Sunday 6 September, Father's Day - Ligurian Hill Towns

Very disappointed to turn on the phones this morning and find no messages from my lovely children. Not really! Maybe they are holding back for my birthday tomorrow. Or maybe not. It had been another dog-interrupted night, not enough to be an issue, but it makes us wonder why somebody doesn’t shut up the ringleader dog permanently, as there is one clearly recognisable bark that sets the others off. Being a full moon, there has been quite a bit of howling and baying.

Being Father’s Day, took a while to get up, and even got breakfast in bed. Woohoo! Finished my 4^th (5^th?) book before I got up. We had decided to do the hill town loop of Ceriana, Baiardo, Apricale, Perignaldo, Vellegrosia Alta, Ceriana. Looks interesting on a map and was most exciting in reality. My driving skills have been well tested today. The road to Ceriana seemed quite narrow to me when we arrived. Up to Baiardo it narrows appreciably. Doing it on a Sunday morning was probably a good move, as very little traffic on the roads. The GPS didn’t want to know about Baiardo. Not an issue as the road is well signposted, so didn’t bother trying to find the route on it. It turned out there is an alternative spelling of Bajardo which may have been in it.

Baiardo was not very far away, though we have to travel quite slowly on these roads, as there is always the risk of somebody else coming around a blind corner on a single lane road. Very attractive landscape. Often travelling under trees, a lot of chestnuts and who knows what else.

Arrived into Baiardo, and having learnt from past towns, took a park quite early and walked into town. Sunday morning must be biking day, as we passed quite a group of sweaty lycra-clad men chatting after completing the climb into the town. A really lovely old Ape on the way up – looks much more like as truck grafted onto a Vespa than modern ones do. There is a lovely ruined church at the top of the town, partly destroyed along with several hundred people, in an earthquake in 1887. Baiardo has quite a different feel to Ceriana. A bit more touristy, a bit less friendly, and a bit more open. It also has a distinctive French flavour compared with Ceriana, with a lot more wrought iron, window boxes and so on. Karen managed a few minutes chat to her father for Father’s Day. Since it was a special day, we stopped in a square for a delicious pastry and a coffee. Not the best coffee (the flavour is different to NZ – more like the coffee made from the Vittoria bricks you can buy in our supermarkets, dryer and less rich). Looking out from Baiardo, we can see the start of the Maritime Alps, rocky and harsh.

Enjoyed wandering the streets for a while, then back down to the car and off to Apricale. This proved to be even more French, complete with French tourists. A lot of painted murals on the walls, and a very attractive town piazza, with a number of nice buildings around it. Two very pleasant restaurants under umbrellas, one with many tables filled, and the other empty bar a bored-looking waiter. We wonder if it might have been different if the first person to sit down had chosen restaurant number 2.

Snuck up and down trough various maze-like alleys, many with tunnels. One particular restaurant had 3 pairs of seats lined up in the tunnel it was on, then an underground room done up in reds that looked perfect. Dozens of cats about, mostly pretty scrawny. 

Now came the fun bit. We had to cross the valley from Apricale to Perinaldo. It was only about 8km, and was clearly was a secondary, or possibly tertiary, or most likely quaternary road. Talk about narrow! Virtually the whole way was single lane, and very much single. If we had come across a car in many places, one or other would be backing up a hundred metres, or often more. However our luck was running today. Passed two cars, both by chance on some of the rare 1½ lane wide bits. It was really pretty hair-raising going hundreds of metres on single lane road, and hoping that we wouldn’t find a car around the next (and inevitably blind) corner. Anyway, quite a lot of fun. We seem to have managed to pass cars at just the right spots during the whole trip to date.

Reached Perinaldo in one piece, and again parked early to make sure of it. Again, a totally different feel to the town. It surprises us that each of these towns has had a distinct character, as they are very close together. Apricale had been less friendly (more tourists?) but Perinaldo back to being more open. Went up to the far end of town looking for the observatory (Perinaldo is where Italy’s greatest astronomer had been born), but couldn’t find it, or maybe there isn’t anything there. After working our way up the village and past the church where organ practice was taking place, had got very hungry, perhaps from nervous energy from the recent cross-valley drive. Saw one lovely balcony where the owner had set up a complete little wood-fired pizza oven, and a terracotta sink beside it. Looked very nice and something I have planned for home anyway, though just the oven part. Spotted a small fire on the hillside looking out west.

No ordinary food places open, but a restaurant with a nice view was. Had one ravioli and two flat noodle ragus, both delicious, in a delightful setting. Thankfully from here the road was more or less 2-laned, as we felt we had done enough single lane work for the day! I am getting used to it, and now think nothing of squeezing past another car at 20km/h, with maybe 30cm each side. New Zealand roads are going to seem absurdly generous by the time we get back. I have completely stopped trying to change gears with the door handle now, and am finding the process not too stressy.

Our final little town was indeed small – Vallecrossia Alte. Just a cluster of tightly-packed little houses off the road down the valley. Its main distinguishing feature is that many of the old doors are painted with scenes of what might once have been behind them – wine shops, bakers and so on. We wonder if they might have been based on fact, perhaps from an Italian Doomsday Book which recorded addresses, names and professions. All around here, the valley is covered in big commercial greenhouses, both on the lower slopes and even up on the hillsides. The stonework here is based on rounder stones, and perhaps as a result of this, the walls are a bit wobbly here and there. One little alley had 11 arches across it, presumably to strengthen and brace bulging walls. One arch had 1605 carved into it. Italy has been inhabited a lot longer than NZ. While we were walking the town, the fire plane has been heading backwards and forwards, probably to the fire we had seen earlier, which we had noticed had grown a lot. Warm today, as against the last few weeks of hot weather, and almost calm, so hopefully the fire-fighters won’t have too much trouble.

A most enjoyable trip, and fascinating to be able to see the range of towns, how they are put together and the way their inhabitants treat strangers. We realise that Ceriana is still very unspoilt – the bulk of people here are locals – and they are very friendly towards strangers. Probably not what we were expecting, at least not immediately.

On the way home, managed to find a supermarket open, so stocked up on essentials like beer, cheese, limoncina and wine. Had a bit of confusion trying to price one particular variety of peaches on a self-service label printer, until on asking we found what we had taken for a variety actually meant “by the tray”.

Coming back into Ceriana, were not able to find a place in our normal carpark, but have been incredibly lucky getting a place there the previous two times. The roads have been covered with painted writing, perhaps for tonight’s procession, or maybe we have missed a cycle race, which is the normal reason for roads being written on. We will have to go out and confirm where and when things start and end tonight, as we have a suspicion that it heads way up the road before coming back, and it may take just too long.

We haven’t thought too long and hard about the possibility of buying here. I think the prices may be too much anyway, and the only way it would be worthwhile would be to buy somewhere that already has a decent roof, good structure, power and water on, and all necessary permits. The cost both time and money-wise of getting these would be too much. So what we are really after is something half-completed, or the proverbial doer-upper. And I don’t like our chances. We didn’t like the touristy towns, there’s no way we are prepared to live on the end of a road like Apricale to Perinaldo, and we would like to be reasonably close to the sea. We’d also like to be somewhere very villagy and non-touristy, and maybe Ceriana with its swimming pool is as close as we are likely to get. We will probably spend a bit of time looking when we have more time on our hands, after Sally has headed back.

We are looking forwards to the procession tonight, and the singing afterwards. It all finishes with a free hot chocolate at Café Pelegrin, though we can’t imagine how they could make enough hot chocolates for the numbers we imagine might walk.

As it turned out, not an issue. We went to the end of the tunnel where I thought I had Patrizia had directed me to, but nothing happening, so went back to the main square where there were a few We are looking forwards to the procession tonight, and the singing afterwards. It all supposedly finishes with a free hot chocolate at Café Pelegrin, though we can’t imagine how they could make enough hot chocolates for the numbers we think might walk.

The walk turned out to be rather long. Left at 8:30 as stated on the posters, with a group of maybe 100 others. The oldies had already headed up by bus, so we were among young to middle-aged, many with candles for the walk. Full moon tonight, but it doesn't come up until late. The walk was slow, as it was punctuated with over a dozen stops at various shrines and churches along the way to the Santuario at the top of the hill. A number of people had left out rows of candles in jars along the way to light our path. A carabinieri behind to prevent drivers crashing through us all. Constant chanting by the priest and a female cohort of "Ave Maria" and more, got a little repetitive by the time we had walked for two hours, as you can imagine. Some pleasant singing from time to time though, with many of the group having very good voices. We didn't have much idea about how far or how long it would all be,  and kept hoping each new church would be the endpoint, but as it turned out we went right to the pass at the top. We think it was getting on for 4km. Not in the least strenuous, but just a bit long. For once it was getting pleasantly cool, and we had on more than one layer for the first time in our trip.

Finally reached the top two hours later at 10:30pm, having lost and gained various people along the way. A big church in the pass, with more decoration than most, and a mob of people outside waiting for the procession.

We sat around outside listening to the singing and service, but not knowing how long it might go on, decided we had enough at about 11pm, so set off on our way back, waving torches at any passing traffic. Home in just 45 minutes, being downhill, stop-less and faster.