Our wedding anniversary was last weekend. We are having a hard time realizing that 17 years have passed so quickly. Actually, it’s been 20 years that we’ve been together. Which makes it even more amazing. And wonderful.
There are many small towns not far from where we live. Each one has a character of its own. When we moved here to Citta’ Sant’Angelo, we decided to try to visit one town a week. Well…that hasn’t happened. It seems like every week something occurs that requires our presence at home. However, even though we were in the midst of planning for our annual month-long trip to the USA, we decided to pack up a few things and drive 30 minutes to a coastal town called Ortona. Yes, it could have been a day trip. But this was our anniversary weekend, right?
Ortona is a town of about 23,000 people. The patron saint of Ortona is Saint Thomas the Apostle (Tommaso), whose relics were brought to Ortona in the 13th century by a sailor and are kept in the beautiful Cathedral of Saint Thomas.
Ortona has two sections. There’s the old town with narrow streets and alleys, stone buildings and the cathedral and castle, and the new town, with wider streets, newer shops, restaurants, and housing. It’s all very charming. We loved walking around, guessing at why this, why that. So many different structures and colors. We can only imagine what life was like in the Middle Ages, let alone 100 years ago.
Mike was totally absorbed in the history of the town, especially how it survived the war. Ortona, as the strong point on the Adriatic side of the German Gustav Line, in 1943 was the scene of one of the bloodiest battles of WWII. It is often referred to as “Little Stalingrad” due to the brutality of the close-quarters combat. An interesting film on the battle is at this link: click here
We usually stop at a tourist office, and Ortona’s did not disappoint. The agent there was very nice, spoke English, and directed us to an excellent restaurant, the Al Vecchio Teatro. We were seated at a corner table with a wide view of the port. After lunch, we drove out of town just a few kilometers to our BnB. Now, this was not as modern as presented on Booking.com. But it was charming, had a nice view of the Adriatic, and it was comfortable. Our host apologized for not being able to provide breakfast. Really? So, relax, we won’t starve. We just bought some pastries for breakfast with the coffee we made ourselves.
In my web searches, I found a restaurant that looked interesting – a cute tapas restaurant. So I booked dinner that evening. It was a delight. The hostess was charming, the food delicious, and the Patagonia wine very very good.
The next day we were lazy. Made our way to town, stopped at a jewelry store and Mike bought me a bracelet, a ring and earrings with a local design. When you look at the photos, you will see a similarity with the dome in the cathedral.
We explored the castle, and went back to the cathedral. We wanted to see the dome in daylight, so there are lots of photos.
We went back to the BnB, relaxed and played Skipbo and finished off wine from the previous days. Then got ready for our big dinner. No words to describe it. Our private chef, seafood caught that day, and oh so romantic.
It was another special time together as we look forward to more of the same in our future.
Check out the photos -- click Here
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