We drove through pouring rain towards Genova, a place we had thought we might stop. In the rain, from the motorway, it looked large, bleak and ugly. We thought from there the road would wind romantically around the coast, in and out of quaint seaside villages, but no, it was in and out of dozens more tunnels! We chose a place on the map about an hour further on and headed for that. It was right on the coast, so we thought we might find a hotel with a view. The GPS took us to the middle of town. By now it was rush hour, so we crawled along the main street in search of a hotel. Those we found looked very dodgy and there was no place to stop, let alone park. We tried to get the GPS to find a hotel, but we went round and round in circles in nose to tail, crazy Italian traffic, until we gave up and headed back to the motorway, and more tolls.
After a while, between tunnels, we spotted a very pretty village and turned off, straight into a one way road going the opposite way. After negotiating a few roundabouts and a few more tunnels, we eventually found our way down into the village. About half an hour later, travelling around and around on tiny one way streets we finally found hotels, and the second one had a room.
....with a view! Definitely the sort of view you see in the travel brochures! By then it was getting on for 8pm, a very long day.
But we strolled along the esplanade and had the best meal we have had since leaving home. Graham had an awesome freshly made spag bol (sorry, even better than yours Pete), and Ann had the best veal she has ever had, cooked in Chianti. A great end to a stressful day.
;-) Ann-a-Gram
It must always rain around that corner of Italy, had exactly the same experience the only time I ever drove there! I remember the motorway down the Italian coast too, tunnel, bridge, bridge, tunnel, tunnel; mile after mile. Its still the most spectaculat motorway I've ever driven on. Glad there was a silver lining at the end of it, sounds like a very stressful day! Long way to go for Spag Bol though. Never heard of the gold ring scam in Paris, you must be wearing very large "I am a tourist" badges. Keep tight reign on your valuables when you get to Rome too, especially on the subway, we have a friend who got turned over there. Oh, and try to keep having a good time too!!!
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