Still at Sacra Isola

It was wet but she's still smiling!


Tuesday 26th January
Still at Sacra Isola
Tuesday and it was still raining, should we set off for Anzio or what? The coast is dotted with towns but they are 40 miles apart and Anzio is at least that far which is a bit much when it’s raining cats’n dogs. So we booked into the hotel for yet another night and caught the bus into Ostia if only for something to do.
It also served a valuable purpose as we are going to have to cycle through Ostia and this will give us the opportunity to look at the road layout. The thing to watch about Italian buses is that you can’t just jump on and buy a ticket, nor is there a ticket machine at the bus stop. You have to buy them in the Tabac or a shop or a cafe but there is never any indication at the bus stop as to which it is. We have spent many fruitless minutes trailing in and out of shops simply asking if they sell bus tickets. Luckily our favourite cafe and lunch spot did so at least for once we got it right. Ostia wasn’t much so we soon returned, Vivi had retired to bed, hibernating happily and I brought myself up to date on the internet as our accountant is chasing us for last year’s return.
When Vivi finally awoke we broke the habit of a lifetime and actually ‘paid’ to watch a movie in our room. We watched Angels and Demons which would have left us completely confused if we hadn’t read the book and been to almost all of the locations where the film was made with the exception of St Peter’s Square. What a rubbish film but it did pass the time.
We have now been here for 3 days which we were not expecting to do, luckily for us the staff are very obliging and it has an exceedingly good restaurant with great food and it is always full, so lots of atmosphere . In many places we are the only 2 eating. Something we still aren’t used to is the Italian habit of eating and retiring early and that goes for breakfast too. In France all the B&B’s were devastated if we asked for breakfast before 9, in the Spanish hotels the staff didn’t even come in before 9 but in Italy breakfast starts at 7 and ends sharp at 9.30 although things start to be moved away from 9.20 onwards. We had dry bread and Nescafe the first morning.