Genoa - second date
Day four of the tour "Two poles of passion: Spain and France":
Genoa - second date
I don’t remember anything bad about breakfast, which means that breakfast at the San Guiliano 3 * hotel in Mestre was normal. Departure is standard at 8-00. The group is punctual, Marina begins to praise us for this. Transfer to Genoa 400 km. The bus arrives at the parking lot at the aquarium at 13:00. Our guide Svetlana meets us near the aquarium. She spoke interestingly, but the minus was that she was without a microphone.
On the streets of Genoa, the water supply and sewerage were being replaced, and a lot of streets were dug up, equipment was working, it was very noisy. As we walked to the main square, then, there was simply no question of any story. I was in Genoa this year already in March, and then the city seemed gray and boring to me. Now the sun was shining, palm trees were green on the embankment. But, again, the city is the same closed and curtained with blinds on the windows, as in March.
There is no greenery on the streets, no flowers on the windows, as in other cities. This is the mentality of the people. It has developed over the centuries. The entire personal life of the inhabitants of the city is concentrated in closed courtyards, in which strangers are not allowed. And from the yard to the yard there are transitions along the roofs, which have survived to this day.
At the request of our guide, they opened the gates of one courtyard for us to go in and see that there are trees and flowers in Genoa, but only inside, and only for our own.
I realized in the winter that this is not my city
The guide and I again visited three churches, and in the cathedral we visited the Treasury. This is not a state treasury, as in Vienna, but a church one. And during the holidays, many exhibits take part in processions around the city. The treasure is interesting and worth a look. I was already on this survey in March, but my husband has not yet been to Genoa, so we went through the survey again with him.
Well, I didn’t see the Treasury in March, and therefore I was also interested in seeing it.
The whole group we went to the Columbus house, and there we parted ways with the guide. Then free time until 18:00. My husband and I did not walk along the main streets and shops, we walked a little along the main square, went to the local supermarket, found Chianti wine there and bought it home. After all, tomorrow we will leave Italy, and it is unlikely that we will find this wine further along the route. And we set out to bring from each country 2 bottles of the best national drink. Well, Chianti in this region is considered the best wine.
This time I decided to buy Spanish olive oil.
After shopping, we return to the embankment, and we still have time for a photo at the aquarium and the port with a copy of the Columbus caravel.
The group is back on time and we go to Sanremo for the night. It is 150 km to San Remo, we pass them in two hours, and at 20 o'clock we are already settling in the Ariston Montecarlo hotel.
The hotel is located 3 km. from the city center. All rooms were different: we had a modest room on the second floor without a balcony, and those who were on the third floor had rooms with huge balconies overlooking the sea. The hotel had its own swimming pool in the yard, and its own beach across the road.
We quickly dropped our things and decided to go see the beach. But the beach disappointed us: it was not equipped, and the coast was with a steep descent. Even during the day it was possible to risk and go down to it, but in the darkness almost no one dared to go down there. Only the bravest dared to do so. And among them was a seventy-year-old miner from Gorlovka.
But in our group there were several brave women, and they walked along the road towards the city, and after walking for a kilometer, they came to a beautiful sandy beach. There they were bought and returned to the hotel. We did not go that far, and returned to the hotel from the shore, which we later regretted.
But for tomorrow we had an early departure to Nice, and my husband said that we should have time to rest. Thus ended the fourth day of the journey. I was overwhelmed with the feeling of waiting for an early meeting with my beloved Nice: ))))!
