Saturday, October 25, 2008

Day 12: Matera-San Benedetto del Tronto

This morning we pack up and leave Matera….we have enjoyed our stay here very much. We look at the map and program the GPS to take the back roads for part of the trip to our next destination–San Benedetto del Tronto, in Le Marche but just across the Abruzzo border.

The route takes us across La Murgia, the Pugliese plateau, and the landscape is again quite striking for the most part….rolling empty wheat fields stretching off into the distance. We do have to go through a patch of heavy industry just beyond Altamura before we hit the pretty scenery. We descend from the plateau through another stretch of continuous olive trees and grape vines until we get on the autostrada and head north.

Lunch is a sandwich at one of the autostrada rest stops. We pass through a small portion of Molise where the road runs very close to the Adriatic and then we are in Abruzzo. This portion of the trip passes through a very nice landscape–more rolling hills but there are neatly tended fields and many modern, well-kept houses on the hillsides. As we get closer to Le Marche, we get nice views of the water and the nice looking beach resorts of northern Abruzzo.

San Benedetto del Tronto is a very big beach resort, stretching for ten miles up the coast and there are a lot of commercial developments, apartment buildings and hotels. There is only one local north-south road–the two-laned Via Adriatica–which goes right through the business district and has many stop lights. We make our way slowly to the turnoff to our friends’ bed and breakfast–La Torretta Bianca–where we will be staying for the next couple of nights.

http://www.bebtorre.com/

We are visiting Romina and Thomas, young friends of ours whom we met through our son Jonathan. She is Italian and he is American and they have a two year old daughter Gloria. The b&b is set high on a hill almost in the country and has a view of the water along with very attractive grounds and a lot of olive trees.
la-torretta-bianca-surrounded.jpg

After we say hello and catch up, we get settled and then just hang out and relax around the b&b. Romina, Gloria and I go out on a last minute shopping expedition to get some supplies for tomorrow’s breakfast and some pizza for our dinner.

Tomorrow we plan to spend the day driving around the area and maybe go to one of the local “sagras” (festivals).

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