Monday morning and the banana and yoghurt seems to have done the trick! I feel much better and celebrated with another bowl of the same for breakfast.
With the weather looking a lot better we decided to head south to visit the Alpaca farm who had the stall at yesterday's fair. This was about 30 minutes drive away and, because Jane had to get back for work while we would push on to Lake Trasimeno, we took both cars. The alpaca farm owners were Italian but spoke good English as they had lived in Canada for a while. They were very welcoming and made us all a coffee and broke out the best almond biscuits. They were the first alpaca farm in Italy and have been buying and selling for about 20 years. The few animals they have at present (only 7 left) were pretty poor examples; especially compared to what we are used to at home. We did have a good time and, somewhat optimistically, I gave them my business card and suggested they try out my software.
Jane then set off back to the office while Miriam, Rob and I headed further south to
Lake Trasimeno. Arriving at the saddle before dropping down to the lake, we stopped at a trattoria called Lo Scoiattolo (the squirrel) for lunch. This has a great view over the lake which looks at lot like the view of Lake Taupo from the Tokaanu lookout.
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| Lake Trasimeno from Lo Scoiattolo |
With paninis all round and a bottle of beer for liquid refreshment, I was definitely feeling better. We then headed down to the lake to do the tourist thing. With summer officially over, the place was very quiet but when it is hot, it is obviously very popular. Unlike Lake Taupo, this lake is quite shallow and has no specific inlet or outlet; just the run-off from the surrounding hills. For this reason the water is not very pretty (quite green in fact) but we did see lots of small fish and even a couple of snakes in the shallows. There are also a few marinas for small yachts plus ferries out to the various islands. Swimming is also popular during the summer. The main claim to fame of this area is that it is the site of Hannibal's victory over the Romans in 217BC. This was the largest ambush in
military history.
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| Isola Maggiore - the only inhabited island |
After admiring a set of modern sculptures at one end of the lake, we drove around to Castiglione Del Largo for a walk along the front. This is a very pretty lakeside town with a few fishermen patiently waiting to catch something but, basically, having a siesta on a nice sunny day. We headed for the nearest Gelateria and had our dessert. My large cup came with three scoops: stracciatella (vanilla with crunchy chocolate pieces), panna cotta and nutella. Quite a lot of gelato! Not quite as good as the previous day in Cortona but the weather was more suited to ice cream this time.
We then headed back to Casa Tersalle where Miriam and I had a simple salad meal while Rob headed into Citta Di Castello to take his evening class. In Italy, the whole day is moved forward a few hours. Going to work at 9 in the evening is perfectly normal! We had an early night.
