After buying a pair of shoes in Milano Saturday morning, we hopped on the train to Genova. It was  a short 1 1/2 hour trip and quite nice.

Next it was on the Metro (subway) to the Piazza de Ferrari, where our apartment is located.

Chad told us that sometimes when you choose an apartment on line,  the photos can be somewhat deceiving. We found this to be the case here in Genova. It is an adorable apartment but the view from the windows is not overlooking the piazza; it is looking across an open area at the other side of the apartment building maybe 20 feet away — no view of anything but building walls and windows.

The bathroom is about the size of a tiny closet with barely enough room to spin around. When I saw this I burst out laughing and thought, this is going to be very interesting.

The shower has a hand held nozzle with no hook to hang it from but, ah well we’ll make it work. I would not have a blog worth reading if we did not have something hilarious to pass along.

The streets in Genova are up hill, down hill so we are getting quite the workout. (Jim: actually, it reminds me of West Point – you march uphill when you leave your room/apartment and you walk uphill to return. Same here — feels like it’s all uphill!) That should help with all the pasta we have been eating.

I may not have mentioned this before but when we were in Milano it seemed the men were the ones tripping up the curb or slipping off the  curb, Jim included. After a bit I found this to be very humorous. I figured it must have been due to the fact that some of the curbs were small and some were high: consequently trip up and slip off.  We arrive in Genova to find the same thing. A man slipped off the curb and Jim said oh geez, it’s happening here too!

We unloaded our backpacks and immediately went out and about to see what Genova had to offer. It is very different from Milano but beautiful in it’s own way. Genova is on the water and wow is it ever beautiful with all the boats, ships and yachts. There is some political festival going on down by the water. Tents set up with all sorts of food and the usual stuff they sell at festivals.

We stopped at San Lorenzo Cathedral and it is absolutely gorgeous.

After that we walked down to the waterfront and saw quite the sights. It appears the men of Genova congregate there wearing their speedos and soaking up the rays. I found this was not always the most pleasant sight.

It was difficult to find a restaurant that was serving dinner at 6:00 PM. They open at 7 for dinner so we are going to have to adjust our schedule and eat meals a little different here.  We finally found one and ate about 6pm. We are comparing pastas in all the cities! So far Milano and Genova are the 2 cities that have the more cream based sauces, which are good here because they are lighter than what we have in the states. Absolutely have to walk now or we really will be rolling home!

As we roamed around the area, we discovered there are many tours available that sound very interesting so I believe we will check those out on Sunday and sign up for 1 or 2.The city bus tour is always interesting since you get to see so much more of the city than you might  on foot and there is a boat tour that will be nice plus a boat tour that takes you to Portofino. Guess we’ll decide in the morning just what we want to do, after all 7 days is enough time to see quite a bit of Genova.

Monday night, September 1st — Our Two Day Blog

Sunday and Monday were filled with bus tour, harbor tour, walking and checking things out. We began Sunday with Mass at San Lorenzo Cathedral and followed along with the Mass in Italian. Very cool! After that we had some espresso and a pastry and went on a bus tour which was awesome. We sat on the top deck which was open and it made several stops. We chose to take the whole tour just sitting up there and checking out the city of Genova.

We then took a harbor tour which was fabulous. First off, the guy selling the tickets was  slightly older but reminded me of Dean Martin! He was from Palermo, Sicily and just reminded me so much of Dean Martin with his gestures and his looks. The tour was great and the Mediterranean Sea just gorgeous. The yachts,  Coast Guard ships and cruise ships were unbelievable. We saw some of the beaches and were reminded again of how much Italians love the sun! Everyone sits in the sun either sun bathing or just enjoying the sunshine and warmth, all wanting that ever glorious tan!!

A few photos from our harbor tour:

Did a lot more walking on Sunday afternoon, checking out a few alleys. There are so many alleys here you could get lost in a heartbeat. Oh wait – we did get lost! It was later in the evening and dark and some of the alleys are a lot scarier at night than they are during the day! Fortunately we did happen upon a street we recognized and found our way home.

Monday was another day of touring but we decided to walk around only if we could go downhill and not uphill. We did it, we walked down the hills and took the bus up the hills, pretty sneaky but it worked. We went to see the house (museum) where Columbus lived. Unfortunately it was closed so we only saw the outside.

We then walked  to Piazzo Dantè where we came across a large parking lot of motorcycles and scooters.

From there we walked to the Piazza della Vittoria where we saw the garden depicting Columbus’s three ships and on the opposite side the Triumphal Arch commemorating those who died during WWI.

Next it was off to the Mediterranean Sea waterfront, where there is a small beach and the Genova Exhibition center. The Piazzale (little piazzas) are named after Kennedy and M.L. King! Much of the area is used as a marina with a lot of very nice boats!

We walked to Stazione Brignole, where we caught the bus to get us back around through town – eliminating the need to walk uphill. This is the same place we will be leaving from to go to Cinque Terre on Sunday. The bus took us back around to Piazza de Ferrari where our apartment is located. We then had lunch at Ristorante Storico for a very nice salad!

Next we took the Funicolare (tram) up to Righi, a high point of town with great views of the city, the Mediterranean and the mountains to inland.

After going back down the mountain, we headed back to the apartment along the Via Garibaldi where some of the nicest palaces (residences) of former wealthy families are located. It was also on Via Garibaldi where we grabbed our Monday afternoon gelato – melon for Fran and hazelnut for Jim.

We relaxed for a few hours then headed to dinner at La Buca di San Matteo. Jim had Gnocchetti – pasta with prawns, cherry tomatoes and pesto.   Fran had Pansoti in Salsa di Noci, traditional pansoti pasta filled with spinach, ricotta cheese and white sauce made with walnuts.

Ciao until next time!

Tuesday, September 3rd.

We began our  day headed to the Castello D’Albertis, home of the Museum of the Cultures of the World, established by Captain Enrico Alberto D’Albertis, a genoese seaman and traveler, an amateur archaeologist and natural scientist, a sundials creator and more. He loved weapons, photography, hunting, writing and science. He built this castle as a monument to celebrate Genoa, Christopher Columbus and himself.

Along the way we stopped at a few churches that just happened to be on our route to the castle and since we were there we stopped in. Glad we did as each was more beautiful than the last.

Chiesa Santa Marie delle Vigne was the first church on the way and it was amazingly beautiful.

Next was San Pietro della Porta — apparently the church most used by sailors arriving on merchant vessels over the years. In fact, we said good morning to one who was in to pay respects and light a candle.

A beautiful sanctuary was inside this rather plain building tucked a street or two back from the docks and warehouses.

Finally we ducked into San Giovanni (Evangelista di Pre.) Very rustic dark stone interior, except for the altar and sacristy.

Here is the Stazione Principe – the main train station and our arrival point Saturday. We jumped on the subway/Metro from here to get over to the Piazza de Ferrari and our apartment.

Finally, we got on our way to the Castle and this was the tram/elevator that took us to the top to see the castle and museum. We first moved horizontally into the mountain about a couple of football fields. At the end, there was a device we slide into that turned the car into an elevator car and we rose up I think it was another 300 meters.

A few shots of the beautiful collection in the museum and of course the views from the top of the castle. Truly amazing.

We decided to walk down the hill to the marina. We found some markets on the way and picked up fresh focaccia, fruit and veggies for lunch. Headed back to the apartment and of course ended up taking a longer way because we got confused – again! I won’t say lost anymore; from now on it’s going to be “confused” because we always find our way back. It is just unfortunate when we are carrying items that are a little heavy and makes the walk a little more difficult. Remember, every where we go and on each return, it’s all uphill somehow!

Ciao

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Started our day a little later, did some laundry; it took both of us to figure out how to work the washing machine but hey, we did it.

We then took off walking to the train station. Our route took us to Piazza Corveto where we turned on to XII Ottobre Street which is named to commemorate Christopher Columbus’ discovery of America (Scorpeta dell’ America.)

We then found another street commemorating Jim! Yes, Phillip is there too but what the heck!

We pressed on to the train station to buy our tickets for Cinque Terre on Sunday and we spoke to the ticket agent in Italian! No worries, we got tickets for the correct day at the correct time to the correct destination! To be honest, Jim’s Italian is really coming along very well – he’s the one who ordered the tickets!

After purchasing the tickets, we walked to an area that we thought was a canal, because it was blue on the map, indicating water. Turns out it was the sister rillito to Tucson’s Rillito (a dry river)!

Next it was hop on the metro and head to the Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace). The palace was amazing and of course, with another fantastic view of the sea. I cannot imagine living in a palace and not getting lost – and why don’t these palaces ever show you the kitchen! That’s only my favorite room – yes, I know they didn’t do their own cooking but still, it would be fun to see where and how the food was cooked.

There were some fantastically decorated rooms with amazing artwork as you will see from the photos below.

By this time it was past time to eat, so we did and again no photos but do know it was delicious! We both had a tomato based sauce with our pasta.

From there we returned to the apartment, again the “confused” way (remember, I’m not using “getting lost” any more) but we have to say we’ve never been anywhere with so many alleys — alleys which absolutely do not match the maps! Oh, the kudo of the day – we hit the red light district during the day! They were checking out my husband – HEY!!! BASTA!!!!  But then it was siesta time in Italy; crack me up laughing.

Anyway, slight diversion, we get to the apartment to find our absolutely adorable hosts installing a brand new cosmic shower head! The hand held shower head without a bracket mount is all gone now.

By now it was time for gelato so we walked to the bancomat first for some Euros then we “confused” our way to the gelateria where Jim got Panna Cotta and Fran got Ananas (pineapple) – totally yummy!

As it turned out the gelaterria was right next to a church that we have been trying to get into all week. Timing was right today and we were able to go inside the Church of Jesus Christ, here known as Chiesa del Gesû. This church was built in 1589 in the Baroque style based on a Jesuit design. Today it is run by the Jesuits. It’s famous for two original paintings by Peter Paul Rubens, photos of which I’ve included below. The interior has to be the most remarkable of any church we’ve seen so far. The photo of the exterior of the church provides no indication of the beauty inside the church.

We decided to go to Mass Saturday evening at Chiesa del Gesû just so we could attend a mass in this church.

That’s it for tonight folks and hope you are all enjoying our adventure!

Thursday, September 4, 2014 – a day of more art, culture and history

After a fruit and cereal breakfast plus a caffè at the trattoria next door, we headed out to the Strada Nuova or new street, a combination of three palaces (palazzi) which are magnificent museums up on the via Garibaldi. We determined that we are about to enter the real experience of Slow Italy and Slow Food when we move to Cinque Terre, Palermo and other locations after abandoning Milano and Genova. But while in Milano and Genova, we needed to take in as much culture and art as feasible in these cities known for such pursuits. Thus the final round of traipsing through museums and galleries.

Strada Nuova consists of three palaces: Palazzi Rosso, Bianco and Tursi. We began in Palazzo Rosso and ended in Tursi. Each was filled with some awesome and famous artworks, including paintings by Ruben, Van Dyck and several famous Italian painters as well as such items as Paganini’s violin and an urn with Christopher Columbus’ ashes.  While we were enthralled by many of the paintings, those from the Baroque period seemed a little “dark” to us. Regardless, we took aboard all the art. We’ll run through the galleries with the series of photos that follow but there really were many, many more. We think the captions should tell the story.

On the way to the palazzi (palazzi being plural of palazzo!) we passed a forno (bakery) and a foccaceria (foccacio store), a jewelry shop and an outdoor clothes store on the order of a Timberland or a Summit Hut. We kept those in mind as we planned to check out each on the way back to the apartment. Today we were not “confused” – made it to the via Garibaldi and the palaces and back with no loss of direction or of not knowing exactly where we were! We in fact did stop at all four shops on the way home, buying only at the forno. You’ll see the results in the lunch photo below. And no, we didn’t forget the wine!

After lunch, we headed back out to a grocery store and a fruit and vegetable stand to add a little stock to our supply in the apartment. Tomorrow we plan to escape the center of town and head to the outskirts by train to see the “burbs” and an old fishing village.

For Felix, Fran and Tom: We found branzino in Milano but at 50 Euros or about $66 at current exchange rates, we opted to hold off. We found a restaurant here in Genova. Branzino was listed at 20 Euros — much more reasonable. Hopefully we’ll score tomorrow night!

Ciao for another night, hopefully a lot quieter than last night. Seemed some of the folks in the building decided conversations until 12:30am were no big deal! I have no idea what Italians find to talk about but they talk all day long, non stop. I guess I should probably remember that since I grew up in the Italian family where everyone talked at the same time, as they do here. It’s kind of funny to remember but when you are trying to sleep, well not so funny! Thanks Jim for tonight’s blog, great job!!!

Friday, September 5, 2014 – field trip!

Slept well last night; the Italians must have been tired from all the chit chat of the night before!

Decided today would be the day for a metro / train adventure to the fishing village of Nervi. It is a small village on the Mediterranean Sea a little East of Genova, actually a part of Genova. The view is breathtaking. See if you agree!

Notice here on the subway platform how clean it is. We were surprised – this subway, and the one in Milan, are as clean, on time, and safe as any in the US, perhaps better than most.

We took pictures down into the water as it is as clear as many swimming pools, colored mostly by the colors in the rocks or moss growing along the surface on the rocks. Just about impossible to capture in a photo so we didn’t try, well, we did but the photos just do not do justice to the water at all.

We decided to venture into the town itself; more alleys, more hills, not too bad for walking and the sights were a little different from what they were here in Genova.

We found a shop called Unisex so Jim got a haircut. Cute little place and great haircut and of course Jim loved being pampered! I decided to check out the Pasteria next door (the smells were enough to make your mouth water.) I found some delightful little goodies, Pignolati’s (small pignoli nut cookies). Turned out they were quite good and we have enough left for dessert tonight.

Went to the Wolfsoniana Museo which is the first Italian museum devoted to the decorative and propaganda arts of the period 1880-1945. They actually call it Modern Applied Art, in other words, art applied to things you use such as a Vespa motor scooter, vacuum cleaner, silverware, furniture.  We think you’ll be able to pick out the “propaganda” art quite easily!

For those of you who do not recognize him, that would be “Il Duce” himself, Mussolini, in the painting on the left. The other guy is a famous motion picture producer who gained favor with Mussolini in the period leading up to WW II. We liked the server in front of those dudes actually, complete with its coffee and other liquids distribution system!

Nervi actually has a very large park along the seacoast and fronting the park are 3 museums but after yesterday, we decided one was enough for today. It is amazing how much art is here and how different it is in each museum and gallery  For instance, we had no idea until entering Wolfsoniana that there was even anything called modern applied art. So each place we have stopped opens up new vistas for us.

It was now time to head back to the seacoast path to find a restaurant for lunch. Took a while but we we lucked out and found a path right to the water with a restaurant and beach area that served really good food, as seen below.

Fran had Gamberétto with an orange and cognac sauce. This was an outstanding dish. The Gamberétto (prawns) tasted like lobster and literally melted in your mouth and the flavors were amazing. One of us needed help finishing our lunch and for once it was not me! I had enough room left to polish off some of Jim’s lunch.

Jim had Branzino-filled black ravioli and squid. The ravioli pasta was made with squid ink, hence black! It also was absolutely delicious and a little more than he actually needed and I did not mind helping him finish his lunch one little bit.

The meal was followed by due caffé (two espressos) and the owner brought out his own Italian lemongrass-based liquor, something like limoncello but made with lemongrass. Both were really good although the caffês were stronger than the liquor, thank goodness! After lunch we walked back to the train station, sat on the upper level of the double decker car and headed back home. Of course a double decker scenic cruiser train car doesn’t really help when most of the ride is in tunnels but hey, it was fun and an experience.

That’s all she wrote for today folks. As you can see, we are winding down with our adventures in the big cities, preparing for our two week stay in Cinque Terre where relaxation will be the word of the day! And eating of course.

Ciao once again!

Saturday, September 6, 2014 – Cimitero & Boccadasse plus Branzino

After a somewhat sleepless night for both of us, we headed by bus to the Cimitero (cemetery) Monumentale di Staglieno, a pretty famous cemetery here in Genova. By our estimates, it had to have twice the number of residents as the one in Milano which we previously highlighted. Big difference in style though. It was planned in 1835 and contains the remains of a large number of Genoese figures from the Risorgimento or “resurrection” which was actually the political and social unification of the many nation states that existed before a unified Italy. Cimitero Monumentale di Staglieno is considered an outdoor museum and what got our attention is that it is surrounded by what we’d call “long buildings” consisting of stone and marble buildings four corridors or archways wide, some with second floors and below ground level hallways, surrounding the entire cemetery grounds. The statuary was every bit as extensive as in Milano but much more compact and limited to the crypts along each of the halls or archways than individual family markers or crypts out in the main cemetery. Hope the photos show you what we mean.

There was one aspect that was significantly different than any cemetery we’ve ever visited. The more recent graves appeared to have a rectangular pile of dirt over the actual grave and a small marble or stone marker. The older graves appeared to have a marble base, four “walls” and a cover which we think fit over the standing dirt “piles” we saw — no disrespect.  So we figured maybe the deceased are left to settle some before the grave walls are built, or it’s simply a matter of money. Build the walls and stone markers when the money to pay for them is available.

Mosquitos were really bad for some reason so we left after about an hour. We’d bet we covered maybe 20% of the cemetery, if that. It was still impressive, by the numbers of people there, by the majesty of some of the memorials and certainly by the way the entire cemetery was laid out.

We hope you don’t think we are morbid by visiting these cemeteries, after all, there were only two, but both are pretty famous and certainly remarkable, with amazing art evident in the statuary and in the layouts of each cemetery. And if Mark Twain could visit and write about them, who were we to just blow them off!

From Cemetero Monumentale, we jumped on the bus and headed for the fishing village of Boccadasse. We could tell without question that this was once a fishing village, from the layout along the shore to the boats and some of the people. Today however, it looked more like a summer resort. And since this is the last weekend before school starts, the beaches were fairly well packed. And yes, we saw our share of Speedos walking around the beach and the marinas!

Some of our new amici (friends) on the bus ride over highly recommended the focaccio and the gelato in Boccadasse so we had to comply. Actually, Fran ordered the focaccio and Jim had farinata which is chick pea based flour focaccio.

Our exposure to people here continues to substantiate the assertion they are all friendly and helpful. Both of us struck up conversations with people on the bus and on the street. Our only “less than positive” experiences have come from beggars who were not too happy when we shunned them.

While we had planned to take the bus back from Boccadasse to our apartment, it was just too nice a day so we walked along the shore all the way back. Here we observed a phenominal approach to parallel parking. Never seen so many scooters, motorcycles and cars parked so efficiently. We still haven’t figured out how the cars get away if they decide to leave before the scooters. However, we did note that the cars have a little “clock” wheel in their windshields which tells either when they parked or when they are leaving. That undoubtedly helps with planning — if anyone really does planning here!

About halfway during our walk back to the apartment, we stopped for gelato — cocco (coconut) for Jim and creme (like a latte but without coffee) for Fran.

After another half hour of walking, we reached the area of the Christopher Columbus Park and the Triumphal Arch. The good weather made for better photographs than our earlier post.

A little more walking and we reached the Piazza de Ferrari, walked down our alley and stopped off at the trattoria just next door as Jim wanted to have one of these things that look like a coffee smoothie. Turns out it was the equivalent of a frozen cappuccino but with smooth ice coffee ice cream and no ice — you know, coffee ice cream when you play with it and just stir it until it becomes soft ice cream like Dairy Queen!  Hit the spot regardless, and one more “notch” in our experience cane.

We then relaxed for a while — Jim actually went downstairs and watched the preps for a wedding at San Matteo next door. After a while, we headed out down past the cathedral where it turns out there was a spontaneous turnout for some impromptu musicians. Have to say, haven’t seen anything like this at any cathedral anywhere in the U.S. It was nice to see all the people fill the cathedral square on a Saturday night, enjoying a little amateur entertainment and friendship on the steps of the diocesan cathedral!

Further along, we noted the banner for an Octoberfest here in Genova. Can’t be all bad when a little German influence is encouraged and celebrated.

Finally, we found our way back to the little ristorante where we have been attempting to get some branzino all week – Ristorante Nuovo Ducale. Yup, open tonight so we waltzed in, sat down and placed our order. Guess what? NO BRANZINO! The chef hurried himself out, apologized all over the place and told us he’d prepare orata, an equivalent.  Well, who are we to argue. And he did offer up a peace offering with a little fried fish special ahead of the main course, all shown below. So Felix — what do you think?  Maybe you and Danny ought to think about shipping branzino, otherwise known as MEDITERRANEAN SEA BASS, over here to Italy!  Okay, okay – the orata was fine — a nice white fish probably from the Gulf of Mexico! Still worth the 14 Euros, or say $18.00, we paid, each, for the fish dinner!

So, time to pack up. Our train to Cinque Terre leaves at 12:25 tomorrow. Genova has been good, and our walk around town tonight reminded us of how nice these folk are, how much fun they seem to have and how their approach to life is a little different than the American way. Now for the real relaxing, the real Slow Italy, the real Slow Food and just enjoying the autumn.