The ironman of travel Yoshimasa Ikeuchi

Italy

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GILLIOTONNO Tuna Festival

Prologue

Carlo Fonte Gourmet Guide
Part 2

Mattanza Tuna fishing

Epilogue

Mattanza Tour 2nd

Carlo Fonte Gourmet Guide
Part 1

San Pietro Island

At the transit Kota Kinabalu, check the body temperature, disinfectant solution, interview and strict caution. The Japanese are infected countries and are particularly severe. There are few masks at the airport that entered Malaysia. In Rome, which arrived the next day, I was surprised at the complete no-check. The mask I prepared is still sleeping on the bottom of my bag.

Enchanted by the elegant appearance of spreading pink wings and flying in the land of Cagliari. The shallows are full of shellfish debris to feed on. This is a paradise for flamingos.

Influenza epidemic worldwide. It is reported that the number of infected people has exceeded 10,000. On May 22, 2009, all schools in Osaka and Hyogo announced a one-week closure. This trip is to stop at Borneo Island on the way back, so we stayed overnight in Kuala Lumpur via Kota Kinabalu.

Mattanza (tuna fishing)

Via Cagliari (state capital) on Sardinia. San Pietro Island is another 1 hour and 30 minutes from here, and the boarding time is a long journey of 21 hours in total. We stopped by on the way to the Island where pink flamingos live in the swamps around Cagliari.

Cagliari's Pink Flamingo

Cagliari cityscape on Sardinia

Freshly caught tuna

Landed tuna

Street performer

Tuna festival

Carloforte mural

Carloforte mural

Cagliari's Pink Flamingo

It seems that there is a long-awaited Mattanza (tuna fishing) on the 27th, which is scheduled to stay for 9 days due to flight reasons. This depends on the weather and the tuna. You can't understand unless you go. Expectations for visiting the Islands of "Tuna".

The purpose of the Island is "Giro tonno" (tuna festival). From May 29th to June 2nd, 2009. World tuna cooking contest will be held. Stalls and street performers gather in the center of the Island, "Carlo Fonte," and the festival is lively.

Prologue

・

Owner Giuliano Greco and the me

Mattanza (tuna fishing)

Tuna canning factory ruins

Tuna fishing slideshow

Tuna fishing fleet

Frozen tuna for canning

"Tuna" that migrates at a depth of 25m. Migratory from Genoa to the southern tip of Sardinia in search of abundant food in the Mediterranean. It hits the net stretched at 1800m and is surrounded while turning clockwise to enter the net. A boat for a tour of Mattanza (5500 yen) departs from the port at the northern end of the Island.

The schedule from Japan was 27th, but we will be informed that it will be changed tomorrow on the night of arrival (25th). The reception will come to the hotel at 8:30. One hour to wait at the diving center at the site of the tuna canning factory. When I think "Is it really there?", It seems that he will start.

click here

Raise the battle cry and dive into the sea

Tuna quality inspection

Tuna fishing slideshow

Security boat

Fisherman pulling tuna

Plastic bag to avoid splashes

Irish who translated Italian

Tourists watching Mattanza

Staff explaining tuna fishing

Landed tuna

The leader who takes command looks into the sea. The net is gradually lifted. The sight you see for the first time is amazing. The jumping of 100kg-300kg tuna is like the momentum of a hurricane.　

Even three people are drawn into the sea. "Today's protagonist tuna" that I thought of one after another is pulled up by a crane. The two-hour maritime martial arts will end. The men of the sea raise the battle cry and dive for victory. He wants to see the spectacular spectacle again.

A man dressed in a diving suit wrestles with tuna in the net. It's not a fuss about K1. The bloody battle between humans and tuna. Even if it is stopped by a hook and lifted by a crane, it rampages to the end. Tuna is amazing.

A serious look to distinguish the good and bad of tuna after landing. Many tunas are exported to Japan. They are pro-Japanese and they talk to us kindly. The trip is exciting to see on the Island.

From Genoa, head south on the west side of Sardinia Island and hit the northern end of San Pietro Island. Tuna fishing takes place from early May to mid-June. The young owner "Guliano Greco" divides Mattanza.

A female cameraman who releases the shutter while bathing in water. Of course, it comes with an underwater hood. I didn't notice it, but I learned later she is a cameraman of "National Geographics"

The cameraman is wearing a vinyl raincoat. It seems that tuna blood droplets are scattered. The net is pulled up and the brave figure of a fearless sea man approaches. Have expectations on a swaying boat.

mu-bi- 1

If you are in trouble because all the explanations are in Italian, a traveler from Ireland will translate. There are kind people everywhere. Divide into two rubber boats. Aim for tuna fishing grounds.

BAR　RISTORANTI　“EOS”　　★★★

7:30 pm Even though it is the southern end of the city, it is a few minutes, walk from the hotel. The electricity is not turned on yet and the inside of the store is pitch black. "Excuse", "Prego" from the back of the store (please). The store opens from 8 o'clock. Supper on the Island is late and wait. I have no choice but to wait. Two glasses of white wine served. Feels good. Quick customers come to the store with a chill. The store is famous for pizza.

Movie show

Movie show

Mussel spaghetti
Rub your throat so that the raw noodles slide. Finely chopped white mussels with garlic and herbs.

Restaurant EOS

Morning market slide show

Antipasto mist (assorted appetizers)

Bottarga Spaghetti (Salt of tuna ovaries)

The rich cod roe-like grains that you taste
after a long time condense the taste and surprise your tongue.

Assorted appetizers

Calamari (fried squid ring)
Soft and gentle squid ring fried. The elegant taste and freshness are perfect.

Four kinds of cheese pizza
(I like simmering cheese and blue cheese)

Mozzarella cheese

 (Ripe tomatoes and straw boiled octopus match)

(Take out because there are too many)

Marinated tomato and octopus, salad

NIKO　Pizza＆grill　　　　　　　★★★

Both restaurants introduced by the hotel are closed. A restaurant in the back of the alley I found while taking a walk. The restaurant on the Island has a better interior decoration than the storefront.

 Niijima, Luciano, NICOLO, me

Owner NICOLO

Tuna for tasting

NICOLO chef and Mr. Niijima / me

 Keisuke Niijima

Restaurant al Tonno di Corasa 
(Migrating tuna) ★★★

1 bottle of wine € 60

Inside the store, the cameraman Luciano (Parma), who met the owner Nicolo at Mattanza yesterday, is talking about tuna. I also jumped in and participated in the tuna discussion until the end of the world while having a treat with espresso. Tonight's encounter is three stars.

During the meal, Japanese chef Keisuke Niijima (28) suddenly appears. I am grateful for the encounter that Japanese customers are wearing from the main store "NICOLO". When he stopped by for a greeting on his way home, he was guided to the kitchen by the Italian chief chef and showed me the part of the fatty tuna that it arrived today. Impressed by the sashimi that I had for tasting.

This bread is delicious

Marinated octopus

Chief Cook and me

Bottarga/ Rat Ume (Tuna Milt Boiled) Tuna StomachTuna cheek meat, a very gem with balsamic sauce

mu-bi- 1

ボッバァ　空豆のスープ

Calamari

　Light taste using tuna. The sour taste with herbs based on tomato sauce and olive oil goes perfectly with tuna.

After I'm full, I don't need dessert anymore. The owner prepared Italian sweets and after-dinner wine for service to me. It's delicious, but I can't eat it anymore. € 57 for two people.

Tuna sashimi

Eat lean meat and fatty tuna with wasabi and soy sauce (large slices by Keisuke's plan) There is nothing better than this taste on the Japanese tongue. Fresh raw tuna caught on the island 3 days ago is Japanese food for the first time in a long time.

Bottarga Spaghetti (2), Margarita Pizza (2), Fillet Steak (1) Two full bottles of red wine. It's cheap but the taste is average. 4 people € 110

OSTERIA　DELL　TONNARA　★★★

Hotel staff introduction shop. There are two tables in the store on the first floor. "Eh!" Owner Andrea reserves seats on the second floor from 8 o'clock. The blue unified store is really clean and beautiful. At the restaurant on the Island, the waiter explains the menu quickly. Even if I look at the menu, I cannot understand at all, so write the recommended item in Italian in advance.

Tuna steak TONNO ALLA CARO FORTINA

Lasagna

Antipasto di Mare
(Assorted appetizers)

The salty taste of anchovies is not too strong and the taste of lemon matches well. The overall seasoning is elegant and varied. Antipasto is NO1 on the Island.

Recommended shop for traveling ironmen

Osteria del Tonnara

Tuna carpaccio

Bubba　 Broad bean soup

Assorted prosciutto

Owner Tonnara

Osteria del Tonnara (2nd time) NO1 on the Island

CASTELLO　　　　　　　　　　　　　★★

Go through the alley, climb the stairs and turn the corner of the steep slope to the restaurant with a small entrance. The inside of the store is large with a kettle for grilling kiln, and there are seats on the second floor, so the atmosphere is good. Island friend Benjamin (Italian) Have a late dinner with Gion (French) on a yacht (9pm).

Antipasto (2)

Marinated softly boiled octopus

Mixing tomato, potato and caper and dressing olive oil brings out the taste of a mysterious combination.

Assorted antipasto

Restaurant　NICOLO　　　　　　　　　★★★

The taste and price are reputed to be the best on the Island. An open restaurant in the center of the road. Since there is Japanese Keisuke, you can order in Japanese. He is coming from Cagliari during his training to cheer for the Tuna Festival.

Capnada

Salted tuna and dried bread

 Cucumber tomato salad

Every gem has originality and you end up eating too much. The waiter service and the atmosphere of the store are the best on the Island.

Salted tuna
(Soak in boiling salt water for 80 minutes, soak in olive oil)

Service dessert and wine

€ 99 for 3 glasses of wine and 5 dishes is as popular. The three-star restaurant is full until midnight.

Steamed mussels with white wine

A large serving of tuna,
paste A luxurious gem unique to the Island of tuna.
This is enough,
you can eat as much as you want with bread.

We tour guests watching tuna fishing.

Mattanza (tuna fishing) 2nd

Since this tour is run by a privately owned company, "sign" the application form stating that we will not take responsibility for anything. 72 participants. Mostly Italian. It's very different from the previous treatment. But the second time we are two.

shoot Mattanza

Fight against the fierce tuna

We tour guests watching tuna fishing.

4th day after visiting the Island "Gillo TONNO" "Mattanza" at the beginning of the ceremony If there is no tuna, it is the same as the stage without the leading role. I would like to come by bus or taxi without picking up today. I had no choice but to arrive by taxi. Dozens of people have already gathered.

A man in the sea who triumphantly pulls up

Fight tuna in the bright red sea

Grab a tuna

Grab a tuna

Hook and land

Leader of tuna fishing

A fish familiar to us under the name of "Bluefin tuna". The bluefin tuna are plummeting in the Mediterranean. I heard that there was a time when a fish was landed for nearly 900 kilometers. It takes more than 4 years from fry to breeding time. In Japan, tuna is flooding and the tuna crisis cannot be felt.

Desperate shooting on a swaying boat. No matter how much the tuna jumps in the sea of blood that is dyed bright red, it will end when it is lifted by a crane. Rather than fishing for tuna, grab a spectacular tuna. I feel that it is bad for tuna that there are more tourists than caught tuna.　

Hook and land

Sea men pulling the net

Check from the place where the boat arrives to the shooting place. I was the only cameraman who got me on the guard boat. My wife Kotetsu is also denied boarding. I'm glad that the staff I know will take care of me.

Drive tuna

Tuna fishing gimmick.

On the sea with no life jacket, everything is personally responsible overseas I was impressed that I could do it myself. Due to the large number of tourists, the landing location is regulated by ropes. Early on, I got in the staff's car and returned.

Italians are eating deliciously. I am disappointed with the difference from the tuna festival I had imagined. An ordinary traveler in such a case. The four of us who fantasize and laugh on the street as if they were the organizers of the festival.   People on the road exchange greetings. I don't really need words. Before I knew it, the clock was past the International Date Line.

Winemaker owner

GILLO TONNO(Tuna Festival)

The center of Carlo Fonte

 It's raining on the night of the festival, but we tourists who still dance to the musical instruments under the tent. Italians are better at enjoying the trip. There are many places to learn, and you can enjoy the participatory type twice as much as you travel.

Kotetsu, Benjamin, Giou

Free tasting party

I can't find any tuna tasting place I was looking forward to. Buy 3 meal tickets (€ 12) with friends I met on the Island. Benjamin says that three servings are enough because the Carlofonte lunch box is large. An Italian lunch box with red wine poured into a plastic container. Boiled macaroni with tuna and tuna with tomato sauce "only this?"

Coming from all over Italy for a festival. May 30th and 31st are Saturdays and Sundays, so there are many families. It changes from a quiet Island to a crowded town. The band performance is a special stage that is still busy even after midnight. The strong smell of Italian cheese tickles your nose.

Giou

Benjamin

With the Islanders in front of the model of Mattanza

Italian cheese with a strong smell

A rare combination of medium fatty tuna and orange. The seasoning is beautiful, but the seasoning is a little unsatisfactory. After all tuna is good with soy sauce and wasabi. All-you-can-drink with red and white rosé, I got a 2004 Rosso (red) as a souvenir on my way home because I am Japanese. What is free to drink and eat this much! thank you!

Tuna carpaccio
(with tomato and asparagus) olive oil sauce

Slovenian-style tuna sashimi
(Peanuts, tomato sauce, garlic and olives) 　

(Aged and smelled before eating, but I couldn't tell the difference)

Camembert cheese

(I ate it with my own soy sauce because it didn't taste good)

On top of a slice of orange, medium fatty tuna, sweet and sour sauce of seaweed.

Red and white risotto style with cheese

Finally tasting party

8:30 am the next morning. Meet at the "Gill0 TONNO" center. Sign without understanding and get a 22/23 number tag. It seems that they will bring us to the tuna cooking venue at 11:30. The venue is a Slovenian tuna food tasting party (80 people) The chef explains the contents of the dish in Italian. Sponsored by an Italian wine maker. Five wine glasses per person are lined up at each table. There was an explanation about how to drink wine, but I couldn't understand it.

The amount is large enough to eat 3 servings divided by 4 people

Lunch box poster

Iatarian lunch box 12 € (1500 yen)

The tuna festival makes the quiet Island a downtown area.

I ate all the tuna on the Island, but for 400g (€ 6) of the large Toro I bought at the fish store. The sushi I made was the most delicious for me. (Fatty tuna sushi with wasabi) If you season the red meat that you bought for 400 yen, the taste will be even more pronounced.

Tuna made on a yacht.

Epilogue

Kotetsu's one word

I was surprised at the magnificent power of Mattanza (tuna fishing). Americans, French, Italians, Islanders. And the circle of encounters with Japanese people expanded and it was a very enjoyable trip. After all, the information that only the locals know is the real pleasure of a different trip.

When returning, all the clerk gathered and took a commemorative photo. What a pleasant dinner. Two items that I couldn't eat by rubbing my full stomach Takeaway for hotel staff (tuna Steak squid) A thank-you message arrives from the hotel staff. Thanks to the Islanders.

GILLO TONNO night is late. Band, performance continues even after 12 o'clock.
Guided by Benjamin

(a friend I met on the Island) I was able to enter the restricted area. A spectacular view of the cliffs that are about to collapse.　

"TON NARA" that I passed twice Salted tuna, salad, rediscover the taste of tuna for the first time. The owner, Angola, will serve you as a service. I can't speak English, but the staff take care of us.

Winner's work

A child who feels free to shoot

I shop at the morning market

Birds on the cliff

Hotel staff

Child playing in town

Benjamin and Giou on the cliff

A man from Kenya

Islander Benjamin

Street performer

The special stage of the port plays until the morning

Meet Giou for the first time at the harbor

Carlo forte sunset

Cagliari's Japanese cuisine for two

Japanese working at Cagliari restaurant

L mark found on the Island

Postscript

Where is Guio (French) sailing now, leaving Carlo forte, early in the morning of June 3, 2009? Now I can get weather information on the internet, but I can't think of being alone on a yacht at sea. I'm very happy just to meet the masters of traveling in different worlds. She wants to come to "GillO TONNNO" again next year. She is a small Island in Italy. Right next to the hotel is a shallow water where flamingos eat. I was fascinated by the beautiful pink wild appearance in the setting sun. The Island blessed with a wonderful natural environment is full of unforgettable memories. Benjamin and Keisuke came to see us off at the ferry terminal. Thank you.

Small fish come to eat a large amount, of plankton. I am surprised at the blue object that is 3 to 4 cm long that I have never seen before. An Islander fishing with this as bait. A great discovery of the wisdom of life.

1st place Italy
(Venice restaurant ticket)

"Stefano Ardigetti"
　WiNNER　STEFANO　ALDREGHETTi

The curtain on the five-day tuna festival has been dropped
2nd place Germany 3rd place Spain Slovania

Commemorative photo taken at restaurant "TON NARA"

Italian and French people who eat bread as their staple food are also surprised by the taste of Japanese soy sauce and vinegar soy sauce. Vono Vono on bread. Children on the friendly Island pose everywhere and even tourists like me take pictures.

Many acquaintances I met on the Island call out to me "Chao Chao". The weekly mobile greengrocer also opens early in the morning. Each sea in the world changes. Tuna, migrate to San Pietro Island because of the abundance of small fish.

The large Toro I bought at the fish store is 700 yen

Benjamin going fishing

Plankton

Kotetsu (wife) and me on Giou's yacht

May 22nd-June 3rd, 2009

　　　　　　　Yoshimasa Ikeuchi, a traveling iron man

Take out for hotel staff.

Click on the flamingo slideshow