Yesterday we went to Palinuro which is a seaside town below Montano. The drive is around 30 minutes through very picturesque country, winding down the mountain and through tunnels and across very high viaducts. The Italian philosophy for road building seems to be if it is in the way go through it, or build a bridge and go over it. My tunnel phobia has all but disappeared - I'd never go anywhere in Italy if I hadn't conquered it.

We arrived at the seaside and found a parking spot quite close to the area Sonia goes to, there were cars for miles on each side of the road. Parking cost 5 euros. We went to the small restaurant and paid 7 euros each for a sun lounge and umbrella (yours all day if you want). We headed down and set ourselves up for the day, lying looking out at the Med Sea. We went straight in and the water was wonderful, cool and very salty. There is a line of buoys for safety - this area is called the Profundo as it is a very deep drop. Mili bought a whale floatie and rode around on that - a lot of fun for us all. We spent the day either lying on the loungers or in the sea. We went up to the small restaurant for lunch - spaghetti con vongole and a beer for me. It was delicious. At around 4 pm a massive storm hit. The beach cleared in record time, then we were stuck in a traffic jam for around 30 minutes with cars going in all directions - it was quite entertaining, cars driving the wrong way, doing U turns with no space to turn etc. We finally got moving and arrived back at the villetta to find things strewn everywhere, the storm had passed through earlier.

We went to the final night of the Sagra and enjoyed some more fine Italian food, I had a vino rosso - 1 euro, cheap but very good! The music was excellent and we went behind the scenes again - this time to watch the ladies making desserts (dolce). They do an amazing job in quite primitive conditions.
After such a busy day we were all ready for bed.