Cesenatico (Sunday / Monday 6/7th September)

The top end of the canal into Cesenatico

We continued up the eastern coast of Italy along the Adriatic Sea which must team with tourists over the peak season by the number of hotels / apartments & villas lining the coastal road. All looking out onto the private beaches along the sea side with their little fences, full of sunchairs and many forms of entertainment (volleyball nets / mini golf / children's playgrounds) along with the cafe / bar on each site.

Not quite so many Tourists 

There are still a few tourists around, lots of Italians of course, but also more German speaking. But the rush appears to be over except if  you're in a small place like San Marino where they suddenly arrive by the bus loads. With temperatures starting to drop and the autumn colours in the leaves, the bulk of the tourists have gone home though it is still warm for us, and the beaches still have some budgie smuggling & the disappearing thong going on. (Bill just hijacked my blog).

The Fisherman's Family
looking out to sea or Bill? 

With the streets quite narrow and over the top signage making it very busy as we drove along, once we reached Cesenatico we found a nice small camp and parked up so we could get out and about on our bikes. A very bike friendly town once again with cycleways along most of the streets.
It was about 5 pm when we cycled the 10 minutes into the centre and started at the top of the canal which comes straight up from the sea and into the centre where the Marine Museum is sited along with 10 traditional boats which are floated in the canal. From May till October they raise and lower the sails on these boats daily (weather permitting) They were a beautiful sight, very colourful in their traditional styles and colours.

Traditional fishing boat & colours

A couple of hours later we came out of the museum (which thankfully had English explanations to over half the exhibits) much more informed of the little fishing village of Cesenatico. Quite large fishing boats come back and moor up along the canal for the night along side all the restaurants that line the sides of the canal. The restaurants look lovely all set up waiting on customers, but with such a drop in tourists, they weren't that busy. We headed back to camp before it got too dark so didn't really get to see how busy they were till the following evening.

Beautiful colours on sunset

In the morning we were back on our bikes and did the rest of the canal, all the way down to the sea. There are fishing net contraptions that are left sitting out over the canal, waiting for the fisherman to come and operate them. Bit like down the West Coast in NZ where they whitebait and get set up along the river edges. Except these nets are a bit more sophisticated than that, they catch a lot of sardine like fish and other types. It is quite a busy fishing port town with a population of around 20,000. The larger fish factories and trucks operating down the sea end of the canal.

Fishing nets hung out over
the water, ready to be dropped

After we covered this part of town we followed the coast along past more hotels / apartments. We were quite surprised to find some large buildings empty and run down, windows bricked up and fenced securely, making some parts appear quite shabby. But I guess as new hotels / apartments are built, it gets harder to operate, so they just lock it all up.We rode back through a large, very dusty dry park with a

Water Vole of some sort!

murky looking pond in the middle where we found some type of water vole, looking more like a large rat with his long tail out behind him, about the size of a huge cat, swimming around a lot of turtles (or tortoises??) that were sunning themselves on a log, not the least bit interested in the creature. We haven't really seen a lot of wild life, certainly not road kill like we do at home with the possum. Plenty of signage to be aware of deer, thankfully we aren't driving much at night!
We returned back to camp, where I made my first lasagna here in Italy in our little oven. I must say, it turned out pretty good. I love the fresh pasta that is readily available here, and all the fresh veges - there is always a stall or small shop operating. They don't sell perfect looking items, but very tasty ones - we have bought some ugly Peppers and tomatoes that would be rejected from our supermarkets back home, but soooooo tasty.

A lovely evening along the Canal

Early evening we returned back to the centre of town to have a drink and maybe a bite to eat along the canal as the sun set and watch people as they started to come out for the evening. But when our first drinks arrived they came with a generous platter of nibbles, which was topped up with our second drink, so much so that we no longer needed dinner. An old guy came and sat at the table just up from us and had a coffee with his cigarette. Then over the next couple of hours, 2 others came and joined him, not buying anything, but just sat and chatted the night away, sorting out the Italian problems they were having like they all do. Very emotional gesture filled conversations. Can't see how the restaurant made money that night!
The Canal with the boats and all the restaurants made for a very picturesque pleasant evening, making our time here very enjoyable.