After having the coffee in our room (which Dan doesn’t like much — I do not have discerning taste when it comes to coffee so it’s fine by me), we went outside. I looked to the left, where I think people who buy the breakfast here eat. Hm. Perhaps I’m wrong: it wasn’t open. Then we noticed that our little side street, off of the main one, was blocked at both sides. And it sure seemed quiet. Maybe people don’t get up as early as we did (but it was 10:00!) here? Walking to the main street we realized there were no cars, although the silly little tourist train was still running. Interesting! We looked online to see if there was some sort of special event but came up empty. Then I realized if this was the case for tomorrow we might have difficult getting a cab, so I got on WhatsApp and contacted the man who filled me in on where we are staying to ask what was up and how we would get a cab.

This street is normally quite busy with cars, motorcycles, buses, taxis, and bikes:

We landed at this church for a brief time, as we were really going to find better coffee…

After that we headed up to the street with restaurants, went up one street and down the next, and (typical of us) landed at the first place on the first street to have our coffees and croissants.

While there I received a reply to my message. The streets in the center here are closed on Saturday and Sunday. To get a cab (he didn’t offer to help — the first time that’s happened on our trip) I have to call and we meet the cab on another street. But the walk to the station is less than a mile, and it can be done under the porticos, so we are thinking we might just walk instead. Stay tuned to find out what we finally did!

And, finally, breakfast. After breakfast we walked a different direction than we had gone before (I think it was east). We were protected from the sun nearly the entire time, but up and down, and I just love these porticos!

We entered a church (and heard a group playing The Four Seasons, but we weren’t able to get into that area of the church.

More walking …

I’m not sure I’d want to be in the building at the top of this photo above!

On the way back we took a side street and, lo and behold, we wound up at Santo Stefano: a place I tried to get to yesterday (without using a map) but didn’t manage to figure out. Cool! Unfortunately we couldn’t get into the church(es) because they were just closing for a few hours.

More walking …

We walked west, trying to find the tortellini place with the two sisters who have been on several tv shows we’ve seen. Unfortunately they must be closed on Saturdays. Then we headed toward a place well known for sandwiches and that was so crowded — a huge long line) — and they have no chairs and tables so people eat sitting on curbs or stairs and we just weren’t up for that so we walked on, finally ending up a spot on another main drag. We ordered our sandwiches (which ended up not being sandwiches because they were out of those) and eventually wound up talking to a man and his wife who were visiting from Germany, a bit north of where my brother and wife (hi Greg & Jan!) live.

Then it was back to our room, but first a small gelato which I soon regretted. Just too much food! (Does gelato count as food?) Dan was working on getting more photos posted on his site, and I snoozed a bit and wasted time during the hottest part of the day (it got to 91°) … air conditioning is our friend.

Finally we went out again (but it was still awfully hot!), and ambled a while since the place we were hoping to be at for dinner didn’t open until 7:00. It was a nice little walk, and we did make a few photos.

Then we arrived at our dinner spot, Trattoria dal Biassanot, and enjoyed a dinner where … surprise, surprise … we had a bit too much to eat. I couldn’t finish my tortelloni, and we didn’t even bother with dessert. I’m hoping tomorrow will be a light meal day.

Our train is at a bit after 2:00 PM, so we have time to spare in the morning. And tomorrow is also a Very Important Day for two people in my life. You’ll have to stay tuned to find out who those two are (they know, though!). You also have to stay tuned to find out where we wind up. I can’t divulge that yet … gotta keep the suspense going. But you can try and guess if you’d like!

Where will Dan & Patty go next?

Ciao!