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... that I hadn't arrived in Livorno kitted out with waterproof beach bag and all the trimmings. Like I saw so many people on the bus kitted out with. (I would have added shady hat, sun tan lotion and dark glasses.)
Everyone lying down getting brown.
This might be the place to say that what struck me everywhere I went in Italy is how trim and active people are. You simply did not see overweight people. I saw young mothers wheeling their babies out and the young mothers looked great in their capri pants. I saw older gents with no belly on them at all. They can't all be sucking in their guts. And the strange thing is, they love their food so much!
I have a theory that it is the little rocket fuel coffees they drink. Called cafe normale. Yeah, sure. Normale for a rocket.
I saw quite a few coffee bars with no seats. My theory is you go in, order a cafe normale, choof it down, wait for it to hit, and you are already standing ready to fly off and be Italian. Active and trim.
BTW in the background is the Hotel Universal, if you are interested in its location. Leave a Comment
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I noticed a small window, low in the wall in a side chamber near the candles, that was open.
Outside young lads and their dog were larking about, sunbathing and joshing each other. I couldn't understand what they were saying. But I knew that was what they were doing.
So I sat in a pew right in the breeze and cooled off.
Then the priest came in with two older parishioners.
They gave me sharp, surprised glances.
I got that look a lot in Livorno.
So I left.
I do feel a bit embarrassed in Catholic churches because I don't know how to do that bob and cross yourself thing as I enter and leave. Leave a Comment
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There are acres of churches in Rome. You are always tripping over them in Genoa. But In Livorno I had a particular reason to look for one, and realised there just weren't that many around.
My particular reason is I wanted to light a candle for some friends who had found themselves in a spot of bother. Not that I am religious, or anything. But I like to find a church, make an offering, light a candle and sit and think about whatever friends have got into a spot of bother.
This one was a very plain workaday church. No great art. Shabby around the edges. No candles burning.
I lit a candle for my friends. I lit one for my family. And then I did something I have never done before. I lit one for myself. Leave a Comment
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... along what I found out to be an 18th century promenade, when I saw a young guy in speedos come up a tiny track.
So I went down the track thinking there was probably a beach and there was.
I hadn't yet found out how keen the Livornese are on the beach culture. And tanning. So I was surprised to see so many people had taken the mountain goat path down to this rocky beach. And to see a couple of them were very nearly done to a turn. Baked mahogany brown. Leave a Comment
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Livorno has got the old fortress on the harbour but in my wanderings I didn't see a lot of old stuff.
(And I never took a photo of the fortress. Dunno why. I did buy a fridge magnet of it. 7 euro!!!! Made me draw me breath in a bit but I really wanted a souvenir of Livorno. I also bought 31 Songs by Nick Hornby to give my son. But when I got home I found my daughter had sent it to him as a birthday present. Snap!)
Anyway. Old stuff.
Did they never have it? - I wondered to myself.
Were they just so pragmatic they ripped it down and built something useful?
Maybe a monster earthquake shook all the old stuff into piles of rubble.
Quite a puzzle.
Then I got talking to someone and they suggested that as the Allies landed on the coast near Livorno during WW2, maybe it all got blown to bits.
Having seen the bomb sites in Genoa, I thought this was quite a realistic assumption.
Just an afternote. I had such a lot of trouble finding somewhere to stay in Livorno on the internet. But when I got there hotels of all manner and description were thick on the ground.
See the hoarding pointing the way to yet another hotel?
PS I have been told this is the remains of a 19th century railway station.
And yes. Livorno got a hammering in WW2 because it had docks. Leave a Comment
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Then an old gent on another vespa ran up onto the footpath and crunched himself. No idea why.
Everyone attending to the first accident turned around, flapped their arms shouting things like - Oh no! Not another one! - and ran across to help.
He didn't seem to want to stand up. A car stopped and thrust a bottle of water out the window to the helpers and sped off.
The helpers bathed his wounds with the water and patted him a lot.
I don't think an accident victim in the Antipodes would have been patted. But he didn't seem to mind being patted. Leave a Comment
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I walk out of the church - and there were these two girls that had crunched the lovely new yellow vespa!
No sign of the rider.
But they looked quite insouciant so I reckoned they hadn't killed the rider.
They were standing in the middle of the road as the traffic roared round them. Leave a Comment
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... the old gent who had been riding the vespa in the first accident turned up, on his feet, looking sprightly.
Bit of a palaver. Everyone was quite cool.
The girls drove the car to the side of the road and the police made chalk marks around the body of the vespa.
I have no idea who was in the wrong.
One got the impresion though that it was the old gent on the vespa.
Maybe his reaction time had slowed down.
Speedy reactions are the trick to staying alive on Italian roads. Leave a Comment
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About a kilometre further on I came upon the full complement of arrangements for sea bathing and sun baking.
More sun baking than bathing.
There were sandy beaches with parasols and deck chairs. There was a swimming pool. There was this flight of stairs. Not sure of the point and purpose of them.
But saw two people stretched out like lizards on them. Really scarey stuff! Trying to cook themselves into a huge dose of skin cancer.
A Hungarian had told me that because there isn't a hole in the ozone layer that the sun doesn't burn you as much in Italy. Not like in Australia.
And I must say the little bits of my skin that were exposed didn't frizzle as much as they would have in Australia.
It was hot. But the sun didn't feel vicious.
Still, better safe than sorry. Leave a Comment
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This is one of my fave beaches to go when i have just a few hours to spend at the beach
this is just 5 minutes drive from where I live
the water is fabulous and clean
during the summer u will find a lot of people overnighting at the beach and partying their ass off the whole night hahaah Leave a Comment
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on August 11, 2004
on January 7, 2004
