Liguria

I didn't exect this weekend to be so wonderful.

In Perth I was lucky to meet Federica, who was there for three months from Cattolica, and with whom I've caught up a couple of times in Milan.

She is from Rapallo, a short distance north of the Cinque Terre, and was enthusiastic about bringing me with her on a weekend visit to Liguria, the regin with Genoa as capital.

Her and her family's kindness was beyond expectations! Getting to Rapallo on Friday evening, we had a lovely home cooked Ligurian dinner with her family. On Saturday, after a typical Ligurian breakfast (salty focaccia dipped in warm milk!), we did a day trip with a couple of her friends to the Cinque Terre, less than an hour's train trip from Rapallo.



We started with Rio Maggiore, the most southern; we walked la Via dell'Amore, getting to Manarola (the second). To reach Corniglia we took a more adventurous hike up the lovely hills of the region, covered with vineyards, which took us about 2.5 hours, was challenging but very fun! We enjoyed a well-deserved tomato, cheese and rocket focaccia for lunch, had a siesta break, and made our way to Vernazza (fourth Terra), another fair walk-hike but most pleasant as the sea sceneries were amazing. Vernazza was my favourite of the towns we visited, as it had a lovely beach which we relaxed at for a good hour, before returning home.



A nearby town, Camogli, held its annual festival on Saturday night/Sunday, so we took Federica's scooter and met a group of her friends there for some drinks and chats.

On Sunday, we took the scooter again and travelled along the Ligurian coast, admiring the modest and natural beauty of towns like Santa Margherita Ligure, Portofino (where we ate some cheesy focaccia and saw a number of less-than-modest villas, including Berlusconi's holiday home), Recco, Sori and finally reaching Genoa.



We ate a gelato. We saw the world's second-largest acquarium (the first was in Valencia) and walked along some streets of the world's largest historical centre! It was very curious to see the many little alleyways known for the large prostitution traffic. On our way back, we stopped at Boccadasse, where we apparently HAD to try this famous gelateria... voila', 5 ice cream flavours in one day!



In the evening I truly enjoyed another home cooked family meal with Federica's family and a few friends. The diet continued with chocolate profitteroles... but a sweet end to a really lovely weekend :)