Peeking into Pescara

This morning we woke in lovely Abruzzo, our newly adopted cats waiting for us at the front door for breakfast. We then headed into Pescara to meet Tony and Norma. Shannon has become a whizz at finding the good parks and had pre-programmed tom-tom to take us to the train station carpark. When we arrived it appeared full, so we followed the directions of the young African man who was waving at us wildly to an available park. He was clearly after a few euro and in this case, we were happy to oblige as he was quite helpful and rather friendly.

We met Tony and Norma and all was not well in their world. Their accommodation was not ideal. Over coffee, with a few messages back and forth, we confirmed with our Agriturismo hosts that there was a room available for them. It's amazing how with a few clicks on a phone, you can arrange so much. We were then on a rescue mission! They packed and got out of there in record time and we spent a little time exploring a small area of Pescara, a city on the sea. We walked over a large pedestrian bridge that was installed in 2007 and admired the harbour.

We continued south for a short distance to Ortona. We parked the car and wandered the streets of the town, pausing to look out at the fishing boats in the harbour. We rewarded our walking in the hot sun, with a cool drink on the top of a hill, with a beautiful view of the sea. We thought this would be a good spot for lunch - wrong. Whether it was because it was Saturday, or there was something happening in this town we didn't know about, it was dead. The shops were shut. The restaurants were shut. We were lucky to find a small pastry cafe and made do with a few scraps for lunch.

We left Ortona and went straight to our accommodation so Tony and Norma could settle in. Dinner was a home-cooked affair, after spending some time at the supermarket choosing local products. This was paired with local wine of course. Tomorrow we have a day of driving and visiting small hilltowns - the birthday edition!