Punta Bianca - Liguria
When we headed back towards Tellaro from Spiaggia del Groppolo we thought our adventures in Liguria were over. We were, thankfully, mistaken.
The trail back was much more plesant than the trail there ( it was the same trail but going downhill makes such a difference!)
We were able to appreciate all the little details and tucked away houses on the cliffs that we didn’t notice before
When we reached our car, we once again had cell service and Alyssa received a message from her student! The lesson was cancelled! We now had all the time in the world to continue our adventure! We didn’t want to hike back up the hill to the beach but we thought we’d take this time to check out Tellaro itself.
It’s a cute little seaside village with narrow vias
and a shallow harbor that’s perfect for kids to play in
Not finding a beach nearly as good as the one we left we finally realized that we could drive to our original destination - Punta Bianca. The winding roads from Tellaro to just outside of Bocca di Magra took about 25 min - taking back roads and very little traffic. The turn off for Punta Bianca is pretty small. On your right as you turn a corner you’ll see a little brown sign and a short stop sign for the Punta Bianca road. When you park you can get a beautiful view of the mountains with large streaks of marble running through them that look almost like snow.
The trail down to Punta Bianca is short and sweet on a slight hill. Nothing too difficult.
You emerge from the trees onto an collection of large flat rocks. This is less of a beach and more of a dock. A dock made of rock. But it is beautiful.
There were a few pockets of people there, sunbathing and enjoying the warmth of the smooth stone. We dropped out stuff and got ready to jump into the cold water.
There are two options to get into the ocean - the first is to jump from the rock. It’s high but nowhere near the height of our jumping rock on Spiaggia del Groppolo. just enough to make you pause.
You can also climb down the side of the rock to where it meets the sea. This is also, incidentally, how you get out.
This sea is definitely not for beginners. The water is much deeper and there’s not a gradient. If the seas are rough it could be a really hassle. Fortunately for us, the seas were calm and we were able to swim about.
Because it was so deep we didn’t take the gopro in for too long. But we had our masks and could still enjoy the schools of almost translucent fish swimming around. You have to be careful of the rocks here as they are covered in sharp barnacles that will secret an irritant if you brush against them. Punta bianca is definitely a place better suited to sunbathing and diving ( or trying to 😂 ).
The rocks are perfect and because the trail was short and sweet we brought along our bottle of champagne! July 16th marked our 1 year anniversary in Italy and we wanted to celebrate!
Popcorn and champagne while watching the sunset over the Mediterranean...I couldn’t imagine a better way of celebrating surviving our first year in Italy.
We waited until the sun set - moving further and further along the rock to stay in the warm sunshine.
And then, when dusk began to settle and we actually began to feel cold, we packed up and headed home.
Our Ligurian adventure was over but it was wonderful, and nourishing, and beautiful.And I can’t wait to go back.
