When we got to Genoa, we walked off the ship and met our tour guide to show us around this old seaport and to learn about the history and food of this area in Italy. Tasting Tours (www.tastingtours.it) through its local guides, provided us with a great walking and eating experience.
We saw beautiful churches with artwork that dates back centuries. Restored buildings (inside and out) that are getting new life. It was a wonderful mix of the old and new.
We strolled down narrow alleys and busy main streets, stopping in candy shops, coffee shops and even the main marketplace of Genoa just as they were closing for the day. The fruits and vegetables were piled high in all the colors of the rainbow. Olives and pickles in more varieties than we had ever seen. We were walking so fast and the crowds pulled along so quickly, I couldn’t get my camera out to take pictures.
Finally, our guide walked us to a lovely Piazza just off the main business area and said goodbye – the time had flown by. She told us that any of the restaurants in this Piazza would be good for a lunch stop. She handed us some beautiful original handmade postcards made by her sister with etchings of Cattedrale Di San Lorenzo, Porta Soprana, Forte Diamante, Bocca Dasse, La Lanterna, Chiesa Di S.Agostino, Villa Pallavicini – Pegli and Torre Gropallo – Nevi. I think I will frame them together to hang near my travel pictures since they are too beautiful to use as postcards.
As we wandered to each of the restaurants in the Piazza, trying to use our Google Translator to understand the menus, we decided on the only restaurant with an inside and outside dining area. It was too hot for us outside and we hoped it was cool inside.
We let ourselves in to be greeted by a young woman who we soon understood did not speak any English. We were seated at a table and other than one other occupied table, we had the dining room to ourselves. We were handed a menu and I finally got Google Translator to work – good thing…
We each ordered a seafood and pasta dish along with a salad and red wine. The bread and breadsticks that came with lunch were enough for both of as as a meal and very tasty.
Lunch in Genoa: tasty bread, breadsticks, and a fresh, crisp salad.
After we finished eating and drinking some homemade red wine, we had our check and my spouse went to pay. The owner of the restaurant wanted to show us the very old liquors that were displayed in bottles behind a counter. Through some very weak Italian and equally limited English we found out that the restaurant had been there for hundreds of years – since 1790. If you are ever in Genoa, you should find Ristorante Panson, Piazza delle Erbe.
From lunch we decided it was time to walk back to the ship. The only directions we had were to follow the main road back towards the seaport which would wind its’ way back to the cruise terminal. Once back on the main road we looked at the store fronts and one caught our eye — cute clocks with pendulums swinging back and forth. Planes, cars, cats and then the one I had to have… an Electric Mixer with a cupcake pendulum.
My electric mixer clock with cupcake pendulum – cute, right?
We went into the shop, asked for the price of the clock and if it could be shipped to the United States. Somehow we paid for the clock and found out we needed to take it with us since they did not ship. We walked the rest of the way back to the ship stopping to look around here and there, with our Mixer Clock with the cupcake pendulum that will hang in our kitchen to remind us of our adventure in Genoa. The funny part of this story is the clock was made in the USA.
As we sailed away from the port of Genoa, I took a few pictures of the hillside and my favorite — a panoramic view of the seaport.
Panoramic view of the seaport in Genoa – beautiful pastel colors.