Thursday, July 19, 2012

European Extravaganza - Part III b - Genoa/Imperia

At some point on Thursday we were going to hop a train to Imperia, but we had a leisurely morning at the Genoa market.

Why can't we find these types of tomatoes in our stores?  Apparently they're really good for making tomato sauce.

Too bad I don't like cherries all that much.



We got some snacks, checked the train times for Imperia, and walked all the way to the other side of time to visit the Royal Palace.  It had been closed the afternoon before, and we wanted to try again.  Turns out, it was going to close again in 30 minutes, because of some 'meeting.'

We jumped into another courtyard on the way that had a nice ceiling.  

And here we are at the Royal Palace, built in the 1600s for the Balbi family.







It was a guided tour only, and since they were about to close, they reluctantly took our money, threw a young guy at us, and told us to hurry.  Thirty minutes and thirty rooms.  I wasn't supposed to take photos, but I managed to sneak two.  Remember how there are no tourists in Genoa?  Becca and I had our own private tour.  We maybe got halfway through the place, and then they kicked us out.   


One last walk through Genoa.  Here's San Lorenzo during the day.

And the house of Columbus.

One more look at scooters.

Adios, from the hotel.

A nun, a priest, and Becca walk out of a bathroom...

To Imperia!  Only 90 minutes away.


Imperia!  Imperia is actually two cities put together, and we booked train tickets to the wrong half of the city, but we cheated and went another stop that was closer to our hotel in San Maurizio.  And then we walked up a hill.  But we made it.  And got this view of the Ligurian sea.  

A few hours of daylight remained, so we set off for the old town and cathedral.  We went some crazy way up these curvy streets and hills.  Later, we'd find the magic elevator.  Italy is full of those!




This is the largest cathedral in the Liguria region.


We started on a somewhat marked path that was supposed to take us on a tour of Imperia.  We could never figure out how to get to the next stop, nor did we ever find this place in a guidebook that Becca had.  I think we were looking for something called Parasio, and it was probably some little small thing, which we never came across.





We walked the same little clustered streets for an hour.

We couldn't find the thing we were looking for, but we did find some pretty things!



This table called to us.

We had some really delicious food at Pizzeria Porto Vecchio.  I can recommend it.

That was probably the best bruschetta I've ever had.  That mozzarella was amazing.  Super fresh stuff.  Perfectly toasted bread.
 

Blurry, but tasty dessert.

We found an easier way down the hills back to the hotel - another magic elevator!  This one traveled on a diagonal.  


  
Back on our hotel balcony....


More Italia, coming up!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love these pics, and your yellow capris! ;)
Courtney/ your sis

2023 Recap

Oh, hey there. It's been awhile. I disappeared for a bit. Everyone's doing their 2023 year in review today, and I figured I'd ju...

StatCounter