Euro Day 12 - Transition Day

Friday, 5 July 2019

At least that's what they'd call it in the Tour Du France.  Today we left France behind for real this time, and our only goal was to get to our accommodation in La Spezia at the end of the Cinque Terre. It was a 450 km drive and I think we passed through at least 10 toll stations (you stop and pay in cash or card like ye-olde-Sydney-Harbour-Bridge days), and we would have gone through 30 tunnels. The prices of the tolls ranged from 1.50 Euro to a whopping 46 Euro for a 13 km tunnel that we had no idea existed until we got to it.  I hate to think what the final total was!

Before we left Albertville we went for a short run to confirm our suspicions that it probably wasn't an amazing place in 1992, and that they hadn't spent a euro cent on it since - it seemed pretty run down.  It had signs up for the tour coming through in a few weeks which I guess will breathe at least a small puff of life into the place. I mean it was ok, but I was expecting somewhere Lillehammer-ish I guess.  The former accommodation looked like soviet era blocks of flats.

Right now we are in a lovely little apartment in La Spezia. I was wondering if this place would be ok as it was hard to tell from the photos and compared to French accommodation it's really quite cheap.  Luckily it is also really delightful and looks over the city of La Spezia and the sea.  And in exciting news we have a fridge for the first time in almost 2 weeks, and.. air conditioning! And even better, there is a table and chair - so I haven't had to sit on my camping chair using the gas cooker box as a mouse mat to update this blog - yay!

The kids have been excited as we've had a proper Italian washing line where you string your washing out the kitchen window! 

Jon and I just went for a walk up the impossibly steep streets behind the apartment which has tonnes of terraced gardens and olive trees everywhere with vegetable patches crammed into any space left over. It feels very Italian!

Tomorrow we're off to spend the day fighting crowds and exploring the Cinque Terre.