We had a lovely warm day in Nice for the morning and viewed the beach but decided it wasn’t us as the stones on the beach were almost too much for most people to navigate in bare feet. They looked most uncomfortable unless they had a mat under them to lie on or boat shoes on their feet; neither of which we had. So we explored the old streets of Nice and the unusual shops that were to be found there. We enjoyed a shop that sold all sorts of designs enveloped in a clear resin including paint brushes – very clever. We went to the Museum of modern art with Noami in tow saying that it was a load of rubbish. But interestingly we all enjoyed it and got many laughs from the pieces on show. It was a good contemporary museum to visit in terms of its range of art.
After a leisurely late lunch by the fountains we set off back to hotels as Therese wanted to use internet and Naomi wanted to sleep before visiting Monte Carlo casino that night. Luckily we decided to do things in that order as a thunder and lightening storm followed by torrential rain would have ruled out an afternoon on the beach even if we had wanted to.
Italy here we come. We started along the coast towards the border to be confounded by traffic. So that is easily fixed – hit the “peage”( pay motorway) and $30 later and 2 hours as opposed to 6 or so we were in Portofino, famous as the wedding place of Wayne Rooney a couple of weeks ago. Well this was a lovely spot to visit but given the breakfasts at the hotels cost $100 that blew our accommodation budget for the day so staying was not an option. What we did see while we were there was some amazing super yachts and a truly beautiful piece of the med with the rocks rising out of the sea and buildings hidden up in the rocks.
Next target – Cinque Terra – UNESCO heritage site along the med coast where 5 towns are perched on the rocks above the sea. We stayed at a place called Levanto from which it was easy to train into the Cinque Terra National Park and it had a “nice” beach (less stones than Nice etc). It had a slower pace about it and we found a lovely Alberge close to beach and settle for 4 days. But best of all the weather is great, blue skies with a hint of a breeze blowing off the sea. Mark has hit the med water and had his first of many swims here I would say.
We set off at 7.30am next morning to tackle the coastal walkway that connects all the 5 towns along the coast. We planned to beat the tourists and the sun. Both of these plans worked as by the end of the trail we had certainly found tourist-Ville and no longer had the track to ourselves. But the scenery was spectacular with sparkling sea disappearing on the horizon in the sunny haze and rocks that dropped down to bleu – green seas. The track also wound its way through local gardens where olive trees, grapes vines and fruit trees found homes in carefully retained areas of the hillside. These guys would farm the vertical slope if they had to.
These Italians do not let terrain stop them going places. The motorways and the train track go through hills and over bridges not deviating from the planned course because of hills and valleys. Amazing stuff.
Food – yes it is as good as we expected. The gelatos, pizza and pasta have all been top class. So far the coffee has passed muster also. In Levanto we have found a couple of places that do good food for reasonable price that we will visit more over the next couple of days. The parmesan cheese here has a great zing to its flavour and they give you copious quantities to smother over the pastas. Certainly enjoying the summer weather and activities that have finally come our way.
Having walked the coastal path along the five towns the next challenge was to walk to the end of the park to a place called Port Venere. This track would take some four hours from the last town on the coast as you first had to climb to the top of a ridge before an easy walk along the ridge downwards to the coast. We found a bus that took us two thirds of the way up to the top of the ridge so we were able to cut the trip back to about three hours walking. But the walk was well worth the effort as the views were spectacular, the bush clad hillside scenery contrasting at each turn with the sparkling blue med sea. We were high up with views down on townships that had carved a nook in the rocks and perched themselves and their farmlets on the hillsides dropping down to the sea.
Once at Port Venere we decided to get a boat back to the coastal town we started at. This was an inspired choice as the views from below looking up at the ridge provided more revelations. Those villages we saw from the top perched along the hillsides looked more dramatic from below. I have no idea how they harvest their grapes and get them up the hillsides for wine making.
We take for granted in NZ having access to any beach on any coastline we want. This right doesn’t exist over here for two reasons. One there isn’t much coast line that can be called beach and where beaches can be found they are small and have very few public areas, the rest being set up with chairs and umbrellas that where you need to pay to enter. Consequently you find people perched on rocks, jetties, concrete abutments, whatever they can find to sunbathe upon. I find it quite comical as I wouldn’t go to the effort to climb to places some go to just to lie in the sun by the sea.
After a leisurely late lunch by the fountains we set off back to hotels as Therese wanted to use internet and Naomi wanted to sleep before visiting Monte Carlo casino that night. Luckily we decided to do things in that order as a thunder and lightening storm followed by torrential rain would have ruled out an afternoon on the beach even if we had wanted to.
Italy here we come. We started along the coast towards the border to be confounded by traffic. So that is easily fixed – hit the “peage”( pay motorway) and $30 later and 2 hours as opposed to 6 or so we were in Portofino, famous as the wedding place of Wayne Rooney a couple of weeks ago. Well this was a lovely spot to visit but given the breakfasts at the hotels cost $100 that blew our accommodation budget for the day so staying was not an option. What we did see while we were there was some amazing super yachts and a truly beautiful piece of the med with the rocks rising out of the sea and buildings hidden up in the rocks.
Next target – Cinque Terra – UNESCO heritage site along the med coast where 5 towns are perched on the rocks above the sea. We stayed at a place called Levanto from which it was easy to train into the Cinque Terra National Park and it had a “nice” beach (less stones than Nice etc). It had a slower pace about it and we found a lovely Alberge close to beach and settle for 4 days. But best of all the weather is great, blue skies with a hint of a breeze blowing off the sea. Mark has hit the med water and had his first of many swims here I would say.
We set off at 7.30am next morning to tackle the coastal walkway that connects all the 5 towns along the coast. We planned to beat the tourists and the sun. Both of these plans worked as by the end of the trail we had certainly found tourist-Ville and no longer had the track to ourselves. But the scenery was spectacular with sparkling sea disappearing on the horizon in the sunny haze and rocks that dropped down to bleu – green seas. The track also wound its way through local gardens where olive trees, grapes vines and fruit trees found homes in carefully retained areas of the hillside. These guys would farm the vertical slope if they had to.
These Italians do not let terrain stop them going places. The motorways and the train track go through hills and over bridges not deviating from the planned course because of hills and valleys. Amazing stuff.
Food – yes it is as good as we expected. The gelatos, pizza and pasta have all been top class. So far the coffee has passed muster also. In Levanto we have found a couple of places that do good food for reasonable price that we will visit more over the next couple of days. The parmesan cheese here has a great zing to its flavour and they give you copious quantities to smother over the pastas. Certainly enjoying the summer weather and activities that have finally come our way.
Having walked the coastal path along the five towns the next challenge was to walk to the end of the park to a place called Port Venere. This track would take some four hours from the last town on the coast as you first had to climb to the top of a ridge before an easy walk along the ridge downwards to the coast. We found a bus that took us two thirds of the way up to the top of the ridge so we were able to cut the trip back to about three hours walking. But the walk was well worth the effort as the views were spectacular, the bush clad hillside scenery contrasting at each turn with the sparkling blue med sea. We were high up with views down on townships that had carved a nook in the rocks and perched themselves and their farmlets on the hillsides dropping down to the sea.
Once at Port Venere we decided to get a boat back to the coastal town we started at. This was an inspired choice as the views from below looking up at the ridge provided more revelations. Those villages we saw from the top perched along the hillsides looked more dramatic from below. I have no idea how they harvest their grapes and get them up the hillsides for wine making.
We take for granted in NZ having access to any beach on any coastline we want. This right doesn’t exist over here for two reasons. One there isn’t much coast line that can be called beach and where beaches can be found they are small and have very few public areas, the rest being set up with chairs and umbrellas that where you need to pay to enter. Consequently you find people perched on rocks, jetties, concrete abutments, whatever they can find to sunbathe upon. I find it quite comical as I wouldn’t go to the effort to climb to places some go to just to lie in the sun by the sea.
1 comment:
aaaaah sooo beautiful and i am still soooo jealous!!
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