Castell'Alfero Day 4

Today we’re off to the town of Pontestura to spend a couple of hours, over a coffee, with some relatives. We got to Antonella’s place around 10 am. When I rang her, a couple of days ago to arrange, she asked if we wanted to stay for lunch. I had said we were a bit short on time and a morning coffee would be best. Her mum, brother and a couple of other cousins were there to see the relatives from Australia. It was a really good visit and we got to talk about family etc. Morning tea (sweet breads, biscuits, pastries, cheese, 5 types of ham and a heap of other food) would have fed a small army. We were still there talking and eating at 1.30 that afternoon - Italians are extremely welcoming (and in reality got us for lunch!!!!!!!!!). We were told the story of when my mum and Belinda (my niece) visited a few years ago. They toured Turin and the area showing them around and eventually ran out of sights to see. Not wanting to end the tripping around, and a bit desperate for what else to show them, they took my niece and my mum to the “red light” district in Turin. Apparently Antonella’s mum was horrified, but my mum enjoyed it (though she never told us about it when she got home 😛).

For dinner we walked to the Osteria for some local cuisine. Mum and daughter cook and dad is the waiter and runs the bar - the place is what you would imagine a little family run Italian restaurant would be like.You get a small choice of appetisers, first plates, second plates and desserts all on a hand written menu. I had 4 dishes and whist Anne only had 3, she made up for that with a copious amount of wines and two moscatos (the walk back down the hill was quite an adventure for her). The dinner, in a building that used to be a horse stable (which in the middle of the dinning room floor was still the old water-well that was now covered with strong glass you could walk on) was really very very good. The atmosphere, service and food is what you would expect at a very classy ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ restaurant.

A really enjoyable day.Read more