Lost in Elation

Our hostess seemed much calmer our last morning on the Po Delta, and we actually had a decent conversation...I would say it was half verbal and half pantomime.  We asked her about the fishing...salmon?  No...fish about 12-14", and molluschi...clams.  Yes...that is what Patty and I had at the restaurant last night...risotto with clams, spaghetti with clams.  I am venturing outside of my eating parameters...more adventure, for sure, but I really do draw the line at tripe.  I do.  Seriously.  Unless it is Amazing Race.  Patty took a picture of Louisa with her daughter and we headed out with a cue sheet in hand.

I am very glad that I brought the iPad.  I wasn't going to...the weight, the durability issues...but it has saved our keisters more than once.  I create a route and write the cue sheet for it...R on via Roma...L on Strada Provincial 37...x water...etc. etc. etc.  If I leave the entire route on Google Maps I can zoom in and see exactly.where.we.are.  Couple that with the GPS that gives us the direction we are going and names of roads that we are intersecting, and it's pretty hard to get lost.  I have probably just screwed myself for tomorrow, haven't I?

We breezed through our route for today.  Before noon we had ridden 30 miles and we stopped at a little bar along the river and had cappuccinos, sandwiches, and brioche.  I had the brioche...it's really a chocolate filled croissant.  I know, I know.

We passed a huge solar panel operation between Adria and Cavazare.  It was spread over maybe 20 acres.  I wonder how they clean those panels.

Remember, we were just going to roll up and find a place for the night, so when we got close to Monselice, we started looking at the options on the GPS.  There was an AgriTourismo called Le Muraglie close by.  We are finding that the AgriTourismos often have a phone number to call and you wait for someone to come and settle you into a room.  It was 2:00 and that is Italy's riposo...the woman, who spoke a fair amount of English, said she would send someone by at 4:00.  Since we had a two-hour wait, and since I had forgotten to ask about wifi, we decided to see if anything else was available.  We found a wonderful motel called the Ca' Rocca Relais for 70 euros.  It is an indulgence for us...has a swimming pool (note to Liz...both of us got in), wifi, and breakfast.  We have a card key for the room and it also fits into a receptacle in the room to turn on the electricity.  It seems very efficient on two fronts...first, it conserves electricity, and second, you always know where your room key is.

The find of the day was our ristorante for dinner...Lago Smerelda.  We had a large antipasto, two salads and wine and managed to finish almost everything.  We saw pizzas coming out of a wood fire brick oven and they looked wonderful.  We loved our food, the people, the atmosphere.

Tomorrow we have an easy day of 30+ miles before we rendezvous with Pete and Shirleen.  We are heading up to,the Dolomiti to do some hiking.  The weather looks iffy...fingers crossed.