Sunday, 25 June, 2017 – Weather fine and nice

Today we have four activities around the area. But first get ready for the day.

We proceed to the breakfast place.

The breakfast buffet is a pretty good spread of cold foods.

However, Julie points out that there is:

We jump in the bus, later than wanted, and our first activity is a Truffle hunt lead by the region’s best truffle man and his dog Roki, scouring the forest for the world’s most expensive food ingredient (second actually as saffron beats it easily for cost).

It is a long walk through hill and dale and scrub. Nola and myself suffer with walking on that terrain. But it is worth it because Roki performs.

In all, five truffles were found, one of which was no good. Not a bad effort and better than we had done in Slovenia a few years ago. Nola and I are still suffering for the walk and had been given the leaders’ canes which helped a bit but on the walk back they decided that we would ride back in the car.

We were supposed to have a truffle tasting at the end of the hunt but the late start meant we had to get on the road to our next appointment a midday Guided Tour of the Barolo Castello, a wine museum. So we drive to Barolo.

There is a fast food market in the city square but we really don’t have enough time now for anything serious.

We meet our tour guide and go up to the top floor, outside where she explains a lot of what is going on in the museum. There are three floors each with a different theme. To be honest, most of us did not care for the museum which had some strange exhibits. The guide, lady, was difficult to understand. So just a couple of photos from inside.

There was one humourous incident inside. There was some kind of small merry-go-round which was driven by bicycle type pedals. Chris Love and Julie were the propellers and it was going so fast, Julie eventually tried to slow it down by peddling backwards, that did not work.

We exit the museum and have some time for food. We go into the square where there is the fast food market.

We moved over to a table near the beer stand where some of the others are sitting. I grab a beer.

We then drive to a local winery in Barolo. The Host is very knowledgeable and friendly.

The Host shows us 4 different wines, the last being an Australian type blend. Then it is time for a helicopter ride. There are 5 groups of 4, we are the first group. I did not get a photo of the chopper but took lots in the air. Here are some.

That was a lot of fun even though I could not hear the pilot through my headphones. We await the other 4 groups and then drive back to the base. Most everybody, including me, jump in the pool and generally yahoo around. Lots of gin and tonics, beers, white wine, etc. The girls do some singing which leaves a little bit to be desired.

Dinner that night is at the Hotel with Capo booking 7 tables of two. In fact, there are 8 tables.

Good food. Then it is off to bed after a very busy day.