Genova is beautiful! And interesting. And old but still bustling. And has amazing croissants and cappuccino on every corner.
Zeke already gave a decent tour so I’ll try to fill in the holes on why I love this city and why we all enjoyed ourselves so much here. I will mention we spent our entire time in the old town, so there are newer thriving parts of Genova we didn’t see at all.
First off and most arresting is the crumbling grandeur. I was reading an article about the insurance companies being the true powers in the strait of Hormuz and it mentioned the first record of a Maritime shipping insurance policy was in Genova Oct 23 1347. Whaaat??!! Genova is a deep water port with access to Africa and Asia and Europe as well as land routes into the interior. They apparently seized access to the Bosporus strait and the Black Sea and held it around 1300-1500. They had the rudiments of modern banking industry before many other countries had coinage. There must have been so much $$ sloshing around in this town.
Look at the above image. Narrow street, shuttered shops. Graffiti… and a priceless marble statue on a random building corner.
The entire old town feels this way. Narrow streets (carrugi in Genova) a little bit run down, sometimes completely sketchy, but smack up against a marble church or huge fountain or castle. The nightlife was fairly boisterous, particularly on our last night as Zekey mentioned. There is also a large African and observant Muslim presence which in combination with the narrow streets reminded Kylie and I of Zanzibar and Lamu.
Although not this bit, the Piazza del Ferrari. Very grand. And shockingly not particularly busy.
There were still old fortifications that were clearly originally strategic not just showy.
Similarly many cathedrals or cloisters were drab or unassuming from the outside. Stuck up tight against apartments and fruit sellers you enter a door from an alleyway and find yourself in a grand space clearly built to inspire awe.
The cathedral of San Lorenzo was an outlier here. It had enough space to be grand and imposing on the outside as well as the inside. Easily recognizable by its black and white motif.
But most of the old town is tight alleys with cafes and focaccia bakeries, opening into ancient grand structures. Either well maintained as museums or apartments, or crumbling as artifacts or small or shuttered businesses.
This was the cloister of an ancient convent. The main structure is long gone, leaving only these graceful columns over 800 years old.
Did I mention chocolate croissants and cappuccino?? The square below our apartment had 3 cafes, all fairly busy. Mostly locals. Coffee costs less if you stand at the bar and drink it. More if you take a seat. Interesting approach that led to busy bars and high customer turnover.
We basically just wandered around every day getting lost and then getting found again, enjoying croissants and gelato. The kids all tried cappuccino to varying reviews directly proportional to the number of sugar packets they added.
Below is the outdoor mall on the harbour. Currently housing locksmiths and luggage stores and cafes, but there’s no way copying keys would have generated enough capital to move all that stone. I would really like to see what this area was like in the 1600s.
Kylie discovered she loves crema di caffé. Espresso whipped with sugar and cream until it forms a frozen mousse.
More cathedrals, this was the one that snuck up the most. A very unassuming door into an incredible space.
The old port is still very much a working harbour, but it’s also a picnic space and hangout zone, as well as a yacht mooring area. Walking out to the end of the docks offered a wondrous view of the city built up the mountains around the port.
Kylie’s mom Cherri joined us for the second half of our time here and it was wonderdul she could be there for Zeke’s birthday. The kids absolutely loved touring her through the streets and pointing out the sights. The first day she arrived Kylie and I couldn’t get a word in the kids were so excited.
Many streets had ancient mansions that had been converted to apartments or banks or museums. A lot of them were heritage sites with wide open front doors. Imagine living in this courtyard when most of the world was in cottages or shacks.
Despite these grand attractions, there wasn’t an overwhelming tourist presence here. It was busy, but a nice mix and never crazy until the last night with all the alpinis rolling in.
This stairway street was probably 500m long with only a couple offshoots. We were aiming to reach a greenspace we could see from below but got a little more elevation than we bargained for.
Found the greenspace at the top of the stairs!
Back to the Piazza del Ferrari.
The Royal Palace was also mostly open to the public. Fun for the kids to wander the halls and plenty of exercise going up the grand staircases.
Cherri enjoying her pizza and participating in Italian sign language.
After dark the vibe shifted. Italians eat late and even the narrow carrugi were packed with bars and restaurant patrons spilling out and sometimes completely blocking the way.
We did get into a couple sketchy areas by accident. Walking home after dark 2 turns off a wide brightly lit lane and we were suddenly in a very different zone with obvious poverty and ethnic diversity where we stuck out like the clear tourists we are. Luckily we were able to stride confidently and found 2 moms and their kids to follow back out to more familiar terrain.
I did not stop to take pictures.
We also stumbled into a red light district at one point although the kids had no idea. Italians stand around and smoke a lot regardless, so it was really just more fishnet stockings…
More wandering. More smiles.
More palace.
More piazza…
Genova is amazing. Gorgeous, friendly, affordable amazing food and lots of free things to do. Kylie Cherri and Mikaya got into one museum but I didn’t even get a chance to do that. Will have to come back!
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