Wednesday, 18 May - Lerici

We got a late start on Wednesday since we had such a long day on Tuesday. We do get senior discounts here too on tickets to museums and castles, so we aren't lazy, just older. Entering the city, we saw one of those traffic limited signs so were afraid to go much further to find a place to park. A man moving his cars said - in sign language - it was okay that I park on the street. It had white markings on the ground which means it's free parking, so we left the car there and walked the half mile down the hill into the harbour area.

It's a beautiful spot with an imposing castle overhead, many resturants with mostly outside seating, and many boats in the marina, both commercial fishing boats, as well as pleasure craft. We walked here and there and everywhere. Found a bathroom, which is always a priority as they are sometimes few and far between. This one was under the watchful eye of a lady asking for 20 cents for each use. We watched some teenagers play a game of basketball with a soccer ball while they were paddling kayaks. It was a game of 2 on 2 and the paddles could be used to either help or hinder the ball on its way to either of the two nets that were about 6 feet above the water.

Quite a lot of people, mostly women, were lying on the large flat rocks that were there to protect the harbour. We walked around the bay and then saw there were beaches. Most were of the private variety with the umbrellas anchored into the sand in neat rows. At the far end, about a mile around, we saw there was a public beach. We then walked back to the main area and looked for a place to have dinner. We did not want to pay a table charge, so we got a pizza from a little place and were able to use his little table outside his shop without charge.

We then waited around until we felt it was time that we deserved a gellato. We also were waiting to see what time people came out to eat. They don't come out till about 8:30. About that time, we started up the hill to see if our car was still there. It was, but someone in a Chevy SUV had parked in front of us on this hill leaving me 4 inches to maneuver. I had a garbage container of some sort about 6 inches behind, so the fun began. Immediately upon putting the car in reverse, it was a steady beep telling me I was going to hit something if I moved backwards.
With Beth's help and at least 9 back and forth moves, we were able to get the car out of there and be on our way home.

We're still looking for a place that has WiFi so we can attach some more pictures. Not sure when that's going to happen!