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Loire to Genoa

We are driving from Pouant to Genoa in easy stage, calling in at some friends on the way. We are staying at Limoges, Nimes, Menton and Genoa. We intend to visit the Hanbury Gardens near Ventimiglia on the way.

Monday 26th May - we drove down to Chef-Boutonne where we met some friends from Formby - Arthur and Julie Jones. They retired a few years ago to live in Chef-Boutonne. The town has much history, many shops and a couple of restaurants. Their house is built on the site where a chateau or castello once stood. Some of the rampart walls are still standing. We stayed the night in a Logis hotel in Limoges. It was OK but we would prefer an Ibis or Campanile. The bathroom was extremely small.

Tuesday 27th May was a long day driving 300 miles from Limoges to Nimes. The weather was bad at times, rain, wind, thunder and lightning. We went over the Millau viaduct again. We then stayed one night at an Ibis near Nimes.

   Millau Viaduct.

After Nimes we continued on towards Menton near Nice. We were there in time to continue over the border into Italy to visit the Hanbury Gardens. The gardens were created in the 1870's by Thomas Hanbury, who had amassed a fortune trading in China. He bought a villa on the hillside overlooking the sea and and he commissioned Ludwig Winter to landscape the garden. Changes were made by his daughter-in-law Dorothy Hanbury between 1925 and 1939.

Elaine in Gardens    Bank of Flowers            Mausoleum of Thomas Hanbury & wife               Pergola

Giant succulent    Main central path & steps     Mausoleum         Fountain       Elaine with sea behind    Cafe with sea behind

We stayed in a hotel in Menton and then continued on along the coast to Genoa. We stopped in Albenga to visit a Roman Naval Museum. There are details and remains of Roman ships raised from the seabed.

We continued along the coast, using the motorway to Genova where we had booked 2 nights in a city centre hotel and, having arrived about 5.30pm, had to cope with rush hour traffic. However, we managed. The WiFi connection was free!

Duomo                Piazza Ferrari            Remains of church near Christopher Columbus's house    City Gate

  Via Garibaldi lined with Palazzi from Renaissance Genoa