Genoa, Italy

Jelly Fish in the Acquario di Genova

Hub doesn't have holidays. Or he has them like everyone else only the company doesn't encourage him to take them. This way, we've lived 2 years in Germany and only saw Munich and the Constance Lakes. Now we have been more than 18 months in Italy and have only seen the northern part of the country plus Perugia. Last week, the kids had a week off and I decided not to sit around but drive us all to Genoa - minus the Hub.

Pzza Ferrari

It was my first time driving so far to an unknown city without mein Mann. It's not the driving that makes me nervous since that's all I ever do over here, but the fact that I would be arriving at a big city known for its lack of parking, crazy traffic added to my lousy parking skills.

The old port and the view of the surrounding hills

Still, if I have an idea in my head, I usually try to carry it out and so I booked 2 nights at the Novotel Genova-Ovest (nice 4* family hotel) and started working out what I would like to visit and eat when I'm there. Besides, the kids just love staying over at a good hotel and having breakfast there in the morning. I can't explain why, they just love it. The other day, Baby Girl mentioned that her papa should work harder so that he could pay us hotel stays more often...Poor guy.

I had 2 extra passengers the day we set out as E and her son A joined the excursion when they learnt about it. It was a lovely day only I was down with a bad cold. Still traffic was smooth and even though there were roadworks, we managed to reach Genoa in under 3 hours. I drove straight into the hotel's carpark when I saw how cars were all parked on the pavements and how even kerbside parking seemed inexistent. We checked into our rooms (not ready yet - hotel was full due to the San Remo Festival) and then set out to discover the city by bus.

I've forgotten what it was like to be packed like sardines on a bus. But the kids thought it was fun. It helped that our hotel was only a few stops from the old port and that we were only there for a few days. E was very good at organising public transportation, by the way, and at asking round for directions. There were loads of immigrants everywhere and unless you've lived in a big city like Paris, you could get pretty intimidated by that. If I didn't have the kids with me, I would have gone off to explore the places where they hang out. Will surely be interesting. As it is, only managed to sneak a quick visit to a Chinese-owned grocery shop for a few things.

Duomo

What is amazing about Genoa is that you have the old port and the old city right behind it - and then all around the city rises up and you see buildings old and new shining under the sun up in the surrounding hills. It is beautiful and no wonder that the city is a Unesco World Heritage site.

Pirate Boat

There were palm trees lining the promenade leading to the old port and the view and the air were magnificent. E said that she could live there and that some parts looked like Singapore. Come to think of it, it did make me think of Harbourfront - minus the Africans selling fake LV and Fendi bags.

There was Italy's only Indonesian restaurant - only as you would have it, it was closed till March for renovations. I wouldn't have minded an ayam bakar and some ikan pepes. Otherwise we took out pizza one evening and had seafood pasta on another - the seafood is good when you are near the sea.

The highlight of (and reason for) the trip of course were visits to Genoa's Acquario and Città dei Bambini. The former is said to be one of the largest in Europe (though I personally prefer Lisbon's Oceanarium) and the latter is modelled after Paris' Cité des Sciences. We bought a combined ticket (19 euros for adults and 15 euros for children under 12) and visited both on the same day. The children enjoyed both though they could be done in just half a day since they are really not very big. And they are both located within walking distance of one another on the old port.

Città dei Bambini - Babies at work

All in all it was a good trip and we enjoyed it. It may have given me the courage to plan similar trips for the near future.