The Beach and the Mountain Lake

                           La Spiaggia e Il Lago Montagna (the beach and the mountain lake)

       Now we are in more familiar territory, the province of Le Marche, Italy. We have been coming here for the last 10 years and are not only familiar with the roads and some of the towns but also with a few people here. One of our friends we always visited, Laurence Barker, moved back to San Antonio a week before we embarked on this adventure.
       Yesterday was a brilliant day. The sun was shining brightly, the sky was devoid of clouds and the temperature was about 26 Celsius. We decided that if we were going to the beach then this had to be the day we would go, just in case we got some bad weather. Lynda made us a picnic lunch and we headed to Porto Portenza  and found a nice stretch of sandy beach.

The Sandy Beach on the Italian Side of the Adriatica

It is the same water that we swam in on the Croatian side but the beach was sandy and the water not quite as clear. There were, however, boats for fishing and water for swimming in.

Fishing Boats

       There were topless sun bathers(no pictures included) as is the custom here in Italy. I don't mind but Lynda has to stop me from gawking. We called our friend Michael and he was free and joined us for some drinks on the beach. Later his lovely wife Liliana joined us. We agreed to meet on Sunday and celebrate my 65th B-day.
       After we went back and showered our gracious host Azzurra made us a reservation at a beach restaurant where the food was delicious and plentiful.

Octopus with Potato: An Antipasto

       Today we headed to the small town of Sarnano that we had fallen in love with 10 years ago and is the reason for my e-mail address.

Some older Italians Talking about the Problems of the World?

We stopped at some spots we enjoyed there, saw a few familiar faces and then headed up into the Sibilinni Mountains and to Lake Fiastra. (we didn't walk around this one)

A Green Lake

There we had another great lunch and Lynda finished it with a Tartuffo Nero while I digested my meal od pasta with cinghiale(wild boar).


Fattening?

Love the Wild Boar Sauce

We went to the top of the mountains and saw the remnants of the winter's snowfall.

Snow Still There in May

Lynda was happy because we drove this time. We returned back to our apartment but not without seeing fields of poppys that dotted the landscape and many signs that told us to beware of cattle crossing.


Look out for those cows!!!!

Fields of Poppys

       My Italian is coming back to me rapidly. Yesterday I could understand my friend Michael's entire conversation to his wife and today a lady at a coffee bar in Sarnano, when see asked if we wanted in a glass, I told her in Italian what I wanted . She said I speak Italian, was happy, and proceeded to finish the order in Italian and I reciprocated. Thank you Lynda, my beautiful Italian teacher.