For our 6th anniversary Les and I decided a little getaway would be nice. We decided to go up to an agriturismo on Mt. Etna for two nights, just to relax. We planned to take books, our ipods, and possibly not even the leave the agriturismo property.
We drove up yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed the drive, however, about halfway there I realized that I'd forgotten my books. I was peeved at myself but got over it. At least I still had my camera and ipod. We arrived about two hours later and checked into our bed and breakfast,
Etna Wine. The owner showed us to our room which was actually a three bedroom apartment! It was quite lovely.
As the owner was heading out the door we asked what time dinner was. Here is where things got really interesting...they don't serve dinner, only lunch. One of the reasons we chose this place was so we could eat and not have to worry about who would drive after consuming copious amounts of wine with dinner. We even asked about dinner when we made the reservation and were given a price.
Slightly perturbed, but not wanting it to ruin our vacation we decided to try another recommended agriturismo down the road for dinner. Turns out they only serve lunch, too. Bonus? they were closed Mondays so eating there the next day wasn't an option either.
We ended up having dinner at a very nice pizzeria. The food was good, but not quite the long drawn out meal we had hoped for. Again, oh well. We figured we would go for lunch at the place we were staying the next day and just have a light dinner.
This morning we went to breakfast and asked the manager about getting a table at lunch...surprise surprise, their restaurant is also closed on Mondays! She also informed us that pretty much everything in that area of the world is also closed Mondays, that maybe one restaurant in the next town would be open. Great, right? So much for a romantic anniversary dinner!
Over breakfast we talked over our dilemma and decided to check out a day early and come back home. Before we left I did take a few minutes to walk around the agriturismo grounds and take a few pictures. It was truly a lovely place and I would stay there again, but plan accordingly to have lunch at the restaurant, not stay on a Monday, and bring food to cook in the apartment for dinners (it had a cute little kitchen).
After checking out we took a long drive around Etna. It was a gorgeous day. At one point we stopped and took a short hike for about a half hour.
After our hike we started getting hungry for some lunch. We drove down the mountain and ended up in Giarre where we found a bar with yummy calzones. From there we drove the coast a bit and then headed back towards home. Tonight, for our anniversary dinner we are going to
Borgo Antico Agriturismo, which is just up the hill from where we live.
Our anniversary weekend getaway didn't work out at all like we had planned but we still had a lovely time together, and really that is what counts!
