Genova, the cold light of day

  Genova, Italy
Sunday, December 14, 2008

After a cold night I woke up to a very rainy morning and had a stale bread and jam breakfast. I'm really not liking this hostel at all. It is a mixture of prison and hospital, it is very institutional, hard and cold, there are no comfortable seats in the common room area, if you watch TV you are seated on rows of hard chairs. The lights in the rooms come on automatically at 5.30pm and then automatically go off at 11.30pm at which point the bedside lights become available about half an hour later. It just isn't very civilised.

However that's the last of the moans and negativity for today, I woke up bright and cheerful, my roommate, Rosella, is very warm hearted and has been giving me a crash course in some basic Italian. The lady on reception this morning speaks great English and was really helpful about the bus, giving me a map and a potted history of Genova and all the good places to go, all with great enthusiasm.

I knew that in Italy my best option would be to leave the car and get public transport into the towns, cheaper and safer than taking the car. So my adventure began this morning, I caught the bus outside the hostel, in a roaring thunder storm and enjoyed a stress free, roller coaster ride to the Port of Genova. Genova is far more forgiven than Nimes ever can be for all the difficulties I have faced on my journey through its streets, the little roads at street level are charming, totally authentic, lots of little alleyways dart off from the main streets, the buildings tower above you for 4 or 5 floors making the streets appear even narrower than they really are. There are lots of little shops opening for business despite it being Sunday, the whole place feels really relaxed once you get away from the traffic.

Once out in the open Expo area of the port, really posh as they have an annual boat show. I follow the receptionists advice and wander around seeing some of the famous sights, including Christopher Columbus birthplace, they are very proud he was born here and equally miffed that he moved to Spain. And how about the sculpture in the port, I need to look up the sculptor on the internet, it's the most and literally arse about face thing I've ever seen, well I'm assuming it's an arse and not a huge pair of plums.






Then I did what only seemed sensible as the rain was still beating down and I didn't fancy to much walking around in the wet I went to the Aquarium, it's the largest in Europe, quite a bit more expensive than La Rochelle and houses some really interesting exhibits. I spent 4 hours in the Aquarium, they had some amazing displays of Jelly Fish, no relations to Pierre. Harbour seals who seemed very happy in their environment and made a bee line for the glass fronts as soon as children appeared and went on to do lots of showing off, much to the children's and equally parents delight. They also have a couple of dolphins who seemed hale and hearty, their fins were standing proud which is indicative that they aren't depressed. There was also a 3D shark film, wow! when did 3D get so good, even though I couldn't understand much of the commentary I really enjoyed the film effects, as much as the screams of delight from the younger audience.

I won't go on to much but I did really enjoy the aquarium, however I will say that quite a few of La Rochelle's may not have been as big but they were definitely more artistic and appealing in their displays.
I've found a good source of cheap and filling food that is so much better than the fayre at the hostel, toasted sandwiches, loads of choices of fillings, lovely, very tasty bread and they're hot. Not much of a gourmet trip so far!

Having had a good walk around Genova my feet hurt like hell it's time to catch the bus back up the hill, how much fun was that, Genova buses don't have seats like Reading buses, there are a few for the elderly but it's mainly standing, this really adds to the fun as you swing around corners and stop rapidly for oncoming traffic. I look forward to many more journeys on Italian buses, they are very simple and cheap to use, my ticket for today was 3.50 Euros, that covers 24 hours, you buy them in advance and validate them once you get on the bus, the buses are clean and on time. On the way back up the hill I had a bit of a word with myself when I noticed the driver was a young woman in her early 20's, she was manoeuvring this bus on these roads that in a little car had scared me witless, let her be a role model, if she can do it with a bus I can manage in a little car and if all else fails follow a bus around the roads, nobody argues with them, they're pretty much always going to town and they create great openings at roundabouts and blockages.

Got back to the hostel at light curfew time, so it's 4.30pm dark outside, dark inside, Rosella is having her afternoon nap, its cold so I curl up under my covers for a well deserved nap. I'm woken an hour later by an Italian woman having hysterics in a way I believe only the Italian can do so effectively, she's shaking me and gabbling away at a speed I have no hope of understanding, chest heaving, tears streaming down her face. I thought someone had been murdered! I manage to calm her enough to get a bit more sense, she wants me to take a number, I work out she wants me to phone this number, she has lost her mobile, thinks it was stolen while I was sleeping and she was showering (pretty good for no Italian huh!) Panic over we find her phone, she showers me in hugs, kisses and apologies and tries pushing me back into my bed. Uh Uh I'm wide awake now.

Bliss, top tip from a Chinese girl the showers are hot, I am like a boiled lobster and scrubbed to within an inch of my under skin. It feels great to be clean again. And I've found the greatest, greater even than M&S or Lidls, cheesy puffs, I need more!!!!!