Genoa Waterfront and Aquarium

It is (still) Tuesday, 28 August 2007 and we emerge from the alleyways of Genoa onto the waterfront.

We emerge into the shadows of the elevated roadway but having crossed the roadway at ground level and passed under the elevated flyover, we come out into sunshine once again. There is an aquarium nearby and we are in no hurry to rush back to the ship so we decide to go for a look.

We are first directed into a cinema to see a 3D film about deep sea creatures. Of course - we can't understand a word as it's in Italian! The first tanks we come to hold jellyfish and whilst it is too dark to get sharp photos (flash was not allowed) the colours are fabulous.

It was a large and well-stocked aquarium and had some absolutely huge tanks. There were sharks and dolphins too, although I always feel it a shame to keep such intelligent creatures as whales in captivity as even their large environment had to seem very confining to them. It also had no vegetation, furniture to swim around or through and no playthings to stimulate them.

There were three dolphns in the tank and this one kept coming up to me to say "hello", or more likely, "help! Can you get me the hell out of here?" The captive dolphins' smile does them no favours at all... it's easy to assume that they love it where they are.

There were giant sea turtles, a pool with seals and a flat fish touch pool.

There was a superbly set out penguin pool with the water surface at eye level so that you could view the penguins both in the water and above. We spent a good hour and a half to two hours in the aquarium and thoroughly enjoyed it, although there was that touch of guilt about enjoying the dolphins. I'd much rather see them in the sea even if they are a much rarer sight and harder to spot!

A huge ship of the line battleship is moored along the waterfront, I'm guessing but it must carry somewhere around 70 guns. You can count over 30 gunports on the side, double for the other side and there would be stern chasers and bow guns. A standard British ship of the line of the late 18th century carried 74 guns.

As we walk west along the marina we pass in front of the basttleship and get a better view of the figurehead. A bus passes behind us, ooh -they have trolleybuses here!

The flyover is a bit in-your-face and dominates the seafront of Genoa. However it allows traffic to flow freely along what would otherwise be a pedestrian heavy environment and slower, frequently stopping traffic such as buses can operate at ground level without obstructing or delaying through traffic.

The Stazione Marittima, with it's sculpture of the prow of a galley under the pediment and fountain playing over a ship's screw. As we reached the ship, we came up behind Cissie and Ada on the gangplank. "Do you want to get past?"
"How?"
"I can't go fast!"
"You are going fast enough!"

We went for a spot of lunch and joined the two ladies on the pool deck. "Do you want to borrow my sun cream?" asked Cissie, pushing a plastic bottle of Nivea sun lotion at me. The top was wedged on with a rather soggy tissue.
"What's this for?" I asked.
"The top won't stay on..." The tissue was between the top of the bottle and the lid, wedging the lid open. I pulled the tissue off and the lid clicked shut. "Well, I can't press it hard enough," she said. I replaced the tissue...
"Tell him what you did when you got it," Ada said to Cissie. She began her distinctive laugh - a sort of "Hih hih hih!"
"I asked my son to get it for me," she said, "but I got confused and asked him to get me some viagra by mistake!"

Return to Mediterranean Explorer Cruise, 2007 Index

Getting a Bit Lost in Genoa

Tuesday 28 August 2007. The Island Star arrives at Geoa, Italy. It sails past the industrial area of the port and right into the city waterfront where there are moorings for cruise ships and ferries.

It is an old city, spoiled a little by an elevated roadway running right across the waterfront. Some of the buildings look a little tired and run down.

A huge quayside building, the Stazione Marittima leads from the wharf to a pleasantly spectacular piazza, the front of the building telling of past glories. It was well maintained and truly impressive. Excursions were being offered to Milan and Portofino amongst other places. We had opted for doing our own thing today and hopped innocently onto a free city shuttle bus. This took us on a very roundabout journey, passing through a couple of tunnels before dropping us off in the middle of the city. I had no idea at all in which direction the port was or how far away it was!

Well, we have a good choice of directions to go in, so we just set off. You never know - we might find our way back to the ship... This cafe looked familiar. Our favourite Blackpool cafe (we live there) has this same Elvis figure sitting in its window! I saw a sign for a Tourist Information office and we were able to get a street map and sort out where we were.

We were on a hill. Going up led to the medieval part of the city and going down led back towards the waterfront and through a maze of alleyways. We headed uphill, coming to this magnificent gateway through the old city wall. Then a few steps down and we came to a small piazza to our right, almost every inch of which was covered with parked scooters, Lambrettas, Vespas - the Italians like their scooters. I don't think there was a single motorbike amongst them!

On our left side was this wonderful ruin about which I know nothing whatsoever. I could go off searching on Google, but then I know that a few of my readers like these little challenges, so if you know what this is called, how old it is, who built it, whether it was used for worship, games or sacrificing grasshoppers - please leave a comment or get in touch!

And now we have a look at the small building next door... This was labelled quite clearly and proudly as Christopher Colombus's house. He was born here in fact, although when we called he had gone out... I don't know what it is with us and Italy, we are just unlucky in this way. We went to see Vesuvius one year and that had gone out too...

We left the birthplace of Christopher Colombus and passed once more through the medieval gate, heading eventually into the dark and slightly seedy alleyways leading to the waterfront.

Some of them are well lit and filled with shops and neon light. Some are alleys in the truer sense of the word, dark with six-storey buildings on either side, concealed doorways and smoking men looking at you suspiciously. A chap walking alone in front of us was accosted by a prostitute. He waved her away irritably. She didn't take offence.

I even found a guitar shop in one of the alleys, though I thought perhaps I might have problems getting it on the flight home. We were looking for a tobacconist as Fran had some cards to post. I haven't a clue what stamps is in Italian and when we eventually found a tobbaconist we went in warily and I said a tentative "poste?" The tobacconist tutted (in Italian) and said in perfect English: "Post office - next door!" Ah...! Well, for Heaven's sake - it's yellow! Red! That's the colour post offices should be! We have some more wandering to do before we return to the ship, but once we were back we got into a conversation with a couple who said "We were walking through some alleys and ran into some Carabinerie police. They said it was too dangerous for tourists to be in the alleys and they escorted us back to the waterfront!"

Return to Mediterranean Explorer Cruise, 2007 Index