On the last weekend of March, we went to Italy with our friends, the Thompson family. This may sound extravagant but in reality it's really no different than driving from Duxbury to New Hampshire. The small Ligurian coastal town of Dolceaqua is located about 25mi east of Nice and 10mi west of San Remo.
We went to a small winery/B&B called Terre Bianche way up in the hills above the tiny, ancient town of Dolceaqua. This adventure was born when the Thompson's enjoyed a wonderful bottle of Terre Bianche's wine and upon examining the bottle, they discovered that they could visit the winery and also stay in their small B&B right on the property. They asked us to join them and their two children, so off we went!
Sarah, Nick and I arrived at the hill top oasis Friday evening. The drive from Aix took only about 2 1/2 hours but it was the last bit of the journey on a chillingly frightening drive up a steep, twisty path of a road to get to Terre Bianche that almost did us in! The elevation was about 4500 feet!The Thompson's had just arrived minutes before us and once we got settled into our rooms it was time to drive BACK down the other side of twisty steep hill for our dinner reservation in Bordighera! The B&B serves dinners..but not until June! We had a tough time finding the Magiarge, but it was worth the effort. We really enjoyed this intimate, two room trattoria serving only the freshest pasta, meat and mostly fish dishes.
Saturday morning we were greated by our host Paolo. We were treated to a divine breakfast prepared and served by he and his mother-in-law. The coffee with hot steamed milk was some of the best we've ever tasted! That, with fresh, dense, chewy bread topped with a myriad of DELICIOUS homemade jams, rounded out the meal.
After breakfast, a few of us went on a long walk in the hills around the winery. It was a nice morning, despite the fact that rain was in the forecast. Spring was out all over the place...here are a few photos of the splendor. On our walk we saw concrete doorways built right into the sides of the mountains as well as abandoned buildings. Later, we asked Paolo about them and he said the doorways led to underground areas where the German military stored ammunition during WWII and the buildings were old barracks. Being up so high, we couldn't imagine how the army could get in and out of this area, but it shows you really how close we were to the border between France and Italy.
view of the approach to the winery...
view to the east town of Dolceaqua down at the foot of the mountain...
view off to the northeast, snow topped mountains in the distance...
After our walk, the two families, 7 in all, squished into one car and headed down the dreaded road to Dolceaqua for lunch. We survive yet another hair raising decent and make it to the town. The medieval village of Dolceaqua is actually two villages divided by the Nervia River. The photo below shows the old bridge (10m/33ft high, borne on pointed arches) that connects the two. Monet is said to have painted this lovely bridge.
A more modern looking town, which we did not visit, sits on the west side of the riverbank and the old Dolceaqua is picturesquely situated on the east hillside rising straight up from the east side of the river. There was a small, open piazza with a church. The only restaurant we see is at the entry of the town on the riverbank, so we have lunch there at the Osteria di Caterina. It looked marginal but we were a hungry bunch. We had an unremarkable meal with only the fresh mushrooms cooked three different ways being memorable.
As you can see here, they DO need rain!
After lunch we set about to visit the old town, despite the rain which arrived while we were eating. We wound our way through narrow, winding, tunneled streets. I suppose if you lived here, especially in the 11th or 12 th century, it could have been a dark, dreary place, even without the rain, but we enjoyed exploring it all the same.
w couldn't get over how small everything was...especially the arches and doorways!
At the top of the hill are the ruins of a castle which was the ancestral home of the Doria family. We think it was built around 1000 AD.
After our tour of Dolceaqua, we head on toward the coast back to the little town of Bordighera which lies on an area of the Ligurian coastline know as the Riviera di Ponente. Bordighera is famed for the date-palms which grow here because of the mild climate, though we were told the dates seldom ripen sufficiently to be edible. Large quantities of branches are supplied to Roman Catholic churches in spring for Palm Sunday. The Vatican is also supplied with palm leaves from here. I insert this bit of perhaps irrelevant info because as it turned out we were THERE on Palm Sunday and saw all the palms-funny thing was though, there were also lots of people carrying olive branches...maybe they export all the palms!?! Flower-growing is also an important local industry. This part of the Riviera is also called "Riviera dei Fiori" (the Riviera of Flowers). This explains the endless terraced hillsides of low greenhouses we've seen all along the autostrada in this area.
Here's a lovely church in the heart of Bordighera. The back of it probably looks out on the sea!
The rain cut our sightseeing/shopping and photographing short!
It would be impossible to come to Terre Bianche and not sample the wines they produce. We were fortunate to have a private tasting and tour of the facilities with Paolo, who couldn't be more proud of his products!
While we visited Paolo, the kids stayed in out of the rain and watched a movie.
Sunday morning it was really raining and so after another of Paolo's delicious breakfasts and lots of goodbye hugs, it was time to head home. We're looking forward to another Thompson adventure!
http://www.terrebianche.com/
Magiarge: http://www.frommers.com/destinations/bordighera/D54465.html
Sarah had another vacation. Perhaps you think that's a strange opener, but it seems like she always has one! European schools, well, Europeans in general, have much more vacation time than their American counterparts. Maybe they know something we don't...but it always poses the question....what to do?
