Buona Pasqua from Numana, Italy

Zagan the motorhome has the blue waters of the Adriatic stretched out in front of him, and the hustle and bustle that comes from half of Italy trying to park behind him. He’s holding onto his space in the reserved restaurant parking area in Numana (N43.50628, E13.62168).

We decided to go out for a ‘blow out’ meal last night as a farewell to Italy – we figured everywhere would be shut today and tomorrow with it being Easter. After an evening beach walk with Charlie we eyed up the restaurants along the sea front, opting for the one we’re parked closest to in the end. It said its speciality was fish (a small note in the menu stated when fresh fish wasn’t available the best frozen fish would be used). I don’t know if it was fresh or frozen, but it was very tasty.

If you have ever been to Italy you’ll understand our trepidation every time we go out for a meal. The menu’s list several courses – Anti Pasta, Prima, Secondi, Contorno and my favourite Dolce, sometimes formaggio too and of course coffee. The waiter was very good when we only ordered a couple of courses each – Jay opting for seafood gnocchi to start with, followed by a fried mixed fish, while I went for baked sea bass in tomatoes and olive and saved space for pudding. I never got to use that space as I helped Jay out with his gnocchi and the fish was very filling. With half a litre of wine and some water it came to just under €50, which for us is a lot, but it was worth it.

Jay kindly deheads fish for me so I don’t have to look at them while eating them!

With a full stomach and a wine buzz I slept like a log last night, poor Jay didn’t fare so well. The road behind us is busy, so while I drifted off in ear-plugged bliss, he lay and listened to the cars, motorbikes and chattering people – Italians are good at staying up late – going up and down. Waking this morning with the heat of the sun on the windscreen we hardly noticed we’d lost an hour overnight with the clock change.

Easter Sunday. With neither of us being religious sorts this means one thing – we can finally eat those mini eggs I bought on the way to the ferry. We did well to save them until 11am as we had other matters to attend to first thing. Those matters being a rather full loo. As we’re ‘freebagging’ there are no facilities around here to empty it, so we had two choices: head to the nearest town with a service point and stay there for the day, or head to the nearest town with a service point and come straight back here with fingers crossed that our space by the sea was still free. We went for the latter and the crossed fingers worked.

Charlie and Jay taking in our view of the sea

The road behind us now leads nowhere, it was closed off in the night to enable a kilometre long market to set up between here and the next resort along the coast. Not that you would know it is closed judging by the amount of traffic going up and down it – it seems no one has paid any attention to the road closed signs throughout the town. By 10am, we were back in prime position for the market which starts about 100m from our door, so went go for a look see. We didn’t realised how long it went on for, but it was a nice morning stroll even if a lot of the stalls were still setting up and gave us the opportunity to by a huge chunk of prosciutto as we seem to get through it at an alarming rate.

Market day (yes Jay is still wearing the same shirt!) mop man was doing a roaring trade with loads of folks walking around with two mops – can only assume he throws one in for free!

Gun stall – of course!

The pet stall had puppies, fish and little mice on it – not sure this would happen in Blighty!

Nearly everyone is wearing these jackets here, they are everywhere too. We’re so out of fashion.

Around noon the market went quiet and the cafes and restaurants went busy, as did the car parking spaces around us. For two hours (you could almost set your watch by the absence of people) lunch was had by all. I nipped out and bought some porchetta (roasted pig) from the market and fries from a snack bar for our big Easter lunch, tasty. After lunch and some beach action for Charlie, Jay and I went for a walk up into the town, it was closed – this weekend it is all about the seafront.

Testing the water temperature – still a bit chilly.

Families dressed up in their Sunday best, grandchildren helping nonnas, are now parading up and down the pavement behind us, as cars honk their horns and squeeze into any available space – double parking is acceptable here. The market is back in full swing now as the evening passeggiata route. I’m so pleased we ended up here for our last couple of days in Italy as the place is so busy, entertaining and alive – just how Italy is. Right time to see if I can tempt Jay out for a final walk through the market and seek out a gelato. Buona Pasqua everyone.

Ju x

P.S. I forget to take our camera with us today, so all of the photos came from our Motorola Moto G3. We’re impressed with the phone and it’s camera, but judge for yourself.