GENOA IS A HUGE PORT AND A VISIT TO SANTA MARGHERITA AND RAPPALO, TOO!

Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Port of Genoa, Italy

Aboard the Enchanted Princess

Cloudy, some sun/ 65F

 TK and I figured out how to wear ourselves out! I always said a Mediterranean cruise is port intensive and a lot of work. Yesterday in Aix we put in just over 14,000 steps each and today we chalked up a little over 15,000 [that is 3.5 miles] each. TK says I am walking his butt off.  We know people who walk more, but we aren’t 60 years old. Thank goodness we are holding our own!  On the plus side, there haven’t been a lot of stairs, just hills.

We took another Princess tour, this time to Santa Margherita, Rappalo, and Genoa, Italy.  The ship’s berth was in a different area than last year so we know we could not have walked from the port.  As the bus traveled through many mountains, our guide told us that Genoa is 22 miles long and hugs the shore. Mountains basically wall in the city. There are no sandy beaches, but lots of space for many ships.  We drove for about 45 minutes until we reached our first destination.  Many fishing villages have become resorts, but we saw olive trees and a few farms along the way.

Santa Margherita

We spent some time in Santa Margherita, checking out the shore (no beach glass) and walking past those fabulous small shops in the center city.  There were very elegant hotels, with very elegant guests

Victor Emmanuel

Rocks by the seashore for my brother

Old city wall

Christopher Columbus

Park area

We stopped for a little breakfast 

(very very strong black coffee me, 

cappuccino for TK, 

a croissant and a churro like pastry).

Croissant and ??

Such a quaint cafe

Prepared meals

Prepared meals--I could pretend I cook!

And more

Apartments

By the Mediterranean Sea

I like this photo of TK

Yesterday in France a certain style of hat caught TK’s eye and 

when he saw one today in a hat shop, he bought it. 

Flags blowing in the wind

by the shore--

 Rappalo

Rappalo was another similar resort town with similar shops—this is the Italian Riviera after all. I spotted sfogliatella, a pastry I loved last year, and we each ate one on the spot. I don’t pass up that pastry. I have also learned how to pronounce it using my google machine since last year!

 

Train station and meeting place

TK, of course, next to his shop

More tartes

A beautiful entry

Cookies

Let's decorate the sidewalk!

Genoa

After about an hour we headed back to Genoa for our special and elegant lunch at Zeffirino Ristorante, established in 1939.

We were told that three popes, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, and other celebrities have dined there.  White linens, globed sconces, embroidered initials on the napkins, all signaled fine dining.

Zeffirino Ristorante

Dining area

Since Genoa is known for its pesto and focaccia bread, the chef gave a demonstration on how to make pesto the Zeffirino way.  He ground fresh or dried basil (I could not see), crushed garlic, and added 75% fresh parmesan cheese and 25% Sardinia cheese (white), and some very light olive oil. The servers gave us focaccia bread with pesto sauce smeared on it and that was delicious!

The next course was paffutelli alla Zeffirino (ravioli like pasta with green sauce-I think pesto again) and Trofiette al Pesto (a pasta with pesto sauce). Both were excellent. Other diners enjoyed white wine (Zeffirino Belloni-their own label). The photo does not do it justice.

The third course was white fish alla ligure with potato and olives—I don’t eat fish unless it is deep fried, so I passed, but TK tried it, but he isn’t that fond of fish either.

Finally, dessert—millefoglie dello Chef. In French it is millefeuilles, which is many layered with a wonderful citrus flavored cream in the center.  The taste is similar to sfogliatella.

The chef and servers were very attentive even though we were dining with about 70 of our closest friends.

After our exquisite lunch, TK and I walked the area, finally taking a break for Coke Zero and another cappuccino.

Toy shop, for my brother

More toys

And more

At Foocaccio's for a break

Garibaldi

Baroque style architecture and a beautiful fountain

By 5 p.m. we met the rest of our group to head back to the ship—traffic was unbelievable. 

The guide pointed out Christopher Columbus' home (right)

and the towers at the city's entrance, c. 1400s.

Imagine the preservation!

Gardens-a nod to Columbus and the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria

We did not go to dinner today, we were still full. We did grab a petite Quiche Lorraine (me) and little snack too at the buffet.

 

TK’s Takes: We went through 13 very long tunnels on the highway to Santa M. The mountain range is vast. He was disappointed he could not find beach glass. He did not see any taxis in Genoa.