Deni San Bartolomeo al Mare

... of fresh air and great scenery. We bumped into an old man foraging for funghi. We had a wee convesation with him as he had a little English and was obliging when Kim asked to take his photo. The church was closed when we got there but it was more about the hike than the destination.

The hike took longer than we expected so we missed our run, but managed to squeeze in another capuccio at our local before we left.

... the local bar and settled in for a few drinks and complimentary tapas.

Wed 11 Nov
Riva Ligura even better in the sunlight had a pretty little piazza and church which had a beautiful painted interior - much unexpected by us. The novalty factor was it had automatic sliding doors!

After brekkie it was onto Menton which is a lovely little town just before the Italian border. Menton is a much more down to earth place than its neighbours and more our scene. We found a park right on the beach and went for a wander and took in sum much needed sun. Next stop Italia!!

... poi è comparso l'itinerario. E con l'itinerario le prenotazioni.
Lo Yucatan lo gireremo in auto, abbiamo affittato a Merida una macchina dal 26 ottobre al primo novembre; avendo un mezzo a disposizione non mi sto a preoccupare del soggiorno, avremo la possibilità di scegliere;

... we turn misfortune to our advantage - literally! -by a simple swivel of the seat. Lunch is brought forward and consumed to envy and applause by fellow jammees!
We resume without further incident, and make the miles with time to spare for light aperos before evening meal.

... detto che i festeggiamenti per i morti sono spettacolari!
Ci hanno già cambiato degli orari di due voli, ma per fortuna non creano problemi con altre connessioni.
Martedì procediamo con le vaccinazioni: tifo e epatite A.
Non ho intenzione di partecipare al circo dell'influenza, è tutta una montatura per dare qualche soldino in più alle multinazionali del farmaco.
Molto più seriamente prendo il ...

And Day 4 sees us blasting off for Italy. Robbed blind by French; enter endless tunnels of neighbouring coastline, and dread paying for them... Fab drive (- and fantastic value when we exit for Garda: only 28 euros for whole stretch, where French extorted 38 for one-third of distance!) Hole up for ...

So, Eur-ail moment. In compartment, sandwich man rings bell, cart is outside our compartment. We buy lovely sandwiches and drinks. Alex and I gazing out of window, Parker enthralled in his book. Lovely lady from Florence in compartment with us.

You could write a book about moments like this. I think I had just said something to that affect.

Cut to next scene, older Italian ...

... busy sweeping the sand and realigning the deckchairs for the next day. I would have liked to have seen this scene at midday It would have been thronging with people. [Thronging??] We figured that each zone belonged to either a hotel or a club. I noticed a schedule of fees above one such beach which seemed to indicate that there was a daily rate as well as annual membership. We still have not recovered from the fact that all this was but a stone's throw from our ...

I was on my way from Rome to Barcelona by train. On the border between Italy and France, the train workers went on strike and stranded about 12 travelers including myself at 2AM. We got off the train, and as we waited for taxis to take us across the border these 12 strangers (many of whom didn't speak common languages) pulled out whatever they had in their backpacks (candies, food, drink, trinkets) and everyone shared what they could with everyone else.

San Remo, Liguria, Italy anacristina