After seven nights, six different ports, five different countries, and too few BBCs (rum, pineapple juice, coconut cream, Bayley’s blended with a banana and ice J) we arrived back at our home away from home – the Best Western Porto Antico in Genoa! This little oasis of great customer service was a true find and I would recommend that anyone travelling in and around Genoa give it a try. They provide a full breakfast (self serve with a variety of culinary delights), great tourism info, and the rooms are very clean and a little funky (if small). Another great thing about this hotel is that it is very conveniently located in between the waterfront (about 1 block from the aquarium and my favorite seaside eatery) and the historic centre of the town (a number of the narrow alleyways are UNESCO World Heritage Sites as examples of early architecture and urban design!
Returning to Genoa was a bit like returning home and both of us were excited to be in a somewhat familiar setting and more importantly we were both happy to be off the cruise ship. We arrived back to the hotel around 9:30 am and within 45 minutes they had our room ready for us and we were quickly napping! This was followed up by more shopping at the ‘jewellery’ market – really it was a street bazaar with multiple vendors but we were there for the jewels (a lot of ‘silver’ stuff from India…my fav!!). Given the size of the bags that we were packing (and the weight of items like my pestle and mortar) I decided against a second elephant blanket ($15 Euro vs the $80 CDN that I see here!!!) and opted for a few more pendants and the coolest bird ring for Micki! I moved past the ring at least four times but it kept screaming, “Micki would love me”, so I had to pick it up!
That night we discovered the best eatery in Genoa…okay I really don’t have the authority to say the best as we really didn’t eat at very many but we did have dinner here twice and they make three things that were amazing: a) Gnocchi with pesto basil, b) super thin crust pizza, and c) Disaronno sours!! If you are wondering what the last of these is, you simply need to expand your drinking horizons!! Disaronno is an Italian brand of amaretto (almond liquor) and a Disaronno sour is 1 oz of liquor, the juice of ½ lemon, and about 1/8 tsp of sugar! Really it is a beautiful thing!! At my little eatery (did I mention that the manager/owner is also extremely good looking?) a double version of this drink was only $2.6 Euro!! Oh yeah – they also serve gelato!
Our final day in Genoa was one filled with exercise – unintentional excercise but active nonetheless! We decided against taking the train to a nearby community and decided that we would explore the hills of Genoa, via the lifts not ‘au pied” which is where we went wrong and how we unintentionally did some extreme exercise!! Side note: These lifts are something that I think VIU should seriously investigate (I know that would be the height – pun intended – of laziness but there are days that the hill seems really steep and really tall)! The one we took moved laterally along the face of the hill (underground) before moving directly up a shaft to the top of that hill – I thought that if we walked a little ways that we would be able to find another lift that would take up even high but alas I took a wrong turn ad we ended up walking up hill, then up stairs, then along the hill, then up a little bit more, and then giving up we finally headed back down (I needed a loo so had to head back to the 'tourist' area)! This little adventure took about two hours and was done in 30+ degree heat – needles to say this was multiple gelato day and it also included a wee nap!! I love vacations!
We had two tasks for our final day – I needed to find good olive oil and basalmic vinegar for Aunty Patty (an email demand was sent!) and we needed to figure out how we were going to get all our booty home! The latter was easily solved when we found a large, yet cheap, duffel bag that would accommodate four woven baskets from Bolgatanga, Ghana and loads of other ‘stuff’ from our adventures. The former? Well that was taken care of during our many walks during the day! I managed to find a bottle of vinegar reduction in a little café that I would never be able to find again and the oil at a local artisans’ (food being the art) market. It was at this market that I learned that there were different types of olive oil (beyond light/dark, virgin/extra virgin) and that some are good for cold dishes (salads/breads) and others for hot dishes (cooking/pasta). I ended up getting Patty one for cold dishes and myself one of each!!
We ended our time in Italy with another great meal at the seaside eatery – I cannot remember the name but it was located under the sails on the port side of the Spanish Galleon (this would make sense if you were in Genoa). The day had been a long one and the next day was starting early (5:00 am wake-up call) and would involve about 28 hours of travelling so after a great meal and a couple of Disarono sours it was back to the hotel for an early bed - that never happened as we skyped, emailed, blogged, and repacked until late!!
Highlights of this time would include the many servings of gelato, the jewellery shopping, watching Ghana beat the US, and walking along the waterfront looking at all the “Prada” (should be Frauda) bags for sale!!
France
Most people would not consider a transit city as part of their vacation but then most people would look at a 4 ½ hour layover as a bothersome waste of time. Me? I looked at it as an opportunity to see the Eiffel Tower! Now this story requires some scene setting as some of you don’t know my mother, or have not travelled with her. She is one of those incredibly prepared travellers who are always at the airport with extra time to spare – hours of extra time! These are the types of travellers that tour leaders love as you never have to wait for them!! Mom also doesn’t do well with time pressure – particularly when there is a plane involved. Me? I’m not really all that different (normally) but when I want to do something I can be a little stubborn (I want you all to stop the eye-rolling and sarcastic thoughts, it simply isn’t polite) and task focused. So…once we hit the Paris airport we were heading for the tower!!
For those of you who are familiar with European travel (I’m not) you know that cities like Paris have what seems like hundreds of different trains that travel throughout the city. The train stations have multiple platforms and trains leave on short schedules and little fanfare – well the closest I’ve come to this is Edmonton (one line and only trains in two directions!) or Vancouver (three lines now but I know the city and speak the language) so I wasn’t really prepared for Paris…we won’t really address the French issue as everyone in Paris spoke pretty fluent English (and tended to be nicer about it than many of my fellow Canadiens from Quebec!). I made the executive decision to get off the inbound train (which was $17 Euro return from Charles de Gaulle to Paris) at Notre Dame as it was the only destination that I recognized on our inbound route and I knew that it would have tourism info nearby! This turned out to be a good plan (amazing building but it fit into the ABC category – ‘another bloody cathedral, another bloody church, or another bloody castle’…. we had seen a lot of ABCs on this trip!!!) as it was a central station where we could get our connecting train but it was also a bad idea in that it felt like 900 other trains were also leaving from there!
It took about 30 precious minutes and multiple ‘looks’ (mom can say a whole lot with a single glance at her watch - good thing she taught me how to say a lot with a look too!) to find someone who could tell us which platform/train to take! After a bit more wandering and hoping for the best we finally made our way to the Tower… with enough time for mom to pee and me to take some pictures and purchase ice cream!! (Note: At this point of the day we had had tea in the Genoa airport, tea and a chocolate croissant on our Air France flight to Paris, and an ice cream as we walked back to the train station – world travellers!). Given that mom can say a whole lot with a single glance at her watch (I know that I mentioned this before but it is worth repeating. FYI: she claims that she learned this from Grandma Forbes) we immediately headed back to the airport.
In true Aggie fashion we made it back to the airport with enough time to grab a bite to eat and a drink – no worries! I did a little shopping at La Maison du Chocolat and for a mere $9 Euro had four small chocolates and one chocolate Florentine! I know what you are thinking – is Aggie nuts and is she coming home twice the size that she left? The answer to the first is ‘probably’ but it was great chocolate and the answer to the second is “no”!! J
Netherlands
I normally wouldn’t mention too much about a transit airport/stop but this one warrants some discussion! We only had an hour in the airport but the entire time was spent moving from one line-up to another! I had a confirmed seat but mom wasn’t able to pick up a boarding pass as they had over sold the flight!! They kept telling us that she would get one but that we needed to go “here” to get a ticket (here was three different line-ups). It turned out that she needed to clear the security gate (done right at the boarding gate) before getting a boarding pass and that meant that we were lining up really early! The other thing that is worth noting was the passion of the Dutch football fans! Schiphol Airport was a sea of orange and everyone was talking about that days game! It really had me thinking about my friends Richard and John who are both Dutch! I was hoping that the Dutch would end up meeting with Ghana but in the end the Dutch were successful and the Ghanaians not so much!!
When we finally boarded our plane it really signalled the nearing end of this adventure and my return to Canada. I’ve never been away from Canada for so long and definitely haven’t been on a trip that included so many destinations over such an short period – I was returning home with new perspectives on much of what I do, a big smile on my face, and tons of memories! I have to admit though that I was already starting to think about the next trip – the one to Toronto for Cam’s wedding but that’s another story!
The flight to Vancouver was uneventful (the best kind to have) and the travel gods were listening as I was at a window that wasn’t in the middle of the wing, we were in daylight the whole way, and we amazing views of Greenland and Canada’s arctic! I took a couple of photos on mom’s camera but don’t have them yet so will have to post them later!
In Vancouver we quickly met up with Dad (flying in from Prince George) and headed to the hotel – it was 3 AM Genoa time when I showered, dressed, and finally ate that prime rib dinner that I had spent the past two months dreaming about!!
I hope that you’ve enjoyed this adventure as much as I have. I’m writing this post while travelling across the Strait of Georgia on the Coastal Renaissance. The water has been quite calm and the morning sun is shinning through the front widows warming my face and blinding me! The air quality in the Valley must be poor as Baker is simply a shadow looming behind the skyline of downtown. Travelling on the ferry on this beautiful sunny day reminds me that despite all the amazing travelling that I’ve done this spring, I am truly blessed and do – as the adverts say – live in the ‘best place on earth’! This blog will be posted while sitting in YVR enjoying the free wifi - something rare in other airports!
For those of you who fit into the family and friend category – we (Gran, Dad, & I) are on our way to Cam’s for the wedding. I will post photos and updates to this address as it feels like this trip is simply an extension of the spring adventures of 2010!
Ag
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