Bertinoro, Cusercoli and Forlì

 Wednesday

7 August 

Day 38

58 to go

Opals 85 v Serbia 67. The girls are through to the Semi-finals

We were up at 730am, I had slept ok but Paul had had a rough night. We joined Francesco in the kitchen and had our breakfast at 8am before getting ourselves organised and heading out. We were making our way to see Guilia in her restaurant. The drive took us along the same streets as last night. We made our way through Forlimpopoli where a famous chef Pellegrino Artusi hailed from. There is also a castle which was all lit up last night. 

Guila’s restaurant was not far from here and we were soon parked. Giulia, Andrea and Mathilde were all there, so we were able to say hello for a short while. We did a tour of the kitchen, before leaving them to their work.

Francesco then took us back to Bertinoro, so that we could see the view in the day. It was a little hazy, but still beautiful. We did a walk around the top area of the town, before returning to the aircon of the car and being driven to Cervia, near the coast. 

Cervia is known for its salt, which became obvious as we drove closer and came across the salt pans. What I didn’t expect were the flamingos. We didn’t stop, but instead headed to a little produce shop, where you could buy almost anything with their salt. We came away with some biscuits, pasta snack bites and a salt beer. 

We then made our way back, this time stopping to take in the flamingos. Francesco just pulled to the side of the busy road and I popped out to take a few pictures. Soon there were many others also stopping to take pictures. 

Once back at home, we had left over pasta and salad for lunch. I think Francesco was happy to see some of the things out of his fridge. We then retired to our room for a while. Paul was able to get some rest, while I booked our new flights from Oslo to Bergen. 

We finally surfaced at 3.30pm and we were keen to head out again. This time Francesco drove us to Cusercoli to see the town and castle. He is busy making a model of the town, that is currently in his garage. We parked near the river, watching the fish below. We then walked up the tiny streets to take a closer look of the buildings. It was still very hot in outside, so it was hard going. 

We returned to the car, finding respite from the heat. 

Gianluca and Guilia had both suggested a brewery to see, so Francesco took us to Mazapigul. It would have been lovely sitting outside, but it was too hot. Paul was happy to spend time inside and trying plenty of what they had on offer. We didn’t leave until after 6pm. 

At 7pm, we arrived in the centre of Forlí. Francesco parked near the restaurant he wanted to take us to and then we walked a short distance to the Pizza Club. This restaurant had all you can eat pizza slices. Large pizzas, with various toppings, were constantly served and you took what you wanted. We even finished with a slice of dessert pizza. I felt like I was going to explode. Thankfully we were going to do some walking. 

We wandered the darkening streets, stopping in the main square. We could see the clouds building and getting darker. There was as a storm building. Tonight we were fortunate as the church tower was open to the public and we were able to walk the easy 250 steps to the top. We had a fabulous view from the many windows, but were also being buffeted by the wind. There were plenty of lightning flashes to keep us entertained.

After we checked out the bells, ensuring Paul didn’t ring them, we returned to the square. We meandered through the streets, rain just starting to fall and back to the car and then home. We went to bed to the sound of rolling thunder and rain.