Monday April 25
When we woke this morning I caught the postman delivering by bike on our street. You can see a French flag on the balcony next door, it's quite rare on the streets. Only schools and government buildings will fly them.
Waiting for the Ventimiglia train at Nice Ruquier station
View of the station as we sat outside and had coffee and shared a pizza waiting for the train to Sanremo. I bought the tickets in Ventimiglia, 3euro each.
The deserted cafe. Because of the national holiday.
Our luggage! Travelled real light!
Sanremo station is built into a mountain, and had the longest corridor I've ever walked down in a station, rivals Toronto and Vancouver airports. And just like them, only half of the moving sidewalks worked.
Very quiet Main Street by the station. Today is libération day in Italy, a holiday.
Walking to our Airbnb ...
We arrived at the Airbnb just about the same time as the young lady who came to let us in. We timed it right! Only took one wrong street and corrected quickly with the aid of an older man sitting outside in an alley, who pointed us in the right direction.
Here is the view from one of our apartment windows. Really pleasant to sit with morning coffee as we're doing now and seeing the blue Mediterranean and the terracotta tile roofs.
The entire apartment has this tile on the floor
Steps to the kitchen and bathroom, lights up as you walk up.
Nice shower with rain shower head.
We walked out to find a supermarket, went the wrong direction, and discovered we see in a residential area. But really, visiting a new town, there is no wrong direction. Everything you see is going to be interesting.
Turn if the century architecture.
So we retraced our steps back to the apartment building and Lo and behold the same man was still sitting outside so he got off his chair and pointed us to where we might find a supermarket. Our first friend in Sanremo!
A coffee table and chairs in the shopping district. Some really high end Italian designer furniture and kitchen Reno shops around.
We magically stumbled on a tourist stand in the centre, and the agent pointed us to a supermarket.and..I have a paper map of the town now so I'm good.
What looked like the main gathering place, and signs from libération day ceremonies
Horizontal synchronized 2 rod fishing, the next Olympic sporting event
We are on the same street as the grand casino building
A touch screen menu with me in it
We found a Burger restaurant for a quick supper that wasn't pizza or pasta (we've had quite a lot of that recently) ,
Burgers were all unique, fries were excellent. Service friendly. Clearly a local spot, kids, families, dogs all enjoying the evening there.
My burger with mozzarella and tomato confit. They were all 140g, so not large ( which was a good thing).
At the end they served us a complimentary shot of lemoncello.
Our walk home, (2 minutes away)
The old buildings buttressed to each other. keep in mind that Italy gets earthquakes and they are generally serious because of the age of the buildings. This might be their medieval earthquake upgrading plan.
Here's a set of photos looking at the architecture and fittings inside the apartment. A very unique renovation.
Lots of alcoves are built in
New shutters and thick walls
Nice built in cupboard
Thé inside walls must be over 1 foot thick, the exterior wall another 9 inches or so
Ceiling accents .
Electricity running externally to avoid drilling in solid concrete . Photographers spot lights for up lighting off the ceiling
Bathroom ceiling even more like a renovated cellar, no real squared walls or ceilings.
Note the vertical bar on the right side. And see the photo below. These are anchor supports to stop old walls from bowing. Growing up in old Bristol I saw these all over but they were all an S shape anchor.
Here's an anchor bar from the outside of a building across from us , note the electric conduit on the outside . You work with the restrictions you are given.
Largest radiator I've ever seen
Tuesday April 26th
When I went to plug in my iPad for charging I got a bit of a shock. (No pun intended) I'd forgotten that European countries all seem to like their own plug system. Italy seems the most convoluted. Why have two prongs when you can have 8? Fortunately I have a "Swiss army knife" plug converter and one of the options was for Italy. There was also one converter in the kitchen because...some appliances must only be with French style 2 prong. The good news is all the Apple, and other North American small electronics are coming with 110/240 v power, so you don't need a power adapter too.
Slow morning waking up, walked down the steps and wished bonjourno to our new friend who was sitting outside in the sun.
We went down to the square for coffee and marmalade croissants. About 5 separate cafes in this one plaza, we chose because the owner was friendly enough and came out and engaged with us. By the way, masks are still required in supermarkets and walking into restaurants so it was a good strategy for him to walk out and corner us as we were looking in his window.
Then we walked a very big circle around Sanremo.
Market day
We started to walk up through the old medieval town, there is a park at the top of the hill with views over the town. But it was a maze, and even with a map, we got lost so we'll try again tomorrow from a different angle.
But the next few photos will show you what the streets looks like. Given the elevation and the narrow houses that are very dark inside, this is the poorer part of town.
Back down by the market, motorbikes are the main transport, gas is prohibitively priced, parking space for cars is premium and the streets are narrow for autos.
And just because it's Tuesday, ethnic dancers from Albania, Latvia and other countries, dance on the streets, the lady in the tourist booth we were trying to talk to when they drowned us out said "I don't know why they do it...they just come by". Large scale buskers, they were selling CDs and taking coin. But fun, and everyone was smiling.
The leafy street by the train station again.
The front of the train station. Doesn't look like a normal European train station at all. Later on, you'll see the old. Station, and the old track along the water is now a bike path.
Doesn't show too well, but the top of this palm tree that grew sideways is propped up by a metal column.
And down to the water, and along the road and bike path going back to the centre of town
This ancient god is struggling to control a fish
Actual boats, actually out on the water! A rare event. Of all the thousands of boats we see in the ports along the Côte d'Azur and here in Italy, we never see any actually sailing on the ocean. If you're rich enough to own a boat, surely you're rich enough to tell the boss you're taking the afternoon off to go sailing?
This is the old train station, facing the water. They seem to have opened up the washrooms in it, so, it's one big pink historic toilet.
Our destination, the Russian Orthodox Church. Not open, perhaps for security. We've visited the Russian church in Nice, very opulent. I assume this would be too, the exterior is well maintained.
For supper we walked 60 seconds down the steps in front of our building, and found this restaurant, decent food and prices. We both had ravioli, one sage and butter, and one porcini mushroom. Comfortable and warm under a heater. We're learning how to eat later (well, at 7p, when the restaurants open)
There was a real business in the building across the street. The glass cabinets were display windows.
After supper we went down more steps to see what the main shopping street looked like in the evening.
Walking home, I just noticed we had a fountain at the bottom of our steps
And apparently we have a food shop on the steps, but where is a mystery.
These built in altars are very common in Italian cities and towns.
And again, in our short set of steps, I noticed the utilities. Gas meters cut into the walls
And wires all over. Yet everything functions. And most importantly Wifi is fast.
And I wanted to share this photo of an elderly lady walking past our table at a 40 degree angle with a cane. I know it's voyeristic, but it's a generic image that stays in my mind whenever we visit Europe. You've seen the streets in the photos, she only has two options here, climb up steep stairs, or down stairs, to go anywhere.
We are so fortunate in North America, for the most part, our streets are wide and level for mobility scooters or walkers, in good repair, no cracks, pot holes, broken tiles, cobblestones, drains dipping in the centre of the path. We have wheel chair accessible toilets, kneeling buses. Escalators and elevators are mandated by building code. If her apartment is near, she's definitely walking up, at a minimum à flight of stairs because the ground floor would be a business. If her pension is small she might have to live on the upper floors where rent is less. And she is fortunate, her husband appears to be carrying the groceries. On her own, going to the corner supermarket would take multiple journeys, a few items at a time.
But this is her life, her home, this is how her parents and grandparents lived.
Next time I'm obliged to walk around an orange pylon on the pavement that's being patched, or cross thé street in Parksville because of some road work, I'll remember this lady and be thankful for the minuscule inconvenience.
K
Wednesday 27th April
Back to the square for coffee and croissants, then onto the Sanremo museum for an absorbing look at its past, from prehistoric times to the present. We spent 90 minutes there, only visitors other than a small group of school children who were walked through the rooms at warp speed. Not sure what they actually stopped to see.
Roman pottery
Devices for measuring lemons
Etchings of the old medieval town
There was an earthquake in 1877
Family history, from the earliest humans to us, homo sapiens
Roman amphora found in wrecks in the ocean. Look closely you can see an oyster stuck to one of them.
Garabaldi had a relationship with the town, and also with a young English poet nearly half his age
Painting of the hilltop medieval village of Eze, very close to,Nice
Was this the original Mickey Mouse?
Exterior of museum
We started our climb up through the old town, to the top where there are gardens. You can follow along with us
The structure in front is 7 stories. Can you imagine carrying groceries and wine and a case of 24 up, or getting delivery of a new fridge?
Hundreds of years of mold on the walls which never get the sun
Gas supply being fixed . Our gas meters at home are still read monthly by a man who walks to every house to read the meter. He's really lucky he's not doing that job here, up and down narrow streets. My Apple app tells me we walked up 19 stories today so far.
Bought a vegetable pastry in the square and took it home for lunch.
After a rest, we walked out again for a circuit of the shopping streets.
The casino
The front of the old train station. It's derelict but maybe one day will be renovated. It's a prime location, on the other side is the long promenade along the beach.
What would have been a grand hotel across from the station. Still a well maintained building though.
Spot the bus station in this photo. (It's submerged, behind the palm trees, a very unique way of hiding the buses from view)
Here's the bus station from the side angle.
For supper, a restaurant across from the casino, a minute away from the apartment, so perfect to walk to after all our walking up and down today.
For a change from pasta we went with the very good veal limone. The guitars on the wall were just there to frustrate me. The server spoke no English. We spoke no Italian, lots of smiling and pointing and Prego's and gratzi's, so it worked out perfectly.
Our final tally, 5.7km, and 30 floors walked
The early morning sun
Study in blue
Coffee and croissants in the square. A slow, circuitous walk walk to the train station because we had lots of time for the 11.45am to Ventimiglia. Went through the shopping street then along the promenade and up to the station.
Trenitalia arrived exactly on time. Sat on a bench and Lynda went into the market to buy mushrooms for a stir fry tonight.
SNCF to Nice right in time, no unattended suitcases this time. And "home"
Observations:
Beautiful sun washed architecture, most of the structures in decent repair.clearly a retirement community.
Mostly sleepy streets, just one or two roads one would consider busy, including a main road SS1 going from Genoa to Ventimiglia.
People seem to enjoy themselves on the streets of Sanremo. Even more restaurants, cafes and bars than Nice, if that's at all possible. Many, many babies and toddlers.
We only encountered a couple of stop lights, the rest is all crosswalks, regardless of main thoroughfare or side street. After some nervousness we got the hang of it, stand by the side, see a break and walk boldly into the street, with no hesitation. Or watch for a local, preferably with a baby stroller, and cross "down traffic" with them.
Bikes outside the train station
Dome ceiling
Police golf cart. Took a secretive shot because the police in the offuce seemed curious about why I was photographing the interior
Lynda caught this, a salmon and mayonnaise sandwich in a vending machine with a best before date May 16th. Hmm. A bit risky.
First the wind, then the lights
Police are always here at Ventimiglia station in large numbers, checking their phones normally
And the military have a presence
K
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