Days 29 and 30

(Dan’s comments are italicized)

What a wonderful time we’ve had over the last couple of days. It was a perfect mix of boat rides, exploring new places, sunbathing, and hiking! The first day, we took a hop-on hop-off ferry to four beautiful little villages built into the mountains.

Something that fascinated me as we approached these lovely places is…why on earth would they build villages in places that are so difficult to build in and that don’t have water sources. As we pulled into one port, we saw a helicopter delivering buckets of something to the village. Seems like an expensive form of Amazon delivery to me!

However, the villages were beautiful and charming, with more Liquorice Allsort-type buildings. We are not quite sure about the etymology of the stripes, but one site noted black and white horses of legend, and another about artwork fashion at the time of all these constructions.

Thankfully, we were exploring on a Wednesday, so there was not really a huge crush on tourists. There were plenty of seats at cafes, restaurants, benches and ferries.

Of all the places we visited, Porto Venere is my favorite and it felt like I was coming home as the ferry turned into our little port. 💖

The next day was beach day (and no, I won’t make you look at our selfies 😂) but will say how pleasantly surprised I’ve been to see older women of different shapes and sizes in bikinis. This is such a change since I was young, and a very positive one to boot.

It was then time to hike up to the castle! The town gate looked much more inviting without the weekend crowds! And gave us a chance to see some of nature’s splendour.

Then it was up, up, up to (and past) a church…

… stopping at times to ‘look at the view’!

The castle itself was more of a fort, built in the 13th century. Napoleon used it as a prison for a while. Nowadays, it’s a draw for tourists but is also involved in an experiment where photovoltaic plants are grown that produce electricity to power the lights!

Although steps aren’t my favorite way of going up hills, I think there’s something compelling and artistic about them.

It has been a real pleasure to slow down and plant roots for a time. We have one more full day here, and it will not be going to waste. I cannot wait.