Genoa; Saturday, 28 September, 2013

After all the exertions of the previous day I did at least sleep well, and with breakfast being served until a reasonable time, was able to have a bit of lie in. However, when I pulled back the curtains at 9:30 I was still greeted by, I assumed the same heavy rain that had been falling the previous evening.

With breakfast consumed and the weather improved to just grey and overcast with a light drizzle, I headed out of the hotel down into town to firstly purchase a couple of transport tickets and then to give Genoa an opportunity to try and win-back some affection.

Things didn’t start well, as my first stop of the morning, the Cathedral, was closed as they were only showing the vast numbers of cruise ship passengers around. However, a short distance away is the former city gate of Porta Soprana and they were very happy to welcome tourists so I had a look around the gate, taking in the views, and then wandered a few yards down the hill to the house that, perhaps the most famous son of the city, Christopher Columbus, was born in.

I wandered back through the lanes of the city down to the harbour side and had a look around the galleon Neptune, originally used as the set of Roman Polanski’s film Pirates and today a pretty good mock-up of a galleon ship. As I was down in the harbour I took advantage of the slight breeze, which was alleviating the oppressive humidity across the city, to have a bit to eat.

I headed back up through the centre of town, stopping off at the Basilica church of Santissima Annunziata del Vastato to have a look round there, before popping a little further up the street to the museum in the Palazzo Reale.

I then took another one of the many elevators that are dotted round the city up to a viewpoint to take in the sights with the sun just making occasional appearances, before having a wander over to an altogether different type of lift.

Leaving from near the Castello D’Albertas it looks to all intense and purpose like a standard lift, which is why I thought it a little strange that there was a 6 minute wait for the next lift, could it be that slow? Having boarded the lift everything appeared normal as we descended down to the base of the lift shaft, which is where things start getting a little strange. The lift frame stopped but the body of the lift was then slowly moved forward onto rails before then continuing for several hundred meters down a small railway line pulled like a cable car or funicular. It was all very odd.

By the time I finally exited the lift I was actually right by the Piazza Principa railway station, so I picked up the bus back to the hotel to freshen up before heading out for a bite to eat in town.

After another good meal near the harbour side, I managed to catch one of the few buses still running back to near the hotel and then it was just a quick hike up a massive flight of steps to the road the hotel was on and a well-deserved rest.