9-23 Giulianova

 Michael found this town on some app he was using.  It is another mountain town near the sea that has a Lido (beach) town associated with it.  It has a small old town that was not bombed in WWII so we were excited to go and see it.

He could coordinate the app with Google maps to get there.  Now I should mention the weird experiences we have been having using Google maps.  We think it might be related to the fact that Google maps recently bought Ways.  We used ways many years ago when we were in France.  We had a tight time limit of when we could return our rental car before it closed for the night.  We were driving back to Paris to return the car on a Sunday night.  Now, every one in Paris had gone some where for the weekend and all were trying desperately to get back home.  It was stop and go traffic.  Every few minutes Ways would instruct us to go on some tiny road through a residential neighbor hood to save time.  Eventually we were way off course and the backup of cars was worse.  

So fast-forwarding to now - we have felt like google maps has been doing this to us.  Michael had looked up how to get to Giulianova and how long it would take.  It would take less than an hour and most of the time we would be on the autostrada.   We did not even get on the autostrada - we only went for a short ways on SS 16 - which parallels the autostrada along the coast.  No - we were driving on small roads through every freaking small Lido town along the way.  It took us twice as long to get there!!

But we did eventually get there.  No tiny tiny roads - No getting stuck in a one way street that dead ends.  Just a large road that leads to a large parking lot.

We head for the Cheisa di S Antonio.  The inside is very baroque.  

The stick in this town is that they have had "artists" paint all the doors to any gas, electric, water or what ever that might have a door.  Some are done well - others - well, not so well.

I might have to start taking photos of all the different renditions of the last supper.  These people seem very childish.

Then on to the neighborhood.

We also see random tile displays on the sides of buildings.

Another church - Chiesa di San Flaviano  This one is very plain inside.

There was a series of drawings around the sanctuary.  I think they were the stations of the cross.  I have not seen drawings of this before.  They are usually paintings.

We catch brief glimpses of the sea.  But there is no walkway.

I was trying to catch the reflection of Michael in the Cafe window across the street.  But I did like this composition.

We actually ate "lunch" in that cafe as it opened up shortly after this.  They heated up a slice of pizza and a pastry filled with cheese and tomato sauce.  They were actually pretty good.  We saw a case with drinks and thought that was all they had.  Mike choose lemonade and I got some kind of bitters - the server asked did I want that with wine?  Of-course yes!  We also got desert - two kinds of tartes.  I got the crema and Michael the berry.  Mine was better!  Even Michael thought so!

Another glimpse of the sea before we head back to the car.

This towns most notable inhabitant was Gaetano Braga who was a cellist.

As we headed back to our car we found the one small piazza that over looked the harbor.

And in the middle of this piazza is a statue of the town's founder.  - Duke Giulio Antonio Acqueviva.

And so we bid adieu to Giulianova!

On the way home, our Google maps gps told us we should head to the autostrada and stay on it for 53KM.  We had heard that there was a lot of construction going on on this road - which was probably why it kept us off the autostrada on the way to Giulianova.  Now we could see it.  Italy loves to make tunnels through its hills so there are a lot of them.  There were many lane closures (the road has two lanes each way) and cross overs where one side was completely closed.  But we still made it back in much less time than it took us to get to Giulianova.  

I should make mention of our disappointment with the food in this part of Italy.  The only dishes that have been consistently good - and I have to rely on Michael for this as I do not care for seafood.  And I mean that as opposed to fish.  Michael has had many pasta dishes that feature mussels, clams,  sardines, mantis shrimp and even eel - that he enjoyed.  I don't care for the texture of any of those.  We have been frustrated by the fact that none of the pizzerias serve pizza at lunch - only at dinner.  And we tend to eat lunch and snack at home if we are hungry in the evening.

But tonight Michael cooked sausage with pasta and made a salad.  The pasta was better than any of the tomato type pastas I have had here.  Thank you - Michael.