Grado – Day 2

We had a relaxing rest day in Grado. We decided when booking this trip that we would take an extra day in Grado to enjoy the beach town. We decided not to use the tour company to book an extra day and figured we could manage booking a place on our own once we arrived. And we are so glad we did. Our final night on the cycling trip was booked at a so-called 4 star hotel. But perhaps was once a 4 star hotel in the previous century is far from 4 star today. It was at best a 2 star hotel. The room decor was tired and worn from the 80’s or perhaps the 60’s. It was clean, I’ll given them that. I’m usually more picky than Lori about hotel accommodations, but even Lori was “not going to stay another night there.” Its most unusual quirk was a “rebate” toilet that on each flush gave back a special rebate of toilet water out onto the outside of it, including the seat and floor. Yuck.

So we decided early on we needed to choose another place for tonight. Yesterday we walked around town and looked at a few places that were listed on Booking.com and decided on a small hotel located near the Grado central canal. This morning after checking out of the rebate place, we stopped by early to see if we could just drop our bags off. The kind hotel operators (husband and wife team) kindly check us in early, and we proceeded to have a nice hour long conversation about the United States and Italy. Our host spent some time in the USA when he was young and so we had a great conversation about the USA and Italy. Afterwards we dropped our bags off into a clean, modern room that was very much a 4 star accommodation.

With our bags stowed we set out to explore Grado more. The weather was bright and sunny so we strolled the promenade and the city center getting our steps in and making an attempt to burn enough calories for more gelato.

We stopped for coffee at a local cafe, and I indulged in a cafe affogato. Which is a shot of espresso poured over a scoop of gelato. I only wish that I could get that every morning for my coffee fix. Lori did not partake as she has stronger will power than me.

Fueled with caffeine (and gelato) we strolled the city some more exploring the old town section and marveled at how the old buildings are persevered and there are people still living in them. We visited the Grado Cathedral and were awestruck by the simple beauty of the building. We visited the ancient stone work exhibit at the cathedral and marveled at how much work went into crafting the intriquit stone work.

Having worked up an appetite, we stopped at another well rated restaurant where we split a Capirese salad and a pizza.

Recharged we finished off the late afternoon with another stroll down the promenade and closed out the evening with another gelato.

Tomorrow we take a small ferry boat to Trieste where we have an apartment booked for a few more days. We plan to do some more tourist activities in Trieste.