Ventimiglia

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The French call it Ventimellia however the Italians call it Ventimiglia & seeing as it's in Italy thats what we will call it. It is just over the border of France to Italy and all trains from Nice going in that direction will go that far and stop at Ventimiglia.
There was a noteable difference to the immigrant situation on Italy's side of the border. Many males mulling about the station and many camping in the 'Wadi' under the motorways. We imagine their intention is to get into France. However the border is heavily guarded by the presence of armed Italian Military on their side & armed Polizia in France. The train had a compulsory stop at border control for checks. And we noted twice the very slow movement of the train through the border tunnel.
Ventimiglia sits in the Liguria region at the end of a valley that stretches back up into the Alpes. So I imagine that Wadi after a winter thaw is quite a different place. It too sits on a lovely beach that is a real drawcard for holidaymakers and tourists. The old town on the peak next to the sea is a bit delapidated but still inhabited. With it's narrow streets and tunnel like archways we thought it might have a few homeless, but no sign of anything to indicate they made use of it for shelter.
The Friday Markets was actually the main reason for our train trip. There were hundreds of stall holders and alot of repeated merchandise. Very colourful and absolutely crowded.
We didn't meander for too long as the prices were definitely not street market prices anymore and it was a bit too congested.
So we walked over the bridge to the old town and up to the top. Quite a zigzag of small and long archways I'm sure were put there to confuse us.

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Comments

[Mum]

Fabulous!