Life as a tour guide

 This is a quick post - a bit of a postcard, in fact - as I have two lovely friends from Britain staying with me this week and next and I've been showing them the beauties of the riviera, which are many. And we have, of course, been sampling the local delicacies. Apart from a shower the other day, the weather is perfect.

Yesterday, for instance, we went to the huge Friday street market in Ventimiglia and looked at the fascinating old town perched on its clifftop. 

The view from a café table in Ventimiglia: palms, clear sky and blue, blue sea.

Ventimiglia old town from across the Roja river

Real leather handbags at the market catch my trans eye. The guy on his phone with a doggie in a wheeled basket is a typical sight, too.

We've also been to Monaco old town with its pint-sized palace and government buildings, pretty little parks and yacht-filled harbours. You may remember I went there earlier this year. Two national symbols here, the carob tree and a racing car made of flowers.

We've also explored some of Sanremo, the "flower capital", and its botanic gardens.

Bananas in the sun at Villa Ormonde, Sanremo

 

As for the local foods, well, there's beautiful fish - my baked bream at Maison di Nat in Sanremo was second to none -; the wooden oven at Barbecue in Ventimiglia made a super crispy, smoky pizza with aubergines; the stuffed courgette flowers at U Cavagnetu in Monaco are special; and the freshly made tagliolini pasta strips with porcini mushrooms at Quattro Stagioni in Sanremo are seriously the best thing ever. At home we've been enjoying almond cookies, lovely mountain cheeses, squidgy chocolate biscuits (known locally as baci, "kisses") and today I hope to get a local shortbread made with olive oil and lemon, not the usual butter. Yes, I know I'm supposed to be losing weight and somehow I'm not (!), but it would be rude not to offer my guests some local goodies, wouldn't it? ;-) 

Next week we'll likely go bigger cities like Nice and Genoa.  

Love from the riviera.

Sue x