Greetings!

As the title of this post suggests, we had an interesting start to our time in Italy! After leaving Monaco we quickly hit the border of Italy and spent the morning driving. The interstate stretch in this area is certainly exciting! It winds up the coast of Italy but traverses several mountains so you cross very high bridges overlooking seaside towns and countless tunnels.

We were headed for an area called Cinque Terre and were about 45 min away when we saw break lights and traffic stopping. Knowing the type of roads we had just been on, we thought it could be an accident. Although we don’t know any Italian, you can figure out a lot by observing!

After seeing 3 ambulances, over 10 fire trucks, and multiple police vehicles, we knew it was going to be awhile. In fact, most people shut off their cars and were walking around on the interstate. Then, the Italian police brought us water to drink…uh oh!

We eventually found a kind person who spoke English who gave us a status update. It turned out there was a huge car fire in the tunnel which caused significant damage to the tunnel and filled the entire tunnel with smoke. Thankfully (and absolutely most importantly!), everyone was fine. The only issue was the tunnel damage which shut down the road for 4 hours!

We were fortunate to have water, snacks and iPads so the time passed quickly. The only bad part was that we missed getting to go to Cinque Terre 😦

On the bright side…

– We were not in the tunnel when it happened (thankfully!!)
– We’ve now read up on how to escape tunnel fires (*details below for those interested :))
– We also have a great reason to return to Italy in the future – to see Cinque Terre!

We also thankfully made it to Pisa in time for our timed admission to go up the Leaning Tower. While you know it leans, it feels really crazy to be up at the top and feel the lean in person!

It looks like a few people have been here before 🙂

We even had a chance to get the classic Leaning Tower of Pisa photos. 🙂 Here are a few:

After leaving the Leaning Tower, we had a fast-paced drive into Rome! This time we saw 1 accident, 1 overturned semi, and 1 car fire. Wow! Today was definitely an adventure, but we had a few fun driving experiences such as:

1. The speeds for even mountainous, winding interstates are quite high at 130 km/h (~78mph)! Apparently the speed “limits” are really more of a max versus the speed you feel safe to drive!

2. Driving lanes are both narrow and optional. 😉 Drifting over into the lane beside you without warning is completely normal!

3. Fires do happen in tunnels. Here is what we learned about tunnel safety (for anyone more experienced with this, chime in with any other advice!)

– The key is to get out fast! Drive (if you can) or run (if necessary).
– Most tunnels have signs periodically throughout the tunnel saying the number of meters you are from each entrance or emergency exit so you can use these signs to know which way is the fastest exit.

– Almost every tunnel has a sign at the entrance that indicate the length of the tunnel so you can also use this to judge how far you are into the tunnel.

We are now ready to explore Rome! Look for an update soon!