Travel Articles

What ever activities you would like to do, Liguria in Italy, especially around the hilly Fiascherino, Lerici, and Cinque Terre area, would be one of your best choices! The usual summer activities of swimming, sailing are all there but you can find all year around sports like golf, walking and cycling.

Enchanting old architecture, churches are waiting for you to discover and the region is surrounded by sea, rocky shores, mountain views, secret gardens which will take you back in time.

The wonderful mild climate throughout the winter helps to make sure that you will be coming back to play golf to this place again and again… On the top of that the region offers mouth-watering local gastronomic dishes, which you can find everywhere.

Its terrain is still difficult to reach, even though there are two airports to aim for, Genoa and Pisa. Lerici especially Fiascherino are still unspoiled by mass tourism, and are little known outside of Italy. It will appeal to the discerning and adventurous traveler who wants a different holiday than the main stream tourism can offer. Exercise, stupendous sea and mountain views, fabulous, varied cuisine, culture, architecture, and a warm welcome from the natives are all waiting for the visitor.

You can play golf throughout the year, that is 52 weeks and bask in the warm autumn sunshine in Lerici and take the scenic views for granted while you enjoy your game of golf and have all of the benefits I listed above! Golf Club Marigola Lerici has a 9 holes m. 1.101, Par 27 course with pro-shop, driving range, putting green, bar, restaurant, and car parking. You will need to contact them before and present a certificate or tell them what your playing level is.

You cannot compare this golfing experience with the Spanish, and Portuguese courses with their 18 holes, where you play all day long, and every day and practically do nothing else. This if for the golfers, who want to entertain their partners as well as playing golf in the morning or the afternoon, while their other half enjoy their promenade, their cappuccino or a spot of shopping in Lerici or close by Sarzana and meet up for a fabulous and leisurely lunch afterwards. You can find other golf courses in the vicinity, and can look up Sarzana for more golf courses, which is just a ten minutes drive from Lerici.

After playing golf, you can spend the rest of the days visiting old churches, old Etruscan ruins in Ameglia and neighbouring places, sampling Ligurian food and wine, or just sit in one of the many café houses on the promenade in Lerici and watch the world go by, a very Italian pass time perfected by the natives, at which we, Westerners are not very good at.

Talking of food and wine, I know of no other region, where the food varies from almost town to town! Apart from the obvious and well known Genovese pesto, which is well known to the British now, the coast menu is entirely different from the terrains.

I have a lovely story to tell you here, which is now a common joke within our family. It was around August time, when we were fished out, having eaten it, almost every day, cooked, grilled, baked and any way you care to name, we thought we want a change. Our Italian neighbors recommended quite a famous restaurant up in the mountains. So we set off, map and all and zig-zaged up to the top on the narrow road and got there before dark. Always a good idea! Looking at our menu there was not a ‘Fritto Misto di Mare’ in sight (fried and grilled selection of sea food), naturally, but all kinds of meat that the terrain could offer.

From the ‘Coniglio Arrosto alla Ligure (Roasted Rabbit) to Agnello Arrosto (roasted lamb) to the ‘Cotechino’ (spicy pork sausage) there was one of the widest choice I have seen for a long time. The choice was difficult but we managed it after along discussion and were waiting for our food, when we could not help but hear that the young couple (from Northern Europe) at the next table were discussing the fact that there was nothing they could want from the menu. When the waiter finally came and asked what they would like to have, the young lady asked for fish and chips with some cold green salad.

The waiter having seen this before calmly said that there was no fish up the mountain, but you could have this and that. After a five minutes discussion in half Italian and Danish (we think) they finally settled down to a tomato salad with chips! Now, I would call this a waste of opportunity and a wasted effort to come up all the way to the top of the mountain and then leave without tasting the local food. But, I am sure; you will not make this mistake after reading this article. If you want fish, you’d better stay down in the harbor, as they are not very good at swimming to the top of mountains.

The moral of the story, when in Rome behave like Romans!

Happy golfing, eating, and ‘Dolce Vita’ to you all! I have only one wish, that I could join you for good one of these days and enjoy this fabulous life style forever!

Margaret Godden is passionate about travel, one of her favorite places is in NW Italy, Liguria where she has a small apartment. She has been going there for the past ten years.

You will find, when you do your research that it is very hard to find a small place in walking distance to the sea at a price you can afford. Fancy trying it? Why stay anywhere else when her home has many benefits over a hotel? It offers far more privacy and independence, comfort, a sunny terrace. She invites you to stay there and will advise you with her local knowledge on how to get the best out of your fabulous holiday!

Kind regards,

Mararet Godden
Business URL: http://vacationrentalpeople.com/22648