Of course, it was raining hard in Piacenza in the morning.  We got packed up and got to the car and left.

The drive to Western Liguria was mostly in the rain, which made it hard for our intrepid driver, Ken.  After about four hours, we arrived in Badalucco.  This area, known as the Ponente, is famous for olive oil.  We got checked into L’Adagio.  This place is just not for us.  Our cute little suite has the tiniest plastic spiral staircase to go from the living area to the bedroom/bathroom.  There is not enough space within the spiral to bring our suitcases upstairs! To add to this oddity, the shower is a stand alone glass enclosure in the upstairs bedroom. It is not part of the bathroom. Nice try at some sort of modernism, bit a failure at feng shui all around

And the rain continues.  For a moment, the sun popped out so I took a few photos and we went for a walk through the town, just across the stone bridge.  

Here’s the raging river Taggia which curls around the town.  This is across town from our place.

And this wall with “sculptures” saying “no dam,” was interesting:

Lots of the houses have ceramic tiles or figures on display near their front doors, which makes the town cute, but everything is so wet and there is no light from the misty clouds.

We explored some more, stopped at the mini market to get some salad stuff.  All during the walk we were hearing loud revving engines.  It turns out this is the week of San Remo Road Rally race.  Souped up street cars speed through the towns and make so much noise.  It is exciting for the locals, but for us it is not pleasant.

We came back to put our heads together and decided we will not stay as long as planned.

Rain continued and luckily our dinner reservation was only a block away.  I saw this sweet little shrine stuck into the mountainside as we walked.

Fortified by food and wine, we came back.  Our stay inside is all about planning what we need to have upstairs or down the tiny stairs.  

The sun will (maybe) come out tomorrow.