Day 10: Busseto-Lerici
We have our farewell breakfast at "our bar" and say goodbye to the
proprietors....it is a very small connection, but a pleasant one. The day
is cool and overcast as we leave town. We make a quick stop at one of the
churches on the outskirts of town--Santa Maria degli Angeli--and are
surprised to see that the church is almost completely filled for mass. This
has not been our usual experience. We also stop at the park right next
door, where we learn that they lend bicycles to tourists--maybe next trip.
On our way to Piacenza, we stop in the town of Cortemaggiore to buy some
fruit at a Sunday market. While we are walking around the market, we
encounter another town marching band. It seems that Cortemaggiore is
holding their Liberation Day celebration a few days late. We watch the
band--also a mixture of ages and gender and led by a woman--go around the
square and usher the town dignitaries into the church.
The entrance to Piacenza--a major provincial town to the west of
Busseto--goes through a grimy industrial quarter, which turns into a narrow
warren of streets as you enter the "centro storico". On a gray Sunday
morning, most of the streets we drive through are quiet and the stores are
closed; it is hard to judge a town when things are shut up like this.
After a few false starts, we find the Duomo and park right on the piazza.
The Duomo is pretty impressive--set high up a flight of steps--with a tall
campanile. The inside is quite bright, but there is a mass going on so we
are limited as to what we can see.
As we walk down the main street, there are quite a few people out strolling
and there are others sitting in cafes with their Sunday papers. The main
square--the Piazza dei Cavalli--is a broad expanse in the shadow of the very
Gothic provincial palace and dominated by two massive horses with riders in
bronze...a pretty impressive square. Since it is a little cold, we cut our
exploration of the town short, head back to the car and start our trip over
the Appenines--to Lerici on the Ligurian coast.
We plan to make a slow trip over the mountains--some of which are over 4,000
feet. On the way, we stop for lunch in the town of Ponte d'Olio at a Slow
Food recommended restaurant--the Bellaria. This is one of the rare
occasions when we find a restaurant which is on the right road and is
reached at meal time. The very pretty dining room is full, but they set a
table for us in the bar. The food is terrific--a mixed plate of appetizers
and an excellent mushroom tart for starters--followed by a terrific ravioli
(with pasta like silk) for Diana and a good plate of fusilli with a spicy
olive sauce for me. This is followed by an very good cheese course (again
served with honey). We really enjoy the food, the surroundings are nice and
the people are very friendly.
For the next two hours, we climb and descend a number of mountains on very
curvy and sometimes bumpy roads. The views are spectacular and the
countryside is very green. The sun even comes out to heighten the effect.
We make a stop in Bardi, which has a picture-perfect castle growing out of a
cliff hanging over the valley. We continue on through this very beautiful
mountain scenery but the trip is taking longer than anticipated, so I head
over to the autostrada that runs from Parma to La Spezia (near Lerici).
This is no hardship, because this stretch of highway has to be among the
most beautiful in Italy. The green of the forests on the slopes of the
mountains is intense and the road goes up and down the mountains with
ease....we remember our first trip on this road through rain and clouds nine
years ago.
We arrive in Lerici. This is our fourth visit...it is one of our favorite
places in Italy...and immediately feel happy to be there. The road into
town is familiar and we are very excited when we pull into the parking lot.
We are greeted warmly by Piero, one of the desk clerks, and given a room on
the fifth floor with a balcony and a beautiful view of the Gulf of La
Spezia. The only downside is that the weather has turned cloudy so we don't
have the sun shining on the water which would make it a very intense bright
blue. [For some pictures of the Doria Hotel and Lerici, check out this web
site]
http://www.domani-usa.com/lerici/doriapark/index.htm
We walk down to the waterfront; the hotel is set high over the town, but it
is only a five minute walk to the center. It is a Sunday afternoon and the
weekend crowds are still walking back and forth along the long waterfront
promenade. The sun has come out and the temperature is pleasant. We walk
out to the rocks and then sit on a bench and watch the passing crowd. As it
gets a little cooler, we head back up the hill to the hotel and have dinner
in the hotel dining room. We are greeting warmly by Claudia, the dining
room manager and wife of the hotel manager; she introduces us to her son who
works in the dining room from time to time.
Dinner is very good....to start, I have a soup of chickpeas, squid and
mussels, which I like very much, and Diana has a very good seafood risotto.
This is followed by a salt baked fish for Diana, marred only by too many
bones, and I have a octopus dish, which was especially recommended by
Claudia--it is very fresh and very tasty. The bread and foccacia are very
good--a welcome change from the bread in Emilia-Romagna.
After dinner, all we need to do is to get into the elevator and go to our
room.
Jim and Diana
proprietors....it is a very small connection, but a pleasant one. The day
is cool and overcast as we leave town. We make a quick stop at one of the
churches on the outskirts of town--Santa Maria degli Angeli--and are
surprised to see that the church is almost completely filled for mass. This
has not been our usual experience. We also stop at the park right next
door, where we learn that they lend bicycles to tourists--maybe next trip.
On our way to Piacenza, we stop in the town of Cortemaggiore to buy some
fruit at a Sunday market. While we are walking around the market, we
encounter another town marching band. It seems that Cortemaggiore is
holding their Liberation Day celebration a few days late. We watch the
band--also a mixture of ages and gender and led by a woman--go around the
square and usher the town dignitaries into the church.
The entrance to Piacenza--a major provincial town to the west of
Busseto--goes through a grimy industrial quarter, which turns into a narrow
warren of streets as you enter the "centro storico". On a gray Sunday
morning, most of the streets we drive through are quiet and the stores are
closed; it is hard to judge a town when things are shut up like this.
After a few false starts, we find the Duomo and park right on the piazza.
The Duomo is pretty impressive--set high up a flight of steps--with a tall
campanile. The inside is quite bright, but there is a mass going on so we
are limited as to what we can see.
As we walk down the main street, there are quite a few people out strolling
and there are others sitting in cafes with their Sunday papers. The main
square--the Piazza dei Cavalli--is a broad expanse in the shadow of the very
Gothic provincial palace and dominated by two massive horses with riders in
bronze...a pretty impressive square. Since it is a little cold, we cut our
exploration of the town short, head back to the car and start our trip over
the Appenines--to Lerici on the Ligurian coast.
We plan to make a slow trip over the mountains--some of which are over 4,000
feet. On the way, we stop for lunch in the town of Ponte d'Olio at a Slow
Food recommended restaurant--the Bellaria. This is one of the rare
occasions when we find a restaurant which is on the right road and is
reached at meal time. The very pretty dining room is full, but they set a
table for us in the bar. The food is terrific--a mixed plate of appetizers
and an excellent mushroom tart for starters--followed by a terrific ravioli
(with pasta like silk) for Diana and a good plate of fusilli with a spicy
olive sauce for me. This is followed by an very good cheese course (again
served with honey). We really enjoy the food, the surroundings are nice and
the people are very friendly.
For the next two hours, we climb and descend a number of mountains on very
curvy and sometimes bumpy roads. The views are spectacular and the
countryside is very green. The sun even comes out to heighten the effect.
We make a stop in Bardi, which has a picture-perfect castle growing out of a
cliff hanging over the valley. We continue on through this very beautiful
mountain scenery but the trip is taking longer than anticipated, so I head
over to the autostrada that runs from Parma to La Spezia (near Lerici).
This is no hardship, because this stretch of highway has to be among the
most beautiful in Italy. The green of the forests on the slopes of the
mountains is intense and the road goes up and down the mountains with
ease....we remember our first trip on this road through rain and clouds nine
years ago.
We arrive in Lerici. This is our fourth visit...it is one of our favorite
places in Italy...and immediately feel happy to be there. The road into
town is familiar and we are very excited when we pull into the parking lot.
We are greeted warmly by Piero, one of the desk clerks, and given a room on
the fifth floor with a balcony and a beautiful view of the Gulf of La
Spezia. The only downside is that the weather has turned cloudy so we don't
have the sun shining on the water which would make it a very intense bright
blue. [For some pictures of the Doria Hotel and Lerici, check out this web
site]
http://www.domani-usa.com/lerici/doriapark/index.htm
We walk down to the waterfront; the hotel is set high over the town, but it
is only a five minute walk to the center. It is a Sunday afternoon and the
weekend crowds are still walking back and forth along the long waterfront
promenade. The sun has come out and the temperature is pleasant. We walk
out to the rocks and then sit on a bench and watch the passing crowd. As it
gets a little cooler, we head back up the hill to the hotel and have dinner
in the hotel dining room. We are greeting warmly by Claudia, the dining
room manager and wife of the hotel manager; she introduces us to her son who
works in the dining room from time to time.
Dinner is very good....to start, I have a soup of chickpeas, squid and
mussels, which I like very much, and Diana has a very good seafood risotto.
This is followed by a salt baked fish for Diana, marred only by too many
bones, and I have a octopus dish, which was especially recommended by
Claudia--it is very fresh and very tasty. The bread and foccacia are very
good--a welcome change from the bread in Emilia-Romagna.
After dinner, all we need to do is to get into the elevator and go to our
room.
Jim and Diana
