Riviera Life(Caro Emerald) - Two Countries and a Principality in a Day-17th May 2016

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We awoke this morning to the sounds of birds chirping happily away probably because the dark clouds of last night had disappeared overnight and there was a bright blue sky overhead.

We had various times given for the drive today to Rapallo from Google Maps and Gina. Both were avoiding the Autostrada or toll road which would have had us there in no time at all and of course we wouldn’t have seen much of the coastal scenery either, just the inside of many tunnels as the road runs as straight a course as possible high above the towns we would pass through travelling on the SS1.

First though we had the gorge to negotiate down to Nice and then we hoped the Gina would have plotted a course avoiding the centre of the city as the fastest route option we had chosen.

She had partly done her job but road works got in the way and we ended up following a bus that and was not able to pull into a lay-by on the narrow road into the city which meant we were in a start/stop mode for several kilometres.

Down onto the D6007 which is the waterfront route through Nice and our progress picked up with 2 lanes for cars and 1 for buses.

We have seen a couple of other Euro lease cars with the same red number plates as us but usually they have been going the other way and we have had no time to acknowledge a fellow lessor.However ahead of us was a Citroen Euro lease and we kept pace with him along the waterfront until he split off and went elsewhere.

At times the traffic flow slowed and on one occasion we had a Porsche and a Maserati ahead of us and Gretchen reminding me we don’t want to run into their tail or the insurance bill for Mr Peugeot could be astronomical!

The D6007 took a turn inland and then back to coast again and even though Gina was imploring us to continue inland we ignored her knowing that we would be able to follow the coast by doing so.

We took a stop above the seaside and hill town of Villefranche-sur-Mer to admire the vista and again we were taken by the clear water in the bay and the blue colour of the sea in general. It is easy to understand why people want to live in the Cote d ‘Azur.

We were now getting close to the Principality of Monaco, the small state which for all intents and purposes, except probably taxation, is French.

We had been to Monte Carlo, the only town in the Principality, on the V1 and spent several hours looking at the sights and the multitudes of super yachts in the marinas and anchored off shore so we didn’t need to do that again.

Entry into a tunnel and some signage is the first indication you are changing countries albeit for just a few kilometres.

Within the tunnel we came across the first ever roundabout within a tunnel that we have ever experienced and thankfully our way was clear as there seemed to be 3 roads joining the roundabout each from a different angle. On we drove and believe it or not there was another roundabout before we exited although this one just had the two directions of traffic to cope with.

Like in Cannes when we arrived there yesterday we had a feeling something was up in Monte Carlo as well with stadium seating being erected down on the waterfront and tall temporary fencing along the side of the road. Then we spotted the posters for the Monaco Grand Prix to be held next weekend. So that was what the preparations were for and here we were driving on part of the actual circuit. Gretchen who was now driving wanted to put her foot down and see what the 308 would do on the corners but the drivers ahead were a bit like us, taken by the situation that they had found themselves in and reading all the advertising banners erected already across the track from Pirelli Tyres to Johnny Walker Whiskey.

As we exited the Principality we looked up and noticed the famous zig zag road clinging to the mountain side that Princess Grace died on in a road accident all those years ago. I think Gretchen would have loved to at least drive up the zig zag but it wasn’t obvious how we would get there from our position and anyway the day was ticking by and we had only driven about 70km.No wonder the Google Map had predicted a 6 ½ drive to cover about 240km by the road we intended to take! Never mind we are enjoying the coastal vistas as we dawdle along.

Menton came and went quickly and before we knew it we were at the Italian border with France right on the waterfront and a tunnel to get into the real Italy ahead of us.

The border here although it is open still has an administration building in working order, unlike other borders we have crossed so far. There are barrier arms although they were open and police and armed soldiers on both sides of the road, French on the left slowing traffic down coming into France and Italian on the right doing the same. We were waved on by a soldier with a feather in his hat.

We had the feeling that here at least they could close off the border in a hurry if there was a need to do so.

We were now on the SS1 in Italy, a road that runs for hundreds of kilometres along the western coast of the country.

We stopped for lunch at the first small town on the other side of the tunnel and sat on a bench at the beach taking in the view.

It is interesting how the quality of housing, the dress of people and the feeling around you can change in such a short space of time and distance and we had only crossed a border. Even the seashore was different with a stony beach rather than a sandy beach as back in Menton.

The coast road was quieter now we were in Italy although we had to make allowance that like Spain, Italy enjoys a riposo in the middle of the afternoon and business and therefore traffic movement slows to a trickle.

Although our progress had picked up a bit now there wasn’t as much traffic we were going to be rather later than we had indicated to the man we have to meet for a key at the apartment in Rapallo so we made the ultimate decision.

Time to take to the Autostrada and pay a toll!

There weren’t a lot of on ramps to the Autostrada which tries to take a straight line over valleys and through hillsides high above but still within view of the coast.

Just after we made the decision to change roads we came up to a roundabout and although we had right of way a woman shot through in front of us clearly texting while she was driving at least 40kph! We wished we knew the telephone number to report her on but then again perhaps it is not illegal to text and use your mobile phone while driving in Italy for we have seen plenty of people do it.

We filled with petrol at Albenga and drove up and took our ticket from the machine and we were away not knowing what this was going to cost if we went all the way to the Rapallo off ramp.

Immediately the time to destination was reduced by an hour on the GPS.

It was tunnel after tunnel and the occasional viaduct as we sped along between 100kph and 120kph watching the kilometres to Rapallo drop quickly.

We were going to avoid the town of Savona and more importantly the large port city of Genoa.

And it was just as well as Genoa, even though we were on a highway and traffic flowed quickly, was very spread out and we would have become frustrated to have to deal with slow city traffic at this time of the day.

They seem to cram people’s accommodation in every nook and cranny in Genoa with older style apartment blocks mixed in with newer ones up every little valley in the hilly city that we passed through. The Autostrada was elevated above much of the city and it would have been interesting to see what the foundations of the numerous viaducts were like and just how high some of them were.

Just before we exited we passed a truck with a car trailer with at least 10 Maserati’s being transported to new owners somewhere. What was different about this transporter was that the vehicles were all shrink wrapped in white plastic to protect them from dust etc off the Autostrada.

We drove slowly up to the exit to pay our toll. I had a €10 note ready but as we had travelled over 100km on the Autostrada I got another €10 out just in case. And it was just as well as the cost came to €11.60 or 10 cents for every kilometre we had travelled. Would we pay that sort of toll in New Zealand for state of the art highways, bridges and tunnels? We don’t think so!

Our apartment was just a short distance off the Autostrada and although we were still later than we had indicated by text, because of slower patches where roadworks were going on, we had still saved a lot of time by using the Autostrada.

The man waiting for us gave us a tour of the spacious apartment on the third and top floor of a small apartment building. It had been redecorated recently and seems to have everything we need for our 2 night stop.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is for fine skies so we are confident that we will get our day trip to Portofino in conditions that will make it very pleasant.

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Comments

[Miltonrabbit]

Swimming at Villefranche-sur-Mer
We had a lovely time driving the zig-zag road down to the beach. What a wonderful swim in the warm, clear Mediterranean waters. The day before we enjoyed a lovely waterfront lunch at Villefranche while exploring the area by train along the coast when we also stopped at Monaco and Nice.

[Whiskers]

Just time enough to stop and take in the scenery in three places around the bay.It was a beautiful sight the clear water.