Lerici, Italy
Ryanne arrived here on Sunday (left the USA on Saturday). Ken and Claire picked her up from the Gerg homestead and took her took the State College airport. After a long 18 hour trip with three flights and a train ride, we arrived together in our new home in Lerici, Italy! (I took the train to Pisa to pick her up).
So far Lerici has been very rainy with a few days of beautiful sunshine (and boy is it beautiful when the sun is out). Apparently, the weather we are seeing is not typical and supposedly should be gone soon. The temp averages around 55 degrees Fahrenheit going up to 65.
Lerici is on the bay of La Spezia and is bounded by a piazza (Piazza Garibaldi) and Castle Lerici (built around 1100 AD). The bay is also known as the Golf of the Poets because Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein) and her husband, Percy, a famous local poet lived in Lerici. Unfortunately, Percy drowned in the bay and the name was changed as a result in his honor.
Across the Golf of the Poets is the famous Italian Riveria known as the Cinque Terre. This is on our list of places to visit — stay tuned!
Lerici is essentially built into a hill that rises about 900 feet. We live about 300 feet up the hillside off a small cobble-stone walkway called XX Settembre. Its name commemorates a famous Italian date (of which I can’t recall!). The climb up the hillside makes for a perfect post-dinner stroll to work off all the pasta we’ve been eating. It becomes challenging with a few glasses of wine keeping us on our toes (or on our butts!)
Our bedroom. We have a little “ant problem” hence the creative bed making.
Our “flat” is part of a homestead. We live underneath part of the driveway. Its hard to explain but it makes sense if you think about the homes being built into a hillside. Within our homestead, we have citrus and olive trees. We also have a few pets: 2 turtles (one named Charlie) and 2 dogs (Macchia and Rolf). We love the dogs and they are Jack Russells. Makes its really feel like home when you are greeted by man’s best friend.
Ryanne made a delicious dinner for us yesterday with local pasta from a place we like called Pasta Fresca and wine from a little shop, Baroni.
Our apartment is small but does the job. We have a kitchen and breakfast area along with our bedroom and bathroom. We are lucky enough to have our own washing machine. No dryer though as most Italians hang their clothes out to dry; we are no different.
Ciao!
~Isaac and Ry
Octopus street graffiti.
Looking into the bay from up top Castle Lerici.
Lerici, Italy. Our homestead is among the buildings in this picture.
There is a nice walkway along the bay and we stopped to take a selfie.
We had dinner at this interesting restaurant. There is no back room but a cave. We had dinner in it. For dinner, there are no menus; you are told what you will be served. Magically, its what you didn’t know you wanted.
Our friend Macchia.