Ancona

For the weekend, three of my friends and I decided to head to the Adriatic coast, even though it had been raining for days, and the weather report gave a 90% chance of rain for the weekend. We figured we'd chance it and find something else to do if the inclement weather prevented sunbathing. We rented a car and departed Orvieto early Saturday morning.

When we saw this view, we decided it was time to stop for lunch. This is in the state of Marche, which is entirely beautiful. Lunch was terrible, but we stumbled upon something cool as we were leaving the restaurant...

We were by a national park, one that happened to be home to the largest cave in Europe. We forked over 13,50 euro for the tickets, and took the bus up the mountain.

After a long walk down a man made tunnel, we entered another world, of glittering calcite,

marvelous, alien forms...

and sheer beauty. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but only so they could charge you 9 euro at the exit for one picture of you standing in front of a stalagmite. We decided to turn our flashes off and play "hide from the tour guides". All the other people (mostly Dutch and English) in our tour group were doing the exact same thing, it was pretty funny.

The cave was really beautiful, it absolutely took my breath away, several times. One of the Dutch tourists told me it was his third time there. And it just sits, off a lonesome winding highway, in the middle of Italy. Perfection.

We got to Ancona and found a hotel, the rate was really reasonable because of the weather. The guy at the desk set us up a wine tasting at a local gourmet store, which was full of wonderful delicious local products, then the owner of the store recommended a restaurant for dinner. The beach... was still rainy. But it was dinner time, so there were more important things to worry about.

Ahem, zucchini fritti, stuffed razor clams, stuffed mussels, fried sardines, seppie (cuttlefish) salad, salmon, shrimp with spicy mayo, marinated sardines and grilled langoustine.

Oh yeah, and steamed clams in olive oil, white wine, and herbs, mussels in tomato-basil broth...

And spaghetti with mixed shellfish. Everything was impeccably fresh and simple, but perfectly cooked. When the Italians do seafood, they really do it right. With a few liters of the house wine, you really cannot go wrong!

We went back to our hotel and had a few more bottles of wine, then slept in late, and woke up to the 10% chance of partial sun. Awesome! We walked down the beach, collected pretty rocks and shells, then found another little spot for lunch. (Yes, food is the center of our lives. Yes, we are perfectly fine with that.)

Fried mozzarella, caprese salad, couple liters of beer. I promise it was at least after 12pm this time.

Spigola (small sea bass) in cartoccio (steamed in foil) with tomatoes, oregano, and black olives. Moist, fresh, amazing.

We drove up to the top of this hill, then took a walk down to the beach to chill on the rocks and watch the waves for a while.

Fun weekend, great seafood, good company, awesome cave. Can't ask for much more than that.

Tomorrow, I am finally going to Vatican city. But for now, sleep!

Ciao, ragazzi!