Our last day in Santa Barbara was so full and exhausting that I didn’t have the time or energy to adequately sing the praises of Tondi Gelato.
First, some back story…
We had headed out to downtown Santa Barbara that afternoon with the intention of checking out the La Arcada Plaza, a cute shopping area.
But on our way we drove right past El Presidio de Santa Bárbara and decided we wanted to check that out as well.
But after we parked the car, we realized we were right next to a huge and very intriguing building (it turned out to be the City Hall) and we just had to explore it.
So, we ended up walking around City Hall, then down and around the Presidio, then back up and around La Arcada. By the time we got back to the car we were feeling a little pooped, but Ramesha suggested getting gelato, which gave us a second wind!
The only thing is that the gelato place ended up being rather elusive. Thanks to less than helpful GPS directions we ended up walking way out of our way and still couldn’t find it even after asking someone for directions.
We were laughing pretty hysterically at this point and were close to giving up, when we finally found it! And boy were we glad we did!
First of all, this is totally the real deal Italian gelateria. We ended up meeting the owner (Tondi is his nickname), who grew up in both Italy (near Lago di Garda) and Santa Barbara, and we really enjoyed chatting with him.
And the gelato was soooo good! You must go if you’re ever in Santa Barbara!
