Italian Odyssey - 6.

 The Italian part of our Odyssey began with a late arrival in Genoa, a city rich in naval history dating back centuries. Christopher Columbus is the most famous citizen of Genoa, even though he left the city and sailed for Spain in his major quests. His tiny family home still stands today, and there are a number of statues and a replica ship to remind all of his incredible achievements. On arrival, having checked into our cosy hotel, we thought we should celebrate with a drink, so headed out into the street which was full of people at 10.00pm on a Monday night! We didn't have to go far as the bar/restaurant next door looked nice, so we took a table on the sidewalk. The big waiter wandered over and asked what we needed. Language was going to be a problem, but not for long! A glass of wine and a big beer arrived pronto. When he learnt we were Australian, he came back with a photo of Nicole Kidman, from when she made the Grace Kelly movie. She had visited the bar! I told the waiter she was my sister, but the raised eyebrow and tilt of the head told me he wasn't buying it! This would become our watering hole for the next three days. After our first drink, all future drinks came with chips, nuts & pretzels!

Before getting into our Genoa activities I should tell you a little about our hotel. It is very nice, but has no lift, which wasn't a big problem as we were on the first floor. The staff are just wonderful, even arranging for their handyman to cut down an enormous cylinder that Carolyn was given at Monet's Garden, to put a poster in. The bathroom has been fully renovated. It has a huge square toilet bowl, a matching huge new bidet, a huge wash basin, and the tiniest shower cubicle. With all the huge stuff, only one person can fit in the room at a time! I forgot to mention the huge shower head. There is nowhere in the cubicle to escape the torrent of water! I dropped the soap, and had to step outside to pick it up! We can only hope the shower cubicles get bigger!!

With only two full days, we decided to do the hop on hop off bus thing again. It shows us the lay of the land and all the major sites. The first thing that grabs you is all the huge old buildings, the narrow streets, and pedestrian laneways. The city is full of them. There are even lots of tunnels, linking different parts of the city. The city is built on a steep slope, and these steep lanes and alleys criss cross all over the place. There are some incredible old buildings, and the names Garibaldi and Balbi appear regularly in the cities history. In the 1990's Unesco awarded 50 palaces their blessing, and many are open to the public. Down at the waterfront, there is a huge aquarium, a naval museum, and the impressive replica of Columbus' ship. We took a taxi out to the lovely little seaside village of Boccadasse, which is now actually a suburb of Genoa. It was really quaint, with its black rocky beach. Along the way, we passed the salvaged wreck of the Costa Concordia, that so famously ran aground. It was a real mess, and sits with other salvaged junk in an industrial part if the harbour.

At Boccadasse we found that the water was really cold, and even though there were a number of people on the beach, only one girl braved the water! She went blue and lasted around three minutes! We opted to try the gelato, and it was excellent. We strolled back along the Corso Italia towards town. This is the Italian Riviera, but it is a very poor cousin to the French neighbour! All along the Corso are beach pavilions and resorts, where people pay money for a changing cubicle, deckchairs etc. and sit on the rocky beach. These places serve food & drink, and even have beach game areas. They are all fenced off, with each resort trying to outdo the others. There were even bobcats on some of the beaches trying to smooth out the rocks! Just so far removed from the beaches we have been used to! We eventually made it back to town, and headed for our local bar, where our now best mate the barman, had drinks, chips, nuts & pretzels to us before our bums hit the seats! We finished up staying for dinner, as they had a full menu, including the local Genovese specialty, a pesto pizza. It was very nice.

Next day we headed into the shopping district. Now I know that will shock many of you, but we wanted to visit one of the local produce markets. They are fantastic. This one was in behind the luxury shops in the best part of town. There were dozens and dozens of competing stalls selling the freshest seafood, meat, deli items, fruit & veggies, fresh pasta & flowers. We loved it. If only we could buy like this at home! We did do some of the other shops, and called into a lovely little patisserie  for our "stand up" coffee. We already love this tradition! Standing at the bar or counter is so much cheaper than sitting down. Carolyn is having mixed thoughts about the actual coffee, and is sticking mostly with cappuccino, but John is right into it with espresso or macchiato. Love it!!! After coffee, we headed off for our cultural fix. There is a three museum pass you can buy, which gives access to Palazzo Bianco, Palazzo Rosso & Palazzo Turnis, all of which are close together. All were originally homes to wealthy Genovese, and all have Unesco listing. They are all magnificent, with incredible frescos on the ceilings and priceless artwork adorning the walls. The Palazzo Bianco had a whole section dedicated to women's fashion from the 19th & early 20th centuries, which was lovely, and there was also an exhibition of art dedicated to artists who broke with tradition and started to use everyday people and their everyday workings as subject matter, rather than the portraits, landscapes & religion which were the accepted subjects. Apparently these artists were persecuted for their radical break with tradition! Thank God they hadn't met Andy Warhol! In the end, the absolute highlight of our visits to all the Palazzo, was at Palazzo Rosso, where we were escorted to a rooftop terrace, that had like a viewing crows nest, where you could look out over all of Genoa. It was terrific! After art & culture it was time for happy hour, so back to our mate with the unpronounceable name! We, and our drinks arrived simultaneously, along with the chips, nuts & pretzels. Tonight we bid our friend an early, and final farewell, telling him we would say hi to Nicole from him, and headed off in search of pasta. Mission accomplished, it was back to pack to head off for the next stop on our journey. We have enjoyed Genoa, a city which was not on our original list of places to visit.

We were awoken at around 6.30am with an enormous clap of thunder, that shook the building, sent the telephone into a ringing frenzy, and set off half the car alarms in the street. It was much colder, windy, with storm showers. We got to the station, and safely boarded our train for the short 45 minute trip to Rapallo, our stop for the next two nights. Rapallo is a lovely seaside town. Our hotel is the Hotel Vesuvio, right on the waterfront. It is only a five minute walk from the station. The rain has cleared, but it is blowing a gale across the bay. We are early, so we stored our bags and took a walk along the waterfront, where the weekly market is in full swing. These intrepid stall holders have to deal with the wind and the spray from the waves hitting the sea wall. It is a really good market with a huge variety of merchandise. We bought some lovely fresh strawberries, apricots & peaches for lunch. By the time the market was closing up, our room was ready, and thankfully, the wind had died down a lot. Our room is lovely. We are on the 4th floor and there is a lift we can both fit in with our luggage! We have a little balcony and look out over the bay. It is just lovely, so we ate our fruit out on the balcony. Sadly, the same model shower cubicle, though thankfully the shower head is smaller!

We headed off to explore the major sights. First stop would be the Sanctuary of Montallegro, a church 600 metres above the city, where in 1557 a miracle was believed to have occurred, with a sighting of the Virgin Mary. The church is reached by a funicular, but when we got to the station, there was no one there. Using my Translator App, I deduced that the Funicular was closed today for maintenance. Bugger! A German couple, who spoke neither English nor Italian were doubly impressed when I used the App to translate the sign into German for them!! So plan B was quickly put into action, and off to the station to buy tickets for the beautiful fishing village of Camogli, which means "houses of wives", as the fishermen were always away. The weather had cleared completely, and it was now bright blue sky and no wind. This is one of those gorgeous little villages, accessed down steep little streets, to the walled harbour. The place has been here for centuries with Castel Dragon dating back to 1000AD! We walked the streets and the harbour walls. It is still very much a working fishing village. We walked around Castel Dragon, trying to imagine what it might have looked like all those years ago. The town is now also a seaside resort, with its long black, rocky beach, so we found one of the lovely cafes that hang out over the beach, and enjoyed a glass or two taking in the incredible sights. A huge black storm cloud cleared us and everyone else off the deck, and we made a beeline for the station, and back to Rapallo.

That night we strolled down the street to a gorgeous restaurant call Amici Miei, complete with checked tablecloths, charming waiters in long black aprons, and wonderful aromas coming from the kitchen. With the wonderful sounds of Italian classics playing in the background, we enjoyed a truly romantic dinner of delicious seafood and fantastic pasta, washed down with a local red, it was just wonderful. This was a day in Italy like we had dreamed of. Lovely little villages, friendly people, and simple fresh food & wine. Bellissimo!!

Next morning was cool & cloudy, but no wind, which was very important for our plans for the day. First up we were back at the Funicular for the ride up to the church at Montallegro. The ride was smooth, thankfully, and 600 metres up the hill the temperature was about 10 degrees cooler! In fact it was freezing! We ran up the hill & steps and into the old church. It was dark & dingy inside the church, but when our eyes adjusted we could see the elaborate frescos and statues, and the lovely stained glass windows. There were little shrines everywhere with photos of people and other offerings, which we think had something to do with the miracle. Everything was in Italian. It was interesting. 

We ran back down to catch the Funicular back to Rapallo, so we could be on the 11.00am ferry that would take us to Portofino. This was one of THE places we wanted to see in Italy, so we we're quite excited. The little ferry was packed as we left Rapallo, making a stop at another lovely little village called Santa Margarita, before sailing into the gorgeous little harbour at Portofino. We have seen the pictures so many times, and now we were there, surrounded by the coloured houses and tiny boats, nestled in the harbour under towering terraces full of hotels & villas. There were some very impressive yachts & motor boats as well. Our first priority was to climb up the winding track to the castle, Castell Brown, to look down on the entire scene. When we arrived and stood at the lookout, it took our breath away! A big one ticked off the bucket list. We toured the castle, shared a pizza for lunch in the castle courtyard,  then wound our way back into town, where we walked past all the shops, a strange mixture of touristy souvenir shops and lavish designer shops. What a contrast! Sixty cent postcards next door to 20,000 euro Rolex watches! Cafes & restaurants were doing a roaring trade, at prices double that of Rapallo.We sat beside the harbour and wandered until it was time to take our ferry back to Rapallo. What a wonderful day we had.

For our last night in Rapallo, Carolyn craved a veal schnitzel and I was happy to do pasta, so we found a cosy place & settled in. It didn't remain cosy for long, as a huge group of young and very noisy school kids arrived, and went viral. The noise was horrendous, the patrons were raising eyebrows, but the staff didn't seem to worry! We hastily finished our meal, which was good, and headed for a quieter lounge for a coffee to finish the night. Tomorrow we are off to the Cinque Terre.