Monday A day of rest (sort of)

I woke up at around 6 a.m. and Patty had been up since 5, but I fell back asleep till 7:40.  I don't think I've slept that well for a long, long time.

We have complimentary breakfast on the 3rd floor terrace, so we enjoyed that very much.  We met one of the day employees, Kala, who is from Malaysia but has lived here for many years with her Italian husband.  She serves the breakfast.  We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast.  There were maybe four or five other couples who ate there during the time we were there,  Two of the couples were vacationers from Germany; one couple spoke English very well.  So did Kala, by the way.

We came back up to our room and did some "blogging" and snoozing and then ala! we were ready for lunch. Before we left our room, we went to our balcony and took this photo.

We then went and inquired at the desk about how to get to one site we were interested in seeing and Vincenza said they could order us a "tuk tuk" ride to drive us there or we could catch one at the piazza.  But she reminded us that many sites and stores close from 1 to 3:30 pm for their siesta.

We took a walk down to the piazza again and walked to the end of the street and saw the beautiful view.

Murat Castle.  We only saw from the outside.  Napoleon's brother was imprisoned here.

Then we went to the SPQR restaurant in the piazza for lunch.  Patty liked that we were at Table 6 since she is number 6 in our line-up of sisters. I had housemade pasta with salmon and Patty ordered rigatoni with shrimp.  However, that wasn't the same as ordering it in the U.S.A.  It looked like unstuffed ravioli with a red sauce and one giant almost live shrimp in the middle.  Clearly, we need to research the Italian menu.  We had a very nice waiter who mainly spoke Italian, but it is easy to communicate with sign language and repetition.  After the meal, we ordered tartufo, which is delicious.  It's  an ice cream treat that originated in Pizzo, so many places sell it here.  Tartufo is two flavors of ice cream with a filling inside and rolled in chocolate powder.  There are variations of it, but it is very good.

Cheese plate

Evidently I took off my glasses so I could see it better !!

We went back home for awhile, and at about 4:00 p.m. we asked the front desk to call us a tuk tuk (also called an auto rickshaw or an 'ape calessino) and very shortly Giovanni arrived to drive us to the Piedigrotta.   Whoa! What a ride!

When Giovanni dropped us off with the promise to return in 30 minutes, Patty offered to pay him.  He said "Never pay in advance.  They won't come back."  He was saying it nicely, but I felt he was giving us good advice.  He was very kind.  He drove by his home in Pizzo to show it to us.  He lived in Canada for several years and spoke English very well.  We like him!

The Church of the Grotto was small but interesting.  There were approximately 180 steps down (and back up).  I could not help but think of El Salvador where everywhere we went there were stairs and steps (scalini).

Patty was fascinated by the grotto.  So much so that when we left and started walking up the stairs, I turned around and she was gone!  I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I've read all those stories in the Daily Mail about Americans who disappear in other countries.  I'm supposed to be watching out for my sister!"  Thankfully, a man sitting outside of the door to the cave just pointed inside, indicating she had gone back in for a few more photos!  Whew!

At the top of the stairs, Giovanni was waiting for us and drove us back to the square.  We went back home and caught up on blogging till later in the evening when it was time to eat supper.  We had a meal at C'era una volta ("Once Upon a Time") consisting of swordfish for me and pizza for Patty.

Then we went and had tartufo again (couldn't help ourselves).  This time at the  Bar Gelateria Ercole. It was getting a little cool to eat outside so they led us to the top of the stairs (did you catch that, stairs again) inside where we ate in warmth listening to 60's American music!  Funny! The tartufo was to die for!

Tomorrow we are off to Mendicino to see the home of our great grandma (bisnonna in Italian).