I’m going to deal with these two together as they were both lazy days by a pool and dinner out in the evening.
Day 3 – First full day in Negrar
We spent the day chilling out by and in the pool at the agriturismo. The owners have added a pergola with plants growing up and over it and extra large sunshades since we were here the last time. This made it very simple to be able to sit in the shade and read my book after I had had a swim.
We did mange to drive into Negrar to get something to eat for lunch but afterwards it was back to chilling out by the pool until we needed to shower and change for dinner.
Bethany had decided she wanted to go to the local restaurant for dinner, which we went to on the last evening last time. It is advertised as a pizzeria but does lots of other food too.
We asked Francesca to book us a table outside in the shade at 8pm. We drove down the single track road and parked in the upper car park. We then bumped into Francesca and her daughter collecting pizza 🍕 for their dinner. She told us our table was upstairs so we headed there to be seated. As we arrived the table was in the shade of a tree but as the sun went down Bethany and Michael got sun in their eyes.
The sunset 🌅 was stunning as usual and we were surprised how busy the restaurant was on a Tuesday evening.
I ordered a pizza and the other two carnivores ordered steak with side orders of potatoes and grilled vegetables.
The pizza as usual was very tasty 😋 and Michael and Bethany easily finished their steaks. Dessert was called for!
I ordered stracciatella semifreddo.
Michael had fruits of the forest pannacotta.
Bethany went for crema catalana.
My half litre of local red wine also went down well, after the Aperol Spritz and before the limoncello!
The bill by our standards was cheap. We paid and headed off back up the single file road at the instruction of the traffic co-ordinator.
Day 5 – Aquardens
I found a leaflet about this spa in reception at the agriturismo. I thought it looked like a great place to chill out.
It advertises that it is Italy’s largest thermal water park. Don’t however expect water slides and similar attractions. It is all about relaxing and wellness.
We bought day tickets which cost 35€ each and meant we could stay as long as we wanted. We got changed, found a locker each (which locked with the magnetic wrist band we had been given) and made our way into the indoor pool area to try to find out where to collect towels. We found the Aqua Shop relatively quickly but there was no-one around so we had to wait.
After finally getting our towels we went outside and found some chairs in the shade by one of the large pools. We spent the next hour trying out all the pools which ranged from 28C to 37C and had different hydrotherapy jets and such like. We also found the Kiwi Beach area which had deep sand, sunloungers and umbrellas. There were also beach volleyball courts and a mini football pitch. We didn’t see anyone playing while we were there.
We had lunch at the sandwich bar and spent the afternoon in the pools a d chilling in the chairs. You weren’t supposed to take photos but I managed a sneaky one!
We headed back to the agriturismo around 4:30pm and asked Francesca to recommend somewhere for dinner. She recommended a place on the Valpolicella wine tour which was 200m from a place we ate at last time we were here.
We had been told that the food was good and were surprised to see plastic patio furniture set up outside. The view however was stunning!
The menu was varied and what I particularly liked was the mix and match pasta dishes. There was a choice of 5 types of pasta and 6 sauces. There was also an option to have two or three combinations. I chose to have two combination and went for bigoli (a local speciality like thick spaghetti) with traditional ragu and gnocchi with sliced leeks.
Bethany chose tagliatelle with tomato, bacon and onion sauce. Michael went for steak which was served with roasted potatoes, breaded aubergine and cooked red onion. Everything was eaten very quickly as it was all so tasty.
Dessert sounded lovely but when it came it was less inspiring. They had obviously just been taken out of the freezer and the sauce a fruit added to the plates.
I had white chocolate semifreddo with raspberry and strawberry sauce.
Bethany and Michael both had cheesecake with caramelised peaches.
All in all it was a lovely meal and the view as we left was equally as good as when we had arrived.
Crouch Family On Tour 