Alghero day 2!

After my first journal entry in Alghero, I wrote a letter to Peter while he slept. 

My sweet meems,
I love traveling with you. I love seeing new things and experiencing brand new adventures with you. I am so happy we found each other and still have our whole lives still to look forward to so many more exciting times ahead. What did I do to become so lucky? You're my best friend; I wouldn't want to be here, and in this moment with anyone else in the world. I love sharing these special moments with you. Thank you for making these adventures possible, and so wonderful. I love you!

Day 2:
This morning, I woke up 10 minutes before our alarm went off. They are doing work on the buildings outside and unfortunately it was pretty loud. We got ready and went into the kitchen for OMG, the best breakfast buffet. Bruno had put out 2 homemade cakes, one was a ricotta coffee crumble and the other was a banana chocolate cake which I didn't actually try (but I will tomorrow). There was an italian couple that seemed really friendly having breakfast - we joined them. I tried a small (so delightful) slice (of heaven!) of the ricotta coffee cake, a small bit of salami and a few slivers of cheese. Then we shared a banana. with black coffee. YUM. Bruno came out and chatted with us for a little bit and he couldn't believe we were about to ride our bikes to the Neptune Grotto. After breakfast we went straight to the information office to make sure the caves were open since the wind had made it difficult the day before. They were open. The man who helped us was so helpful and so friendly. Peter and I both agreed that his voice was really calming and relaxing. He gave us a few maps and pointed out the bike paths. And he suggested a shop to rent the bikes from. We walked there, eventually finding it, and started our ride. My bike had a basket, which I really enjoyed in the end, although it did get really heavy with all my stuff in it. After we got off the bike path, not long after we started, my chain fell off! Course both of our hands were so gross after we put it back on. While I got situated again, Peter ran across the street to find a spot to go pee....when he came back, he had pee all over his shorts!!!! Apparently the leaf he peed on sent it straight back at him!! haha! I guess they don't have palm trees in England!!! ;-) 

It turned out that the entire journey was uphill. It wasn't too bad but it did feel like it took us forever. I loved the views and the temperature. We stopped off at the panoramic view point just before the Grotto for a few snapshots and had some fruit and pistachios. We ended up seeing the couple who sat next to Peter on the airplane which was funny. They also ended up on the same Grotto tour as us.

When we made it to the Grotto, we had to walk down 35 flights of stairs to get to the caves. It was the most beautiful walk!

The caves were pretty spectacular though maybe not €26 worth. But it was fun and really stunning. They date to 3 billion years ago which is amazing. Then after our tour was the death walk back up the stairs (don't forget we'd just ridden 15 miles up hill to get there!). It went quick though. We stopped off at the shop for a water and a coke before our ride back. The ride back was also a lot quicker (obv) and we ended up stopping at some ruins to have a quick look. After returning our bikes, we could barely walk - haha. We made the walk back, super slowly, showered, had a quick chat with Bruno while he ironed, and got ready for our dinner hunt. We took two of Bruno's suggestions; the first was fully booked and so we tried the second and were so happy. The server was so sweet (mind the language barrier) and that makes a huge difference. I ordered a pasta dish with lots of yummy seafood.

After dinner, we walked along the seafront to find Kings (the really nice restaurant we decided to treat ourselves to on our last night) and made reservations for the following evening - again, I practiced making these reservations in Italian for nearly the duration of our walk. They understood English but it's obvious that they appreciate the effort! Then we got gelato. Obviously. We sat, watched the glorious sunset, then went back to our favorite server at the skybar for a drink. Perfect!!