2023 Italy Day 07

By travelerdon on April 17, 2023

Monaco to Genova, Monday, March 27

We wake up in Monte Carlo and pack up. We hit the road in search of the Princes Palace. After taking a few wrong turns, we finally stumble upon the parking garage for the Palace. We get a spot right next to the elevators, how convenient! We ride the elevator up 5 floors and it puts us out into the sunshine and our cameras start chirping happily!

We then climb several sets of steps, not realizing there are other elevators! So we are walking around this small picturesque city on a hill looking at the buildings. Is that the Palace? No I think this one is! Nope, wrong again! We finally ask a person that speaks English and he identifies as a Monacoan who is showing a couple of Texas visitors around. He chuckles at our question and informs us that if we keep walking, we will arrive in a plaza and the Palace will be obvious!

So we keep walking and sure enough, there we are in front of the Palace! We find a small restaurant in the plaza and have breakfast. Then, our cameras satisfied for the moment, we head out, even knowing the Changing of the Guards is about to occur. We have a long drive today, made longer by our desire to drive the coast road to Genova (Genoa).

We drive among small picturesque towns along the coast. I wish I had more photos to post but I am doing the driving. Tomorrow we will switch drivers and my cameras will be happier! But the drive is fun and we work our way along the coast. This slow driving, while fun, get’s old after 150 kilometers so I head back up to the highway, only to get stuck in two construction traffic jams. We finally roll into Genova shortly before 6PM.

We have a room booked at the Hotel REX Residence hotel and to our delight, they have a parking garage 50 feet away! So we park the car and go up to our room and take a much appreciated nap! We don’t plan to do much sightseeing in Genova as it is just a stopping point on our way to La Spezia tomorrow.

We wake up at 8PM and seek out dinner. Have I mentioned that in all Italy, most restaurants don’t even open until 7PM? So tonight it’s gourmet Pizza for dinner from Pizzeria Del Ponte, right next door to our hotel. And gourmet it certainly is! Fabulous cheeses and cured meats adorn our pies! I don’t manage to completely finish mine and take a couple slices to go! A glass of Aglianico red wine tops off the meal!

So we call in a night after stopping into a market between the pizzeria and the hotel to stock up on water and a couple more bottles of wine for our hotel rooms! Got this blog written and my photos into the computer for editing and I’ll call it a night!