From Genoa to Nice
We left Genoa rather reluctantly, hoping to return in 2022 on our way back to Corsica, bound for San Remo. Between the two there is Imperia endowed with a large marina but a town much less attractive than nearby Sanremo - the best surprise of our end 2021 cruise.
There is a large modern marina on the eastern side of the town so quite a trot for the visiting and shopping. We are also not marina lovers so headed for what we thought was the FREE town quay as per the instructions of the Guardia Costiera. (My Italian exists and because it sounds good, the mistaken presumption is that it is fluent). Actually we "borrowed" a berth at the Circolo Nautico . We were very lucky! It is less than 200m from town and there is a supermarket at the entrance. Cost is the same as for the marina. Go there if you can.
Sanremo is a place of three facets:
Beaches and seafront
The main town
The medieval town
The beaches and the seafront are grander than is always the case with a large ornate casino set in attractive gardens. The seafront is as you would expect lined with restaurants that we did not visit. In the main town there is an unusually appealing "downtown" area again with loads of restaurants, two of which we tried more in the pursuit of fun than gastronomic excellence. The totally unexpected part if the old medieval town that branches up from downtown - just head uphill. It is a maze of streets so narrow that a donkey struggles to get through. There too you will find a myriad of tiny restaurants that we would have loved to try had time permitted.
Sanremo to Menton is a short trip and to be honest we were not expecting much of Menton. That was wrong! We were squeezed into the Vieux Port from which it is all of 100m to the shops and the town. This is an expensive place - prices are around 20% over the already high prices in France - but is also a beautiful place to while away the autumn sunshine. We stayed for 2 days because we liked it - taking care to limit the damage to our wallets. Given that the prevailing wind is from the north, we suspect that both bays between the old harbour and the new marina are usually safe anchorages.
Monte Carlo from close to the shore is a startling site, but not for us as visitors. It was mid-October, so well out of season, but we got the last berth in Nice Old Town marina, illustrated above. New Nice is definitely not one of our favourite haunts, but the Old Town is a gem and an easy walk from the old harbour.