The Ligurian Coast - World Airlines Clubs Association

The
Ligurian
Coast
Italy
Photo by Julian Chau
A WACA 50th Anniversary Pre Tour
02 - 06 November 2016
Rev. 01 May 16
Introduction
Liguria, where the Alps and the Apennines cascade into the Mediterranean, is defined
by its sinuous, giddy landscapes, with a topography so demanding it has shaped almost every facet of daily life. Farming is carried out on ingeniously terraced cliff faces,
and impossibly sited fishing villages have long plundered the sea.
Anchored beside the region’s best natural harbour is noble Genoa. Known as La Superba (the Superb One) to biased locals, it’s a city that ruled over one of the finest
maritime empires in medieval Europe. Fanning out on either side is the Riviera (western ‘Ponente’, eastern ‘Levante’), including the Portofino peninsula, along with legendary Cinque Terre. Surprisingly, given its lack of obvious agricultural land, Liguria is
renowned for its food: fat anchovies, fragrant lemons, olive oil-rich focaccia bread and
a viridian sauce called pesto.
The WACA 49th AGA pre-tour will take us to the Ligurian Coast of Italy, where we will visit the Italian Levante
Riviera and its beautiful ports of Portofino and Camoglia, its glamour at St Margherita and Rappallo, with a cruise
in between. We will take a day excursion to the Cinque Terre to visit its stunning villages of Vernazza and Manarola
etc. A walking tour of Genoa and its markets as well as its quaint village of Bocadasse. Drive to Cannes stopping
along the Italian Ponente Riviera at Nilo, Finalborgo, San Remo and the French town of Menton.
The tour starts with a pick-up at Milan Malpensa International Airport in the morning and will stop along the way
at Pavia for a half day tour before arriving in Genoa. The tour is based in a 4 stars hotel in Genoa (Genova) for 4
nights.
Bocadasse
Camoglio
Genova
Riviera di Levante
Riviera di Ponente
San Remo
Riomaggiore
Santa Margherita
PAVIA
Nilo
Menton
Rapallo
Cinque Terre
Portofino
Manarola
Vernazza
Un itinerario
02 Nov (Day 1) - Milan Malpensa Airport - Pavia - Genova D
You will be picked up at a pre-determined spot at Milan’s Malpensa International Airport at 9 a.m. Along the way
to Genova, we will have a half day tour at Pavia, located a short drive away from Milan.
Founded by the Romans as a military garrison, Pavia has long been a strategic city both geographically and
politically. It sits at the centre of an agricultural plain and its university is considered one of the best in Italy, with
previous alumni including explorer Christopher Columbus, physicist Alessandro Volta and poet and revolutionary Ugo Foscolo. Aside from its vibrant atmosphere, Pavia’s historic centre preserves a clutch of worthwhile
sights including, to the north of
the city, the fabulous Carthusian
monastery of Certosa di Pavia, a
companion piece to the Duomo in
Milan. Lunch in Pavia is on your
own.
After our tour of Pavia concludes,
we will take a 1.5 hours drive to
Genova, where we will check into
the centrally located NH Genova Centro and have dinner. This
hotel will serve as our base for the
next 4 nights.
03 Nov (Day 2) - Excursion to Cinque Terre B, D
After breakfast, we will start our day excursion to the Cinque Terre. First transfer by bus to Manarola and by
train to Vernazza, Monterosso al Mare and Levanto, where the bus will pick us back to overnight in Genova.
Dinner is included but lunch is on your own.
Set amidst some of the most dramatic coastal scenery on the planet, these five ingeniously constructed fishing
villages can bolster the most jaded of spirits. A Unesco World Heritage site since 1997, sinuous paths traverse
seemingly impregnable cliffsides, while a 19th-century railway line cut through a series of coastal tunnels ferries
the footsore from village to village. Thankfully cars were banned over a decade ago.
Rooted in antiquity, Cinque Terre’s five villages date from the early medieval period. Monterosso, the oldest, was
founded in AD 643, when beleaguered hill dwellers moved down to the coast to escape from invading barbarians. Riomaggiore came next, purportedly established in the 8th century by Greek settlers fleeing persecution in
Byzantium. The others are Vernazza, Corniglia and Manarola. Much of what remains in the villages today dates
from the late High Middle Ages, including several castles and a quintet of illustrious parish churches.
Fetching vernacular architecture aside, Cinque Terre’s unique historical feature are the steeply terraced cliffs
bisected by a complicated system of fields and gardens that have been hacked, chiselled, shaped and layered over
the course of nearly two millennia. So marked are these artificial contours that some scholars have compared the
extensive muretti (low stone walls) to the Great Wall of China in their grandeur and scope. For today’s tour, we
will only visit Manarola, Vernazza and Monterosso, 3 of the 5 villages in the Cinque Terre.
Vernazza
Photo by Julian Chau
Vernazza’s small harbour – the only secure landing point on the Cinque Terre coast – guards what is perhaps the
quaintest of the five villages. Lined with little cafes, a main cobbled street, Via Roma, links seaside Piazza Marconi
with the train station. Side streets lead to the village’s trademark Genoa-style caruggi (narrow lanes), where sea
views pop at every turn.
Bequeathed with more grapevines than any other Cinque Terre village, Manarola is famous for its sweet Sciacchetrà wine. It’s also awash with priceless medieval relics, supporting claims that it is the oldest of the five. The spirited
locals here speak an esoteric local dialect known as Manarolese. Due to its proximity to Riomaggiore (852m away),
the village is heavily trafficked, especially by Italian school parties.
Monterosso al Mare is the furthest west and least quintessential of the quintet. The village, known for its lemon
trees and anchovies, is split in two, its new and old halves linked by an underground tunnel burrowed beneath the
blustery San Cristoforo promontory.
Monterosso al Mare
Manarola
04 Nov (Day 3) - Tour of the Riviera di Levante
B, D
After breakfast, transfer by bus to Camogli and Santa
Margherita, then we will take a boat to Portofino and
transfer to Rapallo by bus again. Overnight and dinner in
Genova Hotel.
Beyond Genoa’s eastern sprawl, this narrow strip of coast
between the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean and
the ruggedly moutainous Ligurian hinterland are home to
some of Italy’s most elite resorts, including jet-set favourite Portofino, the gently faded Santa Margherita and poetic Lerici. Anything but off the beaten track, this glittering
stretch of coast is hugely popular, but retains pockets of
extreme natural beauty.
Portofino
Camogli
Even the trees are handsome in Portofino, a small but perfectly coiffured coastal village that sits on its own peninsula, seemingly upping the exclusivity factor by mere geography. Hotels here are hushed and headily priced, but a
drink by Portofino’s yacht-filled harbour or a stroll around
its designer shops can be easily enjoyed on a day trip from
Genoa. A path leads from the Piazzetta to Castello Brown,
a 16th-century fortress and museum with art exhibitions
and panoramic views of the town and the Ligurian Sea.
Camogli, 25km east of Genoa, is most famous for its sheer
number of trompe l’œil villas, its photogenic terraced
streets winding down to a perfect cove of pebble beach
amid a backdrop of umbrella pines and olive groves. Pretty as it the town is, it remains a working fishing hub – the
town’s name means ‘house of wives’, hailing from the days
when the womenfolk ran the show while the husbands
were away at sea. Delve down the lanes away from the water for the town’s best focaccia
Santa Margherita materialises like a calm Impressionist
painting. You wouldn’t want to change a single detail of its
picture-perfect seaside promenade, where elegant hotels
with Liberty facades overlook yachts in this fishing-village-turned-retirement-spot. WB Yeats, Max Beerbohm
and Ezra Pound all garnered inspiration in Rapallo and
it’s not difficult to see why. With its bright-blue changing
cabins, palm-fringed beach and diminutive 16th-century
castle perched above the sea, the town has a poetic and
nostalgic air.
Santa Margherita
05 Nov (Day 4) - Walking tour of Genoa and visit to Bocadasse B, L, D
Today’s activity includes a walking tour of Genova’s old city, Palazzi dei Rolli (a collection of palaces once owned
by Genoa’s prominent families and now a UNESCO site) and a visit to the Carmine Market afterwards where we
will visit the stalls of the Market, with tasting of territorial products at the stalls including Sant’Olcese’s salami,
marinated fish, vegetables in oil dip etc. Later in the afternoon, we will visit Bocadasse, the old mariners’ corner of
Genova. Overnight and dinner at Genova Hotel.
While Henry James described Genova (Genoa) as ‘the most winding and incoherent of cities’, his French counterpart Gustav Flaubert declared it had ‘a beauty that tears the soul’. Italy’s largest sea port is indefatigably contradictory, full at once of grandeur, squalor, sparkling light and deep shade. But a gateway to the Riviera for many
travellers today, a weighty architectural heritage speaks of its former glory. The Most Serene Republic of Genoa
ruled over the Mediterranean waves during the 12th to the 13th centuries and its emblematic flag, the red cross of
St George, was greedily hijacked by the upstart English. It is also the hometown of the greatest mariner in the Age
of Discovery, Christopher Columbus.
History feels alive in Genoa, and no more so in its extensive old city, a tightly twisting maze of narrow caruggi (laneways), largely intact and a compelling, if often confronting, reminder of pre-modern life. Emerge blinking from
its dank heart to Via Garibaldi and the splendid Enlightment-era gold-leaf halls of the Unesco-annointed Palazzi
dei Rolli. Its old town, too, has had its own far more organic revitalisation, with a bright new crop of fashionable
shops, restaurants and bars lighting the way.
“With pastel-coloured terracotta-roofed houses, artistic churches, lovely seaside villas, and also several
luxurious boutiques, Genoa is a must see if you want to experience the “quintessential” Italy.”
“Genova, once a mighty maritime empire, was the birthplace of Columbus and imprisoned Marco Polo
after a naval victory over Venice. It is one of the most underrated great cities of Europe. Genoa provides
some of the finest places on earth to sip wine, eat pesto and enjoy spectacular views.”
06 Nov (Day 5) - Tour of the Riviera di Ponente, Menton & Arrival at Cannes B, L
After breakfast we will drive along the Riviera di Ponente west of Genoa to Cannes. Our first stop will be at Noli,
a picturesque, miniature, walled town which is one of the best-preserved medieval cities on this stretch of the
coast. Just 4m above sea level, Noli sits quite literally on the beach. After Noli, we will visit Finalborgo for lunch.
Finalborgo is a small medieval town with intact walls and towers and has a unique atmosphere. It is considered
one of the most beautiful towns in Liguria.
After Finalborgo, we will stop at the Promenades of San Remo and then Menton in France. San Remo, Italy’s
own Monte Carlo, a sun-dappled Mediterranean resort with a casino, a clutch of ostentatious villas and lashings
of Riviera-style grandeur. Known colloquially as the City of Flowers for its colourful summer blooms, San Remo
also stages an annual music festival (the supposed inspiration for the Eurovision Song Contest). During the mid19th century the city became a magnet for regal European exiles, such as Empress Elisabeth of Austria and Tsar
Nicola of Russia, who favoured the town’s balmy winters. Menton is the “The Lemon Festival Capital of the World”,
located very close to the border of France and Italy and in many ways is more Italian than French. It has its own
microclimate, generally milder than the rest of the French Riviera and it is where the Alps drop down to the Mediterranean Sea.
The Riviera di Ponente might not be as stylish as the Côte d’Azur over the border, nor as swanky as the Riviera di
Levante to the east of Genoa, where society resorts such as Rapallo and Portofino cater strictly for the super-rich,
it nonetheless exudes a unique charm.
The tour ends with a drop off at Cannes in the evening. Participants wishing to stay at the Hôtel Barrière Le Gray
d’Albion may register with WACA for the special extra night room rate. The WACA AGA starts on the 6th of November.
Noli
Menton
Finalborgo
Registration Details
Package Cost: 748 USD (645 Euros)
Capacity: 30
Registration Deadline: 01 August 2016
Package includes:
1. 4 nights twin share accommodation at the NH Genova Centro (4 stars) in central Genoa.
For interested parties, please register with Mr. Keith
Miller at WACA headquarters at info@waca.org.
For additional information about the tour, please
contact any member of the WACA Council at waca.
travel@gmail.com
All money orders/draft in US Dollars must be payable to the “World Airlines Clubs Association” and
along with the filled-in Registration Form, to be
mailed to:
2. 4 dinners and 2 local lunches (1 lunch is snacking at Genoa’s
Carmine Market).
Mr. Keith Miller at WACA Headquarters, c/o IATA,
800 Place Victoria, P.O. Box 113, Montreal, Quebec,
Canada H4Z 1M1.
3. Tours as specified in the itinerary, including English
speaking guides and gratuity. Ground transportation
during tours in air-conditioned coaches.
The Registration forms can also be sent to WACA
via email.
4. Selected transfers as indicated in the Program starting from
Milan Malpensa International Airport and ending at final
destination in Cannes.
Package does not include:
1. WACA fee of 20 USD per participant.
2. Single room supplement of 240 USD.
3. Expenses of a personal nature such as drinks/meals
(unless specified as per the program), laundry and
telephone calls, internet etc.
4. Travel & Personal Insurance.
5. Visas. Please check with the local or the nearest French
diplomatic mission for the most updated visa require
ment details.
Deposit & Payments:
A deposit of 300 USD per participant is required by the 01st of
August 2016 for the registration to be confirmed.
The final payment of 448 USD shall be paid by 01st September
2016.
Note:
WACA reserves the right to adjust the package deposit amount
should the Euro to USD exchange rate break over the 1.2 barrier.
Registration is on a first come first serve basis.
You can also transfer the payment via wire transfer
to WACA’s bank account. Transfer charges are to be
borne by participants and WACA reserves the right
to collect from the participant the shortfall due to
service charges etc. Please note WACA’s Bank of
Montreal account does levy a charge of 14 US dollars for every transaction and this shall be borne by
the participant as well.
For PayPal payments, this payment option is no
longer offered due to the potentially high service
charges that might be incurred.
WACA’s bank account info as follows for bank wire
transfers:
Bank Address:
Bank of Montreal, 2005 Peel Street, Montreal,
Quebec, Canada H3A 1T7
Account name: World Airlines Clubs Association
Account number: 4600-790
Transit number: 01581
Swift code: bofmcam2
Note:
Bank processing charges may vary from country to
country and WACA will only recover the outstanding amount as indicated in the actual transaction
records.