September 2

September 2nd (sunny and warm)
Our day today was pretty much the same as yesterday in that we spent about four hours at the beach and the rest walking about Levanto and eating great food and drinking good Italian beer and wines. It is a lovely spot and the weather has been perfect – high 20’s. Watching the elderly people in the evenings all dressed up and sitting in their separate groups, i.e. males together and females together chatting and sitting in the shade made me think about my friend at Telus, Josie Spartano, talking about her father enjoying his pals in our “little Italy” at home. Also, she would often mention what a great cook her sister-in-law was.
On one of our walks into Levanto, Georg saw a soccer game at a bar, we decided to go in, have a beer and watch the game. Right next to us sat a couple, Ian and Jenn Banks, Canadians from Deep Cove from all places. They flew in and are doing the five-day trek of Cinque Terre with overnight stops in each of the villages and then a Mediterranean cruise. We touched bases on a lot of subjects including the apparent lousy weather in Vancouver and Sam Sullivan’s premature involvement in the garbage strike.
We ended the day with another walk on the beach towards the three villas, owned by Fiat, (ownership of property other than by the locals is a thorny issue in this region). Topped it off with one more gelato. Bottom line for this stage of our tour – we would recommend this area to anyone – fly in, stay a week in a pension and enjoy the surrounding area.