Following  the Via Della Costa trail along the Ligurian Coast, courtesy of the Timon Lepidus Trip 2018, here are my “must sees” (and one to maybe pass on) between Ospedaletti and Taggia.

1. Fabulous thing to do No.1 – have breakfast at sunrise

Yes, I know that this was on my last post, but just because it was fabulous then, doesn’t make it any less fabulous now. Suck it up.

And anyway, it’s a good excuse to remind you who I was travelling with.The morning air was as warm as the night’s had been, so eating out on the terrace of our apartment was a perfect start to the day.

From left to right: Katarina (Swedish), Andrea (Italian and owner of the apartment), Marika (Italian), Els (Belgian), Inma (Spanish)

Andre’s breakfasts of fresh croissants, bread rolls and fruit bowl were consistently great throughout the week. Yesterday it was  planned that we would walk from the French border to Ospedaletti, but it was such a hot day that our leader, Alessio, had taken pity on us and cut out the last few miles in favour of more time at the beach.  Today we were taken from our base in Imperia back to Ospedaletti  from where we had a 20km itinerary, which leads me neatly to:

2. Fabulous thing to do No.2 – bicycle from Ospedaletti to San Remo

Now, I don’t wish to confuse as I had told you that this trip was about testing out a walking route along the Ligurian coast, but Alessio’s secondary intention was to give us some of the best experiences that the region has to offer and this bicycle route is right next to the path, so it was an inspired idea that we should bicycle -and it was so much fun.

Many thanks to Katarina for this pic

I hadn’t  been on a bike since I lent mine to a friend several years ago and who has failed to return it (you know who you are). Truth be told, bicycling near where  I live is far too much like hard work as it is very hilly; I fancy one of those battery-powered jobbies (hint).  But here our route was entirely flat and has several points here you can hire and drop off your bike. Alessio had us line up for a group photo to start….

….. and we were off, whizzing along the wide track.

The only problem was that taking pictures when you are bicycling is a bit hit and miss and most probably illegal.

Spot the decorative tooth

I found it all quite exhilarating; especially the tunnels.

The route is sandwiched between the beach and the minor road serving the resorts so there were loads of places where you could stop and have a drink and something to eat.

I was really sad when we had to leave the bikes at San Remo though my bum had had enough.

Fabulous thing to do No.3 – have a guided tour of old San Remo

I gather that San Remo is called the Town of Flowers and because of its mild climate has a very long growing season, exporting flowers is a major industry. Alessio had arranged for us to have a tour of the old part of the town. To get to it we walked through the busy new town….

… and met our guide by a map of the old city.

Basically as you walk up the hillside the older the city gets. We started off underground  …..

…..where we saw where the water used to be brought into the town through a series of subterranean pipes and water courses.

The guide was speaking Italian with Lorenzo from our party translating so in my desire to take as many pictures as I could I missed a lot of what was said, so I can only really offer a few “best of” pics.

One of the striking thing about all of the old parts of the towns we visited was that the narrow lanes have masonry braces near the tops of the buildings.

This is an area which is prone to earthquakes and they are there to help stop the buildings from falling down when they are shaken by tremors.

As with all guided tours, sometimes it is the trivial that grabs people’s attention. On this particular one for me it was cats in window boxes….

… water pipes….

…. and for Inma, a belt on a blond-haired passer-by.

It was a really interesting tour though, and if you don’t have a guide there are lots of explanatory boards on walls to tell you about the place.

That’s Miriam – one of the two local students who was also with us this week

And if you tire of buildings there are always those cats in window boxes.

Just for the sake of accuracy we did do a little more bicycling after San Remo, during which Inma and Marika did a lot of shouting. I don’t know why. We were due to  walk up to Bussana Vecchia but Alessio could see that some of us were wilting a bit in the heat so instead we took the mini bus.

No so fabulous thing to do No.1 – visit Bussana Vecchia

This village in the hills was devastated by an earthquake in 1887. Abandoned, it was renovated and repopulated by an international community of artists in the early 1960s. But you are not allowed to stay there overnight and it has no residences.

Just inside the entrance to the village is a memorial plaque to those who lost their lives in the earthquake.

We traipsed though the narrow lanes….

….passing many mini galleries, though I saw nothing that made me want to go in.

Despite the charm of the rough walled lanes and allies, it struck me as a phony, manufactured place. The nail in the coffin was a double fronted shop where a guy has created a landscape for a train set.  However well done this was, it was not art. It was a train set.

The best bit of Bussana for me was the ruined church at the top of the village.

I guess it wasn’t safe to go in , so we peered though the metal railings …..

….. and in a large mirror near the church tried to get a group selfie.

Frustratingly the camera focused on Lorenzo’s cap

All this before lunch!  After Bussana we actually did some walking. By now the sun was high in the sky and it was hot. The view to the built up area by the coast was not exactly scenic.

We descended the valley side on a wide track at first…

….followed by several kilometres on tarmac road…..

… our destination, Taggia.

I can’t say that I enjoyed this hike though the unloved, dried up countryside much. We passed several empty glass houses.

The approach to Taggia was off-putting, too, the town sprawling over the valley floor, hemmed in by the A 10 motorway.

We  were walking on the Via Della Costa trail , but it wasn’t selling itself to me.

However Taggia was to provide two fabulous things and the first was lunch.

Fabulous thing to do No.4 – lunch al fresco

By the time we reached Taggia we were hot, thirsty and famished – an excellent state to be in when what is on offer is lunch outside under an awning.  Plate after plate of breads and savoury pastries were brought , starting with the Bruschetta, of course.

Who says I can’t do portraits?

Rice and minced courgette …

….. was followed by tomato-topped bready pizzas and fritters of some kind.  Another carb-fest.

They kept bringing plate after plate and sent us on our way with Alessio carrying several bags of left overs. Lunch was followed by:

Fabulous thing to do No.5 – have a guided tour of Taggia’s old town

I must start by saying that if you do  have such a tour you must, must, be guided by this lady. I’m sorry to say that I did not make a note of her name but she was the best.  To start with she was speaking English, which helped, but it was English with a unique accent – a mixture of cockney, broad Black Country and Italian and delivered with such enthusiasm and  animation  that if she told jokes she would have an award-winning stand-up routine.

First port of call was the old bridge.

Then she led us back into town via the Bastione della Biscia….

…. to a square with the obligatory washing hanging from a balcony.

A covered walkway paved in slate: “slate,  mate” our guide roared – several times -….

… led to  several churches (natch)…..

… the interiors of which were very ornate.

Cats were in evidence……

….. and I still found myself amazed at the necrologies….

…. though here the main point of trivia- interest was a broken down old Fiat 500  that was blocking the alleyway.

Everywhere in these narrow lanes we saw the same bridges between the buildings to protect them from earthquakes.

We finished off at the Palazzio Lercari…

… where even here it was acceptable to hang out the smalls. I loved their rusted armoured windows.

It had been a whistle-stop tour, but an excellent one.  We offered our enthusiastic appreciation to our guide whilst Alessio videoed her feet.

Back in our mini-bus, we were whisked back to the apartment where we just had time for a shower and a change of clothes before our final appointment of the day.

Fabulous thing to do No.6- visit the olive oil museum, shop and restaurant of the Carlo Carli company in Imperia.

The girls (forgive me but I do not mean to be demeaning or disrespectful but you can post an offended response if you like) had (with the exception of Marika), decided to glam up for the outing.

From left to right: Els, Inma, Marika, Miriam and the ever-smiling Katarina

We were met  by a very serious woman guide who took us through this excellent museum.  Her English wasn’t excellent but it was good enough and she told us that she had never taken a tour before so we were all on her side.

I am hugely embarrassed to admit that I failed to take any pics myself so I have pulled a couple off the internet. Shameful, I know.

The museum tells the story of where the olive tree grows, how olive oil came to be used, and its cultural importance.

After the tour we were taken into a high-tech tasting room where a handsome young man (who I named Adonis – Marika certainly appeared besotted) gave us a lecture about how the quality of oil is assessed (sweetness, bitterness, smell, astringency, and persistence of taste  in the mouth) followed by a tasting. Fascinating stuff.  I asked him where the name “Extra Virgin” had come from and was surprised to find that he didn’t know. No one seems to know.  A challenge for John?

This actually is my pic

Supper was served at an open kitchen with bar stools at a counter running around the kitchen. An odd arrangement and not well suited to collective conversation.

Another stolen image: I am so sorry.

Here’s the menu.

On Lorenzo’s recommendation (he being local), I had the Trofie with the Pesto sauce. Far too salty.The olive oil based deserts were nice though, as were the several glasses I had of chilled white wine.

Post dinner we had a bit of a crisis.  The day time temperatures had been a very hot 28 degrees and even though Alessio had been shaving off parts of the walk it had still been quite demanding. Tomorrow’s itinerary was 22.5.km (14 miles) plus three guided tours. A daunting prospect for me and  Katarina reckoned that if she did this she would not be able to walk the next day. Inma was talking revolution and taxis. We approached Alessio but he was pretty implacable, saying that we knew what to expect and he wanted us to do the whole walk. It got a little tense- what to do? You’ll have to wait to find out.

Many of these images – and a lot more besides- are now available to use for pennies at Getty Images. Just click this link.