Blogs from Genoa, Liguria, Italy, Europe

Left the ship with some regret - though excited about next stage of the trip. Fast train to Genova took about 5 hrs all up. hotel is great, a family room right near piazza de Ferrari. close to shops, H&M will get a work out here, but am starting to run out of room. day 1. Our mission was to find a laundromat, not easy here, took a fair bit of Internet research, armed with my notes we headed of! Success we found it, the streets are tiny, filled with shops and markets. Greg watched over the washing while the kids and hit the streets, dog spotting as usually and getting a few bits and pieces we needed. all up 2 hours later we were washed and dried. we spent the afternoon looking around and I ... read more

Interestingly all cruise ships smell the same! Our week on the Eurodam was great, a big luxury liner (not p and o or princess standard, way above). 2000 passengers and 900 crew made it a memorable experience. That and the huge cabin, no noise from cabins near us at all, very quiet. We had a queen size bed, one fold out sofa bed, yes a lounge area and one bunk that was put down at night. Policy of this cruise line is they let you buy beer and spirits by the bottle as long as you drink in your cabin - which we did most of the time - they also let you take on as much wine and champagne as you want - we just bought a bottle at different ports but some people took ... read more

After my adventures in Spain with my beloved Vincenzo I decided to visit beloved family friends Liviana and Joe in Milano. My first full day here, we went to the city of Genoa. This is where the sail fabric that would become jeans was first made! It's incredibly beautiful. Liviana drove me all along the coast through a number of beautiful seaside towns. It's nice to be a car again!! The buildings in Genoa are beautiful and have artfully painted facades that mimic real architectural features like molding and window art. Very cool! The road winds up and down surrounded by sea pines and lush flowers. We went down to the beach and it was sensational. It's near a protected park so it was absolutely pristine. The water was crystal clear and beautiful metamorphic rocks formed ... read more

For my long weekend during ISP I went to the Italian region of Switzerland and then a little into Italy itself with Kavya, Katie, and Carolyn. Switzerland has 4 language regions: Swiss-German, French, Italian, and Romansch. The Italian region is Ticino, which is where we headed to on Thursday. We wandered around the lake in Locarno, explored all the castles in Bellinzona, and biked around the lake in Lugano. It was like we were in a completely different country once we crossed the Alps – there were palmtrees, the temperature increased about ten degrees, and everyone even spoke another language! There isn’t that much to do besides explore the little towns and walk or bike around the lakes and the palm trees in the sun and eat lots of gelato, but that was perfectly fine with ... read more

Arrivederci Inglaterra, Ciao Italia! I must say that it was quite poignant leaving Britain, not to return for at least 2 years, maybe more, maybe never. I hadn't fully realised that fact until the plane took off. I almost shed a tear - almost! And for the first time that I know of we flew over Brighton on the way. I said my goodbyes peacefully. The flight with British Airways to Genoa was fantastic; they never let you down. However, I was sitting in the middle of three. To the left was a quiet sultry man with bad breath and to the right was a young girl who I believe is looking for a job with the plane police, as she felt it necessary to tell me that I'm not allowed my earphones in during take ... read more

We got a fairly early start and took the bus down to the center of Genoa. We still had most of the day on our 24 hour/4 people transit ticket. I had thought of going on a quaint train ride from Genoa into the countryside, but we decided instead to check out the museums downtown. We bought a pass for about 8 Euros each that was good for 3 of the main museums, Palazzo Rosso. Palazzo Bianco, and Palazzo Turtis. We wanted to eat lunch first, and we needed to straighten out our train tickets to Verona and Venice tomorrow, so we first went to the Palazzo Principe train station. After checking with customer service on available trains and connections, we decided to be brave and try to use the ticket vending machines. It took a ... read more

Although it wasn't a bad day, my wife didn't take any photos, so text only today. We packed up, checked out of the hostel, and hiked down the road to the train station. Our train to Siestri Levanti was a few minutes late, but otherwise no problem. When we got off in Siestri Levanti, we had about 40 minutes to wait for our train to Genoa, so I got my ration of capuccino and we all used the restroom... well, I think I did, but not so sure about the girls. Public restrooms tend to be a bit awkward and/or dirty for the ladies, like no seat! Anyways, we caught our next train and arrived in Genoa Bragnole Station. From the directions provided by the hostel, we decided that was better than the Piazza Principe Station, ... read more

Today was a pretty exciting day because Catherine joined our tour party for the next seven days. We had arranged to meet her flight from London had Genoa Airport early afternoon. So we had a few hours to fill in while we waited. Our hotel accommodation the night before was in a hillside commune of Cogoleto. We enjoyed the garden setting of the hotel, especially the perfect hydrangea blooms in their beautiful blue, pink and purple shades. After a rearranging the luggage in the car to make room for our passenger we headed down to the coast. What a pleasant surprise. It was market day so we stopped and had a browse. This seemed to be the normal Thursday market for the locals and a great chance to socialise over the business of deciding on purchases. ... read more

Genoa, Italy We took on the city of Genoa by ourselves which was very interesting. We stayed close to the ship so we saw small stores and streets. We first walked to the aquarium where we spent a lot of time in there looking at sharks and dolphins plus little creatures. They were so cute but dangerous at the same time. Then we went on this machine that took us up to about 100 feet and gave us a look at the beautiful city. We then just walked around the town because we couldn't find anything to do. We both decided to go back to the ship where I would take a 3 hour power nap and mom went off shore again to get some medicine. ... read more

Od lipcowego upalu Piemontu postanowilismy uciec nad morze do Genui. A nawet pod wode, do akwarium. Akwarium w Genui powstalo w 1992 roku, z okazji Kolombiady, tj. Expo z okazji 500 rocznicy odkrycia Ameryki, bo przeciez Kolumb urodzil sie w Genui. W chwili otwarcia bylo drugim najwiekszym akwarium na swiecie. Dzis jest drugim najwiekszym w Europie i widac tez powoli slady znuzenia ciagla fala odwiedzajacych. O ile w Lizbonie mialam wrazenie, ze tam ryby i inne podmorskie stworki dobrze sie czuja, tak tutaj wydawalo mi sie, ze sie mecza i jest im ciasno. Ale moze w Genui musi byc ciasno, bo miasto jest wcisniete miedzy morze a gory, pociag jadacy dalej na poludnie zatrzymuje sie na roznych genuenskich stacjach jakis tuzin razy. Bardzo scisnieta jest tez wpisana na liste UNESCO starowka. Do dolnych pieter domow nie ... read more