10 September 2022
Saturday morning and time to take everyone back to Nice and the airport. Jane had her bags packed early and instead of hanging around the house she took another tour of the village, while Richard cleared up the flat and Josh sat about reading on his phone.
Once we had left our guests behind we travelled on to Bordighera where we had booked a boutique hotel called Villa Miki in conjunction with Mads & Tom. They had booked for one night and we had opted for 2 nights. We both intended to meet Helen & Issac who had rented their usual villa down the road in Vallecrosia. As Maggi and I had arrived early we walked down to the coast and sat down for a drink. Surprisingly I choose a banana milkshake. I thought that in Italy I was like to have a properly made milkshake and it was pretty good.
We met up with everyone in a nearby bar and had one drink and some small tit bits that arrive with an early evening drink in Italy.
We dined around the corner at Pizzeria Sant’ Ampelo. Only Issac had a pizza. I asked for Veal Milanese and we had to add spaghetti with tomato sauce to the dish. A couple of salads were added to the table. We drank 2 litres of wine at €10 euros each as well as plenty of sparkling water. While nowhere near fine dining it was wholesome and great value. As a result the place was buzzing with customers sitting out on the side of the road.
After eating we split up and returned to our hotel.
11 September 2022
After breakfast we went by Mad & Toms car to Vallecrosia where Helen stayed for a morning chat. Mad and Tom then took off home while Helen,Issac, Maggi and I went to the nearby beach. It’s a stoney beach and not particularly attractive. We didn’t have proper footwear so entering and exiting the sea was particularly uncomfortable. I felt like an old man unable to walk in a straight line, which was exactly true.
However, once in the swimming was beautiful.
We stayed on the beach for 1 ½ hours until lunch time when we parted from Helen and Issac. I intended to walk back to the hotel and eat fruit for lunch and then possibly do some shopping. As we were walking along the promenade back to the hotel Maggi showed a distinct preference for stopping for a bite to eat and so we picked the nicest looking seaside restaurant we could find. Initially they wouldn’t let Maggi in because she wore a swimsuit. A quick change and we soon sat down to eat. I had a very nice simple meal of octopus and aubergine.
We decided after lunch to shop for a few things for our return back to La Colle. The sun blasted down as we walked the 30 minutes back to our hotel from the Conad store. We were both fairly exhausted by the time we arrived back to our accommodation.
In the evening we walked back to Helen & Issac where Issac had prepared a tasty ravioli dish. We then bought ice cream for all at a nearby gellateria. Our return took us back along the promenade to our hotel. The moon looked incredible as it shone in the low night sky over the town.
In the morning we went down to the sea for a last dip in the Italian Mediterranean before returning to La Colle.
I had no difficulty entering the water here as the stones are much smaller, more like shingle. A glorious morning and a great way to start the day. It makes you want to live by the sea and avoid the cost of maintaining a swimming pool.
Out of the sea and pack up our things in order to meet Helen & Issac at their accommodation. We had promised to pick them up and take them to Nice Airport. We fulfilled our promise and then came back to La Colle.