Today proved to be the worst travel day we have ever had in all our trips to Europe. We decided, for some unknown reason, to make a dash across France to go to Genoa in Italy - a distance of over 500km. I don't know what we were thinking - we usually limit our driving to about 3 hours max. Anyway, off we went. At least the weather was good (in fact except for a couple of rainy days, we have been blessed with really good mild weather - Snow in Clermont-Ferrand wasn't considered to be bad weather, it was a bonus).
The drive across to Genoa was strenuous to say the least. Once we hit the Nice interchange it was nothing but tunnels, toll gates, roadworks, and suburbia stretching as far as the eye could see - welcome to the French Riviera, or Cote d'Azur. This went on until we hit the Italian border, and then it got worse. This part of France and Italy are at the southern end of the French Alps. So hills and tunnels are the order of the day. And roadworks, where a lane is closed off and you get 20 meters of warning (just what you need when you are doing 130kph, along with a few hundred other cars and trucks. Did I mention the trucks? You would swear that this part of the European continent was a magnet for every truck in Europe.
After 5 hours of driving we finally made it into Genoa. What a mad house. Built on a series of hills, the roads in Genoa are steep, narrow, twisty. And the traffic is just as disorganised. Just what we needed after a long drive.
Found our hotel. At least it was in a quiet street. And that is about the best thing you could say about it (see the review for more details).
We were tired and cranky. We both had a massive headaches due to caffeine deficiency. The hotel turned out to be ****. Genoa was not making a good impression on us.
Maybe a walk down into the city would cheer us up. Not a chance. The further we walked into the labyrinth of streets the worse we felt. By this time we were looking for somewhere to have supper. Proved to be more difficult than it sounds. Seems like Genoa is one of the few cities in Europe where there are not any restaurants on every corner. Finally found a place which looked like it might be alright - not open 'til 7.30. This just gets better and better. Found a small bar to have a coffee and wine to while away the hour. At least the coffee was good, and the wine wasn't half bad either.
Went back to the restaurant we had found earlier and ordered a pizza for tea. Worst pizza we ever had. A thin layer of pastry smothered with a smear of tomato paste, a few olives scattered around and a couple of dollops of mozzarella cheese. The base was so sloppy you needed a spoon to eat it.
I know Genoa is on of the great cities of the world, full of history and culture. And from what we saw of it on our brief tour around, it probably merits further inspection. But by now we were over it. So instead of staying for a few days we're leaving tomorrow. Maybe we'll have better luck in the next place.