Octopus And Cigars In Italy

I am getting the hang of it and actually like it a lot.

Flying to Venice and an hour later I’m in Padova, a beautiful old city, Renzo is a great host and hotel owner, I pick up the cigars he kindly brought for me from our last visit and we have a nice dinner or two in one of the best gastronomically areas in Europe, the Veneto.

Life could be worse.

So I flew down again the other day and this time it was Renzo, Fabio and me having a very light and delicious seafood dinner at Porteghetto, a seafood restaurant quite close to the hotel.

Both the primi and secondi were fresh seafood, sepia eggs, polpo, gamberetti, shrimps and a local specialty. The main dish being grilled fish.

All washed down with a local Sauvignon.

The dessert was an incredibly delicious Millefoglie with Mascarpone and fresh forest fruits – amazingly yummy !

We finished the evening in Renzo’s kitchen finishing off a bottle of Varadero rum and smoking Siglo III’s.

Next day I had a long lunch at Venice’s Marco Polo airport, one of the most relaxed and civilized airports I know. After shopping for some Pasta and a selection of Italian cheeses for Inge, I sat down at Canto, a wine bar next to my departure gate and enjoyed fresh octopus salad, a salami sandwich, a glass of wine and a proper cappuccino before boarding the flight home.

There’s even a smoking area in the airport upstairs in the first level which is acceptable.

We landed in FRA and had to hold short of the runway to let an A-380 take off – impressive sight, but I rather be retired …

I managed to get home driving much longer than usual as a cold front brought lots of snow and the Autobahn quickly came to a standstill.

Hate winter !

Nino