This was our first visit to Europe and at this point we were about half way through our 2 week vacation in beautiful Italy. Our private limo driver Martin ( arranged by our travel agent ) picked us up at the Hotel Berchielli in Florence at 9am in the morning for the 110 km drive to our Airbnb apartment in Bologna . . home for the next 3 days. Martin who is a dead ringer for the ultra famous John Belushi ( also from Albania ) made the scenic drive through the tranquil Italian countryside totally enjoyable for us !
BEAUTIFUL SCENERY ! In fact what should have been a 2 hour plus drive turned into over 4 hours with our unscheduled diversions. Along the way we stopped at a fashion outlet mall and an electronics store inside a huge shopping mall to buy a few things we needed. LUNCH ! Martin said he would take us to one of his fav restaurants for delicious sandwiches. AND HE DID ! One of the things we were hoping to experience during our Italian vacation was lunch at some place off the tourist map.
AND THIS WAS IT ! This restaurant was in the middle of nowhere to us but very familiar to Martin who lived in Florence. There was a huge selection of delicious looking panino ( flatbread ) sandwiches, full wine racks along the walls, a pizza restaurant upstairs ( evenings only ) and a virtual Italian supermarket. We all ordered PANINO SANDWICHES with different fillings. My wife also ordered an ESPRESSO and a slice of CHOCOLATE CAKE. I grabbed a bottle of ITALIAN PALE ALE from a fridge.
VERY NICE ! The guy behind the counter opened it and gave me a chilled stem glass as I requested. Our fresh made fully loaded panino sandwiches tasted outstanding . . . as good as it gets ! My ice cold fruity Pale Ale tasted very refreshing. Meanwhile the restaurant was getting busier by the minute . . no doubt a very popular local lunch spot. DESSERT ! My wife totally enjoyed her rich tasting Chocolate Cake slice. Martin and I loved our decadent CHOCOLATE & PISTACHIO CORNETTOS. In fact Martin paid for them. My wife bought half a slab of fresh made panino flatread to take with us . . and it still made a delicious sandwich a day or two later. WE TOTALLY LOVED OUR ITALIAN LUNCH !
