A weekend in Liguria

This Saturday was Mathilde’s birthday. I thought it would be a nice idea to organise a surprise weekend for her. Italy was my destination of choice – kind of obvious since Mathilde is possibly even more of a fan of the place than me, and of course it’s just down the road from us… So I typed “pretty village in Liguria” (Liguria being the region closest to us – the Italian Riviera, basically) in Google, and out of the many options opted upon Balestrino.

So off we headed, bright n’ early Saturday morning, basking in the glorious sunshine. After the 90 minute drive we arrived in Balestrino, and found the hotel without any hassle. It was a nice enough family-run place, although we were a bit disappointed by the fact that the swimming pool was out of order. So instead of a swim to cool us down we decided to go and explore the old town, which we had driven past earlier. Much to our surprise, the place was totally deserted, and on the verge of collapse. Kind of spooky walking around, the place felt a bit like a ghost town… Later, we found out that the town had to be abandoned because it was on the verge of sliding down into the valley below from its hilltop… Having explored the town, we headed to the local Trattoria for a delicious lunch. It was just great – tasty pasta, followed by some wild boar stew, and with some nice views over the ruined old town.

After the filling lunch, we headed to the neighbouring village, Toirano. After a quick walk around the predictably cute old town, we headed to the caves for which the town is famous for. After paying the hefty 11 euros entrance charge (per person!), we followed the guide through the dark tunnels. It was all very impressive – especially cool where the cave man footprints still visible in the caves (well, that’s what the guide said the marks were, anyway ;-). After this under worldly visit, we headed back to Belestrino. After a relaxing walk through the neighbouring hamlets, we headed for dinner – the restaurant was owned by the same guy who ran the hotel. We had a very cosy dinner, with good Piedomntaise wine, great Ligurian cuisine and great service (turns out the guy used to live just down the road from us – in St-Paul de Vence!).

The next day we got up bright n’ early again, and decided to have another walk (really need to practice for that upcoming trip to Mongolia…). So off we set, randomly down the road. After a while we came across a footpath that said “Sentiero della via Crucis” (which means “path of the road of crosses” or something along those lines) – which we boldly walked down. It seemed like a good idea, since it took us into the forest – into shelter from the heat of the sun. After about 50 minutes of constant climbing, we started to question whether it was a good idea after all – but we did eventually make it to the destination – the Sanctuary of Monte croce di Balestrino (so basically it was a pilgrimage walk up to a chapel – I guess the name does kind of implies it ;-). Well, I reckon it was worth it, we were greeted by some great views over the surrounding valley and mountains.

Having had our dose of sporty activity for the weekend, we continued our exploration of the valle del Torrente. Our next stop was Castelvecchio di Rocca Barbena, another unbelievably picturesque little village. Our hosts from last night had actually told us about it – apparently the village was in nearly as poor a state as Balestrino, until a bunch of Scandinavians decided to restore it, apparently. Well, the end result is very nice, anyway. Having spent a bit of time walking around the narrow lanes, soaking in the old-world atmosphere, we decided it was time to eat. So we headed down to the bottom of the village, where we found a cosy little bar. The only thing they could come up with was some cold antipasti – but boy was it good. So simple, yet utterly delicious. Italian cuisine at it’s best.

By now it was time to start slowly heading back towards France, although we did make a stop at Albenga. After a walk around the old town (very nice, again), we headed down to the beach for some relaxation. Unfortunately, this being Italy, we had to pay a 6 euros entrance fee to be able to go to the beach at all! Daylight robbery, if you ask me… Well at least we got some sundeck chairs. But anyway, a nice and relaxing way to end a fabulous weekend!

More pictures here.