Category: Italy

There is a rail station on the hillside above Camogli. It’s a handy way to leave the rental car parked while we visit nearby towns. Parking in these villages is nearly impossible so once we find a spot in a free space we stay put.

Saturday we took the train to Genoa. We’d heard mixed reviews about the city but we found this old port town to be really interesting! With more time we’d visit some of the museums and spend more time wandering around the alleyways.

The buildings are elegant and the shops are upscale. Our first stop after our train arrived was the Marcato Oriental a huge market packed with Italian fruits, veggies, meats, cheeses, pastries, pasta and more! Genoa is famous for pesto and the photo below shows how it’s sold at the market.

We found another landmark, Duomo di San Lorenzo. It’s black and white facade make it distinctive.

We learned that Renzo Piano was born in Genoa and responsible for the renovation of Porto Antico (the old port). There is as Aquarium here and many shops including the specialty Italian food market Eataly!

Our Sunday rail excursion took us on a 4 minute ride to the next coastal village Santa Margherita Ligure. Our rail tickets cost 2,20 Euros each.

From here, we took a short bus ride to Portofino. Huge crowds and even bigger yachts (neither shown in the photo below) parked in the small harbor, caused us to turn quickly around to get back on the bus. The town is in a lovely setting but it’s one place we wouldn’t return to.

Focaccia is another regional specialty and it makes a perfect light lunch.

There aren’t many signs of fall but we did see these miniature pumpkins displayed at the small market in Santa Margherita.

We’ve had a fine stay in Camogli.

The village has a rich nautical history and the small Maritime Museum is filled with artifacts, ship models and paintings. There is a beautifully restored theater (Teatro Sociale) and we attended a delightful concert of Beatles (and other pop music) by young Italian musicians.

So, we’re just about to end our stay on the Ligurian Coast. Tomorrow we’ll retrieve the car from our coveted parking spot and drive to our next stop–in Tuscany–Lucca.

It’s pretty here in Camogli as the town is located very near the sea. Today we walked to the next village, Recco, and this is the view of Camogli from our trail.

We visited a basic seafood restaurant last evening and enjoyed delicious fried seafood, French fries, and eggplant fries.

Just so we weren’t eating all fried foods, we ordered Tuna Caponata–tuna with olives, anchovies, basil and tomatoes. Simple but totally delicious.

There is a a wood shop in town that sells unique wooden items at highly inflated prices. Still, the woodworker in the shop is charming and the shop unique.

The main streets of Camogli are lined with buildings like these. It’s lovely!

Locals gather in the town square to watch the sunset. As soon as the sun dips below the horizon, everyone disperses–perhaps to prepare dinner! It’s a nice tradition!

Maybe I like Noli a little better than Larry does but it’s a cute, sleepy fishing village–with a population of 2,861.

For a different scene, today we drove the coastal route to Alassio–a larger city with more glitz than Noli. It’s warm today and everyone was on the beach, in bathing suits absorbing lots of rays.

We ate another traditional Ligurian meal last night. These crackers made with chickpea flour and rosemary were a nice appetizer.

The restaurant was cozy inside…and quickly filled to capacity.

The name, Bucun du Preve means “morsel of the priest.”

Tomorrow we’ll move on to our next stop Camogli. But first, we’ll have breakfast at our hotel…the breakfast choices include cereal, cakes, croissants, crostata, yogurt and fruit. It’s quite a spread and it’s all good!

We arrived in the seaside village of Noli on Monday afternoon. The narrow lanes, towers, and tall houses make this an interesting destination.

We learned that Christopher Columbus stopped in Noli on his way to Portugal! Today we walked to the hilltop castle for a great view of the harbor where Columbus might have landed.

We have a nice room at Villa Salvarezza. It’s spacious and reasonably-priced.

We watched the chefs at Restaurant L’Alice Innamarorata carefully create this large and delicious cheese board which was our appetizer before dinner last night. They used a variety of local cheeses with jams, honey, hazelnuts, pear, and more…it’s a work of art!

It was chilly and rainy last evening–this was the view from inside the city wall looking out towards the sea.

We’ll be here one more day before we move to our next stop Camogli.

We left our apartment this morning without a plan. Sometimes that makes for a really interesting day and today was a bit unusual. We drove to Borolo but on a Sunday, the town was clogged with people visiting the famous wine town. The photo above shows one of the many Borolo vineyards. The countryside is beautiful and today many people were out hiking, biking, and motorcycling.

We drove on to our next destination Cherasco. To our surprise, they were having a Snail Festival!!

We tried a couple of interesting tidbits. Here’s Larry with his snail snack. Larry describes this as the ultimate slow food!

The town itself is charming with an arched entryway at each end of the Main Street.

Our next stop was the town of Bra. Bra was also festive with wine stops and dancing around town. We watched these Swing Dancers near the main square.

They invited us to join them and we followed along making our way to a hilltop venue.

They are part of a dance club called Swing Juice. They were very kind and even danced a couple of dances with us oldsters. Below is a photo of a couple dancing the Lindy Hop!

So, it’s been a very fun Sunday! Tomorrow we’ll pack up and head for Noli on the Ligurian Coast!

We drove about 30 minutes this morning to go to a huge outdoor market in the nearby larger town of Alba. In addition to peppers, we bought a roasted chicken and zucchini for dinner in our apartment this evening.

I bought Larry a scarf–it’s called a foucol–and is the type worn by Italian truffle hunters. This region is known for white truffles and now Lar is prepared for the hunt!

I’m back from a walk around town. The late afternoon sun lighting the inside of this church in La Morra was stunning.

We’re enjoying a couple of relaxed days here. We’ll be in La Morra at least two more nights.

Yesterday we drove to Asti of Asti Spumante sparkling wine fame. We liked the town! On the way back to Neive, we stopped in the hilltop village of Barbaresco–another town with a famous wine name.

We were happy to return to Neive where we had dinner our last night at the no nonsense Osteria Borgo Vecchio–just up the hill and on the left in this photo.

Today we drove not far to our next stop, La Morra, a village in the wine region near Barolo. We are happy with this small apartment that we’ll be staying in for the next three nights. The price is right at less than $60.00 per night, the kitchen is well-stocked and we were thrilled to find a washing machine!

The Wi-Fi is a little slow here so this is a quick post. The weather is great–crisp in the mornings and warm during the day. Larry has a cold but is feeling better. It’s nearly time for pizza and we’re happy!

The Hotel Borgese where we’re staying in Neive serves a wonderful breakfast. Larry tried and enjoyed this egg and cheese dish topped with truffles.

After breakfast we drove through the Langhe region of vineyards,

rolling hills and pretty villages.

At our wine tasting last night, we learned that it’s still a couple of weeks until the grapes are harvested. Here’s Larry preparing to taste.

For the price of 10 Euros we tasted 5 different wines from vineyards nearby. Wine varieties included Dolcetto, Barbaresco, and Barbera. The bottles ranged in price from 11 Euros to 40 Euros. We learned quite a lot about wine production in the Piedmonte region of Italy from our enthusiastic, young teacher.

The Hotel here was recommended to us by Atlanta friends. It’s very cozy and not too expensive. The clever table decorations with gourds and peppers are perfect for fall!

Ciao!

We’ve packed up and moved on but we have nice memories from our stay in Turin. So many beautiful shop windows with everything from olive oils and pastas;

to pretty party dresses!

It’s easy to get around the city with an elaborate transportation system of buses, trams, and this slick Metro.

We were feeling a bit silly on our last evening around the town and took this selfie.

Now we’ve moved on to the hillside village of Neive with a wonderful Clock Tower,

And lovely church.

The overnight temps will be in the 40 degree-range. Coolest so far!

We will use this as a base to explore the Langhe region for the next three nights!

We’ve heard that the museum here is the best outside of Cairo. Though we haven’t been to Egypt, we’d say that this Egyptian Museum is pretty fantastic!

Below is a statue of Ramses II.

And this hall is lined with images of the lioness goddess Sakhmet.

In addition to a great Egyptian Museum, Turin is also known for excellent food–like this nicely presented cheese appetizer.

We’ve been to a food shop called Eataly in New York City but there is also a fantastic one here in Turin. It’s packed with fun Italian food items that are reasonably-priced and beautifully displayed!

Around town, we love the cluttered look of this bar.

And how one city street looks at night.

Today is our last day to explore Turin. We think we’ll be back!