Holidays - Part 2

One of the reasons for going to Italy was to visit the Cinque Terre - 5 small villages clinging to a steep hillside overlooking the Mediterranean and now part of a Unesco World Heritage site. 

Pretty they are - but boy are they spoilt!  Despite care with cars (you can only get there by train) they are just too touristy. A real disappointment. 

But we did find a charming little seaside town called Levanto just north of the Cinque Terre - with such a lovely atmosphere.

A medieval centre

 Hill side, though admittedly less dramatic.

No crowds!

Charming restaurants at sensible prices! (Cinque Terre was eye waveringly expensive!) 

But possibly the highlight of the holiday was a visit to the marble quarries of Carrara.  Clinging to the mountainside above this ancient town, the Carrara quarries have been used since the Roman times and Michelangelo sourced the marble for 'David' there. 

There are guided tours up to the big quarries on the top of the mountain. 

And you can visit the smaller quarries lower down.

The purer, whiter the marble the more valuable it is.

Despite controls and conservation, the top of the peak has been removed here.

 The lorries thunder up and down hairpin mountain roads with blocks of marble on the back.

And everywhere is covered in a white powder - the marble dust.