Rimini Lungomare, Old Town

We arrive in Rimini on the Adriatic side of Italy in the middle of a huge storm that has brought flooding to many central European towns and has now moved down to Italy.  We take a taxi to our hotel during a break in the rain and head out to explore the town a bit.

Heavy seas and flooding

We walk along the lungomare, the seafront promenade, and watch the effects of the storm.

Boardwalk along the beach

Views of the stormy sea

We eventually tire of being blasted with water and follow the path along the harbor toward the old town.  The harbor is packed with ships: commercial fishing boats, pleasure craft, and coast guard.

Fishing boat heading out into the storm

Pleasure craft

Fishing boats

Government boats

The narrow streets of the old town shelter us from the strong wind, but we still get wetter as we walk.

Old town

Streets of old town

Many of  the buildings in the old town are covered with beautiful art, so much that we'll show them in the next few blogs.  When we emerge from old town, we find ourselves at a bridge (Pont di Tiberio) back into the main part of Rimini where we walk from one beautiful city square to another.

Cross the river from old town

Large squares

Narrow streets between the squares

Soon, we find ourselves back at the sea to plan our visit in between storms.

Back at the sea

Dining in Monterosso

We dine well in Monterosso every trip and this was another great experience.  Our first dinner on arrival (as we have done for many years) is at Il Casello at the harbor in old town.  We start with stuffed anchovies, followed by spaghetti with tomatoes, spaghetti with anchovies, and tagliatelle with octopus.

Anchovies, octopus

Spaghetti two ways

We dine as the sun sets and enjoy the view with our great food.

View from our table

Our next dinner is at Ely, where we start with octopus and insalata mista salad, followed by pizza genevese (pesto, pine nuts) and pizzicotti ravioli (stuffed with potatoes, black truffle cream, and grana padana, seasoned with cream butter, sage, and fresh black truffle flakes).

Starters

Mains

The next night finds us at Enotaca Internazionale wine bar to share pesto bruschetta and a charcuterie and cheese platter.

Bruschetta and platter

Another night, we to go Galena for ricotta and spinach ravioli with sage, spaghetti vongole, and branzino.

Starting with gin and tonic, octopus appetizer

Ravioli, spaghetti

Branzino

And, of course, we return to an old favorite, L'Osteria for trofie with pesto, branzino ravioli, after starting with trio bruschetta and anchovies.

L'Osteria

Bruschetta, anchovies

Trofie, ravioli

After dinner, we find that a religious procession is proceeding down the main street and we follow them to Hotel Villa Steno, just up the hill from the procession and the main street.

Following the procession

Looking across town from Hotel Villa Steno

We're leaving tomorrow for Rimini, but will miss Monterosso al Mare and look forward to returning next year.