Day 7

Day Seven Friday July 18th 2014
Leaving Savona there was lots more up and down riding along the Cote D’Azur. It goes like this, climb a swishing contouring climb, get amazing view, plunge down to next village or town, whoosh on bridge high over the dry river bed, wend way through clogged village streets, have drink at beach cafe with lots of people enjoying the sea, look high to the hills and see the Autostrada happily taking the traffic off or our road. Get back on bike. Repeat.
Last time I was at Genoa [hitchhiking in 1982] I vowed never to return. And now here we are cycling through it at a hot sticky Friday lunchtime. I actually quite enjoy it, it is a real test of urban cycling skills. But what a place! If Genoa is like this in the “calm” North of Italy what must Naples be like? In general the driving is worse than the UK but the tolerance is far far higher. Very little aggression around which contrasts markedly with home.
We get out of Genoa and twist through the tiny streets of Nerva then climb a real steep hot hill that has us both gasping. At the top there is, typically, a shady square with a water fountain - turns out this is where Nietzsche worked on many of his philosophical works. Around the corner is Portofino which is a famous fishing village and now a stopping off point for rich people. We decide we better have a look, so stay at San Margarita in a great hotel which is low-rent, no wifi [pronounced weefee] and run by a very friendly woman and her mother who have both visited York in the past. We eat out and I have pumpkin ravioli with mint leaf garnish - lovely and unusual.

Portofino