10/31–Afternoon and evening in Livorno

The first part of the circular drive back to Livorno takes us through the rolling hills of Tuscany, back down to sea level near the coast.  I had mapped out a bunch of restaurants, but as it turns out, everything is closed on Wednesday. Terribly bizarre!  I had originally figured we’d make the Buriano route on Thursday, and looked at opening times then – which were all fine.  Not so on Wednesdays apparently. 

We stop in a bunch of different little towns, following our GPS to the city centre, and nothing is open – literally nothing.  Sigh.  So we keep driving, heading along the coast, because Eva said it was a beautiful drive – and it was.  Beach towns interspersed with rugged cliffs lining the coasts. sweeping vistas – and sweeping bridges – carry us northward toward Livorno.  We get messed up at the entrance to the autostrada and follow the signs for Livorno (because logic tells us that is where we should be going), but the GPS wanted us to go on the other exit toward Roma (who knows?) so now we are recalculating.  Turns out to be a blessing in disguise, as we stumble upon a little gas station and convenience mart on the side of the road where we fill the car up – and ourselves with a couple of good, inexpensive paninis.  So now we are all filled up, as we make our way back to Livorno.

We get to the pier, and there are no unreserved parking spots available.  Eva told us to ask the security guy where to park, but he wasn’t around so I asked one of the city tour information ladies, and she went to talk to the security guy.  So, I get 2nd hand translated directions on where to park, which really weren’t helpful at all.  We go up out of the pier area and find a great spot, but then realize it is reserved for coast guard only.  Ok….up the street a bit there appears to be free parking, so we put the car into what we think will be a safe spot (after checking all the cars around us to make sure no one had a permit or parking sticker on their car).  Then we head off into Livorno to explore.

There really isn’t too much going on in Livorno.  Once again, most every place is closed today (weird) and while some of the architecture is interesting, it’s just a big port city, with not a lot to offer us.  There are some canals that run around and through the city, which made for good pictures, but not much else really.

Plus we’re tired, and we’ve been walking around for a while, so nothing really makes an impact on us.  We do manage to make it to the New Fort, which might have been an interesting place if it weren’t for the kids and what appeared to be homeless hanging out all over the place.  At least the walls were sort of interesting.

After leaving the fort, we traverse the city on the pedestrian walk, wander though the end of a farmers market, get turned around by the Duomo, then finally make our way out of the town and back onto the pier and the ship to hang out a bit before tonight’s Azamazing evening. While we are upstairs killing time, we look out and actually spot a parking space right on our pier, so we run down to the cabin, get the keys and coats and rush outside to secure it.  I stand in the spot to save it while Ed goes and gets the car.  Fortunately we don’t have an Alec Baldwin incident (no jaw punches over stolen parking) and we breathe a big sigh of relief that the car is close now, and we can watch it from the ship.  All the nearby cars have notes on their dash explaining where they are – we ran out without anything so I ask the tourist info lady for paper and pen – she tears out a day from her calendar and I write out what I hope is correct Italian for “this is a rental car with the Pursuit, from 10/31 to 11/1.”  We’ll see how this works!

Later on, after our buffet dinner, we all start to organize for our Azamazing evening.  We are loaded into buses according to decks.  Since we are on deck 8 (the suites) we get to go first (sort of).  There is a bus for handicapped and people who can’t walk well – they are first.  Then there must be another bus with the important people, because there are some folks in our lounge complaining that they aren’t on the bus and that another bus has already left.  Honestly.   Even the bartender has some funny words for them.

Once on our way it’s only a 5 minute drive and walk to the Goldini Theatre where we will see a performance by Incanto, 4 women sopranos who are fabulous (even including the fact that they sang ABBA songs).  And the theater is stunning as well.  Totally old fashioned with balcony rows, but so modern that the ceiling can be retracted and opened during the day to let in sunlight.

It was really a wonderful event, and one of the great features of an Azamara cruise. They do this in every overnight port which is really special.

Once complete, we retrace our steps back to the bus and the ship where we have a night cap or two, then hit the sack hoping for a good weather day tomorrow.

10/31–Buriano

Finally all the twists and turns lead us to Buriano, perched atop a knoll overlooking the vineyards and farmland below.  As we approach the long drive up to the village, we notice a gate, which is open, and a sign that says property of the Agrotourism, or something like that.  We decide to take our chances and head up the long, tree-lined and leaf covered road to get the to village anyway. When we arrive, we see an older couple leaving their car up by one of the buildings.  They look at us, but say nothing, so we take that as an invitation to begin our explorations.

Buriano is a small community, originally comprised of a few houses and a church.  It has the dubious distinction of being abandoned twice.  In the ‘60s, the original villagers slowly began to leave to find work elsewhere.  Then in 1986, a hotel was built in hopes of rejuvenating the village.  The hotel operated fairly successfully for about 10 years, then another company bought it and tried to turn it into a beauty farm, which failed in the late ‘90s, leaving the village abandoned once again.

You can see how someone might think this would be a good spot for a resort type hotel.  The views are spectacular from up here, it is quiet and you are definitely well removed from any busy city life.  On the other hand, you can also see why it might be easy to fail!

We walk up the lane, past the two columns guarding the access road – with the hotel just behind.

Then begin our explorations of the hotel. It’s been 20 years since they were in operation, but everything is virtually still in place, as if just waiting to open up again.  Most of the windows are broken out, but protected by bars, so we have a very clear view of the lobby and bar, with the coffee machine still on the counter and lounge/dining furniture all around.  We climb around to the back patio and get another view of the dining area, plus the veranda, with a stunning view, and wooden roof skeleton that must have covered the porch – now fallen and rotting on its anchors. 

Back around front, we peek through bedroom windows with mattresses still there, and the bath with most of the fixtures in place.  Around back is an unkempt little courtyard nestled up against the hill that leads to the rest of the Buriano community.

Walking up into the village, with horses grazing in the pasture below, we can see the storm damage from the days previous.  There are a few trees down across the lane leading up to the village, and you can where the lightening struck, breaking the trees in half.

It is still a beautiful approach to the village, the tall trees lining the road, giving you a glimpse of the village ahead.  We wander around the various buildings, what we think are the local’s homes and the priest’s residence.  It is all so picturesque.

Near the end of the village, overlooking the hotel, we find the church behind locked gates.  It is a sweet looking little place all clean and yard tended.

Across from the church is a cemetery, and this is where we find the couple we saw earlier, cleaning up the cemetery and the graves.  The man comes out and greets us with buongiorno, and thus ensues a 10 minute conversation in Italian about the town. This gentleman grew up here in the town and his parents (mi papa e mi mama) are buried in the cemetery.  He tells us how they had everything in the village – a bar, a tabacchi, il forno (community oven).  Everything.  It was bellissimo he says.  There was also a huge festival with 1000 people in attendance.  He keeps saying how it was bellissimo, over and over, making us feel so sad – as obviously he is - for the loss of his village.  It is a lovely encounter, and we are so happy we actually found the village – and a former villager to boot!  We snap a few more pictures (I completely regret not asking the man for a picture of himself in the village) and head back to our car to complete our circle route back to Livorno.

10/31–Livorno and Ghost towns

Happy Halloween! We are safely in Livorno – we actually arrived last night around midnight (a disappointment for the crew as a bunch of folks were going to go out last night if we arrived at our expected time of 10pm).  The weather is cool and a bit cloudy – and the forecast is for rain, but more so tomorrow, so we plan on going to what appears to be the most interesting ghost town today, Buriano, to escape the rain.  We wander off the ship around 8:30 and only have to wait a few minutes for Eva from SifraCar.  We’ve been renting from SifraCar for years now, and we almost feel like part of the family.  The original owners sold the company to the employees last year, but it is all the same staff and they are so nice and good to us.  We sign the paperwork on the back of Eva’s car, they set up the GPS for us, and Eva gives us her card in case we need her for anything (and oh by the way, she is an artist, so we also have her Instagram account – which we will look at when we get better internet access).

We do have a little discussion about not keeping the car for 2 days since the forecast looks dreadful tomorrow.  But Eva tells us to just decide in the morning and give her a call, so the pressure is off as we drive out of the port on our ghost tour route.  We are docked at the pier closest to the city, which makes it really easy to walk into the city (and we are planning to do that this afternoon) but also longer to get out onto the autostrada.  It is amazing how far around the docks and piers we have to drive just to get to the roundabout close to where we are normally docked in the bigger ships.  As we head toward the autostrada, we pass a back up at least a mile long of cars and trucks trying to get into the port.  Yikes!  We will make sure not to come back into town this way – which should be fairly easy because Eva has told us we must drive up the coast on our return, as it is beautiful scenery.

Our first stop today is the Villa Saletta, a town abandoned in the 1990’s when the sharecropping system fell apart in this area. Prior to that, it was occupied by Nazi troops and used as a shelter in WW2.  It is said to have two beautiful churches and a very logical layout to the town streets and buildings.  After passing all the traffic, the drive on the autostrada is quite peaceful.  Leaving the autostrada we begin to climb into the Tuscan hills, with the leaves just beginning to turn and the olives being harvested, there are beautiful vistas everywhere we look.  IT takes a little less than an hour to reach Villa Saletta, but alas, the village has been fenced off and locked gates greet us on both ends of the town. Darn!

We pull into the drive anyway, and take our chances that we won’t get into trouble just taking pictures outside the gate.  Leaves crunch under our feet as we walk up the access road lined with both deciduous and olive trees.  The town looks so cool – it is a shame we can’t get in there to explore more. The architecture seems plain, except for the incredibly cool decorations at the corners of the buildings – which makes us want to see more of the architecture in the interior of the town.  Looking down the long straight street, we can just make out the church tower at the end, presumably on the square.  Bummer, but just standing here, you can imagine the peaceful quality of life here when the town was occupied – and on the opposite spectrum, how the Nazi occupation must have felt.

A nice little stop, even if we couldn’t actually explore the place.  We backtrack to the main road, and head south on our journey to Buriano, stopping along the way when we find an abandoned house that looks cool on an empty little side road (that, btw, was quite interesting to turn around on!).  What the heck!  It’s abandoned – probably because of earthquake damage - so it fits nicely with our tour theme.

From here, we start to really climb up into the mountains.  The scenery starts to change, and the roads begin to wind up and up, with twists and turns, and a few rain drops, oh, and Italian drivers passing us at every chance.  They really are crazy drivers, good drivers, but crazy.

We stop in the little town of Montecatini Val di Cecina for the views.  It is spectacular up here. Long views of the mountain ranges, beautiful Tuscan buildings clinging to the mountain side. A nice way to stretch our legs for a bit as we continue our ghost town journey.