We made a point of getting an early start today because we thought we could use the time to stop in along the French Riviera on our way to La Spezia. When we put the destination into the GPS selecting to take the scenic route (not the motorway) it told us it would take 8 hours and we wouldn’t be in La Spezia until dinner time! According to Google Maps, this was only going to take us 3.5 hours! We decided we would take the scenic route until Monaco and then take the Motorway after that. As expected, the Riviera was beautiful and the coastal towns just so picturesque, especially when there was a castle on the hill. Beautiful.
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| The kids were excited at breakfast because when they brought the hot chocolates out, they both squealed "Nonno!" ... look at the hairdo on the face... |
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| First time touching Mediterranean water |
Monaco was interesting, you could tell there was some BIG money there just from all the cars on the roads and the luxury liners in the bay.
Moving forward we got onto the Motorway and were wrapped that we still got to see the coast line (in between the tunnels). San Remo looked like a lovely little place, so we decided to pull in for some lunch. When we got out of the car, our GPS said we had 2.5 hours to get to La Spezia, so why not? We had plenty of time.
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| Very French buildings |
Moving forward we got onto the Motorway and were wrapped that we still got to see the coast line (in between the tunnels). San Remo looked like a lovely little place, so we decided to pull in for some lunch. When we got out of the car, our GPS said we had 2.5 hours to get to La Spezia, so why not? We had plenty of time.
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| San Remo Marina |
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| Olivia is saving up to buy this car one day |
Lunch was great, except for all the bloody Morachini that kept hassling me to buy their stuff. I mean, they come right up to you as your eating your lunch, in the middle of a conversation with people and talk right over you “hallo, bon jour, bon giorno”, they have to cover all their bases. And then after you shoo them away like they’re an annoying blow fly in the outback, they insist, “very good price for you lady” and although you may find it hard to believe, I actually don’t even look at their goods it’s that annoying. I just want to yell at them “If I want a bloody bag, I’ll go find a bloody bag, now bugger off!!!” Can’t imagine they’d sell much, I never see anyone buying…
On we go, back onto the motorway, by now it was 3:30 and theoretically we should be in La Spezia by 6pm, right? WRONG! Not 2 minutes down the road and the traffic came to a screeching halt. I don’t know whether this was the post Easter break traffic of everyone going home or if this was normal fare, but we drove for the next 4 hours at between 5 and 10km per hour.
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From San Remo until we got to the other side of Genoa we were stuck in the longest traffic jam we’ve ever been in, in our lives. I think I would have preferred an acupuncture treatment on my eyeballs.
Once we got through Genoa, our final hour became our final 50 minutes as Ben tried to make up for lost time. BTW he’s loving this driving gig over here. You can speed and be aggressive on the roads as much as you want, he feels right at home! Even the Italian motorists move aside for him!
When we arrived at our Hotel we were pleasantly surprised to have a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom suite right down the road from the railway station. Very handy.
By now, it was 9pm (and we didn’t want to take the 8 hour scenic route because it was too long, remember….) we went out to grab a quick pizza before retiring for the night. Had one of the best Margheritas EVA. La Spezia is not a nice looking town… a bit dodgy….I scare…. But a handy place to be to see some of the most spectacular country side in Italy… but more on that tomorrow
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