Back to Genoa

I took advantage of last week's school half term holiday to take my youngest daughter over to Italy for a couple of days to visit her sister in Genoa - she will be back for good in a couple of weeks, and we wanted to see a bit more of the area while she was still there.

We had a very early flight on Tuesday morning and had to be at the airport soon after 4.00am. Fortunately we only live 25 minutes away! The early start meant we were in Genoa and checked into our hotel by 11am. We met up with the Genovese daughter at a railway station and caught a train to the Cinque Terre, an area I had been wanting to visit for a while. These five small towns are one of the most picturesque parts of the Italian coast, and in high season are swamped with tourists. In May they are busy, but not unmanageably so.

Riomaggiore

We didn't have time to visit all five towns, but managed three. We started at Monterosso where we spent an hour or so on the beach and ate ice cream (of course!). Next stop was Riomaggiore where we walked round the coast to reach a popular view point. Finally we went to Manorola where we ate dinner before catching the train back to Genoa. The weather forecast was dubious with the possibility of storms, but we hit lucky; the black clouds stayed over the hills behind the Cinque Terre and we stayed dry. There was even a bit of sunshine while we were on the beach. There was torrential rain while we were on the train, but it had stopped by the time we got back to Genoa.

Manorolo

On Wednesday we explored some of Genoa's palaces. The Nuove Strade and the palazzi dei rolli (palaces of the rolls) are considered such a unique example of early city planning that the are is on the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. We visited the Palazzo Reale (part palace and part museum) and walked down the Via Garibaldi, peering into some of the palaces which line the street. After a bit of shopping - I have daughters; they shop - we went to an eat-all-you-like sushi restaurant which had been recommended to H. This was definitely one of our highlights as we all three love Japanese food, and at €11.50 each it was a bargain.

Room of mirrors in the Palazzo Reale

Entrance courtyard of a palazzo in the Via Garibaldi

We walked off our lunch with a stroll along the sea front to Boccadasse, a small pebble beach to the south of the city. We sat on the beach playing cards and watching with fascinated horror as a group of small children, probably a nursery class as they were about 4 or 5 years old, entertained themselves throwing stones into the sea, often narrowly missing each other. As some of the stones were definitely more rock than pebble we were anticipating disaster, but nobody got damaged. Apparently "health and safety" hasn't reached Italy.

Walking along the sea front towards Boccadasse

We bought ice creams from an artisan gelateria by the beach. H is dairy free and I mostly avoid dairy so we went for the vegan options, pistachio and hazelnut. These were possibly the best ice creams I have ever tasted, with nut pieces (almond with the pistachio and peanut with the hazelnut) and marbled with chocolate fondant. We washed the ice creams down with a glass of beer (coke for the 12 year old) and caught the bus back into the city. A bit more shopping happened, then we went to the port area for a cocktail (or mocktail, according to age). H took us to a cafe-bar which sold cocktails for €8.50 and included access to a buffet with the drink making it incredibly good value.

The port of Genoa (no filter, the sun was beginning to set and the light was gorgeous)

On Thursday morning we had to leave for the airport straight after breakfast. I decided that as we only had light luggage, the easiest way to get there from our hotel would be to catch a standard service bus, followed by a short walk at the airport end. This was good in theory. Unfortunately when we got off the bus there was a confusion of busy roads, flyovers and railway tracks between us and the airport, and Google Maps was not being helpful. After using my extremely limited Italian to ask a policeman and some workmen for directions we managed to find our way, but it took 30 minutes rather than the 7 minutes Google Maps claimed. At one point I was beginning to fear we would still be wandering when our flight took off! Airport issues struck again at the other end. We had used meet and greet parking, and as I forgot to phone to say we had arrived we had a long wait for our car. Oops.

It really was a lovely trip, though thanks to the early start, two busy days and lots of walking I was definitely ready for a rest by the time I got home. An added bonus for me is seeing how much my daughters enjoy each other's company, even though there is an eight year age gap.