Jane and I have just returned from a two and a half week Interrail holiday along the French and Italian Riviera between Marseilles and Genoa. It was an excellent holiday. One of my daughter-in-laws asked what was best about it and, in typical fashion I’m afraid, I replied: “well, nothing went wrong”. In truth though, pretty much everything went right.
The weather was great. There was blue sky and, apart from about 4 hours in Paris on our way home, brilliant sunshine all day. It wasn’t too hot – we wouldn’t have coped well with the much hotter temperatures prevalent a few weeks before. There were no wildfires to worry about. We’d packed the right clothing and managed to launder enough on the way to feel fresh (though our use of a public laundry in Menton was a disaster and it was fortunate our bathroom there was big enough to accommodate the rewash we did in the bidet and the subsequent drying out!)
We had booked the holiday as a package with Byway Travel. For the premium we undoubtedly paid for getting a package rather than creating our own tour, I think we got peace of mind and good value. The trains were punctual enough and we always had a seat. The hotels were very varied but very good although the number of stairs we had to climb in a couple of them was a bit daunting.
The selection of places we visited for two nights each – Marseilles, Cassis, Toulon, Nice, Menton, Alassio, Genoa and, on our way home, Paris (via train changes in Milan and Zurich) – were also varied in size and feel.
Unexpectedly, two nights in each place felt like enough and, once we got into the routine, changing accommodation every other day became a pleasant routine not a chore. We might revisit one or two of the big cities we saw but, if we do something similar in the future (and I hope we will), then I think we will try a different part of Europe.
Getting back into our home routine has been quick and easy. We got back home on a Friday at 5.30pm and managed to get to the local pub for our normal Friday night imbibing with local mates by 6pm. We have both restarted maintenance of our garden. We have both started our respective work and volunteering duties. There’s a home Forest green Rovers football match to attend tonight.
What remains is sorting out of the hundreds of photos I took while we were away. Once I have done that, I plan to post brief summaries of the town and city visits included in our holiday. Then we are off to Edinburgh to visit family there and will plan some more trips. I’m getting into the swing of this holiday lark!
