European Road Trip 2015
Missed one?.
After sleeping for an epic 12 hours, Mike and I set
of early at we had to arrive in Genoa, Italy, where our next hotel was booked
but we had decided we would go to Nice and Monaco along the way.
Dijon to Nice was almost 6 hours long. We made our
way through a lot of new CDs; Bruno Mars, Walk the Moon, Nina Nesbitt, Jason
Derulo and my infamous "mix tape" CDs featured heavily.
Some of my
favourite moments of the trip were when Mike and I were singing our hearts out and
dancing in traffic queues - Lord knows what others thought of our jigging car
and frequent air grabbing.
We arrived on the Nice coast in a 32 degree heat, it
was gorgeous! We had a stroll along the sea front, taking obligatory selfies
and sipping on ice cold colas. We had a wander through a market in the centre
of town and saw a lovely paddling pool for local kids, many fountains and
sculptures. I was feeling very continental.
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| Nice, France |
In Europe, dinner time is 7-9pm, so we decided to
head to Monaco for dinner. We were feeling very excited of the thought of dining in
such a prolific city; home of the Monaco Grand Prix and play ground of the rich
and famous... except we didn't get out of the car! Monaco is a winding maze of
thin roads and expensive cars, after more than half an hour trying to find a
parking spot we decided to leave the beautiful and albeit confusing city for
the 2 1/2hour drive to Genoa.
We hit traffic jams, a lot of traffic jams!
The drive took closer to four hours and we'd consumed a diet of cereal bars and
French fries crisps, so as we approached Genoa we planned on room service in
bed - oh so very indulgent!
10 Minutes away from our hotel, loyally following
our Sat Nav Sabrina, we somehow ended up in the industrial port, meeting
security guards who couldn't speak English. We finally made it our hotel but
Genoa wasn't lending itself to us. The town was a dirty, run down town and to be
honest I didn't feel very safe. Luckily Mike is 6ft and big built, which puts
any dodgy people off approaching us.
We got to our hotel and it looked like a lovely
place, clean and modern, but our room was run down and had evidently flooded
from the bathroom to the communal hall way via the disabled shower. We were so tired we ordered pizzas
with room service (the food was nice but the staff were stroppy and rude) and went
to bed.
My morning shower of course flooded our room, they'd not leveled the disabled wash room towards the plug and when we told reception, they simply shrugged and said that's what happened in disabled bathrooms. Funny how
the other 6 hotels we stayed in didn't flood!
I wouldn't recommend Genoa at all, we'd booked it on
a whim and our guide to Italy said of the town; "When you get tired of the
dirt and rats in Genoa move on" - my advice, avoid it entirely!
Happily leaving Genoa, I was especially excited as
we were heading to Pisa, home of the leaning tower.
Travelling tip; if you're
driving into Pisa, be very careful! There is a restricted driving area which
includes where the Tower is situated. Make sure you check this restriction as
you'll be sent a fine for excess of €100. We parked 5 mins from town and if you
are disabled, make sure you show parking attendants you UK Blue Parking badge
you'll get a reduced parking fee.
Doing a European road trip in the first instance was a
tick off my bucket list, seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa was another. When you
first see the monument you cannot believe firstly how tall and wide it is, and
secondly how it can lean to such a degree without toppling.
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| Mike and I in Pisa |
Amongst a sea of tourist, doing exactly the same,
Mike and I posed as though we were holding up the tower. Although you know what
everyone else is doing it, it still looks incredibly odd and ridiculous but very
funny.
If you are disabled in Italy, you do not pay or
queue to get into their major tourist attractions. Mike and I joked that
because Italy is such an old country and has many cobble streets, free
entry to attractions is the Italian apology to us and those pushing our
wheelchairs.
Obviously I couldn't manage walking into and up the
Leaning Tower, despite desperately wanting to. I told Mike to leave me at the bottom, and climb the tower, for the sake of our photo collection but he was too much of a Gentleman.
However the Pisa Cathedral
was beautiful inside, constructed in 1064 it was a breath taking mixture of old
and new, the staff almost didn't let me in as my shoulders were uncovered -
so beware, take a cardigan or wear something long sleeved!
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| Outside Pisa Cathedral |
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| Inside Pisa Catherdral |
The Pisa Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles)
includes the Leaning Tower, the Cathedral, Baptistery and the Piazza dei
Miracoli but the area is world renowned for its medieval art and architecture -
it is truly a lovely place and apart from the Tower the attractions are made
wheelchair accessible with ramped entrances and levels within the buildings.
We spent the rest of the day wandering through
Piazzi Cairoli where there are lots of bars and most importantly; gelateries! We
stopped for a mezze platter lunch of cheeses, salad and fresh meats then a
humongous cone of Gelato - our first of many! Before we headed to the madness
of Rome!
L x
