Wednesday 28 July 2010

Italy Holiday V - Sunday & Monday

Sunday

Our next transfer day - from Passignano to a small town near Naples, mainly famous as being the birth place of Sophia Loren
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Now there is a body shape to be reckoned with

Our drive down via Castiglione del Lago - first to a large supermarket on the edge of town to buy wine and provisions for the next day or so, and then a shop in town, where we buy more wine (including some of the Montepulciano that we had with a meal the other night), and acquired some empty boxes to store some of our loose wine in


The shop we bought our latest wine in

It is inevitable that if you are planning a trip to four different venues, one is bound to be the worst - and this is it. First up, it was extremely hard to find, as we didn't realise that it was behind a petrol station on the autostrade. We went past it three times before finding it, each error resulting in a long detour to get back to the right place - and that was despite the many signs for it.
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And did I mention that it is located behind a petrol station on an autostrade - not quite what we thought it would be when we saw it rated 4* on expedia

The beautiful Agave Residence Hotel - in the distance, behind the petrol station.

But actually, the pool complex is quite nice and we have a kitchen in our room with a fridge, so we can buy our own stuff.
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We set off to visit the Port which does seem to have some ok restaurants, but then we get lost 3 times on way back! Not a good start to this leg of our journey. A tentative plan to stay here an extra day or two has been abandoned. Instead we are thinking about cancelling Rome and going back to Passignano - we liked it there!

Our dinner is on balcony, with its view of the petrol station, the autostrade and, technically, the Bay of Naples in the far distance. We are greatly puzzled by how it is 4* and are considering writing a review for expedia - we'd do it now but the promised wi-fi internet access in our room doesn't work

Tonight's move - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which was pretty good we thought. Neither of us have read the book, but perhaps are tempted by it now

Monday

We have another day by the pool planned for today and it is actually quite nice as we don't have the front view but are tucked in at the back of the hotel. Lots of reading and 40 lengths of the very nice pool

We get internet access eventually by sitting in the reception area and I am able to book the Hotel Lido again and cancel Rome - we both feel much happier and the change only costs us about £25

We have decided to cut down on costs while we are here so we can eat out lots when we get back to Trasimeno - so more apples, cheese and bread tonight, plus magnum ice creams that we buy from the garage and which go very soft in our inefficient freezer

We are also cheered up by watching My Cousin Vinny - life is always better after seeing Marisa Tomei's performance

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