* Between The Sea (the Med) and The Alps -- {Pronounce: ontruh la mair eh lay zalp}

Friday, September 5, 2014

Rock Villages of the Riviera dei Fiori I

Italy I 01

During Doc Leo's last years of employment, he often worked in Italy.  As it was more practical to drive than fly, he usually whizzed by the countryside on the coastal autostrada (turnpike), often wondering what the villages up in the hills were like.  We decided to take an end-of-summer last camping fling exploring a few of them, so you don't have to!  I tried to capture some of the sights for you, but you're on your own for the sounds and smells.

Please feel free to click on any picture to enlarge it, as I deliberately kept them small on this page to eliminate too much scrolling.  But a lot of details get lost being so small.

Italian Riviera
Italian Riviera
Crossing the border from the French Riviera, known as the Côte d'Azur, you enter the western portion of the Italian Riviera known as the Riviera di Ponente (setting sun).  Being a long coastline, it's divided into two parts.  The section closest to France is called The Flower Coast, and it's definitely full of greenhouses. 

Separating the two halves is Genoa, home to old Chris Columbus, but we didn't get anywhere near that far around.  Our whole trip only involved 200 km/125 miles, which took 2.5 days at turtle speed.  A famous tourist town you may have heard of, at least thanks to Englebert Humperdinck, is Portofino, which is located in the other half.

Our intent was not to visit the coastal beach towns, which resemble coastal beach towns around the world, but the hinterland, up in the Ligurian Alps, which are not particularly dramatic in that section.  However, we followed the coast from home to Bordighera, a rather pretty little town we actually have never toured before, just past Ventimiglia.

Right off the parking lot, we came across this amazing ficus tree.  We didn't see anything that said how old it was at the time, but that didn't stop it from being quite impressive.  It wouldn't be Italy without a scooter in view.  Then we toured a bit around the Old Town.  This little corner is so typical.  Pretend you can actually see the Med out the archway.

Italy I 02
Ficus macrophylla planted in 1887
Italy I 03
Bordighera Old Town

This is another very typical Italian scene.  There's a French pop song mentioning the Italian jolie linge (pretty laundry), which is just too funny being as how you cannot visit the country without seeing laundry hanging out windows everywhere, as also seen above!  As for the peeling paint, there's a reason why Disney and US restaurants portray the Italian feel with it.  It's more common than it's not.

For those who enjoy Italian cuisine, I thought you'd like to see a real Italian menu board.  After all these years, I can figure out enough of it to order something and know what I'm getting, but not completely.  Coniglio is rabbit, but I have no clue what the Ligurian style is.  But it all looks quite fun and exotic, doesn't it?

Italy I 04
Typically Italian
Italy I 05
What's for dinner?

Although I didn't capture the non-interesting outside, I thought you might enjoy the interior of the local church.  The Italians are as flamboyant with their interiors as the French are minimalistic.  (The Germans can be pretty flamboyant, too.)

Italy I 06
Santa Maria Maddalena  XVII century
Italy I 07
Side altars

As we headed into the hills, it was time to look for a campsite.  Usually the Italian hills make great places for camping, but this particular section has really steep hills, so there weren't very many side roads.  Argh!  However, we did manage to find a fairly isolated spot, but the clouds were really rolling in.  Here is how it looked when we made camp in the evening, then how it looked the next morning.  Surprise!  There's the Med!

Italy I 08
Evening in the clouds
Italy I 09
Beautiful morning sunshine

Looking a bit towards the right, we were treated to a really nice view.  (Unfortunately, I was dealing with my still unfixed camera aided by the inferior quality tablet camera, which often came out better, a very disappointing experience.)  The foreground is obviously Italian hillside.  Around the first bay is the coastline of the French border town of Menton, and beyond that, with all the light high-rises, is the Principality of Monaco.  We live not too far beyond those ridges behind it.

Italy I 10
From the Italian Riviera to the French Riviera on the Mediterranean Sea in the Ligurian Alps

As this was a camping trip as well as a sight-seeing one, here's how we found ourselves the first day.  Although we were just off the side of a road, it's really mostly a hiking trail, and we were fairly isolated.  We did get some visitors as we we eating, and they just simply wished us a good meal!  We moved our table out into the road so we could see as much of the above view as possible as we breakfasted.

Italy I 11
Passo del Bandito (Bandit Pass)
Italy I 12
A tranquil breakfast

As we were in absolutely no hurry, we decided to look for the road along the ridge (in the above pictures) opposite us after we packed up.  Since the terrain knows no political borders, the mountains run in the same steep fingers as on the French side.  In other words, you can't get there from here.

In the first picture, looking to our left, we had a nice view of the Med.  To our delight, there were some paragliders floating around, which you can see in the middle top, which contrasted nicely with the large boat cruising to somewhere.  Too bad this region at this time of year is usually quite hazy. 

Looking to our right, beyond the valley between this path and our campsite, was the town we were planning to visit.  It wasn't visible from our camp at all!

Italy I 13
The Med from Passo del Ronco
Italy I 14
Principality of Seborga

This town was pretty cool, so I'm saving it for a post all on its own later.  You'll just have to come back to find out all about it!  Along the route, we came across this really fun gate.  I hope you find it as pretty as I did.  Later, we had lunch along the road with a view of this town from the other side.  When was the last time you lunched under a medieval hillside village?

Italy I 15
An artistic entrance
Italy I 16
Casually lunching

The next town we visited, for the most part, was more interesting in its surroundings, although it has its place in history.  The 17th century astronomer Cassini came from this town, and they have an observatory in his honor.  He eventually moved to Paris and designed the observatory there.  A spacecraft was named after him, as was an asteroid.


"The Day the Earth Smiled"

"The Day the Earth Smiled" - Saturn with some of its moons, Earth, Venus, and Mars as visible in this Cassini montage (July 19, 2013).

On July 19, 2013, the probe was pointed towards Earth to capture an image of the Earth and the Moon, as part of a natural light, multi-image portrait of the entire Saturn system. The event was unique as it was the first time NASA informed the people of Earth that a long-distance photo was being taken in advance. The imaging team said they wanted people to smile and wave to the skies, with Cassini scientist, Carolyn Porco, describing the moment as a chance to "celebrate life on the Pale Blue Dot".


Italy I 17
Perinaldo in situ
Italy I 18
Perinaldo up close

Inside the town, we came across this closed church, which is right next to the town observatory.  It has some really nice trompe-l'œil painting on the front.  We also had a pretty view of the Med from a terrace.

Italy I 19
Sant'Antonio  XVI century
Italy I 20
View of Vallecrosia and the Med from Perinaldo

Once again, it was time to find another campsite.  Once again, we ended up on a dirt road to somewhere that appeared to be fairly unused.  Once again, I got some evening and next morning shots of the views we had, although the evening photographic quality is rather lacking.  Still, I thought you might enjoy the contrast.  Straight in front was the town we'd just visited, to the right were the the mountains between us and home.

Italy I 21
Perinaldo by night
Italy I 22
Ligurian Alps by night

Italy I 23
Perinaldo by day
Italy I 24
Ligurian Alps by day

As we just drive in our modern car on these paved or dirt modern roads all over these rugged hills, it's hard to keep in perspective what it must have been like for those who settled these various towns seven or eight centuries ago, or even the settlements thousands of years ago.  Not only did they not have all these roads, they didn't just hop over to their local restaurant or grocery store for dinner.  And we think we have it hard.

Next I'll show you a few more villages and some of the fun things we found in them.  I hope you've enjoyed this little Italian travelogue so far.

4 comments:

  1. Grin. Come visit me and I'll take you on a day trip! They even have real restaurants for normal people.

    ReplyDelete
  2. As always, your photos are fantastic. What beautiful places you've visited. Glad you had these opportunities! Was there wonderful wine everywhere?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Of course there was wine everywhere. This is Europe. Wine can be cheaper than the plentiful worldwide Coca Cola!

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