From the French Riviera to the Italian Riviera, Diano Marina and Cervo

Monday 13 June

Diano Marino is on the Ligularian coast and is a sleepy little beach town that survives through tourism and it's olive oil production. There are many retired folks here that spend their day on the beach promenade, playing bocce or just sitting and taking in all the activity waterfront, very traditional Italian culture .

We had free hotel bikes for the day so we plonked our togs in the bike baskets and set off exploring. Great little town for cycling and we found an old New Zealand yacht at the marina.....did someone forget to take it home to NZ?

It does seem strange that in most places to access the beach you have to pay as the vendor has obviously paid the council a permit fee for x space on the beach. We biked down a little alleyway and it popped out onto a public beach so we noted that spot for later.....we had a hill to bike up....to Cervo, we spotted the church and the hill and thought thats for us and off we went.

You can see the bay of Diano Marina  in the distance.....great bike ride on old clangers.

Cervo is a small ancient town built  on a hill with the spectacular church we saw from the beach, the Church of San Giovanni Baptista. It's stunning,  Can't  get it all  in with my little camera.

The church has amazing frescoes and marble  alters, it's wonderful. It is high baroque style and was started in 1686 and survived a  major earthquake in the 1800's

The little village is pedestrianised and is gorgeous, flowering Jasmin and bougainvillea everywhere, little shops and not too many touristy cafe type places, the locals protect the village authenticity.

We biked back and jumped onto the sea at the spot we found earlier....fantastic!

Sculpture of the day comes from Diano Marino waterfront.