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| Len, Rogelene and Michaela at Viareggio |
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| Viareggio |
On Wednesday, 20 January we spent most of the day driving west towards
Porto Venere.
We had a late start from Siena because we had to retrieve the hire car. It had been towed away for being parked in the area where the market was going to be that morning. Traps for the unwary.
The weather was fairly overcast so the scenery looked dull and uninteresting, not like the bright sun-filled days of summer.
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| Hotel Belvedere in summer- Internet Photo |
The drive was fairly uneventful, the winding coast from Viareggio to La Spezia being sickeningly reminding of the old Coolangatta to Surfers Paradise drive along the Pacific Highway.
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| Postal Lottery Ticket |
We ended up staying at the Hotel Belvedere which was a little expensive however everything cheaper was closed.
The next day, Thursday started clear but then it began raining as we headed for
Cinque Terre and decided to pass it by.
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| Porto Venere in the drizzling rain |
However we did stop briefly at
Porto Venere for lunch which is near La Spezia. It has similar architecture and painted buildings to those at Cinque Terre, but accessible by road.
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Driving along the Italian
Riviera |
From there, we headed straight to
San Remo in the afternoon. We booked into Pensione Marina - nice but on the railway line, so a little noisy.
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| View from Pensione Marina |
We went for a passeggiata which was interesting because of the many expensive shops, unlike those we saw in Tuscany. Rogelene and Michaela took the opportunity to do some visual research.
Later we visited the casino. Len put a few coins through the poker machines and then we stumbled into the opening of an exhibition of paintings by Saverio Barbero within the casino - some nice landscapes but the rest I thought was questionable.
We met and chatted with other travellers there, Lee who was Welsh and Daniella who was Italian. I got a bit tipsy on the free champagne - it was all very pleasant.
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| At the Saverio Barbero exhibition |
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| We hadn't dressed for the occasion |
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| Sunset in San Remo |
We had dinner at an inexpensive meal at Trattoria Turistica which was good in that it was large and comfortable, so we stayed and talked for quite a long time.
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| Our little hire car |
Did I mention that our hire car was a little smaller that we were used to in Australia. It was decidedly cosey with four adults and their luggage.
The next day, Friday, Len drove the car along the Riviera to Ventimiglia where Len tried to renew his visa for France, but without success. We decided to just drive to the French border and hoped we would get through without any hassles - luckily it was fine.
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| Butcher specialising in sheep meat |
We arrived in Monacco which was more built-up and opulent than I remember it in
1976.
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| Joseph Caprio photo exhibition |
We had to return the car at the Nice airport and so spent the afternoon in Nice. I hardly recognised from my earlier trip, as it had a new bus station and piazza with fountains.
We walked into the opening of the Joseph Caprio photo exhibition - good stuff, it had a book published called Men.
Nice seemed like a smaller, more friendly version of Paris and I really enjoyed our time there.
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| Micheala and Roge on the train |
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| A substantial snack |
We walked through the old town and bought some food to eat on the train, not something we normally did.
We then walked around until we caught the train back to our base Firenze which left just after midday.
So, there we were, travelling in comfort, eating our huge panini, sipping a glass of red wine and watching the scenery pass by. It was a nice change after days of travelling by car, dealing with the traffic, luggage and weather.
