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 😀]
The following day we set off to explore the Cinque Terre, which are five small villages largely inaccessible by car (well you can, but only by a very wiggly small road high up in the hills, goodness knows what that is like in a moho!). For tourists, there is a modern train line which makes travel to these villages quick and easy. You can also take small ferries from one village to another, which we did too.
We decided to visit three of the villages, Vernazza, Manarola and Riomaggiore. The only one we really liked (and which was really scenic) of the three was Manarola.
First stop was Vernazza. Fairly small, we felt there was not a lot to see so we wandered around briefly then took a ferry to the next stop!
Of course there are tourists galore and they ruin all your photos! 😀
From Monte Carlo to Levanto.
The next village will be in the next post.
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