We managed to get away early as it is a good drive to Lucca, our next exchange. It’s only 3½ hours if you take all the toll autostradas, or 7½ hours if you avoid them. However we had been stung yesterday by a 7.50€ charge for a very short distance, so we thought we’d avoid the autostrada as long as we could handle the slow driving. We checked using Google Maps to see where the best time savings were to be made, and decided to take the autostrada to bypass Genova, and then the last leg to Lucca where the autostrada cuts off a lot of mileage and winding roads.
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| Typical beach |
Our plan worked well – the first leg along the coast was fine, and the bypass of Genova was well worth it. The fee was really reasonable, so the Ligurian section of the autostrada must be relatively expensive. Not too surprising as it is either tunnel or massive viaducts, never on the land. The slope of the hills gradually lessens as you head south into Tuscany from Liguria.
The GPS sorted our way to our new home with ease, and we arrived an hour early. It’s so vital to have the GPS, as it makes the travelling simple. The worst that happens is that you take the 2nd instead of the 3rd turn at a roundabout, or miss a turn altogether as you fight traffic, but those are always soon sorted. Every now and then a street has been changed to one way and you can’t take it, or the GPS wants you to take a shortcut down a tiny road that you’d rather not use, so you still have to use a little common sense.
Rather than hassle our hosts, we had a 1€ wine at the closest bar/café and returned at the appointed meeting time. Carmelo had to work, so his wife Tania was there instead to show us in. It’s a 3-storey terrace house, with kitchen/living on the ground, then living/bath/spare, and master/bath on the top floor. It is very nice, or would have been if it had been clean. Unfortunately the floors were dusty and gritty, which rather dampened our enthusiasm. It is in the middle of being renovated, but a good vacuum would have made all the difference. The inside is totally modern in a sort of safari style. If complete and tidy, it would be excellent, but we are very fussy and all the rough overpainting galls with us!
