We drove south past Tuscany and into the region called Lazio, which is where Rome is located. We stopped for two nights at a campsite beside Bolsena Lake, which is an old volcanic lake and is the largest one in Europe.
The following day we visited Civita di Bagnoregio, in an area known as the Badlands, where the rock is subject to erosion. The village, perched high up on an eroding rock, is known as the 'Dying Town', and has from 10 to 16 inhabitants, depending on what you read. However, tourism has brought this village back to life and the entry fee charged to visit goes to the villagers to help with maintaining the buildings and staving off the effects of erosion. I also read that Harry Styles had bought a house there, but for once, we found somewhere old that wasn't filmed in Game of Thrones! 😀
The village was founded by the Etruscans more than 2,500 years ago and originally had five city gates to enter, but only one remains now. An earthquake in 1695 caused the village to separate from the area which is now the neighbouring town of Bagnoregio, and many townsfolk moved out.
The only way to get to the village is by a pedestrian footbridge from the town of Bagnoregio, which was built in the 1960s. The only vehicles allowed are bicycles and motorbikes for the locals and a golf cart which they use when necessary. I do wonder how they move their furniture and possessions when they move in/out of the village!
It's quite a steep walk in places!
San Donato church, built in the Romaneque style, was remodelled in 1511 in the Renaissance style and a central portal added in 1524.
Inside the church - it is quite plain compared to many Italian churches we have visited.
There isn't a lot to this village but just wandering around looking at the medieval architecture is a delight, and there are a number of restaurants to cater to the tourists. We had a really good pizza for lunch - though not all pizzas in Italy are good, they are as hit and miss as in any other country!
You can really see the bare rocks here and why they call this area the 'Badlands'!
Bolsena
On our way back to the campsite we stopped at the top of the medieval town to have a look around the old section. The night before we had a meal out in the lower part of the town and the whole upper town is lit up and the castle looked amazing in the dark.
Monaldeschi Castle was built between the 11th and 14th centuries.
Looking down over the old roofs with the more modern part of the town further away towards the lake.
It's a shame the weather changed and the following day it rained! It would have been nice if the sun had been shining when we took our photos here, but overall we had only the one day with bad weather out of three weeks.
Having come from France where we had a really dry summer we were quite amazed by how green it was in Italy - it seemed like they had had no drought at all. Even after a normal summer I would have expected brownish grass still in September, but everywhere was really lush.
We then took the small ferry on to the village of Manarola. You can stop at all vllages apart from Corniglia which doesn't have a quay big enough for the ferries. We gave that one a miss anyway as it is perched up on a steep hillside and is something like 300 steps up from the train station - umm no thanks!
This ferry that passed us was larger than the one we were on. It was only a short journey onto Manarola, about 15 minutes I think, but so enjoyable and scenic that the time passed much too quickly.
This is Corniglia, mostly perched up on a rock.
Manarola. Loads of people were swimming off any bits of rock where they could find a space. Some young guys were jumping in from high up which was fun to watch.
There was more to see here than the previous village we visited. Don't you love all the different colours of the buildings? However I know for sure that a lot of the photos I've seen of these villages (postcards particularly) are WAY oversaturated as the villages just do not look so brightly coloured as they are portrayed.
We had an enjoyable lunch out, and that salad is not my lunch! I had fried fresh anchovies which are delicious - like whitebait but larger and you eat the whole fish, bones and all. Keith had a mixed fish and shellfish grill.
These villages have terraced hillsides where traditionally farmers could eke out a living cultivating olives and vines on the stony ground.
There's a path you can take between the villages as well but we just walked to the viewpoint.
Looking back in the direction we came from.
I discovered after a while that my lens hood had moved and appeared in many of my photos! Thankfully I was able to crop it off the photos above.
We then took the train on to the last village of the day - Riomaggiore, which is close to Manarola. There was a bit of a walk from the train station but the central, scenic bit was quite small. The village was only really colourful right by the water as well.
And then we took the train back to Levanto, after an enjoyable day out! Would I recommend a visit - yes of course, but unless you are really fit and can do some good walks up in the hills or between villages there is not a lot to see in the villages themselves. But to have a potter, mooch around a few touristy shops, have a nice meal and enjoy a mix of ferries and trains like we did, it was still a fun experience. In fact the last time I had taken a train was in Switzerland in 1997 so that was fun for me too! 😀
You might wonder why we have not been to Italy in the Moho before. In fact it is about 28 years since we holidayed in Italy, plus a night there en route to the ferry for Greece in 2000, which was hardly recent either! There are two things we found offputting. First, pre Moho we liked to picnic at lunchtime - saves a lot of money and it's generally fun. However we found so few places in Italy where you could park up to even take a photo of a view, let alone have a picnic. One day I remember it being about 5pm before we found anywhere that we could pull off the road at all. We cut our holiday short and went back to France, where scenic picnic spots abound. The other reason I'll tell you about a bit further down in this post.
On our way we stopped for a couple of nights at our favourite campsite near Le Lavandou, for a visit to the huge market the next morning and the beach in the afternoon. I managed to get into the sea despite it being a bit cool, I just took my time, and was so happy once I had taken the plunge. I feel like we missed out in the previous September when the water had been just too cold.
En route to Italy we had a lunch stop off the motorway which just happened to be above Monte Carlo! I spent a lot of time with my binoculars having a good sticky beak at the fancy yachts and posh apartment blocks. Below is looking to the left of the town centre.
And this is very zoomed in of a part of the marina, where the fancy boats and yachts moor. I love looking at posh boats in marinas and try to imagine what it would be like to be able to afford to holiday in such a way! You can see some nice roof gardens in this photo too if you click to open it up.
Once we arrived at our campsite at Levanto we were pitched above a dry river bed. I was looking at it when suddenly I heard some rustling and thought it was dogs coming out, but no, it was a group of wild boar! There was just time to call Keith and grab a mobile photo before they disappeared off - in the direction of the town! Wish I had had my zoom camera handy. There are actually four in this photo but you should be able to see the two on the gravel bed, especially if you open up the image.
We had a wander around Levanto, a good base for visiting the Cinque Terre villages by train or boat, which is what we did the following day. I loved this building covered in Trompe l'Oeil decorations. Only the windows and shutters are real.
Interestingly decorated church!
The beach, looking in both directions.
Below, further up the beach.
Now this is the the other reason we were put off by Italy. A vast majority of the beach space everywhere is private, with only a tiny area of public beach (not always easy to find). Beach clubs are everywhere. On our previous holiday in the 90s we drove through coastal towns where we couldn't even see the sea because the beach clubs blocked the view!
I see it hasn't changed. Fine if you want to spend a whole day at the beach and you fancy a sun lounger and umbrella, with a handy bar and restaurant, changing rooms and showers - and are willing to pay for it. But imagine that if you are a family of 5 on a two week holiday. Bloody expensive. Or people like us who just want to go to the beach for a paddle, or maybe to swim and sunbathe for an hour or so. The public beaches are usually not the cleanest either. I just thank my lucky stars that it is not like this in France or Spain! Now go back and look at that beach in Provence at the beginning of this post. [Rant over 😀]
