{"id":6338,"date":"2012-07-18T10:36:41","date_gmt":"2012-07-18T14:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tourdebocrie.com\/?p=6338"},"modified":"2015-07-02T15:14:43","modified_gmt":"2015-07-02T19:14:43","slug":"day-52-tuesday-july-17-pietra-ligure-to-genova-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tourdebocrie.com\/?p=6338","title":{"rendered":"Day 52, Tuesday, July 17 – Pietra Ligure to Genova, Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"

We had a warm 80 degree start to the day and had to stop a few miles down (actually UP and around the mountain) the road \"\"<\/a>to get connected to Italy (ie: Sim card for the ipad). \u00a0So we really didn’t start making forward progress until about 10 am…….blame it on the photos (Arch dedicated to Queen Margherita of Austria)\"\"<\/a>plenty to see in the colorful \"\"<\/a>town of \u00a0Finale Ligure,\"\"<\/a> where we stopped. \u00a0The Basilica di Saint Giovanni was beautiful\"\"<\/a>especially inside, \"\"<\/a>but there was a mass in progress, so only one photo was managed.<\/p>\n

Though we rode the coast road, \"\"<\/a>we had plenty of climbing\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

and a few tunnels to navigate.\"\"<\/a>We lost track of how many hills\"\"<\/a> we climbed \"\"<\/a>and tried to focus on the scenery.\"\"<\/a>In Italy, bicycles are commonplace;\"\"<\/a>you ride the roads like a car and thankfully<\/em> are offered plenty of room and respect as a vehicle,\"\"<\/a>the idea of it still seems strange to us, coming from a culture that does not respect the bicyclist on the road.<\/p>\n

We went through colorful villages,\"\"<\/a>with colorful characters,\"\"<\/a> harbor towns,\"\"<\/a>beach towns \"\"<\/a>and cities with incredible architecture,\"\"<\/a>some that were centuries old.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Some time after noon, we started to see the mountains in the distance that create the curve in the country.\"\"<\/a>The afternoon was a blur of climbs and drops, beaches and mountains. \u00a0That was until we reached the edge of Genova around 2:30.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>It took us two hours to get into the middle of the city, not because of any backtracks or U-turns; the city is just that big; nineteen miles of coastline, 94 square miles.<\/span><\/h1>\n

\"\"Some of the roads we navigated…..let’s just say we are glad we made it safely into the city.<\/p>\n

Note to Self: \u00a0Avoid large cities.<\/p>\n

The Vespa scooter was made popular by Italians,\"\"<\/a> like bicycles to Amsterdam. \u00a0Miraculously, we found an incredible hotel\"\"<\/a> in the middle of the city. \u00a0Hot, tired and thirsty, we ventured out for refreshment which was served with a tasty platter of food. \u00a0\"\"<\/a> Our little cafe was\u00a0in the middle of all the activity,\"\"<\/a> Piazza de Ferrari,\"\"<\/a> Great people watching. \u00a0These darling children asked to take my picture, so our agreement was that I could take theirs’.\"\"<\/a>We did a little touring on our way to dinner, but it was late and tomorrow we will tour the city.\n\t\t