Day 33: Googling "How To Get Hungry"

This was one of those days where, if vomitoriums were a thing, I would have considered using one. We simply ate too much and I was food drunk since lunch. 

Adam found one of Nuoro's best restaurants (Il Portico) which specialised in seafood prepared Sardinian style. Our B&B host also offered a home cooked feast that evening, which we couldn't say no to. Uh oh, two big meals in one day? It was tough.

Before lunch we decided to check out the local art museum which had some amazing graphic design work from Giovanni Pintori and a photography exhibition from American photographer Garry Winogrand. Finally! An activity that was a) cheap, and b) didn't involve eating or drinking.

Baby army.

Someone carved patterns into the exterior of the house. Kind of weird but kind of cool.

Waiting for a mate.

Passing time in the park before lunch. Come 2pm the whole town was deserted. It was... creepy.

Hey there.

Waiting for the restaurant to open. When our B&B host booked for us, they said the booking was for between 12.30 and 1. I love that it's so loose. In Australia it can be like you have a 6.15pm booking but you must be out by 7.45pm.

We ordered an tasting starter which was expensive at €18 per person but it was basically a whole meal in itself. Had I know I would have not ordered two more pastas.

Buuuuut I had to try this dish before I left Sardinia – spaghetti with bottargo. Here, at Il Portico, they serve it with oysters, sea urchin and bottarga powder. It looked simple, but was packed with flavour.

We also ordered lados pasta (like orecchiette) with swordfish and tomatoes. So good. We were so full but we ate all of it.

When we got back to our hotel, Mario was already preparing the pig for that evening's dinner. 

We needed to walk off lunch, so Mario showed us a path to do a little hike.

And it looked so creepy. 

And murdery. 

I wasn't a fan. Fortunately we were in the forest for all of 15 minutes till we popped out onto a road and near Mountain Jesus (mentioned yesterday).

We walked for about an hour to try and build up an appetite. No luck.

So we sat on our balcony (this was our view) and Googled "how to get hungry". Basically we needed some juice and some gum. We had neither so decided prosecco was the next best thing.

Mario with the main event – the pig! Of all the boars, lambs and pigs we'd eaten in Sardinia, his was the best.

There was also a lovely risotto prepared by his wife as well as a livery dish to start.

Everyone at the B&B came to the dinner and it was interesting to chat to people from France, Netherlands, USA and England. While Adam and I felt the "I only speak English" guilts at times, it was one of the best dinners we'd had on the island.

A typical Sardinian dessert filled with cheese. This was topped with honey, pears and served with an Italian "mustard" which was like a spicy pear jam. Sounds odd, but was really nice with the pastry.

Of course, some digestifs to finish off.

We made it through the day of eating. We need a couple of days off to digest.