Nice - Genova

Nice:
It took me a little while to get into the Nice mindset. I think the fact that my Adventure to Ventoux was a little on the wild side meant my stress levels were up. Stress and Nice don't mix!

The boys taught me a few phrases of French which enabled me to integrate a little. Most days included some beach time, some swimming, a bike ride (both boys took my bike for rides which worked out well), time in the Flower Markets, time wandering the streets of the Old City and last but not least French Champage, French Wine and French cuisine.

Bike rides really enabled a sense of freedom and an escape from the tight streets of the old city. The options were endless. I did a ride around to Cannes via Antibes. It was absolutely spectacular following the coast. For much of it there were bike lanes on the roads. Many Australian riders call home Monaco and the south of France. Stuart O'Grady for examples chooses to live in the south due to it's close proximity to all the races he participates in, because it is great riding, the weather is always good and because he can get tax breaks!! As a result of the cyclist population, the drivers are very patient with bikes. Antibes is perfect to explore by bike. I rolled around the old harbour and then through the town following the coast around to Cannes. The Bottecchia wasn't a supercar but still looked good rolling around Cannes! I think Antibes and the Juan-les-Pins would be my favourite place to park a boat or live. Nice really grew on me, particularly because of the location of our apartment but I also enjoyed the serenity of the the places south along the coast. Monaca was just a little too extreme. Perhaps after winning the lottery it wouldn't seem too in your face!

The theme of Nice, according to Hannam and Hay was 'Let's get Serious' referring to living the French life as best they know how. Hay's local knowledge combined with the wine purchased by Hannam in Chateauneuv de Pap meant I was priveledged enough to join them in spectacular wine and Champagne. The cheeses were a combination of Hay's favourites including a goats cheese that was in fact a homebrand Chev but really delicious. To go with the wines and cheese, the mains were cooked in house with Hannam starting off with a locally sourced hand-made gnocci and ragu type sauce topped with fresh parmesan. The next night, Hay produced as french a dish as he could. In typical french style it contained only 6 ingredients but was mouth watering. As I learnt, all the best French food comes in a can. Hay prepared duck, pototoe cooked in duck fat and beans cooked with shallots, onion and red-wine vinegar. Really really good. The following night I opted to prepared dinner. The level was set pretty high! I was on the hunt for seafood as I had a craving for a spaghetti marinara however I didn't find a fish monger til I had bought some other things that took my fancy. My dinner theme became a 'taste of the old town' by finding recurring produce that was sold in all the stores, finding what looked like the best producer and buying it. In the end we had a series of French sausages (blood, chorizo style and feta, fennel and spinach beef), some stuffed vegetables (veal stuffing), olives, rotolo (pasta scroll with feta filling) cooked in a basic tomato sauce, a potato thing (!) and some sun dried tomatoes. All this was matched with some fresh baguettes and a bordeux red. So all in all, it was pretty bloody serious!

There has been much talk of our next French adventure. The general feeling is that one (or all) of us needs to make a squillion dollars pretty soon to get an apartment or yacht or both and do it properly. Til then, we just get as serious as possible and i'll remain a free-loader until I finish my masters and move up in the world again!

Plans I spent a little time hunting for work. There were possibilities to work at bars and it sounded like there were opportunities to work on boats. In the end a conversation with Trav culminated in he and his girlfriend offering their apartment in Torino to stay in for three weeks while they are on holiday in Greece. I accepted this offer on the grounds that I can get some time to focus on consolidating what I learnt at the Goethe, get some of the many new business ideas on paper and generally live very cheaply. All this wouldn't be achieved working in a bar only to be able to afford accommodation. As the Torino option isn't available til late next week I have taken the opportunity to travel around. I was hoping for some cheap flights to random places but on one day's notice this was a bit hard.

Genova
Feeling I couldn't top the French experience after Nice and because I have never visited Italy I caught the train to Genova on Thursday. I arrived after a long, hot and cramped train ride to the Genoa Principe Station only to realise I had no idea what I was doing in Italy, no plan, nothing booked and no real idea of what even happens in Italy. After waiting for the tourist office to open (not a whole lot happens around lunch time in the mediteranean!) I was given directions to the Youth Hostel and some maps. Luckily there were some spare beds and I dumped my stuff and headed straight back to the city. I wandered the city and learnt many things and conjurred up some focus for the remaining 5 days! I'm told that Genoa was the first european city to have a bank hence inventing the banking system, it was the birthplace of the Christoper Columbus and claim to have invented Ice cream. All bold claims...but there you go. I had my first pizza in Italy in the Piazza delle Erbe before wandering around the seriously tight streets of the old city. There is a lot to see here. The charm of the old buildings are starting to wear off a little although th Italians are certainly impressing me with their old architecture.

I don't know the exact political and financial situation of Italy but so much of the city seems worn down particularly public infrastructure. I'm guessing the government in struggling and property market is too.

Golfo Paradiso and Cinque Terra:
I met some Germans the day before and we planned to meet at 8am in the foyer of the Youth Hostel. They didn't show and so I went solo...my adventure was focused on the coast east of Genova, the Golfo Paradiso and Golfo . I took the train (which like every other train I have used in Italy was 10-40mins late!) along toward Le Spezia. I stopped at Santa Magherita for a little look around. It was a beautiful little fishing harbour with sandy beaches and lots of old buildings. It felt very comfortable! I found a little bakery that produced the best foccacia i've had to date. The foccacia is a lot better than their pizza here in Italy which I find funny. I guess it's just different to what we are used to in Australia. After waiting ages again for the train, I went to Riomaggiore to start the famous Cinque Terra walk. The walk is a coastal way that joins five amazing villages wedged into the side of the hill. The first two sections are very well travelled by millions of tourists but the last three are a little harder work and hence less tourists which was nice. The little villages (Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso) are all very beautiful and as typically Italian / Mediteranean as you like. Each village had it's own beach and was very tourist focused. The walking was either along well made paths or goat tracks with plenty of stairs. Needless to say, due to the fact it was over 30 degrees I was sweating to the point when my t-shirt was saturated and I had sunscreen in my eyes and dripping everywhere. There were so many amazing views.

Next time, I reckon the way to see this part of the world is based on a boat and taking day trips onshore. There is nothing more annoying than these trains!!! But having no boat, I took the train back to Comogli. Again another gorgeous little village with a large beach and plenty of fine restaurants on the Promenade. There is an old castle on the headland splitting the east and west beaches which made for a nice spot to watch the sun set. Then I headed home only to run into my German friends, who apologised as they had slept in! We wandered the streets until quite late and then crashed out.

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/ajoest/Genova#