Room with a view: opening the window of our hotel in Monterosso al Mare
Viewed from civilised Europe, Britain - with its incompetent, sometimes clownish government directed by a sinister, unelected figure who chooses which lockdown rules apply to him and which do not - is not an appealing proposition. It is made more unappealing by the brazen lack of that smidgen of decency needed to avoid even "limited and specific” contempt for international law.
When you drive along the Cote d'Azur towards Nice and then cross into Italy, you are aware of being in special places far from the ugliness of Brexitland.
In my post-Brexit manifesto, most parts of Europe will be out of bounds for Leave voters.
Negotiations will be held with Spain to enable Magaluf to be declared a British protectorate. That wonderfully cultured location will be one of only a few EU destinations where Brexiters will be welcomed.
To the relief of so many Brexiters, there will be no spelling or language tests. However, temperature checks will be made on all those entering and indeed leaving; never forget that while Britain may be the sick man of Europe with many, many more deaths than any other country, it reserves the right to quarantine everyone as part of a determined campaign to do everything far too late and in the process wreck the travel and aviation industries with disproportionate and ill-considered measures.
Meanwhile, some thoughts from Italy ...
Just park your car and forget you even brought it.
Sound advice for anyone visiting that magnificent stretch of the Italian coast known as Cinque Terre after the five villages it comprises: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore.
It's as lovely a place to spend a few days as any I have come across. There is already the pleasure of having exited the Italian motorway and its grim mix of psychopathic tailgaters, sudden dramatic changes to the speed limit and the interminable series of tunnels.
And trying to see the five villages by car, especially in a short visit, would be crazy in any case. You can cover the entire walk in five hours. Not that I'd be able to confirm that. We had only one full day and two nights in Cinque Terre and, with dodgy knees, the excellent rail service was a better option for visiting them all.
For 16 euros, a day pass allows you to get as many regional trains, and some buses, as you wish between La Spieza and Levanto. The service is frequent - better, say, than the Uxbridge branch of the Piccadilly line - and you can spend sufficient time in each village to get some less demanding walking done. And if you avoid the crowded bus shuttle from Corniglia station to the village centre, there are enough steps to climb to make all but the fittest feel they've accomplished a serious trek.
We stayed in Monterosso al Mare. La Spiaggia hotel is splendidly located on the waterfront, a few minutes from the station, and if you ask in advance, there may be room in the small car park. The room was modest but comfortable and had the outstanding view you see above, a decent breakfast and friendly, efficient staff. At 362 euros for two nights, breakfast included, it's not cheap but nothing in Cinque Terre comes without a price and I've paid more for much worse in other popular locations.
Next time, we'll make sure there's time to walk the Via Dell'Amore, as recommended by an electronic Italian friend, Renata Baraldi. It stretches to only one kilometre between Riomaggiore and Manarola, so we're kicking ourselves for not knowing about it advance.
All the same, a lot was packed into the four days away, with one night in the resort of Alassio on the way there and another on the way back and lunch in Portofino, best reached on the ferry from Santa Margherita, where finding a parking space is a little less of a challenge.
Portofino Random observations:
- * Italian bars still offer aperitivi, with copious amuse-bouches served with drinks. Have breakfast and a good lunch and it's probably filling enough to make an evening meal unnecessary (tempting as that meal may still be)
- * Italians are as wayward as the French when it comes to disposal of face masks. We saw lots littering the streets (you can be fined 135 euros for it in France though enforcement seems patchy at best)
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* in both countries, people have become complacent about social distancing though the open-air concert by the cliffside at Monterosso was organised with meticulous care, with free admission but everyone's temperature and contact details taken on entry and each seat a metre from the next. An hour or so of inspired music was provided by a couple I described at Facebook as "an elegant Italian-speaking Japanese soprano (Asako Tamura, I think) with her kids watching dutifully from the front row, with a reassuringly bulky Italian tenor".
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They finished their concert with O Sole Mio, which the average Brexiter would doubtless regard as a shameless pinch from Elvis's repertoire ...
On a more sombre note, this is the replacement bridge for the Morandi, which collapsed in 2018 killing 43 people. When I mentioned this "awful tragedy" to someone in Cinque Terre, she replied: "Yes, it took us 5-6 hours to go to Nice before they opened the new one."
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