Tired of paying 4 euros or more for a coke at a restaurant here in Baveno, Italy? Don't want to…read morepay for high prices for a salad at the local café?
Try shopping at Savoini.
11am, 98 degrees in Baveno in July in the middle of the great European summer heat wave of 2019. Check with Yelp and find this place Savoini. Walk a half kilometer in 98 degree heat uphill along Corso Giuseppe Garibaldi, the main drag in town.
Reach the top of the hill with scenic views of Lago Maggiore on one side and a roundabout plaza with Savoini supermarket on the other side.
Store hours 8am-10pm Monday-Saturday, and 8am-3pm Sunday. You have to bring your own bags, or pay a deposit on a take out bag.
Inside, the store has fresh fruits, vegetables, an open bin area of various breads, where you select using disposable plastic gloves. You can grab sliced prepared luncheon meats to make a sandwich.
I grab two salad kits at 2.99 euros apiece, along with a 2 liter bottle of pear juice, at less than 2 euros, to take back to the hotel. The cash register automatically dispenses change rounded up to the nearest 5 cents, just like in Canada. No pennies here.
At the hotel, we unpack our groceries. The salad kits come with lettuce, sliced cheese, olives, grape tomatoes, a 5 milliliter packet of balsamic dressing and a 10 milliliter packet of olive oil, combined about a third the size of a standard 1.5 ounce US salad dressing take out packet. And a plastic fork.
The pear juice has 52 grams of sugar per serving -more sugar than a coke! Have to go downstairs to the hotel bar to get ice, as European hotels have no ice machines!
We would go to Carrefour supermarket, one block from the Baveno promenade, the next day, as it is slightly shorter walking distance from the hotel, and more importantly without the hill climb!
