Working around the weather in Genoa

To minimize Easter crowds and shutdowns, we planned a week in Genoa.  Alas, bad weather continued for us.  In the end, we spent two so-so days around town, two rainy days at home, and the two best days (Easter and Easter Monday) braving the crowds at Portofino and Cinque Terre (separate posts to come), foregoing our opportunity to score first Sunday free museums :(

Genoa is an interesting city that it reminds us of so many other places, yet it is distinct.  The evidence of its former glory is unsurpassed by most European capital cities.  The medieval center may seem rough, or even seedy; I am hopeful -- the place is full of immigrant businesses from every corner of the world -- maybe revitalization in the future?

From our walk in the outskirts, it is evident that most Italians have moved to the newer and spacious suburbs.  The nearby "urban" beach is unlike any other beach we have seen.  I can only imagine that all excitement summer will bring.

Genoa seemed to us to have a normal amount of Easter Pasqua activity both secular and religious. Our apartment hosts gave us a traditional dove-shaped bread colomba con canditi.


Many of the churches in Genoa had gilded interiors. We visited about 20 churches in Genoa; all magnificent. I'm keeping the pics to a minimum. ;-)


The fountain in Piazza De Ferrari.


City Gate. Genoa is said to have the largest Medieval Old Town in Europe.


The house where Christopher Columbus was born has been rebuilt on its original location and is on the itinerary of tour groups.


There are tons of palaces palazzos in the Old Town - here's one. Many can be visited for a fee.


San Pietro.


Down by the Porta Antica (Old Port).


Our apartment was up a set of stairs a few minutes form Genoa Piazza Principe Train Station - convenient for day trips.


Genovese churches have a long tradition of putting floral displays on church tombs on Maundy Thursday Giovedi Santo. There is a small evening candlelight procession between some of the Old Town churches. The first photo below is from Chiesa di San Donato










The procession enters the Duomo.








Porta Antica (Old Porta) has been developed into an attraction with a modern aquarium, mothballed submarine, old sailing ships, and so forth. We observed.






The one day that was cloudy and cold but dry, we walked to Boccadasse (7km one way) and back, taking in the various neighbors and viewpoints that are outside the Old Town. Genoa is a big bowl, so lots of viewpoints. Reminded us a bit of La Paz, Bolivia and Lisbon, Portugal.






The Promenade to Boccadasse was mostly empty.


This mansion faces the Mediterranean.


The "beach bathing" facilities ( bagnos); and there are many, resemble a cruise ship on land with a sea view, swimming pool(s), sunbathing, tennis courts, soccer, restaurants, cafes and little huts (cabins), only you can't sleep there...I think. ;-) The following pics are all of the same bagno.





Boccadasse was scenic, with a view towards the Portofino Promontory in the far distance, and a perfect place to turn around.






We walked back on an inland route to take in the architecture and viewpoints.










Like Lisbon, Genoa has several funiculars and ascensores.










Descending home.


Piazza Principe Garden.




Piazza Principe Station.

Stopover: Viareggio

Viareggio, a town that during our planning appeared to be simply a train junction at the northwest corner of Tuscany, looked to be a place we were destined to go through.  We even considered making it a base, even though we chose Pistoia in the end.  Yet, we remained a little curious, because of its Art Nouveau buildings, not that we had high expectations, still we worked the train schedules to fit in a stopover.

Luggage storage on a stopover is always a multi-dimensional problem to contend with, both for availability and cost.  As soon as we stepped off the train, John spotted a bank of lockers on the platform, though dilapidated looking.  We walked over, were not surprised to find that they were not functional, and the prices were in Liras! 

We started walking towards the city center.  About the second door after we crossed the street from the station, we almost collided with a man coming out of a business.  We looked in -- a Chinese tailor shop.  We walked in.  After some brief exchanges in Chinese, our backpacks were dumped in the corner amongst bags of tailoring items ready for pickup.  The nice tailors from Wenzhou were doing a favor for a fellow Chinese -- problem solved satisfactorily.

Viareggio is set up differently from other seaside towns we have been.  Like the east coast of US, it is continuous flat beach.  The similarity ends there.  The beaches here are mostly private fenced-off enclaves that are entered from the promenade, so the commercial strip ends up facing away from the sea.   Viareggio does a month long Carnival celebration, the 2nd largest/wildest in Italy after Venice, probably to extend their season.  To be fair, Viareggio is a regular town, less than 10% of the buildings are hotels, about a quarter are open this time of the year.  Most of the businesses on the promenade are open.  I am now fully convinced that it is the viable vibrant communities we never hear of.  Only the struggling ones end up appealing for foreign visitors.

It was cool and cloudy with a prediction for zero precipitation when we arrived in Viareggio. After dropping our bags with the kind Chinese tailor we headed towards the beach promenade but soon took a sharp left on this lively pedestrian street which in turn led to the heart of the non-touristy section of the city and the ports and shipyards.




And after a few blocks, armed with our booklet from the Montecatini TI, spotted an Art Nouveau building on our list.




We walk along the ports to the beach promenade.






The beach promenade is actually one block back from the mostly private beach.


There are a series of Art Nouveau buildings starting with Teatro Eden.


Then the Gran Cafe Regina Margherita.


Our fav Bagno Balena. This is just the frontage on the promenade. Search online to see the actual "beach club" section.


And Bagno Martinelli with ground floor shopping.


This stretch of public beach looks pretty desolate now, the last week of March.


Farther down are the grand hotels with their rooms and bagnos taking up both sides of the promenade.




BW Premier Collection Grand Hotel Royal.


Grand Hotel Principe di Piemonte.


Along the promenade.


Mixed in with the hotels are some fine Art Nouveau villas.








We walk back to the train station with one more Art Nouveau villa to locate.


We stop for a break at this empty-for-now stretch of Mediterranean beach.








The "regular" part of the city.