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Date Friday 24th September 2010
City Sorrento/ Monte Cassino/ Pescara
Climate low 14c - high 23c - fine and sunny

Today we packed up and left our lovely Secret Garden. We were headed for Pescara on the East Coast beaches of Italy. On the way we stopped at Monte Cassino to see the Abbey but unfortunately we were a little later than expected and closing time for siesta was at 12.30pm, just minutes away. We had time to quickly poke our heads in and take some photos. The abbey was completely destroyed by bombing in 1944, but was rebuilt to its original design. After having a quick look around at the grounds and in the abbey we drove down the hill to the Polish cemetery.
About 1.30pm we were keen to stop for lunch. We thought it would be nice to stop somewhere along the coast - south of our final destination as it has an abundance of small seaside towns and villages. To our amazement there was nothing open. We realised this was still siesta time - but the places were dead. Could it be that they close completely when summer is over? In the end we decided to skip lunch and head straight for the hotel.
Our hotel is great - Duca degli Abruzzi Hotel - booked on expedia a couple of days ago for 48eur per night. www.hotelducadegliabruzzi.it It is situated in Montesilvano, Vila Carlo Maresca 15, in a suburb just north of the main Pescara town. It is nice to have excellent free wi-fi internet in the room, a small balcony and a pool. It ticks all the boxes and at a great price too. And, breakfast is included! We just need great weather and it will be perfect.
Still hungry we ventured out to find a local supermarket, where we secured supplies for an alfresco dinner in our hotel room.

Date Saturday 25th September 2010
City Pescara
Climate low 14c - high 24c - Rain then sunny then rain

We were hoping for some warm weather so we could take advantage of the great beaches here. However, sadly it was raining and didn’t look to be a promising day for sunbathing. Instead we went into Pescara and wandered through the town, brollies at the ready and explored the area. Nothing really that interesting and it is clear that this place caters for the summer crowds, with clean, sandy beaches stretching as far as the eye can see. We stumbled upon our first shopping mall on Via Nazionale Adriatica, albeit small compared to malls in NZ. In a strange way we were a little bit excited! It had a supermarket, department store (like Farmers or Target), Mitre10 type store and a Briscoe’s type store, along with another dozen or so smaller shops. We spent a couple of hours looking around and Jen received some retail therapy via a pair of sandals. We satiated our hunger with 2 x “Fatti Furbos” - a pizza and fries meal (very fatty!) for 3.45eur each - good value. Back on the road to our hotel the weather was clearing and we planned on reading our books by the pool. Alas, more dark clouds loomed above and we were therefore confined to the hotel room to catch up on daily emails etc. We also had a great Skype call with Max - the first in about a month. It was great to talk to him and see his smiling face!

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