My daughter's hair is blue and we went to the sea yesterday.   The only connection between those two statements is that she had her hair dyed while we were at the sea and actually, now that I think about it, the hair blue matches the color of the water at the beach perfectly.  If you drive directly south from Torino for an hour you get to Savona, a large ugly port city on the Ligurian coast.  From there you head west along the Via Aurelia, (the 2000 year old road built by the ancient Romans to help them with their world conquering), and after 15 minutes you come to Noli.  Noli is where GP's parents used to take him for their summer holidays when he was a child and it's one of the first places he took me when I came to Italy.  It's a charming little town with nice beaches, turquoise water, streets meandering up into the hills and a great castle hovering over it all.   It is also one of the last villages on this touristic coast with a healthy fishing industry.  Fishermen leave at sundown with large gas lights attached to the sterns of their wooden boats.  The lights attract the fish which they scoop up in big nets.   In the mornings the fishermen pull their boats up onto the beach and sell their catch at the open air market built right on the waterfront promenade.  When we arrived yesterday at 9:30 the last of the fish was being wrapped up and carted off.  Noli has a long history and back in the day it was part of Genova's Maritime Republic.  There are all sorts of wonderful old buildings, towers and squares and the best gelato shop ever.   I love it.

fishing boats on beach

the castle ramparts climb up the hills behind

cool building

beachfront promenade

We spent the entire day sleeping in the sun and swimming.  The water was incredibly clear and the temperature perfect.   I didn't want to leave.  I had to get in one last day of summer as the autumn rains should start soon.  They've been predicting rain for the last week but obviously it hasn't happened yet.


We got home in time to change and head out again.  We had dinner with another couple at a new restaurant/cocktail bar owned by an old friend.  I wanted it to be really good for their sake but it was rather disappointing.  Thankfully they did have a good selection of wines so all was not lost.  Didn't get home till after 1 o'clock and that's way past my bedtime.  Early night tonight!

I don't mind the blue hair at all by the way.  Xxoo me