Could Abruzzo be better than Tuscany?

This morning I woke and took a walk and left Katie to have a little snooze in, it is her birthday. I was able to enjoy the serenity and also explore the grounds and animals of the Agriturismo.

I was able to meet some of the locals like the donkey, goats and sheep.

Next was time to find a birthday card, for the past few weeks I had been looking but hadn't been able not to find one. What was I going to do? Thankfully I was able to think back a couple of weeks and realised that in Travemunde we were given a postcard from the shop.  It had a school of fish on it and after the vendor learnt Katie was a teacher she threw it into the bag. Bingo, I had a solution.

After a simple breakfast, we were then off into the Abruzzo hills not knowing exactly what to expect.

We went on some advice from Lorenzo the owner of our Agriturismo. He has a booklet of about 19 pages that has a number of pre-created itineraries.

These pages were a wealth of information.

Our first stop was Sulmona where we saw an ancient Aquaduct and purchased some lovely Sugared Almonds, known as Mandorle Candite or Confetti.

 
Next stop was a hilltop town called Pettorano Sul Gizio, where we had an amazing lunch.  The town was built on the ridge back of a hill and had at least 3.6 million steps. There appeared to be only one restaurant in the town, Il Torchio. 

Tony and I had a local dish which consisted of Polenta, ground pork mince and sausage on the side. Katie had a simple pasta of pork cheek and Pappardelle. Norma had a lovely fresh salad with chopped peach and pine nuts. The meals were simple and homely and they were amazing. However, before it was delivered to our table the waitress said in a few minutes the polenta will be cut. Not knowing what was going to hapen we went into the other room where the large chef comes in with a giant copper pot, full to the brim of thick polenta. He tipped it onto the table where he cut it into large cubes and then thin slices, using a string tied to his little finger.

 

Stepping out after lunch it was back into Felix and we toured up and up to a height of at least1300M in the Abruzzo mountains.

Our final stop on the way was in the woodland, Bosco di Sant'Antonio. This woodland was quiet, clean, and cool and a welcome relief to the warm and if not hot conditions we have had over the past 3 weeks. From here we were all impressed by the Abruzzo scenery and we all saw similarities to other places we have visited. There were resemblances to Scotland, Austria and Switzerland.

 

Tonight we will be heading out for a birthday dinner and Buon Compleanno. Happy Birthday, Katie.