Sunday 22 September 2019

It’s the day of our 40th wedding anniversary, so we were determined to avoid chores and admin for the day. It’s also the last day of summer, it being the equinox tomorrow. We learned that there was to be fiesta in the main town of Bodoni, celebrating the end of summer. Seems like a good excuse for a fiesta to me.

We therefore had a very relaxing start, but so relaxed that the shop in the marina had run out of croissants, our usual Sunday treat breakfast, by the time we got there. No matter, we had other food.

We spent the morning out on our bikes, exploring this fabulous coastline, with it’s miles and miles of beaches. On the way back, we came through Budoni to see if the "last of summer" all day market had anything we wanted. It was very quiet, as this was now siesta time. The stalls had local cured meats and cheeses, jams, honey and lots of jewellery, leather goods and a few clothes.

This lady was crocheting baby sized Converse Style basketball boots

We returned to the town in the early evening, when it was alive and busy. A happy, party atmosphere pervaded. A couple of two piece music bands were already entertaining the throng. At seven, a marching band were playing funky jazz: they were superb, so we were delighted that they reappeared in the main square to entertain us while we were eating. We had bought tickets and queued for one of the two major events, the food. The local chefs join together to provide a four course meal of local specialities. On a plastic tray, we had a starter of ricotta ravioli, with fresh tomatoes, basil and pecorino cheese, a main of spit roasted piglet and rosemary roast potatoes, cheese, a desert of seadas, deep fried cheese filled pasta with honey. All this, accompanied with a glass of wine and water. And all for 15 euros! We had to eat standing up at trestle tablets, but, no problem, this was brilliant entertainment, along with the hundreds of locals and holiday makers, all partying together.

The other main event was the music and we so enjoyed the jazz band. We had heard the rock band to follow warming up and I think they would also have been superb, but, I guess in the tradition of rock bands, they were starting later than billed, by which time we had to catch the bus back to our port. The taxi drivers were knocking off at ten and we didn’t want to risk having to walk the 4k back in the pitch dark.

It was a wonderful day, with a memorable evening, to remember our anniversary.

Distance covered today	0.0	nautical miles
Trip distance covered	258.0	nautical miles
Distance covered 2019	1311.0	nautical miles

Tricia (and Steve)