Finding our Hotel
We were jarred awake in our ferry cabin by the overhead announcement that disembarking was imminent. At least, that's what it felt like. We slowly came to realize though that they were giving us just enough heads up to peruse the ferry's restaurants for breakfast, and we still had time to gather our things and get ready to visit Italy for the first time. If we hadn't felt so ferry-lagged it would've been more exciting. Compounding things, I'd lost a one-sided argument with the wifi; I wanted it to work after I paid for it, it didn't want to...so we were going to have to go off limited info to find our hotel.
The ferry dropped us off at the port. Genoa is a holdover from Italy's period as a major maritime and world power (no offense, modern Italy), and is a historic port city. Unlike the romantic terms used for say Rome or Venice, Genoa is often described in more apologetic terms. Italy at any level is an enticement to say the least, and Genoa would let us see a side of Italy seemingly more "quintessential" and also less over-run with tourists.
We wandered off the ferry and, after basically doing the 21st century version of licking our thumb and sticking it up in the air to see which way to go, wandered into a shopping center. McDonald's lied to us by offering free Wifi, and our affections for the internet were rejected yet again. Europe may be more sophisticated and socially progressive than the States, but dammit if we don't have them beat on: WIFI everywhere, tap water is free and bountiful, and bathrooms are all over the place. If our European friends could advance on those fronts we'd be in a great place.
For now, though, we were still S.O.I. (Sh*t out of internet). We walked out of the street towards the bus stop TH had thoughtfully found and had a bit of an argument; I did not want Kendra to be frustrated by the frustrating circumstances, and Kendra was frustrated by the frustrating circumstances. International travel makes for great instagram photos, but it's not all fun and games as many know, it's more of a 'best of times, worst of times' situation.
We found the bus stop right away and a bus showed up immediately, which was a huge win. We then tried to pay and failed, so we ended up catching a courtesy ride (thanks, Genoa!) about 10 min down the coast to our hotel immediately next to the airport. This worked out great because we just rolled out of bed to our check-in the next morning. For now, we had to drop off our bags and come up with a plan of attack.
We used the hotel wifi to record the main sites to see, which were all in a walkable area downtown, and then headed off back into the city. At some point we learned that Genoa is mecca for pesto, which we were thrilled about, and also that they gave the world blue jeans ("blue de Genes"). So now with that fun fact you have an icebreaker at your next party.
Cathedrals and tourist-dodging
We caught an express bus downtown which though expensive suited our purposes nicely because it was fast and comfortable. We hopped off by the beautiful Piaza de Ferrari and Kendra immediately set about snapping photos (I joke that we could make a flipbook out of our trips with how often she stops to take photos. In Eze and Bruge there was an average of 10 feet walked between photographs...but as she says, we get the benefit of lots of photos).
Kendra had found a highly rated cafe online and we made our way through the narrow alleyways toward it. We found Caffe Fratelli Nadotti and it did not disappoint. The charming proprietors helped us select an Italian breakfast and we enjoyed the atmosphere for a bit. We then walked outside and were surprised to be next to a gorgeous church, the Parish St Maria Maddalena. It was strikingly decorated on the inside, but even more strikingly seemed to be 'just another church' as far as Genoa was concerned. Classic Europe.
'Targeted wandering" remained the name of the game and we made our way toward the Saint Lawrence Cathedral, which was intriguingly decorated in black-and-white stone. Two captivating lions guarded the entrance, and, after Kendra covered her shamefully exposed shoulders, we were able to see the stunning interior before making a graceful exit as a service began.
Emerging back into the daylight we were greeted by throngs of tourists and did not hide our distaste for the crowds of people. Perhaps it's hypocritical given that we're also visitors adding to the congestion, but we at least do our best to conduct ourselves as guests or travelers.
We kept up on our wandering, heading toward Doge Palace, a renaissance and art gallery. We elected not to tour the actual exhibits, but were entertained walking through an antiques marketplace that was set up in the central plaza.
Next up in our walkabout was to stop by Palazzo Spinola, a highly-rated national gallery. We found it amongst the narrow and at times charming / at times smelly (sorry, Genoa, but it's true) alleyways, however we would've had to wait for one of the tour times so we kept on moving.
St Syrus basilica is apparently one of the coolest churches in all of Italy. We went inside and it was amazing. Only we didn't because it was closed. That was disappointing.
We went up by Via Garibaldi and stopped at Bar Pagianni to refuel with an onion and tomato focaccia and vegetable sandwich. I created some social media on Insta while Kendra read up on Genoa.
Now walking down Via Garibaldi we were able to experience a real treat of seeing the ornate facades of the mansion / city-estates that were the homes of the powerful merchants from Genoa's personal renaissance. Kendra was quite frustrated to not be able to tour each in detail (and a little frustrated that I didn't want to pay the 9-ish Euro it cost to tour one...). We did go inside #12 and were able to enjoy the central courtyard. You almost felt like you were Italian nobility pondering which artist to commission for your next statue. One of the facades even had a full Renaissance style painting on a wall facing the alley outside of the house.
We found a gelato shop next to a woman singing opera in the street and grabbed a chair. Kendra selected lemon gelato (amazing) and pesto gelato (a life experience, but I wouldn't order it twice). Kendra best described it as 'interesting' rather than delicious or bad. Maybe it was a combination of both.
We walked the old alleyways to kill more time as we made our way down toward the waterfront to get lunch. Surprisingly, within a block of the super fancy Via Garibaldi there were again the smelly alleyways with what were almost invariably prostitutes in several of the side alleys. It was quite the contrast.
We had investigated where we could get the best pesto and learned that it was at Cavour 21. We found it down by the water and were immediately thrilled to find we were the only non-Italians in the place. Trying to find "out-of-the-way, locals-only" restaurants in exotic locales is like pure cocaine to Kendra. Cavour 21 did not disappoint. I ordered pesto lasagna which was phenomenal, and ordered Milanese which I was disappointed to later learn was veal (although maybe that's also hypocritical since I eat grown animals. I don't know). Kendra ordered lobster with al dente spaghetti and pesto noodles and was served a giant sliced-in-half lobster on her plate. I noticed that the wine was super cheap and very stealthily (to me, it was obvious to Kendra) ordered A LITER of Rosé for 6 Euro. Only turns out Kendra was too full to drink wine so I ended up drinking the entire liter in about 20 minutes. They were closing, so while we paid our bill the restaurant dog Dablo came wandering through. They gave me bread to feed him and we immediately became best friends. Dablo was just using me for my bread but I didn't mind. We'll always have Genoa, Dablo.
That wine caught up to me quickly. I would later, and by later I mean in another 20 minutes, be drunkenly berating a pigeon's poorly coordinated attempts to eat the bread I tossed him while Kendra filmed me. So now that video exists.
We wandered up toward a tiny park and Kendra, in an incredible act of grace and selflessness, let me sleep off my mistake on a park bench while she sat there and re-evaluated her perspective on our relationship. I ended up sleeping for ninety minutes. The combination of my year of sleep deprivation and inability to adjust my now non-existent circadian rhythm to our overseas travel, along with the aforementioned waterboarding of myself with Rosé, all had conspired together to create a perfect storm of sleepiness. It's insane how much I don't deserve her.
I finally woke up and we walked back to the port. We'd already seen most of the cultural things to see, and with every travel site we reviewed recommending the Aquarium, we thought what the heck. It was actually a lot of fun. Despite being one of Europe's most impressive aquariums, it was still a little modest by American standards (which is fine, since most things in the States are scaled up quite a bit). They had a great Manatee exhibit, where we spent by far the most individual time viewing. We saw Monk seals, penguins, and dolphins (though like most I remain torn on dolphins in captivity. I like that exposing the public to dolphins can help engender appreciation and foster conservation efforts, but it is definitely a prison for those in captivity. Although a prison without sharks or orcas). One of the best exhibits, besides the manatees - I love manatees - was actually a tank in the jellyfish area where they had plastic bags in water showing you how much they looked like jellyfish. At least plastic pollution is picking up steam in mainstream media; Kendra and I have started using compostable bags and would rather be punched in the face than use a straw.
Bittersweet Gelato
Leaving the aquarium, we walked back toward Piazza de Ferrari. There was an anti-fascist political demonstration which was annoyingly loud, although I guess if you think about it I'm anti-fascist so maybe we should've joined in. The demonstration meant they had diverted our bus stop, though, so we walked down the main road of XX Settembre toward the next bus stop about 10 minutes away. We came across a charming alleyway decorated in an overhead ceiling of colored umbrellas, and found a little gelato stand next to beautiful live music. While the two musicians performed a duet we sat in silence and soaked up the feeling. We were beginning to mourn leaving all of this - the freedom, carelessness, and delight of travel, punctuated as it may be by the intermittent moment of frustration or fatigue.
This had been an incomparable trip; from the boardwalk of Nice to this alleyway in Genoa, we had I think truly made the most of the experience. We did know that we were leaving to head home to a great life, however, making the moment incredibly bittersweet.
We lingered as we said au revoir to our trip through the French Riveria, Corsica, and Genoa, feeling in love and fulfilled following a beautiful week together. We can't wait to go back.
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