I began Sunday bright and early to cook up an Australian breakfast for Alice and Filippo! In Italy, breakfast usually consists of a cup of tea or coffee and some sweet biscuits, pastry or cake. So my fried egg, buttered toast cut into fingers (some might say "soliders") and vegemite were certainly a salty shock to the system!
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| Happy Alice, before tasting Vegemite for the first time |
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| Happy Filippo, before tasting Vegemite for the first time |
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| Less happy Alice, taking her first ever bite of Vegemite |
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| Less happy Filippo, taking his first ever bite of Vegemite |
As our neighbour Francesca's mother (Manuela, who we call "Manu" for short) had been visiting Francesca and was planning to go home to Genova, Chiara offered to be the driver and straight after breakfast we set off! Genova is located on the seaside and is the capital of the region (the Italian equivalent of a State) of Liguria. It is a very powerful city in Italy, famous for its large port and fishing industry and is the home of pesto and focaccia bread! The 1 1/2 hour drive from Milan is very mountainous but beautiful and I could barely tear my eyes away from the window as old castles and churches and small towns of cute italian houses sitting on top of hills went by.
Manuela lives with her sister and her sister's husband in a lovely home about a one minute walk from the seaside, so Chiara and I took her there, agreed to meet back for lunch and went exploring. It was the warmest, sunniest day I have yet experienced in Italy; warm enough that we had come without our big winter coats.
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| The first view we had of the sea, walking down the street from Manu's house |
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| Somehow my rush out the door as Chiara and I debated between comfortable walking and how cold it was going to be lead me into a brown sweater and the last minute grab of my blue jacket, combined with black leggings and runners...welcome to my most fashionable day as a Milanese yet. |
From this point which was a kind of board walk, we continued through tiny little up- and down-hill streets, heading towards the beach.
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| You can see here that at the end of the street there is a beach, and on the left hand side of the street there is a man selling cheeses |
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| A small beachfront, where the sand normally found on an Australian beach has been replaced by grey pebbles |
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| Being the warmest day yet of the year every Italian and his dog was on the beach soaking up as much sun as possible! |
From there we simply continued to follow little street after little street in amongst both houses and stores, up hill and down hill, all built in a most incredible way!
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| Spot the little restaurant down the stairs next to the yellow wall! |
Several long sets of stairs later we found ourselves an opening where many people were sitting in the sun looking out over the ocean and the view of the beaches and homes on the coastline of Genova!
The few hours from here that we had before lunchtime I think can be summed up simply with "more walking", "more beaches", "more beautiful views" and "more adorable italian homes".
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| Seeing the stunning colours of these flower in bloom was such a pleasant surprise as I had become accustomed to all Italian plants and trees being dead and lifeless. Chiara told me that this flower is called "Mimose" and is famous as it is the flower given as a gift to all Women on International Women's Day in Italy, which will be next week! |
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| This house was so beautifully painted! |
Here, we managed to take a wrong turn onto a street which finished on this small piece of beach/rocks where the view was gorgeous, the water was clear and a couple of Italians had already found their way down there to relax in the sun reading a book.
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| Upon seeing this house all I could think was "If only my Grandma Rose was here! I have to take photos for her! It's so beautiful!" |
Lunchtime rolled around and we walked back to Manu's house where they had prepared for us a typical lunch of Genova; fresh focaccia, focaccia al formaggio (cheese focaccia), pasta al pesto and an array of sweets I couldn't even begin to describe. To say the least, it was absolutely to die for and I am certain that I will never, ever taste anything like it until I return to Genova. After lunch, Manu gave Chiara directions and we drove to another part of the city which is less mountainous, where you can find some of the most famous squares, markets, churches and Genova's famous aquarium on the seaside! We left the car near to the aquarium and then went by foot as before exploring some of Genova's most famous places.
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| The famous "Piazza De Ferrari" |
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| A market we stumbled across! |
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This here may have been the biggest mistake I have yet made in Italy.
What you are seeing before your eyes is a real vintage Fendi bag. Real leather. Real Fendi. Real.
And the lady, upon seeing how much I loved it (I might have walked back to her stall 3 times) offered to sell it to me for €45.
And. I. Walked. Away. :'(. |
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| Consider how small a space this gorgeous cathedral was wedged into considering this photo and the next were taken when I was standing with my back against the building opposite, and I still couldn't fit it all in. Incredible! |
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| Stunning inside |
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| Absolutely incredible streets! |
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| Again, a beautifully painted house |
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*Several hundred years ago*
"Do you think we could fit a church in that tiny spot over there? I mean, we really need it because the closest one is a whole 100 metres away" |
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| A bridge joining two of the building together! |
Time to head home, we walked along the boardwalk towards the car, past the famous aquarium and even found a real life pirate ship!
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