To the Alps, part 9: Monaco at night

I fall asleep on the train and wake up only when a passenger prods us saying we're in Milan.

We look for the next train, which will take us to Alessandria, and go to a cafe and charge our phones for about 15 minutes. As we return to the station, we can't get on the platform as you can get there only with a ticket.

We'll have to go out of the city to hitchhike to Genoa. We look through the glass only to see our hoped-for train leaving, and go down to the metro.

The metro cars are filled to the brim. There's no place for our bags here - we understand that when an old woman starts swearing at us in Italian. After about a 15-minute ride we're in suburban Milan where we have to take a bus to take us to the highway.

This is a big street but it doesn't lead to the highway. In the map I find that we're not far off from the real highway and it looks like it'll be a place where we'll get a car quickly.

Cars are passing by very rarely, plus we've heard that it's very difficult to hitchhike in Italy. Suddenly we hear someone calling from the bushes, and we call back. After about five minutes an old Italian man emerges from the bushes with his bicycle. "Ah, Genoa!" he says, trying to explain to us that ths is not the right place to hitchhike.

We put on our bags and descend to the highway.

However we're being turned down all the time, and not because the car is full or they're going to Genoa -- they just refuse.

We go to hitchhike to a road leading to the highway, and we spend about three hours there.

We try using the BlaBlaCar app but it's in Italian we can't message the driver we've found. When you click on a driver the app starts asking for credit card data. I'm completely fed up and angrily draw a "= €" on a page. If they won't take us free, perhaps they will do so if we offer money.

And it works! A car stops within the first three minutes, saying they'll take us to Genoa. It's great! After a night in Verona I'm seriously sleep deprived so I quickly fall asleep.

We wake up only when we're in Genoa. The driver only points to the sea and the city center but doesn't ask for pay. The city is huge and chaotic.

The traffic is unbelievable. Everyone is driving and turning wherever they please, cars are honking their horns and sirens are sounding in the distance.

The map says we have to go towards the sea to get to a station. Elvijs sees a lighthouse that we absolutely must see. We enter the territory of the harbor, full with trucks, harbor employees running around in orange vests and cranes moving wares onto the ships.

At last we find stairs that take us to the land level into a very dirty and squalid corner - but at least we'll get to see the lighthouse.

However it only works on weekends so we have to go away. Finally we reach the station.

We have to ride a stop to the next station, and from it we can get to France, a local tells us. 

It's so warm here! We learn we have to wait 40 minutes to the next train, and we find a small eatery across the street from the station. We have to switch trains at Ventimiglia and we embark on a train that goes across the border with a stop in Monaco. We get there, too, without buying a ticket. As we step off it's evident as this place is for the very rich. Straight away we get into a tunnel made from marble.

We're here shortly before midnight so we see a great view to the city at night. There are palms and exotic fruit growing everywhere, there are beautiful villas and high skyscrapers.

The city has many floors - from time to time you can hear a car passing above or below you.

We have to find a place to stay in Couchsurfing ASAP.

We go inside the poshest five-star hotel we can find to find a connection and charge our phones. The services are available only to hotel guests. So, to the question, "Do you have a reservation?" Elvijs replies with a surefire "Not yet! We have to charge our phone to check the transaction status." This convinces the hotel clerk and she gives us access to the phone.

We deposit our bags the same way.

We go to the Formula-1 track and find the start line, the popular tunnel by the sea coast, and the most famous road bend in the world.