Can you have a poor meal in Italy?

Can you have a poor meal in Italy? Yes, you can. 

It happened in Capalbio today. Such a poor choice of restaurant, but at 2:30 p.m. we were starving and entered the first place we saw - just outside the Medieval walls. 

As we are still jetlagged, Edit did not sleep at all last night. I fell asleep at 2:45 a.m. but I kept waking up. I only know that I slept because of the bizarre dreams I had and the fact that I kept waking up. 

Last night we decided to visit Grosseto. It is not part of my upcoming book, Get Lost in Travel! 90 Minutes from Rome, but which will be in an eventual travel book on Tuscany (what a subtle plug!). Almost as soon as we started driving, I noticed an occasional white flash on the windshield. It took me a short while to realize that it was a slip of paper shoved under the windshield wiper. Naturally, as we zipped up to Grosseto, I focused a lot on it, fearing it was what I imagined - a parking ticket (it turns out the pass we were given when we checked into the airbnb is NOT valid for parking in all areas of Tarquinia, the town where we are staying).  

While I am writing about driving in Italy, things have changed a lot since I drove here the last time. I need to express the insanity of speed limits. One minute you are cruising at 90 km/hr, then you need to slow down to 60 km/hr for 50 meters (that's about 170 feet), then back up to 110 until you slam on the brakes because the limit is now 40 km/hr. Back up to 70 after passing through that annoying construction zone but 7 meters later you're going 50 km/hr until you can rocket back at 110, etc., etc. Since 2016, the last time I seriously drove in Italy, there are far more electronic speed detectors along the roads (you've been warned!), so I did my best to conform to the pattern of 90, 50, 70, 110, 40, 60, 90, 40 (there is no 80 km/hr, if you were wondering). 

By 10:30 we pulled into Grosseto and I pumped many coins into the parking meter, just to be sure. We were in dire need of a coffee and found a great cafe as soon as we entered the Medieval walls. After a relaxing coffee and cornetto, we power-walked through the city. It's really beautiful and the people seem very cultured. If not for the cost of real estate, we would move here in an instant. (In addition to this being a holiday and an opportunity for me to work on two books in the Get Lost in Travel series, and promoting the recently published Get Lost in Travel! Transylvania (by the way, have you purchased it yet on Amazon? it's #4 among travel books about Romania and at one point yesterday it was the 93,368th most popular book on Amazon!), we are scouting locations for our eventual move to Italia! Tarquinia, where we are staying these days, is a possibility, but if we had a mere $320K, our hearts are set on Grosseto. 


All of that aside, we walked around the city - literally around because the Medieval walls surrounding Grosseto are roughly circular. Beautiful buildings, wide and clean streets, plenty of shops and restaurants, close to the sea, etc. We are accepting donations of $10K and above, so DM me if you are interested in contributing. You can also purchase copies of Get Lost in Travel! Transylvania. At 8.5 x 5.5. inches, they make great stocking stuffers for all family and friends, birthday and graduation gifts, etc. 

After the tour of Grosseto, we needed to do some shopping. We found a huge, modern shopping mall nearby. We went in for water, tomatoes, face moisturizer, and sponges (for dishes) and came out with all of the above plus two bottles of red wine, a bottle of limoncello, beach towels, coffee pods, kidney beans, paper towels, and many other impulse buys, including a neck rest for those long intercontinental flights, which at 7 euro was 35 euro less than the ones I saw for sale at JFK airport the other day. Of course chewing gum too. 

On the ride back to  Tarquinia, I wanted to visit a small Medieval town, Capalbio, which I had visited many (many) years ago. It's a tiny village surrounded by a crenellated wall with charming houses, shops, a church or two, a massive fortress, and many restaurants (note to self, choose one of the intramural eateries next time you visit). Well, it was 2:30 and we were famished, so we walked into the first restaurant we saw. It looked very pleasant and promising, but we discovered to Edit's dismay, that it had a seafood-based menu. There were two (2) dishes without shrimp, fish eggs, clams, or octopus, including cinghiale in umido - bits of sauteed wild boar over mashed potatoes. Normally, this would be a wonderful meal, unless it isn't, and it wasn't. So much for the Capalbio experience, but we won't give up that easily. My meal was actually good but I forgot that when you order fresh ravioli in Italy, they give you four (4) ravioli. I can normally manage one raviolo per bite, but I decided to cut them into four pieces to savor the moment. 

The drive back was uneventful and when we parked in the correct zone this time, I also learned how to pay the 12 euro parking fine. Overall, the day rates a 5.2, but we are in Italy, so it is being smoothed over with red wine on the terrace. It's already a 6.1.  

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