Life at theTop
Trip Start
Apr 17, 2002
1
16
31
Trip End
May 21, 2002
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Perinaldo,
Tuscany,
Italy
Saturday, April 27, 2002
Edyta had lost their address and phone number so we were on our own unable to match the map with the sign-less reality of Italian country roads.
Finally, Edyta managed to stop a car with a local driver who knew the way to Perinaldo. We dumped the hitchhikers in a hurry and followed the car.
At some point the guy pulled over and pointed ahead. Again we were on our own. After a while the road turned into a nasty, very narrow serpentine, full of potholes. It got dark and mist started appearing here and there making us feel like we were entering a strange, mysterious world. And we were indeed...
Finally our climb was over and we arrived in a small town at the top of the mountain. We did not know the address but fortunately everybody knew M. either under his name or as Maestro. M. is a professional pianist and he also plays organ in the local church. By the way, I. was away, in ... Genoa (!)
The next day, after I. had joined us we had an opportunity to appreciate how weird and wonderful the place was.
Most of the 1000 strong community live in houses more than 500 years old. The flats are arranged in a vertical fashion with rooms above each other so that a 3 room apartment would take ... 3 levels.
The views are magnificent; you can see mountains, some with snow, some with settlements similar to Perinaldo, beautiful green valleys and on a good day you can even get a glimpse of the ocean.
As you would expect in a mediaeval town, the walkways are exceptionally narrow so that you could easily jump from a house on one side of the street across to one on the other.
Italian Pizza We had already tried pizza in Italy before we got to I. and M.'s but we took an opportunity to go with them to a proper restaurant. They drove us all the way down the mountain to Bordighera which is a typical, nice, coastal town.
We tried a couple of different pizzas including my favourite pepperoni. They didn't look or taste anything like their Australian equivalents but were very nice nevertheless.
