A Day around Marco Island

We began today with a focus on the historical elements of Marco Island, but before we started we took the benefit of a lovely summer’s day to visit ‘our’ beach. 

We left the apartment at 9.45 and walked onto South Marco Beach, as I have mentioned before in this blog, our Condo – The Apollo Condominium - looks right over the beach and has a handy walkway onto the beach. The beach is  one of only two public beaches on Marco Island. It is the quieter of the two. 

The beach was already filling up while we there but we got opportunities to see Pelicans swooping down for their breakfast. Drew took his opportunity to paddle in the Gulf of Mexico and was surprised to find that the water was hotter than we have our shower at home! Given our expectation of freezing cold Welsh beaches this came as a surprise. 

Leaving the beach we went next to Caxambas Park, this is highlighted in the guide as one of the sites of Marco Island, but in fact is only a public dock for boats and jet skies to get into the water. The Park is called the original name of the island – an Indian word that means ‘Fresh Water’ but has no other historic context.  Drew did however get a great photo of a Pelican sitting on a Gas pump, which is not something you see every day. 

Next we headed to the Indian Village area of the Island and discovered that it has lots of smart, large houses but there was little else to see. We then read to the end of the guide page which directed us here: “There is nothing here now which indicates that it was the location of the original Indian village the Spanish found on the Island in 1513”

Our next location was the Olde Barfield Homesite, this at least had a sign which marked the location, but again nothing to see but the sign. 

We were then directed to the Pineapple Plantation, though we had directions, we could see nothing. On returning home we searched this on the internet to discover that: “The Marco Island Historical Society produce markers for key historical locations; however the marker for the Pineapple Plantation has been removed as the location is now a fire house and the first responders' vehicles hit the sign so often it was agreed to remove it”. Well that gave us a bit of a chortle!! 

In fact the whole of Marco Island is like this, everything historical has been replaced with everything targeting easy living for people in a wonderful warm sea rich climate, who needs history when they are on holiday (well me actually!!). So I could read about it, but otherwise I just had to imagine 

it! <<Co-pilot's note: We are back to sign-gate here - I keep telling you you should take a photo of the thing itself not the sign explaining what it is, but you couldn't do that here. So signs were all!!>> Still Marco Island is a amazingly pretty place.

Having visited all the historical sites Marco Island had to offer we headed to the Judge SS Jolly bridge at the end of the Island where we had noticed, as we passed a few times, had a pull off area. So we pulled off and took photos of the sea and the underside of the bridge. The site is obviously popular with people fishing, as a number of families were here fishing with rod and net. 

Just across the bridge is the area called The Isles of Capri, we drove across to look at this area, but while this was pretty apart from houses, boats and a community centre (closed) there was little to see. We headed back to Marco, visited the Post Office for some stamps. Went  to the drive through bank ATM next door and got back to the apartment (and its lovely air-conditioning) just after 1pm. 

Dinner

A quiet afternoon ensued until we went out to dinner. Tonight’s Dinner was at a South Italian Restaurant called Sale e Pepe, we had booked this on our arrival on the Island.

As the restaurant was only just over a mile from the apartment we decided to walk. It was still very warm at 6.40pm as we left the apartment and we got to the restaurant at 7.00pm. 

On our way we were amused to see a family walking across the pedestrian crossing. This has flashing lights which light up at foot/road level as people cross. Four members of the family were crossing while the father took a photo of the process, something they had probably never seen before, as this kind of crossing is not common in the US. To us Brits it brought memories of the iconic Beatles photo on Abbey Road.

Sale e Pepe is located at the rear (sea side) of the Marco Beach Ocean Resort but is not limited to residents. 

We were greeted into an august space with Romanesque design. Which set the scene for a lovely meal with authentic Italian tastes.

We took an Italian approach to the Italian food with an antipasti, then a pasta as a primi piatti​, then a main as a secondi piatti​  (one less course than is common in the Italian context where there would also be a salad or vegetable course.

For his antipasti Drew opted for Parmigiana di Melanzane which is Baked Baby Italian Eggplant, Fior di Latte Mozzarella, Tomato, Basil, Parmigiano Reggiano Emulsion. This was rich in tomato, nicely salted and thoroughly good. Drew described it (he is obviously being effected by all this Italian) as 'tutto bene'.

I loved the sound of my choice of antipasti, and it was every bit as good as it sounded. It was called Tagliere Italiano which is a genuine antipasti with Aged Parma Prosciutto, 36-month Parmigiano Reggiano Vacche Rosse, Fior di Latte Mozzarella, Sottocenere Truffle Cheese, Seasonal Pickled Vegetables, Fried Neapolitan Dough. Each distinctive flavour was lovely in its own as a combination it was wonderful. The parmigiano was the nicest, nuttiest, sharp I had ever tasted - yum, yum, yum.

For the pasta course Drew went for an old favourite flavour, with a different pasta shape: Bucatini Amatriciana. The bucatini pasta came with a san marzano tomato sauce, smoked guanciale, calabrian chili, onions and Pecorino Romano. It had lots of garlic, a wonderful mix of flavours, and was highly spiced. Drew says it was a model of what  he believes a good Amatriciana should be.

My pasta was Pappardelle di Zafferano which was saffron pasta ribbons with a Signature Short Rib and Prosciutto Bolognese and shaved Parmigiano Reggiano sprinkled with Fried Sage Leaves. The ragu was a rich and deep flavour. I make a beef ragu myself on a regular basis, and while I think that is very good, this had a depth of flavour which was even better. I guess the prosciutto added to the beef developed this extra layer of flavour.

Drew's main was a meal he regularly enjoys when we are in Spain: Costolette di Agnello alla Griglia. These lamb chops were from Colorado. Drew says: "I don't know what they had been feeding these baby sheep but they were very large chops compared to those in Spain. They were cooked to perfection and the seasoning was exactly right." The chops were served with spinach, wild mushrooms and a mint salsa verde. The mint sauce enhanced the lamb and was running through the spinach and the mushrooms.

My main was a delightful Filetto di Maialino; this dry-rubbed pork tenderloin was cooked and sliced into small medallions. The dry-rub was subtle but gave the meat a warm barbecue flavour which danced on the tongue. This was served with a rosemary gremolata and a chunky white bean salad and roasted grapes with saba. I thought I might miss the potatoes, but the bean salad was so rich and well dressed that I felt nicely full at the end of the meal. The grapes, which were mixed with the beans gave a nice surprise as you eat one among the beans. Really superb.

Drew couldn't manage a dessert tonight, so we each had an espresso to complete the meal. Leaving the resteraunt after two hours was a nice change after the previous days rushed meal.

The architecture of the building was even more dramatic in the lights of evening than it had been when we arrived. As you can see below.