An afternoon in Genoa

There are two people David is collaborating with while we are in the South of France. The first, Thomas, who features in an earlier post and the second Mauro, who lives in Italy just out of Milan.

Mauro suggested that it would be easiest for travel if both parties caught the train and met at a midway point.

And so it was that on Monday morning we set off for a day trip to Genoa. The train as it turns out was not without its problems. We were to catch a French train from Antibes to Ventiglia and then board the fast Italian train to Genoa. The whole trip was to be around 3 hours each way.

Alas the French train was 20 mins late which made us miss our Italian connection. Missing it cost us almost an extra 3 hours as we had to wait around the Ventiglia station for 45 mins and then catch the cabbage train which took forever.

Nothing to do in those situations but roll with it and fortunately we were able to catch Mauro on his mobile who was able to re-jig the logistics in Genoa.

We arrived at 1pm and he took us straight to a small traditional Genoese restaurant which agreed to not only serve us a wonderful lunch but also to allow David and Mauro to use the back of the restaurant as a meeting room (even had internet) for the afternoon to save using more time trekking out to the uni.

Lunch was extremely welcome. There had no buffet car on either train so we were well ready for the traditional Genoese lunch. Small pasta parcels served in a creamy nut sauce, followed by rabbit braised in various veggies, washed down with a crisp Italian white and topped off with coffee that the Italians do better than anyone.

I then left them to it, found a map and headed out for an afternoon around Genoa. I had been keen to come for a couple of reasons.

I had a distant memory of spending a few hours in Genoa as a 10 year old. When we were travelling to England on the ship we came up through the Suez canal (right before it closed) on the Achille Lauro (later the victim of a famous hijacking).

Secondly, because of the Serra family connection with the place. I believe it was the place they landed in when they moved from Spain. We didn’t know all of that when I came through as a child.

I had a great time. The old part of Genoa is a wonderful place to explore and has the largest medieval collection of buildings and alleyways in the world. I did not take photos but later went back, collected David, and whizzed him round some of the tops spots so there are a few photos to share. Unfortunately light was failing by the end but he still captured the overall flavour.