Mi Piacere Italia

October 12, 2010

We arrived in Nice yesterday to a nice apartment one block from the Promenade at the water.  Pictures of the Promenade in a later post.  I haven't had time to take them yet.  It's an older neighborhood, witth tiny one-way streets, and right in the downtown area with lots of restaurants around.  Although the street side of the building is very noisy at night, our apartment faces on a street with almost no activity, so it is fairly quiet.  Quiet except for tonight when a street crew is slicing open the street or sidewalk for some reason.  Our apartment building is the yellow building:

                               
Nice is a large city right on the coast.  It's as if Paris were moved to Miami Beach.  It is sunny here, though somewhat cool.  There was rain here yesterday when we came and the day before.  I like the architecture here, but I am tiring of hearing a language that I cannot fathom.  Even when I really try, it makes no sense.


Tomorrow, we are returning our car, so today, our first full day in Nice, we went on a road trip to Italy.  The drive there was heart stopping.  I do not do at all well on bridges.  If they are low and wide and seem really sturdy, I'm fine.  When they are skimpy looking, perched on the side of a cliff, or not even attached to a cliff, about a thousand feet high flying through the air, I completely lose my cool and get a case of the frights.  The drive to Italy consisted of only two things:  tunnels through mountains and bridges connecting the tunnels.  This was not an easy drive for  me.  I finally left the autoroute and got off at the first exit in Italy.  I was never so glad to be on land.


Here's a sample of the bridges; and this is not one of the more frightening ones:

                             

After hearing French for three weeks, Italian spoken by the toll taker sounded like music in my ears.  I felt immediately comfortable and relaxed.  We drove through Ventimiglia to Bordighera.  These cities were packed together so that only the sign on the street told us that we had changed towns.  The downtown areas of the towns along here were a bit dumpy, especially after France. 


We chose Bordighera because Monet spent a summer here painting and he made it seem so inviting.  We got out and strolled along the promenade which must have run for at least a mile.  The weather here along the coast of the Mediterranean is strange.  The wind could knock you over.  This was even more so on the promenade in Bordighera.  Although the walk was lovely, and the scenery magnificent, we had such wind that I felt pummeled.


Here are some photos of Bordighera:

From there we drove along the low coastline (not on the high up autoroute) to San Remo, a place that I wanted to see.  It is a lovely place, but quite large. 


San Remo is another seaside city for the wealthy or the pretenders.  We walked a long way along the breakwater that creates the quiet harbor for San Remo.  Along the way, we came across the open air fish market on the quay and had a great view of the city across the harbor.

Here is San Remo:

                   

We decided to drive a little more along the coast before turning back for the day.  I am so glad that we did, because on a whim, I got off the road at the next little town and was pleased to find a wonderful little seaside town that didn't look like an international destination (although the other tourists having coffee at the waterside cafe were speaking something sounding like German). 


None the less, this is not a flashy place.  It's called San Stefano.  It's just a little blip on the map, but a nice place to visit.  We got out and walked around, sat on the rocks and had coffee.  I'd love to spend some time here in the future.

              

We had a wonderful day.  To make it even better, Larry drove back over all those terrifying bridges.  He never even flinched.  Meanwhile, driving in traffic of any kind drives him insane.  It doesn't bother me a bit.  So, as soon as we entered Nice again, and we came to a convenient red light, we switched drivers and I drove through all the city streets without incident or trepidation.  On firm ground, I can drive anywhere.


As a whole, I liked what I saw of the Italian Riviera better than what I've seen of the French Riviera. It just seems a bit less glitzy.


Speaking of glitzy, it looks like we will go to St. Tropez tomorrow, our last day with the car.  That is probably the most glitzy place on the Riviera.  We drove through Cannes on our way, but it didn't strike me as being impossibly chic.  Maybe it would if we were there "in season".


This evening, I'm sitting in a cafe next door to our apartment.  We came specifically to use their wifi, as recommended by our host.  Unfortunately, the only employee in the cafe this evening does not see fit to give us the code to use.  I can see their wifi, but I can't connect to it.  I am terrifically annoyed because not only does our host not provide wifi himself, but the place he recommended won't provide it either.  Perhaps I will investigate some other hotspots here in Nice tomorrow or the next day.