A few weeks ago, we climbed the mountains overlooking Monaco (the Tête de Chien) and Eze (Mont Bastide). On Easter Sunday, we turned our attention to the steep hills of Menton and tackled one that overlook our adopted home town. When I wrote late last year that climbing some of the Riviera peaks would be…
By and large, while we may provide you with tips and suggestions, we leave you pretty much free to do whatever you like, dishing out only occasional Iron Rules of Easy Hiking. Here, however, is one: whenever the town you are visiting offers a wall walk, go and take it. Wall walks – carefully landscaped…
A shrine for a world-famous pop star, the second largest private residence in London, the grave of London’s most iconic political émigré: you will come across all that and more in today’s walk – on top of some surprisingly wild scenery, so wild in fact that you would never expect to find anything like it…
Hollywood and Monaco: at first glance, this appears to be a match made in heaven. There are probably no two places on earth that share the same combination of glamour and money – or the same type of cheerful, unapologetic vulgarity. Upon further review, however, you will realize how rarely this seemingly perfect match has…
What is it that gives the French Riviera its unique flavour? It cannot be the mix of sunshine and spectacular landscapes, because many other places in the world have that, too. It cannot be a richness of history and culture, because there is – frankly – little of either. No: the one ingredient that gives…
One day late in the 19th century, Empress Elisabeth of Austria – on a visit to the Riviera di Levante – decided to go out for a walk. Elisabeth, the semi-estranged wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I, was famous for her eccentricities and, among other things, an avid walker. That afternoon, she took a ride…
Last week, we told you about hikes – easy ones and not so easy ones – in the rugged Regional Nature Reserve between Camogli and Portofino. Today, we will stay in the Riviera di Levante (the coast east of Genoa), but for a much more civilized contrast programme. You can bring your lazy old dog,…
It actually pains me to write it down, being a “local patriot” who considers the Italian Riviera west of Genoa as his playground and friendly neighbour. But here it goes: in the highlight reel of the Italian Riviera, the East End has all the good bits. A trip to the east of Genoa feels very…
It was Mrs. Easy Hiker who drew my attention to the site. I wonder what these ruins are, she mused: not once, not twice, but repeatedly, and in the end – when that had failed to stir me into action or at least a bout of in-depth research – almost every time we passed the…
If you have ever visited the Italian Riviera, aka Liguria, one of the things you will fondly remember is the train that connects the various small resort towns along the coast. This train is not one of those fancy high-speed bullet numbers that dash through the countryside. Instead, it takes its time – this is…