We chose the coastline route from Eze to Italy. While this route took longer to arrive at our destination, it provided some beautiful sights along the way of the cliff side towns and of course the Sea. And besides, it's all about the journey. It also is a way to avoid paying the motorway tolls which we paid on our way back to Nice and let me say that we have nothing to complain about with our few bridge tolls back home when compared to the cost here!!
Our next stop was Imperia, Italy. This coastal city dates back to around the 10th century. We stopped in the village of Poggi situated on the mountaintop. The drive up to this village was interesting...the roadway is very windy with several hairpin turns up the mountain. And it's a two-way street that looks like a comfortable width for a one-way street. Thankfully there wasn't much in the way of traffic heading in the opposite direction from us, but when there was Z did a fabulous job of maneuvering. There were severals gasps from Z's mom in the back seat regardless. Z found a great local Trattoria for us to have lunch at. This was as authentic as you can get....the staff only spoke Italian, there were no printed menus and the lunch menu was pretty much a set menu and if they ran out of an item then that was it for the day. We had pesto pasta as our primi course and it was the BEST pesto pasta I've ever tasted!! It was so fresh and incredibly divine. On the patio where we were seated with a fantastic view of the surrounding mountainside and sea, was a huge basil plant which I'm pretty sure is used as an ingredient in their cooking. We ordered red wine for all of us, and it was most likely locally brewed and it arrived in a glass jug. It tasted like a new wine and was a great compliment to our meal. Our secondi was a fresh lettuce and tomatoe salad, again pretty sure grown on the grounds or nearby. Z also had a milanese which was a thin breaded meat and grilled. Included of course was fresh bread. What a lovely authentic meal for Z's mom to experience for her first time in Italy. After we finished, the restaurant then closed for the afternoon.
After lunch we made our way to the Olive Oil museum in Imperia. We thought it would be fun to check this out seeing as we are on the Mediterranean and there are olive groves everywhere. The museum was quite informative and we also got to see an olive tree which is over 1000 years old. Olive trees apparently continue to produce olives indefinitely once they start producing after year 7.
We continued our journey along the coastline to a town called Antichita. This is a small town along the Italian Riveria. It seemed more like a locals town and most things were closing when we arrived around 6pm. We did find a great gelato shop open and indulged in some gelato. We also enjoyed a nice walk along the waterfront boardwalk before making our way back to Nice. Our final destination was supposed to be Finale Ligure however we thought that because things were closing in Antichita, that when we arrived in Finale Ligure chances were things would be closed there too; the drive was still about 1 hour.
This turned out to be a great day trip from Nice.....beautiful coastal views and quaint small towns giving a true Italian experience and the food was superb.
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