value for money.  We got a bit of a surprise as we weren’t given a menu.  Instead the dishes were described to us. For the appetisers we had thinly sliced cooked veal, raw veal,  breaded fried eggplant and
Last to leave our café
anchovies.  We decided on one serving to be shared and a sample of each.  We could have had both pasta and a meat main but as the appetiser was quite substantial we opted for the meat main only.  Unfortunately the two dishes we had were dry and the vegetables overcooked.  I had rabbit and it could have been brilliant but it felt like it had been left to dry out a bit.  Nonetheless the flavours were superb and left one wondering what it could have been.  We shared Tiramisu for a dessert which was delicious. 

We had a lovely surprise after we left the restaurant.  I had paid the bill, which was much less than I had expected and left the money on the table as the waitress who served us had become tied up with another customer.  Just after we stepped out, the same lovely waitress who had given us such good service, ran up to thank us for coming and shook our hands.  It was such a nice touch.

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