Dia Sedici … Time to Get Our Drive On!

An entry to the beachfront at Viareggio.
Probably a rocking' time when it is warm and sunny!

On Monday, day 16 of our Italian adventure, we meet our apartment owner Andrea at 11:30, to get our damage deposit back. This is the last apartment check out and from here on it will be finding hotels, etc. each day or so.

We grab a cab to the airport where we will pick up our rental car, which turns out to be a little white Citroen: sporty and cool. Dennis is amazing as he conquers the Italian way of driving…aggressive and macho and “hey, I get to turn first!” attitude. Way to go! It is my job to navigate and all we can tell from the map is that we need to find the motorway/toll road to the coast. We just drive for a while until we see a sign, then try to interpret the signs and pretty soon we are at a toll booth taking a ticket and off we go heading west from Firenze toward our destination Viareggio. 

The only thing we really know about Viareggio is that it is on the Mediterranean coast and each year has a remarkable Carnival. When we originally planned the trip we thought it might be warm enough to enjoy a couple of days on the beach, but the weather here is not warm and while we walk to the beach to take a peek, I am not even tempted to wade. The thousands of beach umbrellas at the dozens of hotel beaches are all empty and waiting for the first hot spell.

We walk the pedestrian stroll by the beach. Admire the Art Deco architecture and decoration that is evident here and there because large parts of Viareggio were burned down and rebuilt in the 1920s and have kept their Art Deco details; they are lovely, but certainly not universal. There is a sizable marina, which we saw when driving in, and a few pedestrian streets we wander, but after an hour or two walking and a mediocre pizza dinner, we walk back to the hotel and are fully frustrated that the wifi does not work and the front desk has no options for us. A less than optimal sleep kills the possibility of another night in Viareggio. Ciao, ciao!