4 April 2024
Had a bit of a sleep in in Milan then went downstairs for breakfast, which was lovely. Had a very lazy morning in our room before finally checking out at 12:30pm. We walked back to Milan Centrale Railway Station to find a seat and stare at the departures board. That got boring pretty quickly so we resorted to reading out books until, finally, with 20minutes before our departure, the board told us that we were leaving from Platform 22.
We made our way through the suitcase towing hordes, and I mean hordes, to locate our train, an amazing come-down from yesterday's transport. After hauling our cases aboard we made our way to our seats, sure that there was something seriously wrong with the booking sheet, and squeezed ourselves into our seats. 15 minutes after the train departed we moved our cases and selves to different seats, apart, and settled in for 1 hour & 45 minute trip.
Apartment buildings appeared in row after row, street after street of 6-8 storey public housing style abodes through the railway corridor again until pastoral areas took over. Green fields, of who-knows-what, stretched with houses interspersed & a freeway flashes by carrying semis laden with goods from the Port of Genoa of heading to the Port for another load, either way, the bitumen is getting a serious workout.
To the left, south-east, mountains start to rise & flatlands make way for ambling hills, getting larger & larger, nothing quite like Switzerland, but enough to be unable to hike through without the help of a machete, so dense was the foliage. Villages with more apartment blocks start to appear with family homes on the outskirts of villages & towns. Tunnels are passed through as we get closer to Genoa, we've got to get down from these hills to sea level.
Passing through the Genova Piazza Principe Railway Station we make our way outside to the taxi rank where a nice young man loads our cases in his station wagon. We make our way down to the road that curves around the bay and adjoins our street. Our driver makes us aware of the old town area that we're staying in and warns us, seriously, that if we go out at night to turn left out of our street, not right as that's a dangerous area; comforting. He makes sure we take him seriously and reinforces to NOT take small lanes at night. He drops us off & I notice a Carabinieri, the national gendarmerie, Station 3 doors down from our apartment building; hopefully this will help the safety stakes.
We meet the owner of the Stayz apartment (https://www.stayz.com.au/holiday-rental/p8725817?dateless=true) , Sonia, who shows us around and points out the nuances of the building, from the front door, to the lift (which is approximately 700mm x 800mm and takes us 2 trips to get us both, and our bags, to the correct level). However, there are stairs that take us up to the final level so we have to heave our cases up then around turns and corridors to the front door. The apartment is 2 bedroom, a bonus if either of us decide to snore, with terrazzo flooring and has a rooftop deck with views across the Port.
Space is of apremium when everyone lives on top of each other and most apartments have a small rooftop space where tables & chairs & washing can be put out.
We unpack as little as possible & head downstairs for some supermarket shopping then some dinner at a great little restaurant, Cacio & Pepe just up our street, and an early night as there's thing to see & do tomorrow.
5 April 2024
While preparing for this trip, I researched quite extensively, not just the usual tourist magnet attractions but some more slightly obscure things to do. So we headed out at a leisurely time to try & find one of these; the Zecca - Righi Funicular (proclaimed to be 'the best way to feel like a real Genoan). The Old Town, where we are living for our 6-day Genoan experience, is a labyrinth of lanes (as previously mentioned) however we manage to 'stumble' on the lower Station, being located about 150 metres away from our apartment. It's around a corner, across a road and through a nondescript doorway to a ticketing machine (for non-locals only) that again tests the non-Italian tourists to a game of 'work me out'. With tickets finally sorted we awaited the funicular tram to arrive.
The train/tram line is 1,428 metres long and services 5 stops, all mainly on the upper half of the line. It connects Largo della Zecca to several station on the Righi hill making life a lot easier for locals who reside on the steep slope, hence they don't pay to use the funicular.
The train arrives and we board, the first section of track is a tunnel and finally we see sunlight again. We make a couple of weird stops in the middle of no-where, but realise shortly thereafter that there are 2, two-carriage trains on the line, each acting as counterweight for the other. So when the other train stops at a station, that we mightn't see, we stop in the middle of nowhere. There is a station (San Nicola) were both trains stop adjacent to each other; this is so they can pass each other and get back onto the single line above & below that station.
Built as two different sections of track, the upper was finished in 1895 with the lower section, a totally tunnel section, opening two years later, 1897.
From 1963-65 the whole line was totally rebuilt to merge both section and include a 'passing' section at San Nicola station.
It was again rebuilt in 1990 to accommodate longer trains, stations and higher speeds of the modern times.
As the train reaches higher level you get to see the amazing panorama of the city and harbour, until it arrives at the top station, Righi, where the views are absolutely spectacular.
The views over the Harbour and to the north east showing the centuries old fortification network that surrounded Genoa, something we only discovered once we were at the top.
Constructed in the 17th century to protect the City & it's Port basin, surrounding Genoa with more than than 19kms of walls, the longest city wall of Europe. Within the walls is the Protected Natural Area of local interest "Parco delle Mura", the Park of the City Walls.
The park includes 16 military forts & in all, 85 Bastions, built between the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, gems of a crown that has seen the wounds of time; since 2008 the Park has protected 617 hectares of green hills between the two main city valleys, Val Bisagno and Val Polcevera. The walls and forts are connected by over 16 km of roads and paths immersed in a landscape of meadows, pastures and woods, populated by animal and plant species, some protected because they are rare or endemic. (Source: https://www.visitgenoa.it/en/walls-and-forts)
The Forts are clearly seen from Righi, as are various parts of the wall.
If you enlarge the photo then zoom in, on the left you will see 4 forts while there are 2 large forts atop hills just to the right of the river.
There are also a number of walks from the Righi station, none of which we decided to take.
The extent of the Walls can be seen in the photo below; it's quite remarkable.
The return train arrived and we made our way back down to street level where we walked along to the Palazzo Reale, the Royal Palace, which I'd seen on a television program. In fact the same program basically set our minds to seeing Genoa and the surrounding areas; thank you Michael Portillo & his terrific series.
The Palzzo Reale, built in the mid-17th century, became a royal palace in 1824 when it was pruchased by the King of Sardinia, Carlo Felice. The builders, Stefano & Giovan Battista Balbi collected an amazing and one of the most important picture galleries in the city, as well as incredible furniture, objets dárt and Baroque sculptures. The building has been a national museum since World War 2.
It did remind me of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia (part of another trip that I must finish writing about) but less ostentatious out gold leaf everywhere. Nonetheless, the Museum is beautiful, with a view over the harbour, it also has some small lovely gardens. The major room that I wanted to see was having a photo shoot taking place in to and was closed; hopefully I can get back there this afternoon to take some more pictures.
Leaving the Palace we made our way back to the Genova Piazza Principe Railway Station where a lovely young girl at the ticket office sorted us out for tickets to Cinque Terre for the next few day, so you know what's coming next.
6 April 2024
We arose early as I had a terrible night's sleep, waking at 1am & not getting back to sleep, only to realise I hadn't taken my sleeping & painkiller tablets, adult supervision required at tablet time.
Nonetheless, walked to Genova Piazza Principe Railway Station & waited for our train, assumingly from Milan, to take us to Le Spezia where we commence our trip through Cinque Terre. The platform looked as though the youngsters were still going home from last night, we on the other hand feeling lacking due to us being the few older crew that didn't have hiking poles, of were they ornate crutches to help them not fall over; either way, we felt inadequate.
We boarded and started our trek, or do we have to have hiking poles to call it a trek? We started our trip through a tunnel which seemed to last forever going all the way under Genoa before stopping at the first station, a town with Genoa something in the title. The the next stop also had Genoa in the title and I was starting to hear alarm bells go off for those (me) who didn't have a clue as to where they (I) was going.
We made our way to Le Spezia without incident, thankfully, and Mandy decided that coffee was needed before boarding Cinque Terre Express. A short stroll out of the station and there was a plethora of choice. Back to the station and all of a sudden I recalled that it was Saturday and the platform was crowded accordingly. It was one of those moments when you realise you should've picked another day to go to the biggest tourist attraction outside of the Last Supper or the Leaning Tower of Pisa, competing attractions in the mid-west of Italy.
Americans, Chinese, some Australians, though we managed to hide, Europeans and even some local Italians graced the platform and jostled for space in the next train to turn up.
We decided, like 99.9% of the train, to go to Manarola first. After alighting, you walk through a tunnel and exit in the next bay to a inclined street, well pedestrian street as there aren't any cars or other sort of vehicles in the town. So we start our hill climb, or mountain climb if you like, slowly upwards thinking that it's going to end around the next bend, only to be proven wrong at that and every ensuing bend. The walk is fine today, slow & steady, and a lot easier than the walk up Uetilberg to the Hotel Uto Kulm in Zurich where I had to stop about 5 times to catch my breath.
We continued making our way upwards, turning & checking out the view every 50 metres or so. The view was incredible back over the town and also up towards the higher pastures and working allotments where wines & lemons were cultivated.
Once deciding that we'd gone high enough we digressed onto small alleys, and I mean between 700mm and 1.2m wide, that avail access to locals to get to their homes, up and down, weaving in & out of buildings and small plaza, again small being the operative word. Some gave fantastic vistas, like the one in the photos above, & some were just places to have a quick repose.
At some point, we started making use of the handrails that were embedded into the house walls either side of the stairs; it was either that or potentially take a nasty fall of a few metres down stairs. Directionally challenged seniors, such as us, had to make life threatening decisions as to which way to go, left or right, at T path intersections. But I supposed, eventually, that all paths & stairs had to go down, which proved to be the correct scenario.
Back on the main street, we made our way down towards the water and the crowds, and I mean crowds. Decided to remove ourselves from the throng by ducking into a lovely restaurant, order lunch and watch the rest of them dawdle by. Maybe I should carry a calendar or get a watch with one attached or something that will make sure I never do a tourist thing on a weekend again.
The restaurant, the Alla Marina Restaurant was fantastic and the staff wonderful, but the food was awesome & incredibly well prices. We ate until sated then walk up the hill a little to have desert, a coffee for Mandy, then make our way back to the Manarola Station for our next stop.
Next stop, Monterosso al Mare, 3 stops up the line, at the end of the Cinque Terre stretch of coastline. And what a beautiful village this is. The only village that has access by car, as well as train, it appears to be far more popular and has a lovely beach-side promenade with restaurant, hotel and souvenir shops. Heading south you eventually come to a tunnel that takes you through to the next section of beach, Monterosso al mare Beach, and a larger town area with roads, streets & lanes providing far more commercial opportunity. Mandy found one shop where she tells the owner that she'd like to take the whole shop home with her, fortunately the owner has no idea of English.
We stop for a cuppa then make our way back to the station after a couple of hours & catch our train to Levanto, where we have to get our train back to Genoa. We decide to buy an extra ticket and catch an earlier train as we are both pretty tired from the days walking however the ticket vending machine picks the wrong Genoa for us, remembering earlier that we was at least 3 Genoa somethings. Well we were allocated the wrong one and had to alight at one of them and ask a girl in the ticket office, who obviously really needs a career change, which train to get (we had NO IDEA) and she begrudgingly informed us. We had to go 1 station and it was a total ordeal for her, I hope she finds something she likes soon, or pity the ignorant travellers like us.
Back in a territory we partially knew, we made our way home then out, across the street to a small plaza (where we've come to know the owners of one of the small bar) for pre-dinner drinks, then around the corner for dinner of prosciutto and the sweetest melon (entrée) followed by mains of Spaghetti alle vongole (Mandy) & mussels (me), both delicious with a couple of take home treats, pistachio and chocolate canoli's. Then bed, dead tired and fulfilled!
7 April 2024
After a big day walking yesterday, 12,115 steps (8.2kms), we decided to have a sleep in & a very lazy day. Mandy & I leant long ago that sometimes it's best for us to sleep in separate beds, in separate houses, in separate suburbs with a small mountain range between us or we both will have a terrible night sleep; last night was one of those. So I made my way to the snoring room only to be woken by the kettle, whose volume was only a couple of decibel short of an Audioslave concert; (I watched them live from side of stage watching Tom Murello absolutely go nuts, of the best bands I've seen. Enough of that.) Boots does enjoy the additional attention too, when this occurs, of being picked up twice a night starting with me then transferring 1/2 way through the night to Mandy & having to be picked up again. But I digress.
Our day consisted of a late breakfast, me writing this blog, Mandy reading her Kindle, going across the road to the harbour markets, strolling around, having some lunch and returning home. I'm currently expecting Mandy to start whining for wine on the rooftop or maybe we'll go across the road to the small plaza for pre-dinner drinks, dinner then bed before another day at Cinque Terre tomorrow.
8 April 2024
We decided to head back to Cinque Terre and try to explore some of the other villages, so we headed to Vernazzola. After nearly 2 hours and 2 trains we arrived to an insane number of people, crowded street and cafes. It was amazing!! For a Monday. So glad we didn't go there on the weekend. It was actually a lovely town that wound it's way down, gently, to a small harbour, cafes & souvenir shops lining either side until you were met by hordes disgorging themselves from ferries at the water end of the main street . And that was the moment we decided to get out of there. So back up to the station to get the train one stop to Monterosso.
The little we did see, in the short time, of Vernazzola was beautiful. We just couldn't stand the crowds. It's no wonder it's a UNESCO site, this stretch of coast is truly spectacular and well worth a visit if you're in the vicinity.
After a 20 minute wait for the Cinque Terre express (a term everyone has their own definition of) we made our way to Monterosso, where we alighted and decide to walk along the promenade to the right of the station given that we didn't go that way the other day we were there. This village is really nice, less people (or maybe we were in front of the crowds) and very pretty. We eventually turned around and strolled back to the station and continued on south along the beach where closed restaurant, who had obviously made their weekly profits over the last 2 days, the weekend. We made our way through the tunnel under the Convent of the Capuchin Friars to the other half of Monterosso, the 'beach section (even though the other section has a longer and wider beach, go figure). Passing the Hotel Pasquale, the only hotel I've ever seen where you have to apply on the internet to stay at (???) we made our way under the railway viaduct into the town proper, well shopping area, to find some scarves that Mandy had seen the other day, and find somewhere for lunch. This was going to be the hardest thing we did all day. We circumnavigated the village, which was nice as we got to see bits of it that possibly no other human, other than a resident, had even visited, and made our way back to the start and there it was; the scarf shop. I continued on to find a table for two (finally) then went back & collected Mandy for lunch. Post lunch we strolled around the corner only to find a beautiful area with hardly anyone, restaurants, kid's playgrounds & beautifully manicured gardens & trees. Always the way.
We headed back to the station however taking the route up and around the headland past the San Francesco d'Ássisi, who's origins date back to over 800 year ago. It comes complete with it own WW2 turret below the Torre Aurora Restaurant 'castle'. It was the lovely end to our time at Cinque Terre and somewhere that we can cross off our list of places to witness & experience. Plus the train was waiting and Mandy was getting thirsty for some wine; unfortunately that was going to have to wait the 1 & 1/2 hours it took us to get back to Genoa and make our way back to the little plaza, the Piazza di Fossatello, adjacent to our apartment, and the lovely couple who own Fossatello's Border Cafe, that we'd become quite endeared with, especially at this time of day.
Pre-dinner drinks then off to Laiolo Antico Caffe for a quick dinner then home to bed.
Tomorrow is our last day in Genoa, so it'll be a day walking around and seeing what we can find for the last time, next stop, Bologna.
9 April 2024
Our last day in Genoa and there were a couple of things I wanted to check out that we'd either missed or were closed when we went to see them first time around. We first headed to the station to try to talk to someone about our tickets back to Milan, for today, and how we had nowhere to put our luggage; unfortunately no help whatsoever from the ticket office clerk, so we headed across the road to take the ride on one of the most unusual, and incredible pieces of engineering I've ever come across. The Balbi - Dogali Ascensore Montegalletto: The Balbi to Dogali Elevator.
I'm not sure what it is with entries to funiculars or elevators but the Italians like to hide them from tourists, they are, loosely, located on maps (within a 50m area) but fortunately I stumbled upon both that we've visited so far. This is the entry for the one, just a random doorway in a random lane. You walk 30-40m into the hillside, the light you can see in the dark entry is were the car will be when it arrives. It's only small as it trundles down the tracks towards the glass entry doors from about another 230m away, so you can see it coming, then you realise you're going some 280-300 metres under the hill (or small mountain, either way, you feel like a miner going deeper & deeper).
The carriage moves swiftly along a straight piece of rail, 230m (as mentioned) then slows to go into a 90 degree curve where it very slowly moves to a platform, that you can't see under you, and a roof section. The carriage then rises vertically nearly 70 metres to the little room up the hill at Corso Dogali where you walk out of a building, like an everyday natural occurrence. It really is quite spectacular.
Across the road from the elevator 'station' is the Castello D'Albertis Museo delle Culture del Mondo and a terrific view over the Genoa harbour. Originally the home of Captain Enrico Alberto d'Albertis, it was donated to the City of Genoa upon his death in 1932 and since 2004 now home to the Museo delle Culture del Mondo.
The view are spectacular as is the 'castle' and it's gardens. After a short stay we head back to the elevator & down the Ascensore to street level.
The other day we went to the Royal Palace, however 1 section was closed due to a film shoot being staged. Unfortunately this was really the only room that I wanted to see, I saw it on a television documentary, and it was rather ostentatious, so we headed the 200 metres down the street to the Palace. Mandy, alas, had left her ticket at home so I raced up 4 huge flights of marble stairs and checked out the room. It was nearly too much, again reminding me of the Hermitage, sans gold leaf, but what it lacked it certainly made up for in other areas or features, see below.
Heading back to the Principe Station, we purchased tickets for the Hop-on, Hop-off bus. Yep, that old tourist chestnut and essential mode of transport that shows you a lot in an hour which we make the most of when our legs are getting tired. We purchase 2 tickets from a vendor, which was an experience in itself, then hop-on and head through the Old Town with a strange man speaking Italian then English in our ears; though very insightful. We head through areas we would never have got to with the HOHO bus, incredible architecture, beautiful gardens and the coast, with an ominous storm brewing to the north-west. These buses are in every major city in the World and someone is making a truckload of money, however they are a great way to see any city.
Back to Principe Station and a walk home so Mandy can enjoy her regular, nightly wines from Fossatello's Border Cafe, some dinner & bed.
10th April 2024
We wake & pack, tidy up the apartment, take the rubbish out, it looks like serious rain coming. I notice an amazing little shop on the way back from the communal rubbish bins on the main road; a typewriter store with an incredible array of machines in the window; something you don't see every day. Down the 1 person/1 suitcase lift &, fortuitously, a taxi pulls up and takes us to the Principe Station. We head back to Milan, through tunnels carved into mountains, past villages, towns, with more apartment living. It’s hard to say how old these tunnels actually are but given the stone masonry, around the entrances & exit, one would assume they’ve been here for many years. These Intercity trains absolutely zip along the rails, when they can, though it’s hard to take photos from the train as the windows haven’t been washed for months, but at least we can see out of them, unlike to train back from Levanto the other day, the entire train was wrapped in vinyl advertising the Giro Italia. Unfortunately, they don’t use the same wrapping vinyl that we have in Australia, the Italian version you can’t see anything through, except an extremely blurry nothing. Trenitalia, not the best train service for intercity travel.
They have a serious lack of space for the storing of suitcases so we had to lie them down on the floor; the overhead racks are just enough for our carry-on luggage and the only other option is the space between back-to-back seats, which is taken very quickly by passengers who weren’t waiting at the wrong end of the platform for carriage #1, a common occurence. Rural setting open up after some tunnels as we make our way back through the mountain area to the flat plains of Milan and the centre of Italy. Towns appear with apartment building after apartment building creating a living zone while shortly after a commercial area is obviously the area of employment for those accommodated in the apartments. Then the scenery turns to paddocks again; this continues, again, and again, and again. Farmland, commercial zone, apartments,Town/village centre, apartments, commercial zone, farmland. It all flashes by as we do a couple of hundred kilometres an hour.
The train stops at Voghera & Pavia where waterlogged rice field abound either side of the train, apparently, as told by the elderly gent across from me. The Fermaggi factory, we soon pass, obviously processes the local crops of rice for risotto.
We arrive at Milan, which we are familiar. Once alighted, we make our way to the video information boards, the centre for hordes to congregate and see which platform their trains are departing from, then they’re off, racing, dodging and pushing their way to the relevant platform, with little regard for anyone in their way, just in case the train leaves without them. Eventually Platform 8 is the lucky winner for us, however the LED screen displayed carriage 1 being at the far end of the platform; we head that way. The train arrived & carriage 1 was at the other, near end creating a game of cross-over in the middle of the platform with an incredible log-jam in the middle, friggin’ chaos!
The second part of our journey, Milan to Bologna via Piacenza, Parma, & Modena will follow these plains, at 244kph. To the north, fields upon fields of crops while to the south (south-west) are the mountains we’d past through on the way from Genoa, the mountains that stretch down the west cost of Italy. The major stop appeared to be in the middle of nowhere, with a vast car park, recently planted trees and a spectacular station structure; Reggio Emilia Station. It's in the middle between Parma and Moderna, maybe a satellite station for the two larger cities. Either way, the structure is incredible and the hero of the stop. Steel beams are arranged to flow in and out toward and away from the train for the entire length of the platform, both side; it really is spectacular, in the middle of nowhere!
The Bologna Station is huge, underground and a labyrinth with up to 19 platforms. We find the taxi rank and, what seems like 10 minutes, we exit the station facility. We wind our way through Bologna and eventually arrive at our AirBnB destination; or at least what we think is.
Several phone calls to our host and we find our way to a young girl who shows us how to access the apartment, we drop our bags and head out. We're right in the centre of it, towers around us, even the one that recently decided to tilt one way. It's surrounded by beams and scaffold holding it up as well as to stop it from leaning into the largest tower in Bologna. It's like a sink hole opened up three months ago and the tower just decided to lean over.
University student are everywhere, restaurants and cafes servicing people, including us after a short walk. We end up back in the plaza outside our building, nice & handy for pre-dinner drinks, then off to Clavature Restaurant for dinner; Spaghetti Bolognese for Mandy & ricotta & pistachio filled tortellini served in a sage & butter sauce; both were great.
Home for a cuppa then bed, only for me to be woken around 12 by people still dining downstairs; unfortunately the apartment was really warm when we arrived so all windows were opened and A/C isn't available until May, who knows why but it isn't turned on somewhere and doesn't work for another 3 weeks, go figure. It's only going to be 20+ for the next 3 days culminating at 28 degrees on Sunday; thankfully we'll have gone onto Rimini by then.
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