Our last full day on the Italian Riviera and another beautiful day! We spent it biking along an old railway which has been turned into a bike trail along the coast from San Lorenzo, just outside Imperia, to San Remo and back. E-bikes made it easy; the sun made it hot! But the Mediterranean was an enticing shade of blue and so on the way back I went for a dip at San Stefano. Refreshing! John thought better of it.

The last two days have been local: yesterday we headed about 10 minutes down the road to Borghetto, for a cooking lesson at Bar Centro with Chiccio, and today we went for a walk near Ormea, just over the Piemonte border and then up to the tiny village of Quarzina for a rustic lunch at a refugio with some friends of Jackie’s.

The cooking lesson was fun and informative, and the results extremely tasty. Bar Centro is tiny, and serves a workers lunch during the day, as well as opening at night. We “cooked” (using the term loosely – we were in the tiny, well-organised restaurant kitchen so mostly we helped a little, took notes and asked lots of questions) onion fritters (simple and delicious), hand made tagliatelle with pesto, rabbit with red wine, and apple “cake” (apples baked in a batter which came out looking a bit like focaccia) again, simple and delicious. Stuffed full, we had a quiet afternoon before visiting Sophie, a local sculptor (check out Sophie Dickens on Instagram to see some of her work), and then wound up having drinks and dinner with some friends of Jackie’s who live down the street in a beautifully renovated apartment.

Today we did a walk along a river starting at Ponte di Nava and finishing at Ormea. It’s a river where folk come to catch trout and there were a couple of fishermen out, as well as some dog walkers. As it’s early summer the wildflowers were out and the views up to the mountains were lovely. From Ormea, we headed up (literally) to Quarzina, a tiny village with stunning views down two valleys, to a simple little rifugio restaurant for a rustic lunch, then back to Ormea for a stroll before driving back down the valley to Pieve. And it was yet another sunny, warm day.

Another sunny day on the Italian Riviera: we headed off to visit some villages on the coast close to here heading first to Finalborgo, an ancient walled town dating back to the 1200s. It is part of a broader town of Finale Ligure, which stretches down to the coast. The medieval centre though is charming: narrow streets, interesting architecture, and amazing church: yet another tiny town with an amazing historic church in the centre. And with it being early summer here the smell of jasmine was everywhere!

From Finalborgo we headed to Alassio. Again a stroll through the centre of the old town and back along the promenade by the beach – which is wall-to-wall umbrellas and sunbeds! Alassio was a bit bigger and very beach tourism focused. We continue to be surprised by the number of private beaches here: I know I’ve said this before but the concept of a beach resort is different here in Italy. The locals have their favourite, out of the way spots and italians come from Milan or Turin for their summer break to towns like Alassio. At least it was sandy unlike Nice! Alassio had the resort-y feel of Noosa – folk wandering back from the beach for lunch were everywhere and there were hotels and restaurants with a view all along the promenade.

We carried on to Cervo for lunch at a restaurant on a hill with a stunning view over the sea and watched the big yachts out in the bay. John has christened our host Jackie the car park whisperer for her ability to find a park in all the little towns we have been visiting and top of the hill in Cervo was looking dodgy but she found one. As well as a castle and a wedding-cake coloured baroque church, the hill above Cervo has B&Bs and various spots to eat: but it’s a long walk up the hill from the beach!

So, we are back in Liguria again. Yesterday we had a relatively quiet day – a wander around the village, lunch at an agriturismo in Mendatica, an even smaller village in the hills about half an hour away, and a stroll through the antique market and medieval centre of Albenga, on the coast about 40 minutes in the other direction.

The weather is warm and sunny, fabulous for strolling and gelato-sampling. We have been surprised by Pieve: for a village of around 1400 there are more shops and services than you would ever see in a similarly sized village at home including various alimentari, outdoor gear shops (there is walking in the hills around here), tabacchi (like a news agent), bakeries etc. And in the square behind the main street which serves as the car park, an enormous church – one of several in town. Yesterday, Sunday, the shops were open in the morning and folk were out and about: Monday is the day most things close here.

We have been surprised by the number of expats here: kiwis, australians, brits and others but it is not yet at the level of say, Tuscany. Out of curiosity we had a look in the local real estate agent’s window: a total fixer-upper in a smaller village could be had for 25,000 euro (and we mean total!). No, we are not tempted – we’ve heard too many stories in the last few days of the quirks of italian renovating!

We didn’t realise it until we were arranging this trip but this area of Liguria is really close to Piemonte – so the Langhe wine region is as close to Pieve di Teco as Martinborough is to Wellington. So we have spent the last two days in Piemonte tasting wines and cheese, and along the way visiting Barolo, La Morra, Bra and Alba.

The landscape is one of rolling hills with vines and hazelnut trees – Ferrero Rocher, the chocolate firm, is from this area and one of the local delicacies is gianduja – a classier version of Nutella. Alba is also known for truffles (wrong season), and the whole region is known for wines paricularly red: Barolo, Babaresco, Barbera d’alba and nebbiolo. We had some lovely whites too and visited a local sparkling wine producer.

As well as the wines we had lunch at Il Cortile, a lovely osteria overlooking the vineyards near Diano d’Alba, and an extensive (!) tasting of 16 italian cheeses at a specialist cheese shop in Bra.

After all that, the next day was a stroll around the Alba Saturday morning market and a picnic lunch near Barolo, then a tour and spumante tasting at Contratto, a small spumante producer based in Canelli – and very nice it was too!🍾

It’s been a packed few days here: our first day was local – a walk up a wooded valley to a historic bridge near Lavina and a trip down to the coast at Imperia – both enjoyed under a very warm Ligurian sun!

Pieve is small – about 1400 people – in a valley 20 kilometres from the coast. The town is not on the international tourist radar at all, but there are a surprising number of expats who have bought in the district as living the italian dream is still possible here: it’s cheap, near the large town of Imperia, close to an international airport at Nice and about an hour and a half from the wine region of Langhe in Piemonte.

Like so much of Europe, Napoleon was here and so on Thursday morning we enjoyed a walk following a small river up a valley to a historic bridge dating from his campaigns. It was sunny, quiet and we were the only folk there. After lunch we headed to the coast for a look at Imperia – a small city of two distinct halves created by by Mussolini merging together Porto Maurizio and Oneglia in the 1920s. So Porto Maurizio, set on a hill has lovely baroque architecture and magnificent views, while Oneglia, down by the port is a bustling commercial centre.

IT gremlins: not sure how I managed to post something twice! But here’s a little more from Nice. And yes, the sky really was THAT blue!

Today we spent the morning in Nice before our pick up to start our Italian “tour” in Pieve di Teco – using the ” because we are the only members of the tour group!

So Nice was nice but don’t feel the need to return – but travelling from NZ on Qatar it allows for a direct flight from Doha and has good transport links within France and into Italy without the hassle of an enormous airport to transit through so I’d think about it as an entry point again.

We spent Monday, a public holiday, seeing the sights of Nice including the Port, Colline du Chateau, the Promenade des Anglais and the old Ville. We had lunch in one of those iconic beachside bars come private beaches and saw some “interesting” public art.

Tuesday we took the train to Grasse, about an hour away, to do a perfume making workshop at Molinard, one of the perfume houses based there. The train passed through Cannes and Antibes and gave us a good view of the coast – and some of the very large and expensive super yachts which are a feature here. The workshop was fun, but we didn’t really get to see Grasse as Molinard wasn’t really near the centre at all.

Today we visited the small but interesting Matisse Museum in Nice, and then explored the park, Franciscan monastery, gardens and cemetery around it. The cemetery has the graves of Henri Matisse and Raoul Dufy, many of the great, the good and the monied of Nice, as well as having some nice views!

So tonight we are in the village of Pieve di Teco, near Imperia, in northern Italy. And more about that tomorrow!

A slow start to the trip blog: the hotel’s wifi has been down since we arrived on Sunday afternoon and as Monday was a public holiday it wasn’t fixed. It’s still dodgy so hopefully this loads and I’ll post more on Nice when we have a stable connection.

Nice has been interesting as a stop after a long flight – warm, tourist friendly, good food and some sights to see but our three night stay has probably been enough – particularly as it’s been a bit grey and overcast, dampish here and there and if you know Queensland beaches a sun bed and brolly on a stony beach just isn’t the same!

No doubt you’ve seen the coverage of the mosque shooting in Christchurch. It’s led to much soul searching here in New Zealand. For me it’s been a very emotional time and the country I grew up in has irrevocably changed.

That weekend I was on a photography workshop on the south coast of Wairarapa, an hour and a half outside Wellington. There were two of us and a tutor, and we spent the weekend on the coast between Lake Ferry and Cape Palliser, playing with our cameras, trying out techniques, filters and locations, and finally photographing the seals near the lighthouse at Cape Palliser. There is no way that seals can’t lift your spirits!

So here’s a sample of shots from that workshop. Being in nature is good for the soul.