17th Aug - Vence to Genova

We made an early getaway from Vence this morning, partly because the rate for the underground carpark we had to use overnight shot up massively from 8am. On the road down the valley, we soon pulled off to fill up with diesel for the car, and a coffee and pastries for ourselves for breakfast. It was then straight onto the toll road to get to Ceriana, inland from San Remo in Italy, by mid-morning. 

We stayed in Ceriana for three weeks in 2009, and got close to buying a little place we were intrigued with. We loved one hike in particular - up to a high meadow, with a gorgeous little chapel at the top and a magnificent view down to the coast. Our plan was to do this again, then have lunch at our 'local' in Ceriana.

Alas, our plans went up in smoke, literally. We were just 3km from Ceriana when we rounded a corner to be confronted by a traffic jam. Everyone was outside of their cars, chatting away, so clearly it wasn't going to be an short-term stop. John wandered up the road a bit to find out what the hold-up was, to be confronted by the spectacle of a fiercely burning car, right in the middle of the road. Of course I went along and had a look too, and it was rather impressive. The first burning car I guess either of us have seen. 

First fire vehicle on the scene

The local fire trucks soon arrived and set about putting the fire out. Then the carabinieri arrived, looking smart, officious, and strutting around. An hour later, the burnt out wreck had been shoved up a driveway and the road was open again. Unfortunately, the delay, plus the overall drive taking a little longer than we'd anticipated, meant the walk was off the agenda. It was also raining on and off, though the clearing clouds suggested we could have done the walk and remained moderately dry. 

The lower part of Ceriana

A church and oratory that were being restored in 2009, now finished

It was indeed quite an experience to be driving in the rain at all. After experiencing virtually none for a month, it had been raining on and off all morning. Checking the weather website also showed that the drought in and around Ceret broke yesterday in rather remarkable fashion. In fact 200ml fell there in a short but torrential downpour. It's a shame that we weren't there because we expect the ceiling will be leaking. We could possibly have punched a controlled hole in the plaster and allowed the water to drain down into a bucket instead of soaking into the ceiling panels and oozing out, like it has been for the past three years. As we've noted before, our builder has promised to come back in October and remedy the problem. 

John has been loving the driving today. When we've been off the motorway and driving along the main coastal road, which bustles its way through San Remo, Imperia etc, he quickly got used to the plethora of motorbikes weaving in and out of the lanes, cars pulling over onto the footpath to park, or not pulling over as the case may be, cheeky drivers changing lanes and all the rest that goes with Italian driving. It is so much more laissez-faire than the French, even though that's a French phrase! However, the 13 km road up the valley from the coast to Ceriana was on another level again. Even John agreed that the road seemed narrower and in much rougher condition than when we drove it 13 years ago, and he found the sharp bends and minimal width challenging. He summed it up as exhilarating, somewhat like a video game. I, on the other hand, was clutching onto the car handle and mentally pulling in the wing mirrors of the car more times than I'd like to remember. In a few instances we actually pulled in the wing mirrors when we were stopped to let traffic by, for example, the fire truck.

There are still quite a number of little Ape vehicles around Liguria.
This one fitted Ma and Pa Kettle in the cab.

Once we finally arrived in Ceret, and had found a carpark on the roadside above the town, we walked back and enjoyed a coffee at the little bar we remembered well, at the centre of the main street. The town seemed very lively, with a couple of new restaurants, plenty of people wandering around shopping and even more just sitting and merrily chatting, mostly locals. We set off on our own jaunt, down to the swimming hole in the stream below the town, to the olive mill that was for sale when we were looking at real estate, to the top piazza where we lived for three weeks, and generally around the town. Overall I think we agreed that the place looked really fun to visit, but very tired and worn. Ceret was definitely the better choice.

Photos of Ceriana - this last one is the square we lived above for three weeks.

Having enjoyed exploring the little paths that track uphill and downhill through the town, we backtracked to Dario's Trattoria that we dined in 13 years ago. Lo and behold, it is now run by Dario's daughter and her husband. Way back, John had taken a photo of Dario's daughter, who had a very young child on her lap at the time. We showed them the photo - the little child is now 13 years old, named Victoria, and was our waitress. She was very amused to see the photo of herself as a baby. 

The lunch was wonderful, and indeed was the good food we'd been looking for at dinner last night. For the same cost as a plate each of entrecôte (a very ordinary cut of meat), chips and lettuce in Vence, we had a splendid primo dish each (tortellini and sage with butter sauce, rigatoni and ragu), secondo dish (slow-cooked beef, spaetzle and venison with redcurrant sauce), half a bottle of rosé (from the Piedmont and very deliciously raspberry-tasting) and two excellent coffees. It was superb. 

Both courses were absolutely delicious

We had a joke with the chef (Dario's son-in-law) when he told us that the venison came from NZ! We chatted with the family members and it was a very pleasant experience. The perfect way to take our leave of Ceriana in fact. I doubt we will return, though when I said to the chef that we'd be back in another 13 years, he said he hoped his daughter would be married by then.

We opted to take the coastal road for a while on the next leg of our trip to Genova, before hitting the toll road again. We couldn't get into our apartment until 6pm, and indeed we rolled up at 5:55pm. The last few kilometres were quite eventful. Our trusty GPS navigation system took us 'the back way' to San Bagio, and it turned out to be incredibly narrow. In fact some of the bridges looked more suited to Ape vehicles than even the typical small Italian car of today. John loved it, of course. With nowhere for cars to pass, I was somewhat relieved when we got a number of kilometres down the road where it widened. 

Oh so narrow.

Our accommodation turned out to be a lovely room inside a large old building, right on the roadside. 

We had one of the rooms on the top floor. 

We hunkered down. Bread and cheese for dinner, time to read a book for a little, and also gird the loins for another 6 hours driving tomorrow.