Italy is always good news, even better on a scorching hot July day. The birthplace of “Eeh, it’s Italian, it’s for fun, doesn’t have to necessarily work properly” (In their accent, try it at home). I had visited lo Stivale once before, particularly the Tuscany region, where my grandmother has lived for the past 18 years. This was going to be different though, me driving through narrow streets, holding on for dear life and sipping on an Aperol Spritz (those two activities at different times, of course, duh). I believe, you gathered what this post will be about.
My French voyage was coming to an end and at this point I decided my journey back to UK will be through Switzerland, Germany and Belgium. Just an excuse to power through the non-restricted Autobahn and obviously avoiding the French “Let’s drain your pockets” Motorways. While I was at Cannes, Nice and Monaco, the Megane didn’t get driven much, I wanted to explore as much as possible the aforementioned places. From memories, I picked Nice as a clear winner, it’s just a much tamer spot of land, sandwiched between shouty Cannes and Monaco. I can imagine myself living in Nice, despite their pebble beaches (much prefer gold sands).
I left Cannes, on the morning of 18th July and had Genoa, Italy as my next destination. This Motorway drive was full of breath-taking coastal views, adding to that the intricate tunnels on the Autostrada with window-like structures, beautiful. No extreme driving here, had my cruise control set at the speed limit and just enjoyed the views. Occasionally I had the odd Italian in an Alfa wanting to have a play. I was sympathetic though, didn’t want them left stranded on the side of the road. God knows how much those Alfas can take. Must admit, if I ever have the opportunity I would, without a shadow of a doubt, buy a 147GTA. Boy, the sound this 3.2 V6 makes is pure eargasm. At this point, I should highlight that I had been very impressed with the fuel consumption of my trusty Renault, not that it mattered too much. I was averaging 31mpg or 9l/100km, considering the thrashing I was giving it every time I saw an opened stretch of road with a corner at the end.
Benvenuto a Genova. I dropped my bags at the Airbnb and went on a stroll across town. It was raining, thanks Italy, good news is that shortly after, the heat came back and the one and only thing I lusted for was a gelato. As you could imagine it wasn’t hard to find a Gelateria and I indulged in what was absolute heaven. Enough ice-cream talk. Genoa proved to be a genuinely charming place with history coming out of every street corner. Italians by the way, are masters in preserving their architectural heritage, or they just love living in half derelict buildings, who knows. Before getting hit by one of the million Vespas around town, I decided to have a drive down to Portofino, which was about 40 kilometres to the South.. The.Prettiest.Place.I.Have.Seen. I was absolutely gobsmacked by the views and how could you not be, they named a Ferrari after this tiny fishing village! My vocabulary is not extensive enough to find the right words for this astonishing pastel-coloured corner of the Earth. Go there, please.
So, as you gathered I fell in-love with Italy within a day and a half.. What would a road trip down to the Amalfi Coast or Sicily be like? I can officially say this was the end of the Mediterranean leg of the journey, what followed next involved driving back up north to more conservative parts of Europe. Before I left Italy, I was in the search of a petrol station as we know the Swiss prices on everything.. I kid you not, at 9-10am on a mid-week day, not a single petrol station was open in the nearest town I found. Talk about taking it easy. Furious me, had to come to terms with a motorway station, which ended with excited bunch of Italians asking questions about the orange car of mine and me spending way too much money on a tank of fuel..
In my next post, I’ll bring you along the stories of a man spending more money, this time at the Swiss border for a Vignette and splashing around in an outdoor swimming pool or Lido as we like to call them.
Chao
PetrolAddiction 