International Leisure Club: Day 16: Meditarrean Coast

We awoke to the cathedral bell around 10 o'clock, (I know because the bell rings ten times, one for each hour). I took a walk around outside to see where our journey had taken us the night before. We had arrived at night so we had no idea what the surrounding area was like. Walking outside was enough to find out...

Walking around the complex I came across a bulletin board with a short description of the hotel. It stated that the hotel was in compliance with the Kyoto Protocol and used environmentally friendly materials around the hotel. Also, all the food is locally bought and transported without the use of petrol, all by train.
Link to the website

I was able to meet the resident dog, Shantila...

Downstairs we were treated to a traditional Italian breakfast (minus the cornflakes): Italian ham, sheep's cheese, bread, and Italian sausages. One thing of note, Chestnuts were commonly used in this region and they made for some amazing Chestnut cake. The nuts are ground into a flour, and then used for baking.

The plan for the day was to drive to the Mediterranean coast and hang out for the day. We took the Autostrada for part of the way. Let me explain a little about Italian driving. They don't use signals, it's every man woman and child for themselves, they honk and make hand gestures, if you're in their way, you get the brights, most roads don't have lane stripes, and if you're on the highway going 100mph, you will get passed like you're standing still. All of these factors make for and adventure every time you hit the roadway. Fortunately, the end of the ride involved some beautiful back country driving where the only obstacles you have to deal with are, three wheeled mountain vehicles going 20 mph with elderly drivers, no barricades, sheer cliffs, falling rocks, and crazy locals. I wished we had a sign on our car that said "It's ok, we're Americans".

We arrived at the small town of Levanto which greeted us to a beautiful view as we came down the mountain; the sun shining off the water like a mirror...

We drove through the town and found where the road ended...

We were content for the rest of the afternoon...

After the sunset and Cubans, we decided to head back to the hotel as the owner offered to make us some dinner even though we were the only ones staying. We were glad we came back, we arrived to an indoor fire pit right next to our dinner table.