A last minute flurry of emails finalized the plans for our Carrara marble quarry tour. Gabriel (our tour guide) picked us up at the B&B and then collected a
couple of Brits, and into the mountain we went. Turns out there are three valleys separating mountains made up solely of marble, and that these mountains have been quarried since 170 BC. There are currently 188 active quarries producing 5 million tons of marble slabs per year, plus another 2.5
million tons of waste. The waste can be found in calcium enriched products, toothpaste, osteoporosis drugs, and many other surprising places.
We bumped and bounced in the land rover as we saw the active quarries and caves (they weren't so active today since it was a national holiday) and learned of hand chiseling and technology improvements (they now use diamond studded wires to cut the marble). We rose to 1,100 meters above
sea level just miles from the Mediterranean coast where 1,200 trucks per day roll out of the quarry with blocks as large as 5 cubic meters. We walked in marble dust mud and saw a team shooting the upcoming H&M catalog. All in all an amazing 3-hour tour of the world's best marble deposit.
We then headed to Santa Margherita Ligure, a small town on the "Italian
Riviera" and just up the coast from Cinque Terra. We will be here for three days, so decided to mainly chill today with wine on our balcony and a
leisurely walk around town with many Italians on a one-day holiday. We did get to see the SML 4-man rowing team work out in front of the hotel which made Lynne very happy.
Ciao!
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Location:Carrara & Portofino
Thank you for the rowing picture!
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