Easter Sunday - Grotte di Castellana and Lunch

On Easter Sunday we got up and had breakfast (Colomba with chocolate and another cake...yummy). Then we headed to the Grotte di Castellana (caves). This is the view from our agriturismo into a valley. You can see one trullo. I'll talk about those in tomorrow's post :)

We followed our navigation system (TomTom) to get the the caves, but it took it took us on some crazy dirt roads.

Aaron stopped and took this photo just after we got off the dirt road. Behind the giant catcus are cherry trees. It turned out well I think.

Aaron taking that photo :)

We got to the Grotte at 10 am, but we decided to wait for the 11 am tour in English. We ended up having just the two of us with a guide, which was nice. Here is Aaron inside the cave. They were pretty cool...1.5 km walk in and then back out along a similar path. It was a really interesting cave system just because there was a huge variety of formations inside. There were the typical stalactites and stalagmites, but there were some formations (stalactites with formations out the sides or ones that looked like cauliflower) that we hadn't seen on other tours. It was interesting to hear the history of the caves. It was formed millions of years ago, and an earthquake opened a hole at the entrance that drops down a couple of hundred feet into the cave (a long time ago). The residents of the city used the hole as a trash dump until a geologist was hired to explore the cave in the 1930's to try to find something interesting for tourism. They found some caves, and the white cave inside is considered one of the most beautiful in the world (at least this is what we were told...it was really impressive so I don't really doubt it).

I was there, too. This is the sign for the entrance, but on the way out!

We finished our tour at about 1:10, and we had a 15 minute drive back to the agriturismo. We drove back quickly for the Pranzo di Pasqua (Easter lunch) at 1:30. We went down, and they started bringing food. And more food. And more food. I can't imagine why Italians are skinny!

When we sat down, there was regular bread, wine and lots of water. Yeah...the food started coming about 2 seconds later.

We started with 8 antipasti (appetizers). They brought them out one at a time. They were:
--Foccia with tomatoes
--Salami, mortadella, and wurstel
--Prosciutto and similar types of meats
--Ricotta
--Fried parmigiano and a quiche
--Melanzane (eggplant) with cheese
--Hard boiled eggs
--Seafood salad

Aaron munching on salami and mortadella.

Then they brought out the primi piatti (first dish which is typically pasta or rice). They had a lasagna with spinach which was excellent. It was made with homemade pasta and was quite light and yummy. Next they brought out orechhini (small pasta that look like ears) with tomato and lamb sauce. We thought we were done after 2 primi (normally you only have 1).

Next they brought out 2 secondi (second plates which are typically meat, fish, etc). Yeah, typically we don't have both meat and pasta, and if we have meat, it is typically only one plate. This time we had a thin slice of beef that had a light breading with peas and lamb with potatoes. They were both great.

Aaron showing the meat.

We relaxed for a while and then dessert came out. It was fruit, which actually fit well into my full stomach. Yup, here's me with the fruit.

I was then surprised when they brought out another dessert. The one was a tiramisu made with whipped cream. It was great. Aaron tried the other thing on the plate but said it wasn't good.

Aaron enjoying the dessert. He stole some of my whipped cream, and I was mad!

It was a good meal, and it took 3 hours! Really, it needed to be at least that long. It was really nice, but I really felt way too full after (I'm still full 3 hours later). We decided to take a short bike ride even though it was windy. We rode for about 45 minutes which is plenty after a big meal.

Aaron at the beginning of the ride. On the left is an olive tree and an orchard of cherry trees. This olive tree is a full sized tree. The trunk grows bigger and it will get more full in the leaves, but they don't get much taller or wider than this.

Me finishing up the ride in front of our agriturismo. The sun was setting at this point :)

Sunday, March 23, 2008, Montepaolo and Grotte di Castellana