We’re staying in a somewhat peculiar B&B here in Roseto Capo Spulico. It’s a large, fairly elegant, modern multistory home up on the hill a bit out of town, with it looks like four or five rooms to let. We’re the only guests, of course. The hostess speaks zero English, which is fine - why should she know our language, when we don’t know hers? But it’s more awkward than usual because the WiFi doesn’t work at all, so we can’t use Google Translate to communicate; and her approach to dealing with the language barrier is to just talk louder and faster, maybe thinking that throwing more words out there will help get her point across. When we walk down to breakfast this morning, Rachael gets excited by all the appealing odors - but they’re not for us. That’s the family breakfast, but our fare is very limited. Let’s call it a one jammer, or perhaps two. We’re pretty happy to leave when the time comes to make our break.
We only have a 13 mile ride ahead of us and a fairly flat one at that, so our main concern is weather. Rain and thunderstorms are forecast off and on all day, so we decide to start biking as soon as we see a clearing - which is right now, soon after we finish our meager breakfast. We hurriedly pack up and hit the road, leaving about 9.
Rachael instructs me that we’re racing the weather today, so please put that darned camera away. OK, after we first take a photo of the sea and sky for context.
An hour later, we arrive in Rocca Imperiale Marina, the modern coastal resort presence for the historical town up on the hill we’ll be staying at for the next two nights. It’s only ten and of course too early to check in at our room, so we head to the only open bar we can find and plant ourselves at a table for the next two hours. It’s a nice place - good WiFi, good coffee, decent treats - so we’re happy to hang out here.
Bar Lerose, a fine place to hang out in Rocca Imperiale Marina.
At noon, we pack up and head up hill - we’re lucky that our place will let us check in between 12 and 1. It’s only two and a half miles, but it’s gradually uphill and threatening rain so we bike fast hoping to stay dry, not even stopping for a photo of the town from a distance even though it looks completely amazing. We’ll have to snap one on the way out to show you when we leave town, but for now know that it’s another exceptional looking place wrapped over the top of a conical hill, with a large castle on top.
We arrive dry, find our room with some difficulty, and wait out a period of rain until venturing out to look around. When we do, we discover another fascinating place. Almost the entire historical core is pedestrianized, because getting even a tiny car in here would be impossible. It’s an interesting layout - a torte of a town, built in a grid of more or less concentric lanes layered up the slope of the hill, interconnected by narrow walkways, stairs and tunnels.
We gradually weave our way up to the top, where we take an admiring view of the castle before dropping off the far side and circling back to our room again. We time it exactly right - the sky is getting seriously dark by the time we reach shelter, then starts rumbling ominously; and five minutes after we’re back inside the rains arrive with a vengeance.
Badlands like these are a prominent feature here - we passed a number of similar outcrops as we dropped down from the border with Basilicata yesterday.
For dinner, we take the long hike (roughly fifty feet) to Trattoria dei Poeti. A lovely place - small, with about five tables with red and white checked tablecloths that make it look almost French. There is no menu. They serve appetizers, a first, and a main. You pick which you want, and you get what they’re serving. We choose the appetizer and the first because she suggests this is a good option, and are delighted as the appetizers keep rolling in, one small plate after another. We’re the only diners, and after we leave our host leaves for the evening.
Afterwards, we walk a few blocks through the dark empty streets before deciding we’re getting chilly and head back to our room to check the forecast and wonder whether we’ll find decent biking conditions in the morning.
No menu, so we didn’t even know what the bill would be. Pretty simple though: antipasti and pasta for two, plus a liter of water and a half liter of the house red: 50 eu.
"Let me out! Or I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your Bike Friday down!" Reply to this comment 5 years ago
Scott AndersonTo Jen RahnYou make me feel bad, Jen. He’s trapped here for eternity now, like a bug under amber. What can I do? Reply to this comment 5 years ago
