“It’s just like being on holiday!” said I, as we wandered along the lakeside and tried to choose a restaurant for lunch. We had recently lunched at the first La Capannina, and although the antipasti were good, particularly the fried whitebait with oranges, the rest was mediocre. In fact the grilled meat was tough as old boots and so Daisydog dined on those morsels from myself and other guests seated nearby who donated to the cause.
Anyway today we thought we would try the next one along ‘Lido Solitario’. They had tables outside on the road and the sides but even the main restaurant was open to the fantastic lake view through sliding doors. The menu had a good selection of lake fish, meat and pasta and actually I chose two starters as they looked the most appetising considering the outside temperatures and that we still had a longish walk to complete. We shared the starter of lake crayfish salad with ginger dressing, and then Jamie chose spinach and ricotta ravioli in butter and sage leaves whilst I had their ‘antipastissimo’. From the photo you can see that this wonderfully colourful plate contained some parma ham and salami, crispy battered vegetables, but also a good array of hot and cold ‘bruschette’: the usual fresh tomato, but also a porcini mushroom, tuna, olive and cheese and a little dish of stewed Trasimeno beans with toast.
These little beans have an interesting story of their own….
Simply no room for pud after that lot so off we set for a stroll lakeside to enjoy the views over the lake and the glorious sunshine. The lake is freshwater but not fed by any rivers and so is quite shallow; only 10 metres at the deepest point. It looks a perfect place for a holiday house but given that it is freshwater and shallow, there are many marshes areas around its edges and although it is a large body of water, I’m sure mosquitoes must be an issue during the summer months.
Daisy had a several swims in the water and eventually we managed to extricate her and put on a lead. We passed several fisherman perched on the rocks waiting for a bite and arrived at an abandoned building with very artistic grafiti. We thought it could be an abandoned fish market but haven’t been able to find out.
Just across the road is a shortcut just past the park and restaurants that leads up through an ancient olive grove into the old town and the castle. This involves a steep stone stair but shaded by the olive trees and with beautiful fields of wildflowers and scarlet poppies we slowly climbed to the top. Our reward in the old town was a seat and an ice-cream at the gelateria, vanilla for Jamie and pineapple sorbet and red orange sorbet for me.
Heading back to the car and then home we noticed how many tourists were arriving and that this was the beginning of months when, moving the car becomes a lottery and I hope my Parking Fairy has upped her game for the challenging weeks ahead.
Sunflowers and Saffron 