An Afternoon in Italy

For our Saturday sightseeing, David drove us to Italy! We can get to the Italian border from where we live in about an hour. Since I've already been to the closest city over the border, Ventimiglia, we decided to go a little further: San Remo.

It was my mom's first time in Italy, so she was able to check another country off her list! Although I think that someday she would appreciate going a little deeper into Italy and seeing Rome, Venice, etc.

San Remo, like the cities along the French Riviera, is sunny, colorful, and right on the Mediterranean. We parked by the port and then went to find some Italian cuisine for lunch.



My mom was thrilled to have her first true Italian pizza. I had my gnocchi. David was a little surprised to be served a plate with intact fish heads. 2/3 wasn't bad, I guess.


Conveniently outside the restaurant was this tourist-friendly fountain to remind us what city we were in.


Me and my half-Italian husband in Italy. Did you know? David's dad is proudly Sicilian.


From the fountain we could see the old part of the city and a cathedral on top of a giant hill. Considering that I'd already made my mom walk a lot of miles on this trip, we decided to try to drive. I say try because you never know with these crazy one-way streets (and crazy Italian drivers haha).

Thankfully David was brave enough to make to the top through winding cliff roads. The views were worth it!






My mom's last Italian wish was for gelato. We drove back down the hill and were able to make that happen. Right across the street from the gelateria was this medieval fort. Poor sweet, unsuspecting David.


Walking around before heading back to France.


Had to get the Italian flag in a picture!


We got stuck in a traffic jam trying to get out of San Remo. The following pictures were taken from the car.


It seems like every town around here has its own casino. Even little Mandelieu.


I had to take a video of this one ridiculous intersection. We were stuck here for a million years. 



I never thought of French drivers as being especially patient, but they certainly seem to be compared to the Italians. We should count ourselves lucky that we only got yelled at once. An old guy stopped in the middle of the road and then he started yelling at us for not immediately going around him. Lots of hand gestures included.

The whole drive between where we live and San Remo was BEAUTIFUL and full of glimpses of the sea and the Alps. I wish I'd tried to take more pictures during the drive.

This one was a pretty successful car picture.

A little Italian village. I just liked the colors.


This is a terrible picture (blurry and you can see the highway barrier), but I'm posting it anyways because it shows what it was like to drive through the mountains.


We ran out of time on this trip, but I decided where I want to go on our next day trip to Italy. It's a little town called Dolceacqua with a castle and a fairytale bridge. How could we not go here next?


Until next time, Italy! Arrivederci.



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