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Before I left Teolo I asked Luca what the altitude was, he said 197. I presume that means metres, but it seemed much higher than that to me. I realised afterwards that I could have checked on my phone GPS because that tells the altitude as well as the latitude and longitude. Where I am now is: Lat. 45Degrees 25'43.49”N. Longit 11degrees 37'22.36”E. Altitude 67m.
But the after the climb to the top of the hill behind the hotel it was mostly a downhill ride for the rest of the day, that is until I lost my way yet again.
I was doing fine until there was a change in the route because there is a new motorway going through and there is a detour. Well I think the notes did not match the detour (my excuse and I am sticking to it again) and instead of coming into Villaganzerla on the road the notes said, I came in at the other end. It is only a tiny place, and as it was lunch time I decided today to stop for lunch. On the other cycle days I have only had a coffee, but I thought some food was justified today seeing as I had had the long uphill climb to begin. Well I thought it was a good enough excuse. You see all you get for breakfast here is bread and coffee.
So I stopped at this little bar on the corner. As usual there were about six men sitting outside drinking coffee. It seems that the men have a great life here in Italy. They are either drinking outside the bars or riding their bicycles. Oh I have seen some working in the fields, but those have been few and far between. The women sit outside their doors at home, or are sweeping the paths. They are fanatical about sweeping, they sweep the paths outside their homes, they sweep their yards, and apparently immediately after the wind has stopped blowing they will sweep it all again.
So I park my bicicletta, take off my helmet and gloves, put on my long shirt and head indoors where I order a salami roll and and orange juice. I have those two things off pat now and can order in Italian quite well and the bar people give me exactly what I want, and even without pointing at the item. I ask if it is okay to sit – you see it is customary to just stand at the bar and you pay more if you sit down. But I sit, as I feel conspicuous standing at the bar. At the other end of the bar is a gelato bar, so I order and finally get my fragelo gelato. It is good, full of chunks of strawberries.
A man and a young boy come in, spot me sitting at the table and come over and the lad asks me if I am from over the sea. I reply si' and he asks where am I headed. I show him Agriturismo L'Albara on the map and he tells me that he and his father are from there. They shake my hand enthusiastically and tell me that they will see me later (piu tardi). They seemed very nice and very friendly.
After sitting for what seems ages and ages, and in fact was only 20 minutes (the time seems to go quite slowly here) I decide I should use the toilette before getting back on my bicycle. So in I go and “Oh my God' it's one of those hole in the floor jobbies. I am not sure if I am going to be able to manoeuvre my extremely tight bike pants down far enough, and squat my body down low enough to aim in that tiny wee (excuse the pun there) hole. There is nothing to hold on to and I am terrified I will fall over. Luckily the hole is only little so at least I won't fall down it. However, someone or something was looking after me, as I managed okay. But then I thought I was locked in. Always the keys have to be turned 2 ½ times and you hear the lock click at least twice before the door opens and this time it seems that I had to turn first one way and then the other. I tried a couple of times and I was still stuck in this little room, and I am thinking “I hope the girl behind the bar saw where I went and I don't get stuck in here forever.” So I calm myself down and try again, still no luck. I stop and count to ten in Italian (it takes longer as I have to think about some of the numbers) and then try again, and this time the door opens. Phew!!!!!!.
So I go to the bar, pay for my lunch and head on my way again. Now this is where I get temporarily misplaced. None of the instructions in the notes match where I am in Villaganzerla. Because I have got her by lunch time (and I have ridden 33km by the way and I only set out at 9.30am) I decide to do the 13km extra loop to Costozza. I head off in the correct direction – the girl behind the bar pointed me in the right direction and according to the big map I also follow, I am heading in the right direction, but do you think I can find Costozza. No way, I start heading uphill, and I know that's not right but I keep on going, and see a sign saying Nanto. I check the map, that's further up the hill, so I turn round and decide I will go and check in at L'Albara and get some directions from them. There are two beautiful villas and gardens to visit at Costozza so I really want to get there. At Ponte di Castegnero I stop at a fruit market and buy some fruit – peaches, cherries and strawberries, and the very generous lady throws in four apricot for free for me to try.
L'Albara is not very far away and I get there in just a few minutes, and I ride up the drive and find the family all sitting outside enjoying their lunch. Everyone just looks at me, no-one moves. No-one comes to welcome me and I am left standing in the driveway wondering what the hell I am supposed to do now. I make myself busy reading my map, and then decide I should just make a hasty retreat and come back later. Quite strange really because this place is supposed to be the friendliest, but I certainly didn't get that impression.
So I try again to find Costozza. I am trying to work backwards from my notes, but am heading up a fairly steep hill again, so I find a nice shady spot outside a church half way up the hill and decide to rest here, have a drink of water and eat some of my fruit. There is a building beside the church and shortly after I arrive parents start dropping children off for music lessons and I sit there and enjoy an hour of children singing, laughing and playing music. It is so pleasant, they are laughing throughout and sound so happy. The view is amazing and it is so peaceful. Other people stop here and leave their cars and go off walking up the hill and a couple of young lads arrive and don back packs and walking sticks and head off uphill. It must be quite a walk up there, so I decide that I will try and find Costozza tomorrow. I wander round the church and take photos of the vista and then start to slowly cycle back to L'Albara.
I cannot find the Agriturismo in my dictionary but I am assuming it is a “farmstay” This time on my arrival there is nobody around. My suitcase is standing there in front of the desk. There is a sign on the desk saying for help ring 0044 5798. I don't know whether that means I have to ring from my cell phone, or I use the gadget on the counter. So I try the gadget . Woops not supposed to use that – it turned on the television. Oh crikey you know what I'm like with these technical things. How do I turn it off? I thought that might have brought someone running, but no, still no sign of anybody. The Headwater books are on the side table so I sign on the chair and read these for about ten minutes before a lady arrives and says “camera si?'” that means bedroom? I say si, she picks up a key, takes me up the stairs to my room, shows me the towels, and walks out and closes my door with not another word. Wow!! now what. No showing me around, no showing me where this famous swimming pool is, no details about dinner. Oh well, I had a shower, and then a nana nap and read my book for a while. I was thrilled to discover that I could connect to the iternet via wi-fi so was able to catch up on my emails and add to my blog.
Later, around 7pm I went downstairs to find out what was going on, and read the Headwater book to decide what to do today. The young lad came and asked me if I wanted a drink, I ordered white wine, he handed me a glass and a jug of wine and left me standing there. So I went outside to the tables. A large group of Italians playing on the lawn, make me feel very conspicuous again. However, I write notes in my notebook and enjoy watching them play and have fun. Around 8.15 there is no indication of what to do for dinner, so I wander in to the dining room, nobody about. I am feeling very much like a fish out of water here, so I go up to my room, wondering what to do next. At about 8.25 someone knocks on my door and I am told dinner is ready if I want some. So I follow her downstairs where I am sat a table all alone. The dining room is full, and again I feel very conspicuous. However, I am here to enjoy this experience and very quickly this gorgeous young man comes and fills the first glass with a sparkly white wine. There are four glasses on the table, three wine and one for water. The appetiser is already on the table so I look around to see what others are doing. There is only one knife and one fork on the table, so no confusion over the cutlery like in England.
The antipasto is: a cherry tomato cut in half and filled with mozzerello, a slice of melon, a slice of proscuitto and a slice of salami, and a very very very crunchy bread (crostini I think it is). This is al washed down with the bubbles and the traditional aqua naturale, which comes in bottles. The lady comes to clear the table and places my knife and fork back on the table. Aha, I see why there is only one setting. You keep using the same ones.
Very soon after, the young man fills the next glass with white wine, and the next course arrives. It is risotto with duck. It is delicious. I sprinkle that with parmesan cheese, watching closely what the locals do so as I get it all right. When I finish, I place my fork back on the table and the lady nods her head when she comes to take my plate away.
Next course, vegetable pancakes. This a stack, creamy white sauce with vegetables between layers of pancakes and topped with cheese. Again very delicious, and thankfully only a small portion. I could have had more white wine here, but decline, as it would appear that there is more to come with the main course.
Ah yes, I'm right. This time the next glass is filled with red wine, and the salad is brought to the table. Aha, I think to myself, I know what to do here. But no, here it is different. In the last two places the salad was part of the main meal, but here, it is a course on its own, and the locals are sprinkling with salt, mixing it and eating it alone. This is not a mixed salad like in the past but just lettuce. Some of them are adding oil and balsamic, some not, so I choose to add it. Plain lettuce with salt doesn't do much for me.
Then out comes the main course – roast guinea fowl, roast potato and peas. The guinea fowl is a bit tough (very much like the one Rowan had in England). I don't get a leg like everyone else gets, I get pieces of meat, which suits me just fine. This goes down well with the red wine. By now I have had five glasses of wine – the two before dinner and now three with my meal. Luckily they are only small glasses and I only have to make it up the stairs to my bed.
Again the lad comes around and the first glass is filled again, this time with muscato (a very sweet wine) to go with the dessert which is a platter of cherry tart, two marinated cherries, a biscotti and a meringue.
The meal has been fabulous and thankfully each course is of a reasonable size, so although feeling full, I am not uncomfortable.
I sit watching to see what happens next, by now it is well after 11pm and I am feeling quite sleepy – a combination of the wine and the days activity and the heat. Another couple get up and leave so it appears it is okay to leave the table and go to my room. The menu says there is still coffee and grappa to go, and the comments in the Headwater book warn about the grappa, and because I know how strong it is (having drunk it on numerous occasions at El Burcio in Turangi) I decide I will gracefully leave the table and retreat to my room.
My bed is inviting and it is no time before I fall asleep. The alarm on my phone sounds at 7.30. There is no sounds from outside and I drop off back to sleep, waking again at 8.45. I must have really needed that sleep. It is still very quiet outside, and because there are shutters on the windows and I haven't figured out how to open the window to open the shutters it is very dark in the room.
I head down for breakfast – I don't really need food, but I do need coffee and I need to decide on how to fill in my rest day.
So I will leave you here while I enjoy my breakfast of ciabatta spread with cherry jam, and another slice with peach jam, a pottle of plain yoghurt and a couple of cups of coffee.
Ciao for now.
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