Genova is our first stop in Italy. It is the biggest port in Italy and is along the north west region of the country. This was going to be a hard city to navigate because our daily program from the cruise spent too much time highlighting the city's aquarium, supposedly one of Europe's "most important" and Italy's "most visited" sights. I highly doubted these claims (which are true come to find out), but regardless, there was no way we were going to go look at fish while in ITALY, especially considering we are both living in California and can go to Scripps or Long Beach or other impressive aquariums.
It seems as though EVERY other cruise passanger went to the aquarium, or the excursion to Portofino (a place to visit for another trip), but the city is Genova for today and we were going to discover it. Here are some pictures of the port, historical maritime station of Ponte dei Mille, street vendors, and entertainers.
In view from the aquarium was the Palazzo San Giorgio (Palace of Saint George). It caught my attention because there were, what looked like, Native Americans were playing their drums, in their feathers, leathers, and beads outside. Anyway the Palace was built in 1260 for the first Doge (Duke) of Genova. After his reign, the palace was used as a prison, inhabited by Marco Polo (random), and then became the bank of st. george (hence the name).
Next stop was Piazza Di Corignano where the Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta in Carignano is situated. This Romanesque Basilica built in the 16th century, was quite plain, and allowed NO PICTURES. It hasn't been elaborated since its original contruction and has no stained-glassed windows (which, given the churches we'd seen thus far, seemed odd). The possible story behind its construction is quite elaborate though since it was requested in Bendinello Sauli's will to humiliate the Fieschi family for starting mass without waiting for the Sauli family. Who knows if its true - but its interesting.
Next stop was the Piazza Dante, a place which has old medival gates/towers, the Chiostro di Sant-Andrea (aka St. Andrew's Cloister, the only surviving portion of St. Andrew's Monastery), and the birthplace of Christopher Columbus. This was a very picturesque area. Beautiful trees mixed with old architecture. Anyway, as I stated, there was a building in this area which boasted to be the birth home of Christopher Columbus. I knew that Columbus was Spanish and figured it was either a misprint or a wives tail. I'm usually gullable and so who knows why I was such a doubter on this, but I honestly didn't believe it was really his birth place. Cody expressed his shock at my lack of paparrazi, and I too am shocked that I failed to take a picture of that building, whether the birthplace or not (which is questionable, I'd like to point out). Anyway, here are the pictures I did take of this area.
Next is the popular Piazza De Ferrari, a busseling square housing the opera house and many historical bank buildings. We sat at the fountain for some time, Cody gave money to a lady playing the accordian, and we bought some focaccia bread, since we were in Italy and all. The fountain is supposed to be most impressive, but it looked different than any picture I've seen of it. For us, it had pink water and white fake ice structures in it. Who knows why.
We then miandered through the Palazzo Ducale (Palace of the Doges ("Dukes")), a palace built in the 13th century for the ruler, which was having a Sunday flee market. I found a find worth mentioning. It was priceless. A wonderful antique painting, beautifully framed, that I will forever wish I had purchased. It seemed like a lot of money at the time, but it was really worth the cost in retrospective view. I hate being practical, and never usually am (ask Cody), but I agreed it was too expensive at the time. I should have begged for it, and then bought it anyway if Cody refused. Stupid Robin!
The palace dumped us out into the Piazza Matteotti which had more antiques. We'd have shopped longer, but (I'll justify my disappointment in not buying the painting by saying the following phrase) refusing to "break the Sabbath," we walked onto our next site.
Next to see was the Genoa Cathedral (aka the Cathedral of St. Lawrence or Cattedrale di San Lorenzo). The church is the seat of the Archbishop of Genova and is built in the Romanesque-Renaissance style. Mass had just finished, the choir was singing, and the archbishop was greeting the faithful Sunday worshipers. It felt like Sunday inside the church. It was beautiful.
Here is the zebra exterior of the church. The first two pictures are of the side of the church as we walked toward the front. The front facade is in a nice piazza, there was a balloon artist making creations, and people enjoying the day.
The inside was beautiful. A lot of gold and murals were present, and I rushed to take the photos (again not to offend the worshipers).
Next we walked down Via Roma and went to the Piazza Corvetto, built by the Austrians in the nineteenth century. One thing wierd about Genova was the pink scarfs on the statues. I'm guessing Cancer awareness? I don't know. On one side of the piazza was a beautiful statue which sits at the base of the lushly landscaped hill with waterfalls.
Next we strolled through the streets just enjoying the beauty and buildings. Look at the Christopher Columbus statue - another pink scarf. I hated myself when I saw this statue - it just reminded me of the picture I didn't take earlier in the day (and there was no way I was going to retrack my steps just for a picture).
Next we stumbled upon the Palazzo Reale (the Royal Palace). Cody LOVED the stone work in the garden. Animals and shapes took form in the contrasting black and white stones. We passed on paying to go inside the structure, but we enjoyed the views from the gardens.
My favorite thing about Genova are the colors! Look at these colors! They were everywhere. The last three pictures are of us walking back to the ship, enjoying the views, and all dressed up for dinner that night on the ship. Beautiful Genova gave us an excellent day.
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