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.
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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.
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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.
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
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.
Last to leave our café |
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