Sunrise over Genoa view from the Ferry Port
We arrived in Genoa at 7.30 in the morning. The ferry sound system had started up at 6.20, with announcement, after announcement, letting all the passengers know that breakfast was now being served at the bar, the caffeteria and the restaurant. In between announcements, just to make sure that you really couldn’t go back to sleep, a speaker in each bathroom started playing really bad music. It was not a promising way to start the day.
One wonderful thing about Italian ferries: the coffee is good, I mean really, really good. And cheap. So the disastrous wakeup was somewhat remedied by a delicious espresso.
Genoa, unlike the other ferry ports we’d been to, has a real, honest-to-goodness ferry terminal, complete with Mcdonalds and a shopping center that wasn’t open yet. We staggered through, and started rolling the bags in the general direction (we hoped) of the train station. It may have been further away than we would have liked, but we did get there. We dropped off the luggage with a taciturn left luggage attendant and ventured forth. Within 10 minutes we were seated in a bar with coffee in front of us and a ham and cheese toast on the way.
We quickly found ourselves touring the Palace Reale, the former home of the influential Durazza family and then bought by the King of Sardinia. It was a masterpiece in gold leaf, historically important frescos and portraits of rich, if homely women. I am always amazed at the subject matter of frescos in stately homes. Do you really want to eat dinner under the rape of [fill in unfortunately mythical Greek female here]? How about retiring to the card room to play under the severed head of medusa? We toured with building with two dimwitted, but enthusiastic Brits and left feeling cultured.
this isn't really in the medieval center, but just outside it. I just this picture best
We then wandered the Genoa’s old medieval center (from the 12th century) and noticed that unlike the old town in Alghero, this space was not catering to or designed for tourists. It was mostly a shopping district with bars. We also found the prostitute section, which I have to admit caught me by surprise. Somewhere along this journey we realized two things: 1. We were really hungry. The day before we had only eaten three ingredients all day: Bread, cured pork and cheese. We wanted something else. 2. It was Saturday and we were near the financial district which meant most lunch places were closed. We began to fear it was going to be pizza again when we saw a sign pointing to a restaurant up a steep alley. We went for it. The first good sign was the sounds wafting down the alley- pots, pans, knives, folks, glasses clinking. The sign on the door said, “Menu Touristic 9 Euro” The tables were all long and communal. The menu was a badly-photo copied version of a handwritten original. Since the first few letters were missing from each item it was totally unreadable even if it were in English. No problem. The waitress read us the whole thing even translating most of it. There was not actually a lot of choice. You WILL get the menu. You WILL eat a primi and a secondi with a side. You WILL get dessert (actually, I am making that part up, desert was a choice, but really, how could you say no?) You will choose from the 5 options for each. There is a house red and a house white wine and water. The place was perfect. We sat next a women eating alone who had a bit of the crazy in her, she talked to her self and her food as well as the man across the way. When all was done: a full meal and wine and water and dessert we rolled out having spent almost nothing. Andrew says it is his new favorite Italian restaurant. If anyone ends up in Genoa, go to “Da Maria” near the Borsa.
After lunch it was time to catch the train to 5 terra (after looking at the prices of food in 5 terra we really longed for our Genoese hole in the wall.)
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