18th Aug - Genova - Viterbo

What's that saying? It never rains but it pours? Well, it's true. We know that Nelson has taken a huge hit with a rainstorm over recent days. The skies let loose here too. After having virtually no rain for months, the heavens opened overnight and this morning. We had a 5-hour drive to Viterbo today. It took 7.5 hours. In part it was due to the torrential rain while on the motorway, when we had to drive 60km/hr instead of 120km/hr, and even pulled off the road into a layby at one stage to chill from the noise and fury of the rain. It made for very difficult driving conditions, but we received frequent respite from the rain every time we entered one of the many tunnels along the way. We were either in a tunnel, or driving on a very high and exposed viaduct, getting battered by gusts of wind. 

We realised how severe the weather had been when the traffic was diverted off the motorway at one stage. Taking the local road instead added nearly 2 hours to the trip. The road was bordered and even partly engulfed by large branches that had been torn off trees; debris was all over the road, and in one particular point a stand of large trees had been totally uprooted. Once reconnected with the motorway we just kept driving, stopping just to buy an ice-cream at a pitstop. We needed to get mileage under our belt.

Roadside carnage

Finally rolling into Viterbo, we felt very relieved. The last 250 km or so was on the coastal highway, characterised by incredibly patchy and lumpy seal, making for a very bumpy and uncomfortable last leg. John had already sorted out where to park the car outside of Viterbo's city walls, so we were soon on foot, pulling our bags over the cobbles to our accommodation. The little apartment is everything we need, given we're basically just here to sleep. Arriving at 5pm it was time to step outside immediately in search of a coffee and something small to nibble. We were keen to track down some of the places we had been to before, when we had a couple of weeks here with Sally in 2009. It was fun to find the building that had been our home-exchange. In fact, we are still in sporadic contact with Rita, our host from way back then. We also found the square where we'd enjoyed a coffee and pastry with Sally, having a beer there this time around, and recognised a few other places.

Beer in a square

At 7:30pm we backtracked to a small trattoria we had spied, with a marvellous menu on display. Unfortunately, it was already fully booked for the night so we booked for the following evening. John popped into the cafe we'd earlier had a coffee in and asked, in his enthusiastic Italian, if the guy could recommend somewhere good to eat. He did, and we ended up just a little further down the street at 4 Stagione. An enjoyable pasta meal, with John experimenting with a very dense cheese/sausage dish, then home for a cold shower. It had been up 35 degrees today, down to around 28 now but humid. The forecast is rain, but we are hoping not. We get up early tomorrow morning to collect Bella from Rome airport, and it would be wonderful if we could come back here and it was lovely and sunny.

Medieval centre of Viterbo.