From one coast to another

From the Tarot Garden, we headed back across Italy to Viterbo, another wonderfully historic city, which we barely skimmed the surface of, but it was a good stopping place for the day.

I love all the subtle colors and jumbled rooflines. 

And I like cities that feel "real" to me. 

We had a good dinner of a typical soup with hearty vegetables- so different from eating in Sicily! 

After dinner we stopped in for a dessert and coffee at a caffe that had been in that spot since 1819, and before that it had been a hotel and previously ,a bank in the 1700s! 

We had two desserts and coffee for €4.

Then we had a special destination for the morning.

This was the Termi dei Papi, a very beautiful( and warm! ) thermal spa. I love hotsprings, and we have visited them whenever possible, but I have to say this is one of my favorites! It is certainly the biggest, and there were lots of minerals in the water, as evidenced by our silver jewelry turning dark.

We were both very happy to spend time in the relaxing warm waters. The Ancient Romans loved their terme, too. 

Reluctantly, we left that wonderful place for our drive across to the other coast of Italy, through Abruzzo. 

We didn't have any plan for where we would go after Cortona until Sam, and his "Australian Mum"Miriam gave us a suggestion to see Abruzzo. We happily accepted the recommendations for an itinerary, and circled some cities on our map. This was a part of Italy we had not been to and I had actually thought of this area as being a possible place to visit. 

On the way we saw another terme, but there was no swimming there..

The water looked beautiful, but the signs said stay out! 

Our first stop was L'Aquilla, a beautiful town that was covered in scaffolding! We couldn't figure out what was going on until we realized there must have been an earthquake. Jim looked it up and discovered that five years earlier they suffered a devastating earthquake that killed 300 people  and damaged over 1000 buildings. It felt like a ghost town. With building cranes. 

We got directions to a trattoria, but mistakenly went to the restaurant around the corner. The place was deserted but once inside we couldn't back out, and the owner seemed thrilled to have customers. He told us how difficult it has been since the earthquake since no one visits anymore. We forgave him for serving us pasta that reminded as nothing so much as chef boyardee, and overcharging us, to boot! We figured he needed our business, and we were happy to give him our money. 

This is my favorite variation on a theme that I saw as we were leaving town. A good reminder for of us. 

We were happy to finally reach Pescara after a tiring day of driving through lots of looong tunnels. We forgot how the Italians like to blast through mountains rather than drive over them! 

We were delighted with our hotel in Pescara with a view of the sea from our balcony. 

 

This was different than anyplace else we had been in Italy, and seemed quite modern in comparison. 

In fact, we liked it there so much that we were booked for two nights but decided to stay 3.

Plus, we were right next door to a gelateria and within walking distance of several good restaurants. 

We chose the popular fish place recommended by our hotel staff. In spite of being the only customers there when they opened at 8 pm, within a half hour the place was full.

I ordered the gnocchi with sugo di scampi. Nearly any dish with shrimp is served with a whole shrimp or two for garnish. Delicious! We also had the frito misto , which is fried anchovies, shrimp, calamari and octopus, also very good. We were told that the seafood at this restaurant all comes from their own fishing boat, so you know it's fresh. This was a good end to a long day.