Genoa

Genoa is the place you visit when you're sick of tourists. When you want to see how Italy really works. When you want legit gelato, legit hole-in-the-wall sandwich shops. When you want to stay in a former palazzo turned B&B for cut rate prices.

And so we started our journey of the Boot in this very working port city bordering the Ligurian Sea. We'd later go on to visit some of the tourist big hitters like Tuscany, Cinque Terre and Milan. And they're magnificent, don't get me wrong. But Genoa holds no expectations and that made it all the more interesting. 

Because just about everywhere in Italy is packed with history, we weren't surprised to find out that Italy's sixth largest city used to be home to one of the most thriving ports in the country. By used to I mean like for seven centuries. And with that, came money, power and beautiful architecture all around. 

Which is how we got to stay in the beautiful B&B Domitilla, up a series of a hundred stairs (or a journey on the city's funicular). The location in a converted palazzo offers a vantage point of the harbour and there's a stunning communal terrace to sun yourself if that's your thing. 

Our only drama lay in finding the place. The directions, translated into English on the website, told us that, from the bus station, we needed to turn right at the semaphore. Paul wracked his brain; his Italian hadn't covered this term. This was pre-the days of free mobile data in Europe and Googling wasn't an option. And so we circled and circled and Paul continued to scan the Italian archives. Twenty minutes later, his Teach Me 1000 Words of Italian lessons with his dad came through. Semaphore=traffic light. 

Fortunately, that was our biggest drama of our trip. Our three days here consisted of pottering around the old town, another UNESCO listed site, taking a trip to the aquarium and wandering the Porto Antico, a harbour re-invented for evening passeggiatas.

In the old town, there's most definitely a faded glamour. The streets feel like they need a bit of love but people are still very much living their lives outdoors. Genoa is experiencing a crisis much like the smaller towns of Italy; there's a rapidly ageing population and young people tend to move away to the bigger cities where more jobs exist. Birth rate is declining and there's not a huge pull for young people to stay. 

Pink flamingo graffiti dotted the city and although we couldn't quite get to the bottom of it, we were fairly convinced it had something to do with prostitution. Try searching that on the internet though...

I'm aware that I haven't painted a particularly rosy picture of Genoa but we did really enjoy our time there. My camera wasn't able to capture the nuances of sitting in a piazza at lunchtime and watching workers stream out of their office buildings and into the holes in the wall that were actually elaborate delis. The sandwiches were epic--all kinds of meat and bread and cheese in colourful combinations appeared from every corner of the town centre. Gelato, likewise (and covered in an entry entirely of its own). And people stopped and took the time to pause and meet friends for a chat, even in the pouring rain. 

As for us, we continued to explore, finding gems of working city life. 

And to us, that was in no way disappointing. Although I couldn't name the various tourist sites and destinations because we didn't even scratch the surface, Genoa is definitely worth a visit.