In the early days of Padova, I joined ESN Italia, which is the Italy-wide Erasmus network that also works in countries all across Europe. They organise events, trips and the like throughout the year and until this point I had never signed up for anything (apart from our ice-skating adventure, but I think that was a fail on the Erasmus socialising front – still, I guess our discovery of Le Sablon is thanks to ESN so the 10 euro sign-up fee was definite value). Don’t get me wrong, their trips did sound good – I was tempted by the weekend in Slovenia most – but there was always something that stopped me. However, a few weeks back they advertised a 2-day trip to Genova and Cinque Terre for only 95 euro. This is for all travel costs, 3 meals, tours/entrance fees, one night in a hotel and a day train pass for the Cinque Terre – all that plus no hassle in organising or planning, the only thing I needed to do was show up. Sounded great to me! My original travel buddy couldn’t make it in the end, so I had the daunting prospect of going alone with a group of people I had never met but most likely knew each other – a true test of courage wouldn’t you say? (Well, it is for those of us who lack social skills) As I was waiting at the meeting spot I was overjoyed, nay ecstatic, that I saw a face I’d seen before; Anna, a Norwegian girl I’d met once at a party. After a very enthusiastic wave, she came over with her friend Anica and I was welcomed into the group. (A very happy and grateful third addition to their couple!) We’re now firm friends after being tourists, sharing a hotel room and taking a good few dozen of selfies and snapchats together!
Genova and Cinque Terre is in Liguria – pretty much the opposite side of Italy than the Veneto. The weather was supposed to be hot hot hot with sunshine galore, so perfect for visiting beaches, taking photos and walking along the coast.
My impressions of Genova – completely different to Padova! I don’t know if it was the dozens of palm trees or just the size of it, but at times it didn’t feel like Italy – with the pink/yellow apartment buildings, wide roads and palms I felt like I was in Miami or Cali, definitely not Europe! When you walk around the town, it’s back to Italian familiarity though. We went to the beach and had lunch and after checking in at the hotel we went to the Aquarium.
THE AQUARIUM.
This was a big selling point for me – as you can probably tell from my last Blog Circus Circus, I am a sucker for anything marine related. For two hours I was having a whale (I’m just so punny!) of a time looking at the penguins, dolphins, sharks, seals, fishies and frogs. I’ve bought the guide book so I should be well educated in Italian aquarium vocabulary whenever I get round to reading it! Maybe afterwards I can go on that Dolphin Boat trip I’ve been looking into…
Afterwards we went on a tour of the city – I’ve retained two semi-interesting facts which I’m hoping are true because otherwise it’s a bit of a fail. Genova was once bombed by the British and one on the bombs landed on/near to the Duomo, however it failed to go off – if it had, the Duomo wouldn’t be there today (lucky otherwise that would have been a bit awkward…) And apparently, all the buildings that have alternate black and white brick are a sign that they were the richest property at the time – the owners would have been among the wealthiest in the city.
With it being an Erasmus trip, obviously there had to be a party – the place we went to was called Banano Tsunami (you have to admit, it’s an intriguing name) and it’s right on the water next to an amazing old pirate ship. Now, it wasn’t the best party I’ve ever been to (though I did appreciate them playing Daddy Yankee’s Gasolina – such a tune) – the fact that I had been up since half four that morning may have had some effect though (we didn’t get home until 3am) but it was an experience!
Day two was Cinque Terre – I had heard many a thing about this place, and I always nodded and said “yeah, I want to go there too!” even when I had no idea where or what is was. However, anyone with basic Italian can guess that it’s 5 ‘lands’ or towns, that are all ridiculously picturesque. The bus from Genova to La Spezia was all green rolling hills and tunnels through mountains – I never failed the tunnel game though, not once! (For those of you who aren’t sure, the tunnel game is where you have to hold your breath whenever you go through a tunnel – a real challenge if there’s a lot of traffic or if it’s one helluva long tunnel! Still amuses me at the age of 21…)
So, the five Terre – Riomaggiore, Manarola, Vernazza, Corniglia and Monterosso al Mare.
Though they’re all fairly small places (Monterosso is the largest and probably the busiest as it’s where the biggest beach is – and it is an amazing beach. No pebbles here, just warm golden sand) the five towns are beyond cute. My favourite was Corniglia (though I had one of the most amazing ice creams in Vernazza – it was from a place called Il Porticciolo and I highly recommend it to EVERYONE. I had pineapple and coconut flavours – had fresh pieces of fruit and was just perfect.) Nevertheless, Corniglia was beautiful – you had to walk up a mountain of stairs but when you got to the top and walked through the main town to the cliff side, it was breathtaking. So I think the view, along with the cutesy signs and hideaways and bursts of colourful flowers in Corniglia make it my choice of the five. But when you’re standing overlooking views like this, it’s all pretty wonderful –
(Monterosso)
The Gelato Diaries 