jetjunkies

May 6, 2019

When traveling I’ve found that plans are always subject to change. Today was one of those days. The original plan was to go to the Cinque Terra to hike between two of the five little villages tucked between the headlands. Last night the hotel informed us that the police weren’t allowing hiking without technical footwear, in other words hiking boots. This is a new development because of falls and broken limbs on the steep trails. So, today we just enjoyed the sun and walked around Santa Margherita.

This is the start of my daily breakfast that is usually included with our room. The fruit here is so good it’s just impossible to pass up. I have to say that all the fruit and produce has just been top quality the entire trip. Salad greens so fresh that you could swear the chef just ran out and picked them.

The huge win for the day is that we dropped off our laundry and can pick up clean clothes tonight. What felt like 30 lbs of laundry by the time I’d drug it all over town yesterday, was really 3 Kilos or 6.6 lbs. A far cry from 30….. The laundry service in the hotel charges 5.5 euros to wash a pair of undies and 15 euros for a pair of pants. The local laundry about a 12 minute walk away charges 5 euros/kg. Have never been so excited to have clean clothes!

After disposing of our laundry bags, we decided to visit the Duomo. We were wandering around some lovely streets looking at the old buildings and finally asked a lady where it was. The people here are so friendly. She led us to the right street and pointed us in the right direction. My Italian has improved over time, but it’s still difficult to remember the proper words fast enough to carry on a little conversation. We leave for France tomorrow, so not much more opportunity to practice. Suzanne says that the natives are enjoying my mistakes more than when I get it right.

Absolutely, stunningly beautiful cathedral. As you can see from the scaffolding, some repair work is being done. The photo below is straight up at the ceiling.

Really like the faux architectural details on this building.

I have been looking in all the shop windows for a new lightweight shoulder bag. The one I brought with me is very old and has started falling apart under the strain of travel. Today was my lucky day…..Italy is known for it’s leather, but I finally found a fabric bag that will hold all my stuff.

As you can see below the Mediterranean diet is really agreeing with me….

We passed a couple statues on our peramulation around town. There was also a class of little kids on the beach. How lucky are they?

The photo below is of the Monument of Garibaldi and above is Columbus (he is claimed everywhere. I fact I’ve noticed in my travels that he is also buried in several different cities and countries).

We had a great dinner last night at Reve restaurant, Cod with lemon sauce, mashed potatoes, asparagus and sun dried tomatoes. We are going back again tonight for our last meal in Santa Margherita. As you probably know people eat fairly late here. Suzanne and I have adjusted our dinners to 7 to 8 pm, but as you can see below we were the only ones in the restaurant for almost 20 minutes.

Arrivederci! A Domani….