Thursday 6th June

Thursday 6th June

Up slowly. Stefania had already left for Pescara. After breakfast we decided to go and report to Hertz Car Rental office, which we did at their office at Pescara airport. Before doing so we gave the car a quick wash at the Auto Washeteria at Megalo. Despite being told that after 28 days of rental we had to report our car at a Hertz office, the staff at the airport told us everything was OK and we should continue with the rental until it was completed on 9th June. So formalities being completed with the car, we proceeded on into Pescara where MAC wanted to find a bank to change her euro 50 notes into euro 100 notes which she had failed to do at the multiple banks and one post office where she had already tried to change the smaller notes into the larger denomination. It seems that few banks in Italy these days actually have a cashier, probably a feature of the cashless society. After trying a Deutsche Bank, she was told to go up the street to another bank where she did find a cashier but who refused or was unable to allow her to change the notes. Whether all this reluctance has to do with money laundering, fraud or counterfeiting, I don’t know but the efforts to change the denomination of notes have singularly failed.

After this we proceeded to the fish market at the port. Here there were a number of sellers with large arrays of fresh fish and the first one we approached told me how wonderful his Bacala was and that I should buy it and started wrapping it up right away so there was nothing I could really say except. OK!! It weighed 0.9kg and cost euro 14. Then it was over to another stall where there were some baby octopus and I bought another kilo of those for euro 10. That would be enough for the dinner we would cook on Friday evening. There were not a lot of sellers left at the market when we called in around noon, I assume that earlier in the day it is more crowded. Still all the fish looked great and much of it was unfamiliar to me. When we looked at the small octopus, the name on the tag was not familiar and so MAC looked it up on ‘Translate’ and the word translated into ‘dormice’ - it could be a first for me to cook dormice!!! A further expedition to Megalo would be required for the rest of the ingredients.

Then it was back to Cugnoli and on the way we passed the Gomista (tire fitter), in San Giovanni and called in just to catch him before he left for lunch. In a few minutes, he had the ‘donut’ tire off and the new tire fitted and reset. It was a relief to have the new tire on and the car feeling balanced and level for a change and it meant that we could exceed the 80 mph limit which the donut tire mandated. We paid him the euro 110 and left for LFMD.

Stefania was not back yet and so we had some lunch, using up the food that we had in the fridge, some salami, pecorino, prosciutto and Gorgonzola. Sitting outside it had become really warm with the temperature over 80 deg F at last.

Then it was time for a nap.

Then we made a run for Conad at Megalo to buy the ingredients from the dinner we had promised to cook for Stefania and Bruno on Friday evening. We bought a great trolley full of stuff to make several items we had on the menu for dinner. This was to go with the bacala and the baby octopus that we had bought at the fish market. Then it was back home to unload.

When we awoke we decided to go for a swim and just as we were in the water, MAC’s phone rang and Stefania wanted our help to set the table for dinner. We left the pool in a hurry, dried off, dressed and were reporting for duty in a few minutes. We were able to set the table and also help with preparing some of the food before dinner which this evening was for 8 people.

Later in the afternoon, some guests arrived who were staying for one night and having dinner. There were four friends who had business in Alanno and a gentleman who lives in Perth, Australia and who was touring with a lady who works for Abruzzo tourism. He is researching a food tour of Italy for Australians. They have visited Rome, Naples and now Abruzzo where his parents live. Tomorrow, they will spend the day exploring various parts of Abruzzo.

We had a lively dinner which Stefania prepared and afterwards, as we washed the dishes she entertained the guests with stories of the agriturismo and her life. It was good to see her relaxed and laughing and she kept the party going until nearly midnight.

Then it was off to bed for all of us.