Viareggio

On Tuesday this week we drove to Viareggio to visit the boats. We like to park on the working port side of the canal and peak into all the businesses catering to the high end yachts. Things were not as busy as they have been in the past but it was still interesting.

We walked from there to the more touristy part of Viareggio, the long “boardwalk” that parallel’s the beach for miles. However, you cannot see the beach from the pedestrian avenue. Shops and Italian style beach establishments are between the walkway and the sand. All you get is peaks of the beach bars, umbrellas and sand through gaps in the buildings. We walked for a ways, peering in shop windows and discussing fashion among both clothes and electronics, before turning around and heading back the way we came. We looked for a spot for lunch but all the cafes along there look like they pull their pasta dishes out of the freezer and microwave them.

Finally we decided to cross back over the canal to the working side and find a restaurant where the workers eat. It took a bit of searching (avoiding the white tablecloth places full of men in suits) before we found Big Bambu. It was fabulous! We were seated on a balcony upstairs where it was sunny and breezy. No one in the place spoke English which was just what we wanted. Dom had a great spaghetti al ragu and I had tagliatelle with seafood. Yummy!!

After that it was back to Capannori for naps. After all, we were still suffering from jet lag. :-)

Here are some photos from Viareggio.

If one runs out of space below one can always store boats on the roof.

A large matte black super yacht.

Up close you could see why it was in the yard. It definitely needs the paint touched up.

There actually seems to be a lot of empty berths in Viareggio. Maybe a lot of yachts have gone out to wherever they spend the summer.

You can see the passage heading towards the outer part of the marina and eventually the Mediterranean.

This is another canal out to open water. Along the right side we often walk out to the end of the breakwater.

There were very few people along the main pedestrian way. Maybe because it was a Tuesday. Maybe it is just too early in the season. In the summer this area is packed!