They have been calling for rain every day, and today it arrived. We were pretty sure today would be the day as the skies were gray and the sea was churning.

I don’t think I mentioned it previously, but breakfast is included at the Hotel Pasquale. You can choose what you’d like off the menu and they will prepare it for you. We really enjoy going down each morning for breakfast and interacting with the staff. Besides a delicious breakfast, there is always a friendly smile and if needed, a mini Italian lesson.

The torta di giorna or cake of the day was not to be missed. Different each day and always delicious. My favorite was the coconut cake.

We took a little walk after breakfast and while out, we managed to make dinner reservations at a place close to the hotel.

It was getting windier, so we high-tailed it back to the hotel and got there just before it started to rain. You could see some flashes of lightning over the mountains and at times there were some downpours. Feeling safe and comfy, we ordered a glass of wine and rode it out.

Dinner time was approaching and the rain had mostly stopped, but everything was quite wet. We made our way over to the Ristorante Ciak and they were in a bit of disarray.

With the rain, they lost about six tables and ours was just at the edge of the covered area. Occasionally, a drop of water would hit my back, so we kept edging the table in a little more.

We enjoyed the evening and our meals. I had a little coaching from a local woman when ordering my grilled anchovies. I shall always think of anchovies when I sneeze – “achoo – ga”. So they were my appetizer while Sue had a caprese salad. For our main courses, we both had Gnocchi. Sue’s was with pesto, while mine was in a bolognese. And of course, we had to finish with tiramisu. The wine was a Ligurian red called Buranca.

The breeze was picking up again, so we scampered back to the hotel. The storms out over the sea were sending much rougher surf our way.

Tomorrow, we’ll try and visit the new part of town.