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Published: September 8th 2019
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St Martino
Bill and sheep A little background: the first time we went to Italy, I was so excited to try real Italian food, and we were horribly disappointed. By the end of the trip ( pre Airb&b and yelp) we had resorted to buying pizza slices from the Russian shop down the street in Rome and eating them in our hotel room..On our next trip, we were a bit more savvy about avoiding the restaurants in the tour guides, but still did not have many great meals. Now, on our fourth trip, we are really off the tourist trail, and tonight I had the best fish I've ever eaten in a restaurant..If you ever get to to the village of Pieve D'Alpago, please go to Ristorante Stefano...Stefano personally served our fish, delicately removing tails, bones, and skin. My Italian is now good enough for me to thank the cook (Stefano took me back into the kitchen to personally thank him!!). I also was able order all of our dinner in Italian, including a local digestive, that almost put me under the table...
We knew we were in for rain today, but it was only sprinkling this morning, so I decided to go for a
run. I found a new route, marked as a walking trail that appeared to be handicap accessible. It lead to a church high on a ridge. There was a gate, so I went in, and there was another gate behind the church...hmmm. Should I take the overgrown trail, or turn around? If you know me, you can guess...I went down the steep, washed out trail, carefully, because If I slipped and hit my head, no one would find me for days...after a slow half mile, I came out on a road (unused) which lead to an intersection I recognized, and I ran back home...
We hung around the apartment most of the afternoon, since thunderstorms were dumping rain on us. When they let up, we got in the car and headed for the last village above us on the mountains, St Martino d'Alpago. Normally, it would be only 20 minutes away but the landslide we saw on our walk blocks the access from here. We drove down towards the valley and and back up, on smaller and smaller roads. Once there, we visited the church yard and cemetery, and drove further into the mountains until the road got too
treacherous. We parked at picnic area, and walked until the rains started again...
We then drove to the Natural History Museum in Chies d'Alpago. It is volunteer run, and based on the collection of one local man, with other things added later. It is an amazing collection of animal, bird, and insect specimens!
We came home and rested...I went for a walk , and we went to dinner. We have packed, and are ready to drive back to the Venice airport via Oderzo, return the car, catch a shuttle bus and then a train to Trieste, where we will stay for another five nights..
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