Out of Town--Sort Of

 

Buon Giorno,

I wanted to give myself a fairly easy day--Riding around on a Hop On Hop Off bus--how hard could it be? Well, it's hot, and the return bus dumped me off far from home, so I'm still tired and wilted.

I thought it would be fun to go out to Boccadasse, which is more of a suburb, and which preserves part of a traditional fishing village.  The ride wound around a lot of Genoa I had not seen, and I appreciated the monuments and many very handsome buildings.  We also went through more normal business and residential districts.

Boccadasse seems to be a rather tony resort town. It's Sunday and La Festa de Mama here in Italy, so I wish all you moms the best, but something else was going on at he historic part. There were hundreds, and I do mean hundreds of people in hot pink T shirts wearing numbers. They just seemed to be milling around, so the narrow streets were crowded and it was hard to move along.

I did like the glimpses of the blue Mediterranean and the refreshing sea breeze, but I soon had enough of the crowds, so I made my way back to the bus stop. At length the bus came and drove us around the city.  I expected to be let off pretty close to home, but this did not happen.

Fortunately my walk was flat along the coast, and I know my way about by now. 

I'm eating truffle potato chips because I am hungry, but I can't have an actual apero because my room hasn't been done yet. I've taken my contact lenses out, but the shoes are still on.

And now the shoes are off. My room is done, and I'm going to treat myself to a taste of that orange liqueur I bought as I listen to the Giro stage.  This stuff is called Mandarino. Let's have a sip. It's ok--rather like a syrupy orange version of limoncello and best taken in small doses.  Hmm. I wonder if I could make an Italian version of Kir with some white wine. I will contemplate this.

Pasta purists don't like capellini, and I don't care. It cooks quickly and sauces up really well. It needs salt to be perfect. And yum!  I had some pesto, pasta water, and a lot of parmesan DOP.  If you want the best of wine, cheese, whatever, find out the region's mark of quality, and you won't go wrong.  For example the fizzy red wine I get is under five euro, but it has the DOP designation. The white wine I drink is more expensive, but not very costly. I'm not a connoisseur, but I do enjoy my food and drink.

Ciao for now