Robin's Ligurian travel guide

Robin is a family friend of ours, she lives in Italy and, although she is currently working back in Australia, she gave us some tips for travel from Monaco to Genoa. We got up nice and early and hit the road. Our first point of call before we started Robin's list was Monte Carlo in Monaco. We didn't stop because parking was precious but we did stop on a highway pull off to take this photo.



And of course here is one of the Casino for the James Bond fans.


The first few stops on Robin's list were Camporosso, Dolceacqua and Pigna. We drove through Camporosso and stopped in Dolceaqua for a break. We walked over the bridge and walked through the old part of town as far up to the castle as we could get.






The old part of town was amazing and as Robin said 'a must do' for anyone traveling in this area. The path was a narrow winding 'rabbit warren' and was completely in shadow in parts because of the height of the buildings. Despite all the amazing sights we have seen it still had that 'wow' factor.

We then came back down and went for a coffee and the best hot chocolate ever. The hot chocolate was so thick you couldn't drink it, you had to eat it with a spoon. It was like a warm chocolate mousse. We also had some local pastries called micchets (pronounced Mick-Ets). These are based on a legend about the heroic deeds of a newly married couple and the tyrant that lived in the castle above the village.


The 'his' and 'her' pastries.



We set off on the road again for Apricale which is just off the road to Pigna. This little village is perched on the ridge of a hill and is hard as hell to get to with a big car. We didn't go into the village because cars can't actually get in and the parking on the outside is very hard to find. This particular stretch of road also seemed to be the Mecca for every Lycra clad bicyclist and scooter rider in Italy which added to the challenge of driving on a dual carriage way wide enough for one car


Having put Dad's driving skills to the test we then headed back to the coast and stopped in Finaleborgo to see the Church cloisters and walk up to the Castle ruins. After reaching the first level of the ruins we stopped half way along the path to the next ruins because there were no more signs and we didn't want to get lost. We went back down and went to the gelati place Robin recommended. Yum!



We then came to Varigotti and Noli. Varigotti was a medieval fishing village turned resort/holiday village with some nice beaches. The views were stunning and the water looked very inviting but we couldn't find anywhere to park (you have to see the parking chaos to believe it) so had to keep on moving.

But the real reason we came here was to put dad through his paces along the cliffside road featured in old James Bond movies.Though Dad didn't appreciate our humming of the James Bond theme or Luke singing the Mission Impossible theme for some reason (our cousins are probably going "classic Luke") and was more intent on staying on the road. Unlike those convertible drivers that overtake us (with an impatient honk) on the blind corners with their mobile phones pressed to their ears - he still needs to work on his technique.



Thank you Robin for your very detailed advice. We got to see some spectacular sights we would otherwise have missed.

Jake

Location:Ligurian Coast, Italy.