Lerici

Today was reconnaissance day.  Tomorrow is reserved for exploring Cinque Terre by ferry and much of today was spent finding out how to make that happen, where to park, where and when to catch the ferry, how much etc etc. 

One of the downsides of the gorgeous Casa Eleanora is it is wi-fi-less.  I wasn’t expecting this and not having the internet to help plan trips like tomorrow’s makes things that little bit trickier.  On the positive side though, we met Gloria from the tourist office who went out of her way to help us get sorted. 

So we spent a stressful first part of the day getting lost, taking wrong turns, driving on the wrong side of the road (first time and much to the ire of a passing truck driver) and fluffing around looking for car parks.  Luckily for us though, the ferry car park is right near a beach and once we finally found it the beach is where we headed for a de-stressing (for me at least) swim.  

When we had asked Gloria about beaches she wanted to know if we prefer sand or rock.  Daniel and Emily were with me and in unison screeched SAND PLEASE!  From what we could tell it appears the majority of Italians prefer sand too, as this section of beach was far busier than the rocky part. 

Although having said that there was still a liberal sprinkling of those preferring to bask on the rocks - presumably to get away from the crowds?  Can’t think of any other reason you’d want to loll around on ouchy-looking uneven lumps of whatever it is that lines the coastline of this part of the world.

Note the rock baskers, bottom right