A Ligurian weekend

Liguria is a province on the west coast of Italy – the most famous city it contains is Genova (a major port and home of Christopher Columbus). It is also famous for the very pretty walk around the coast called the Cinque Terra. It is a mountainous area with a mix of mountainous and fishing village perched on hillsides and of course, being Italy is insanely pretty. We went to neither Genoa or the Cinque Terra but visited friends who live in a place called Camogli. Their apartment is perched on a hilltop and, just to make sure your butt remains taut and fabulous having climbed 800m worth of stairs from the sea, you need to climb another four flights of steep, dark stairs (building code eat your heart out) to step into a view to die of…..

and at sunset...

 Their apartment was just as beautiful - built in the late 1700's, it has exposed wooden beams, crisp white washed walls, tiled floors (some original) and piles of lovely NEW ZEALAND art works!

Our arrival was preceded by a last minute detour from our 100% reliable GPS navigating system that came with the hire car (an ultra- modern Alfa Romeo) and another vomit (Gwilym). That nicely topped up the vomiting bag, already half full from Silas. It is not easy looking relaxed and sophisticated holding a bag full of vomit. I digress.

Andrew treated us to a lunch of fresh caught local fish and potatoes before we headed off down the many steps (past many beautiful houses) to the sea for a dip (in the Mediterranean no less) while the sun shone. At this stage I won’t digress into how unbrown and unskinny I felt but the water was cool and delicious – similar to the gelato we consumed shortly after. Gwilym and Silas both chose chocolate and proceeded to ensure that most of their upper bodies were well covered before we headed home.

Andrew and Rory head to gelato at right

Andrew and Marina had graciously invited us to stay before allowing us to gate crash on their night away (they have a 6 year son called Leonardo) at an Agriturismo. They had, rightly, thought that combining the sea and mountains in one weekend would be most satisfactory and they turned out to be right. Before we left however, we headed back to the sea again on a walk that wound around the hillside and down the cliff (again on many hundreds of steps) to the sea. En route we stopped for a snack. The region is well known for its focaccia (foh car chee ah) and it is to die for (and so was the shop pictured below!).

Foccacia

The coast is spectacular – very steep and the villages dot the inlets around the coastline – all muted pinks, yellows, reds – you know the postcard stuff…

Often the only access to some remote areas is by boat or on foot and it is rare, in Italy, to be able to drive to your house. As Rory and I have noted, in New Zealand, we expect to be able to park our car beside our house and unload our mountains of groceries conveniently straight into the kitchen. In Italy, it is not abnormal to struggle to find a park in the same street as your apartment (you have to remember where you last parked the car), then to have to carry your groceries from the car or the supermarket to your home which may be up 4 flights of stairs. Hence – my latest fascination – Italian people just don’t have our version of pantries. They simply do not store large quantities of food but buy small and fresh (firstly it satisfies their desire for good quality food and secondly – they can’t carry a vast quantity of food). The country people would be different I am sure! When I asked to see Marina’s pantry, she showed me a tiny cupboard in the lounge, otherwise, it’s just the fridge?

So later in the afternoon (timed perfectly with the boys need for a sleep and hence the ability to avoid more vomiting on an hours drive on winding, steep roads) we headed for the Agriturismo. It was located further on from an amazing village which claims to be the first ‘organic region’? in Europe and they pride themselves on organic food production. The Agriturismo is run by a couple who wanted a change of lifestyle so did up (they literally started with a stone shell of an old farm building which even the roof had caved in on) an old farmhouse and started growing organic food. They provide accommodation and food (a restaurant runs on the weekend) – providing amazing food in a warm, rustic, relaxed mountainous setting. Check out our room!

Our lovely room - full of quirk, beauty, rustic edges and old things

Gwilym patiently awaits a Ligulian feast

The boys loved the animals and the open space although the sound the donkey made failed to correlate with their parents woefully inadequate impressions, and the sea-fog-horn-like noise left Silas in tears with shock!

The dinner was wonderful. I won’t bore you with all the courses (it is usual in Italy to have at least 4) but it included most of their own produce including bread made from their own grain and pasta made from their own grain! Oh and some wild mushrooms found that morning, and preserved zucchini, fresh tomatoes etc. Fantastic. Marina and I managed a walk before dinner around a circuit which included a bumpy dirt road and up to the top of the hill to the little village and we enjoyed admiring lush, productive vege gardens, overflowing with food and inhabited by the usual (I didn’t take offence to this) slightly odd, hard- working farmer types. All around us were dotted villages perched on ridges of hillsides, always with a church and the accompanying bell tower and a cluster of buildings. The next morning we gaily suggested we drive our route in the cars before heading home – forgetting how rough it was. Rory sat tensely by my side, the 900 euro excess for damage at the front of his thoughts while I carefully negotiated the alfa romeo around the track until we reached the tarseal. 

The kids found an old stone wall to launch from - in true Gwilym style there was no holding back

At the col we stopped and picked fresh blackberries just to eat on the spot, extracting Gwilym at one stage from a full submersion into a blackberry bush with the accompanying tears. Silas and Gwilym enjoyed having a new friend in Leonardo and they walked along the road holding hands which was very cute. A number of photos of wild flowers later (other countries wild flowers always look so much prettier than the ones we are used to seeing), a few stolen grapes and fresh figs and we headed down to the town for a wander before heading home. Check out Varese Ligure:

Courtyard in Varese Ligure

If you search for ‘Varese Ligure’ online, you will find some images which give a birds-eye-view shot which suddenly makes sense having walked around it. There were heaps of very cool, narrow, old paths to get lost in with porticos to wander under.

So back to Milan and rain and entertaining small boys. Worth it though. I am not complaining although Gwilym says that Daddy is his special friend and he wants to put Mummy in the rubbish tin. A thankless task!