Aug 30 - Genoa

Yesterday was an autoroute / autostrada day. 5 hours vs 11 hours ... hmm ... let me decide.

The route to Genoa was basically retrace our steps to Nice and then drive along the coast. There are a million tunnels and bridges / viaducts along the way, some short and some long. The "avoid tolls" route would have wandered through all the towns and likely have taken much, much longer than the calculated 11 hours.

Genoa is a big, bustling city. Our hotel is close to the waterfront and we found it first and then back to parking that we'd seen. Later we would move the car to a more secure lot closer to the hotel.

Sandy wins another prize for finding great hotels. Well appointed, sparkling clean and recently renovated, friendly staff ... what more can you ask for ? After checking in and getting organized (having a glass of wine) we went out to wander, since it was late afternoon already. Cafes everywhere and shops, it seems that the Italians don't really work.

Genoa is a very old city. We wandered streets that wouldn't be wide enough for two horses to pass one another and people walked single file. Looking up between the buildings in that 3-4 foot space there are fire escapes, windows open, people having conversations between buildings, between floors ... luckily no-one dumping dirty water !

The hotel had recommended a restaurant that didn't open until 8pm for dinner so we found a cafe and had a drink, closed up the cafe and then went back to the hotel to book a room in Florence. That done we went back to the restaurant and found it almost full, but not quite. We had a great dinner .... we've eaten very well so far ... I've got lots of biking to do in order to work all this off later !

The drive from Nice to Genoa was breathtaking. Almost always in view of the Mediterranean, the hills are steep and covered in houses, terraced down into the valleys between the ridged hills. Perhaps the best view was from the service center on the A8 overlooking Monaco. At that point we're still in France. Cruise ships in the harbour, the blue Mediterranean, hills / mountains all around us ... we sat and had our lunch enjoying the stop.

Today we head for Florence, which is only three hours drive away. We'll take the autostrada again but will forsake that for much of the traveling afterwards. We are staying in Florence for two nights, giving us this afternoon, tomorrow and the next morning to take in the sights. It's one of our destinations, vs being just a stop along the way.

Onward !