Grottomare

After Guardialfiere Neil found us a spot on the beach at Grottomare in the Ascoli Piceno.
We decided to forgo the motorway and go the beach road which was a good decision as it was really pretty. So many olive trees, market gardens and ,of course, vines.
The hotel was great with a pool and free access to the beach. Great place to rest & recuperate.
We had dinner in the hotel the first night and we were the only English speaking guests, the rest seemed to be holidaying Italians. They summoned a young girl on staff to deal with us as she could speak a little English, we felt special 😆
The next morning I woke up and knew I had improved a lot!!
The breakfast was interesting - Italians, in this region anyway, like cake for breakfast, they had about 3 different types. Cheese and ham are always favourites, croissants, and toast which was nice to see. They are obviously not big fans of cereal for breakfast as the only one they had was cornflakes. There was a lovely wee man who cooked up crepes, omelettes & scrambled eggs on the spot for you. The only filling they had for the crepe was Nutella 😬 so I asked for honey instead, he looked at me funny but did it anyway. Neil had scrambled eggs. The next morning we arrived for breakfast and we were presented with scrambled eggs and a crepe with Nutella in for me. They thought they did so well remembering what we ordered but I could not eat that crepe, I felt so bad.

After breakfast we went in search of a hairdresser as I am in need! Google maps came up trumps with one quite close but, as we are finding in Italy, you can never guarantee that anything will be open. The door was locked but we did spot a Post Office and a cafe. A delicious coffee (first one in 5 days for me) and a croissant filled with creamy smooth deliciousness. We might have to frequent there again so I can ask what it was. Back to the hotel to pick up THE BOX, this time we drove with it to the Post Office. We had to get back there by 1:30 because he was only open on Mon, Tues, Wed and this was Wed at 12:45. No rhyme or reason here.

We carried on for a drive and what a treat. The mountains rose directly behind us, covered in olives, vines, so many market gardens, and plant nurseries where they grow Oleander that is planted in the middle and on the side of the roads and motorways.

We visited Castignano Village which, unbeknown to us, was holding the Templaria Festival. We could see that everything was set up for performing but when we visited in the morning it was all quiet.
The Templaria Festival is a large medieval festival held annually in Castignano that recreates the history and lifestyle of the Knights Templar and the Middle Ages. The festival transforms the village into an immersive experience through historical reenactments: scenes from daily life, battles, religious ceremonies, Inquisition trials, theatre, music, dancing, traditional crafts & foods. Among the most popular shows are duels, juggling, magic, and musical performances, falconry, and theatrical performances that narrate significant episodes of medieval and Templar history.
It was a shame that all the performances were at night as I would have loved to watch some of them, Neil, not so much 😂

The next day we visited Ripatransone, another gorgeous village on a hilltop that boasts having the narrowest alleyway in the world. The criteria for being an alleyway is: it must connect two streets, be paved and have at least one window or door. This alleyway is only 43cm wide and narrows to 38cm. The only reason I knew that this village was in our vicinity was because I finally got my hair cut and the hairdresser told me we must go to Ripatransone to see the alleyway.
Interesting coincidence with the hairdresser: I popped in on the off chance to get an appointment (after she opened the locked door) and she could fit me in later that day. It turned out this lady was in Canada for 20 years before returning to Italy to set up her salon. The hairdresser I had in Amboise for my last haircut had also got back from Canada after 15 years to open his salon. I happened to strike two English speaking hairdressers who had both been in Canada - I mean, that is slightly weird, right?

Two nights of the 4, we stayed in Grottomare, we went to a seafood restaurant just down the promenade. The owner was flamboyant, when I didn’t eat all my entrée he acted like I had insulted his Mother. Shock and horror when we didn’t order a caffè (coffee), it is the done thing to get an espresso at the end of your meal. Considering they don’t open until 8 and by this time it was 10pm I wasn’t putting caffeine in my system. We actually had a lot of fun with him and would thoroughly recommend the La Risacca Seafood restaurant.

Grottomare was wonderful, relaxing, not too hot (around 29), incredible scenery & fascinating villages.Read more