Balestrino, Italy

44° 07' 27" N, 8° 10' 27" E

While my upcoming trip in February will probably not lead me into Europe any further west than Zagreb (and there are certainly a lot of abandoned castles and villages throughout the former Yugoslavia), a photoset of this little town on the Italian Riviera caught my eye the other day, and made me have second thoughts about not including a Europe leg.

Though the photoset would lead one to believe that the village is abandoned, from some brief Googling (including a very brief history on the town) it seems that Balestrino is indeed populated (~500). Checking the photos against Google Earth, it seems that the abandoned section is only the western part of town, south of the road (SP34) that bisects the village. Nevertheless, it's certainly on the list, and given it's proximity to the coast, it's certainly worth considering for a place to sleep that's out of the way, should I happen to find myself hitching from Genova to Monaco.

The website where I first found Balestrino, Abandoned But Not Forgotten, is now listed in the sidebar. Some of the pages have very little information, some without maps at all, which is of course half the fun. After all, if you want your sightseeing planned for you, Seattle has a splendid alternative.