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Italy 2003 Day 10 Lerici
James writes:

NOTE: Lerici and the Doria Park Hotel continue to be Zurer favorites....all the people I have sent here rave about the place. The town manages to avoid the excesses of a touristy beach resort while maintaining a fair amount of charm. I hope it continues. And Carrara still amazes me....the magnitude of the effort cutting and hauling out the marble is remarkable.

Jonathan writes:


Oh another huge breakfast.

Today the weather is over cast again. It's unclear whether it will clear up or not. We decide to move forward with our plans and head out for a drive. Will we all fit in one car. We get about 10 minutes out of the hotel and decide that no we will not. The back seat is not just large enough for three...Back to the hotel to get the second car, and then we are off for Carrarra and Colonnatta, the homes, respectively, of the greatest marble and the greatest lardo in the world. Colonatta is up in the top of the mountains (above Carrarra) and is where many miners are from (there is a memorial to them in a town square, overlooking the mountain quarries. It is also the home of lardo, the pork fat cured in marble casks. We explore the town and taste the lardo. It's excellent, perfumed with a touch of bacon and sweet. You can eat it plain on bread as a sandwich. The cloud cover is significantly thicker on this side of the mountains and this high up. But we were able to see many 'cava'
(quarries) on the tiny road leading up to the town and we watch trucks
and cars head up even higher into the mountains while exploring. All
of a sudden there is a huge boom. It startles all of us. At that moment a woman comes out of a house and sees us looking around, wondering. She tells us the quarries do that once an hour and that even after her whole life there, it still startles her....

We purchase some lardo as a gift for a friend in Rome and share a panino, then head down to Carrarra.

There is a quarry museum (tourist trap) just in the next valley, we pass through a very long and very rough tunnel to get there and find the fog and clouds even thicker. The place feels other worldly with the open quarries having cut off the sides of the mountains, with enormous tracter trailers rumbling on the roads, and with the cranes and marble cutters moving huge blocks of rock around. There are a couple of shops selling marble tchotchkes, but we mostly control ourselves. I walk up to the viewing area that gets you closer to the actual quarry, but through the mist it's hard to see too much, besides a huge white hole where the mountain ought to be. They've been pulling marble out for 2000 years and Michaelangelo came here personally to get stone for his sculptures.
Amazing.

We head down and head for Sarzana for lunch....farinata. We walk through a great medieval centro, but it is virtually deserted. We find a couple of pizzarerias and sample some farinata (very good, a little greasy, but in a good way) and manage to find agree on a restaurant (one of the few open shops). Lunch is a mix of plates...some pasta, some salad, some bresaola, and some veggies. It's a nice place, and the food is good, but nothing special....I would have kept looking for more farinata....The town is really nice, lots of old streets and buildings, not unlike Sansepolcro, but it is empty. My parents have had this exact experience here before. There are no tourist destinations here and the siesta is strictly observed. It's too bad...later in the day, I imagine it would be interesting.

Back to Lerici and the hotel. Naps are had. Michael and Seth head down to town in search of a hardware store. Seth's camera has lost a couple of screws and he wants to try to find some. They also are looking for empty glass bottles with good stoppers to fill with olive oil from the local frantoio. They find thm, but also have a run in with the local wine store. He's a warm and friendly guy and we've been to his shop many times. They go in and start asking about olive oil. 30 minutes later and after a taste test, they buy several bottles, having been given a lesson in local oil. As they are about to leave, Seth asks about local honey. Well this guy use to raise bees; 30 minutes later they have been given a lesson in local honey, and buy a jar....He's a good salesman.

Mom and dad have gotten to be friends with one of the desk guys at the hotel, Luigi. He was born and raised in Scotland, but is Italian. He speaks perfect english, but with a Scottish accent. He's even married to a Scottish woman (who has lived in Italy for 20 years now). Tonite they are taking us to have a local specialty, pannagaccio (I'm sure I spelled that wrong), pronounced 'pana-gootch. We drive way, way up into the mountains on the Tuscany side (worth the drive for the views alone) to an area where there are a half dozen restaurants, all specializing in pannagaccio. It's basically similar to a crepe or tortilla, but is cooked in a special way. the batter is ladled onto small ceramic disks that have been heated on an open fire. Then they are layere, disk, batter, disk, batter, disk, batter, etc. The heat from the disks cooks the batter, creating a CD sized crepe. then you put strecchina cheese, prosciutto, lardo, sausage... anything you want inside, fold it over and eat them steaming hot. They taste kind of bready and the cheese melts and it's just amazing. The guy who makes them stands at the fire all night heating the disks and cooking the crepes. He rings a bell when a basket is ready and they are brought to your table.

They are only the appetizer.

Well, they are the highlight....they bring out crepes with tomato sauce and then with pesto sauce...each fine, but nowhere near as delicious as the appetizer version. Then there is a mixed grill, of ribs, veal, and sausage. French fries and salad round out the meal. It's all good, but after the pannagaccio....why eat anything else. ever.

The place is packed. there must be 150 people jammed into this place and it's hot and everyone is drinking and eating and smoking. Luigi has a saying about these places (which has been repeated by the parents): "If you don't book [a table], you don't eat" and he's right. Yet another great meal.

Back to the hotel and the nightlife of Lerici on a Friday night.
yeah right. We go straight to the room, turn on Italian Big Brother, and start to fall asleep. Michael is snoring as I type....

Tomorrow: All roads lead to Rome.

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