A little side-trip to Genova can’t hurt, so we thought, and off we went to breath big city life for a few days!
But why Genova??? Well, I’ve never been here before. That’s one reason. And Ted happens to need an appointment with a notary at an American consulate and Milano and Venice didn’t have any appointments left. But that doesn’t sound as much fun as my spontaneous “I’ve never been there”, right? It’s a little like those influencer photos you see: an antique building in an oldtown setting, cobblestone streets, the sun is setting and drenches everything with her last glowing rays in beautiful warm colors. The perfect setting for a few shots in that gorgeous copper colored silk dress, impeccable hair and makeup, flirty poses and “we have so much fun here in Genova, don’t we?” attitude. Nobody sees the pigeon poop everywhere, the annoying dog that keeps barking with no reason, the begging people, the teenage prostitutes or the suspicious druggies lurking around. The smell in a port city on a very hot afternoon and the big city noise… nothing shows up on those gorgeous silk dress shots – of course! So here we are, “never been in Genova before”!
But we know how to make something fun out of it! No problemo!!! We pack up our little Fiat 500, fill up the gas and off we go. First go west, 2 hours to Milan, then take a left turn, another 2 hours south to Genova. The traffic here is a maze, lots of tunnels, bridges, streets are layered on top of other streets, high above the ground. That’s what you have to do when you want to avoid traffic constipation in an Oldtown that used to be the trade capitol of the western Mediterranean, where silk and spices were coming in on old sailboats, where tea and gold were stored in big warehouses. Genova reminds me of Napoli. An Oldtown where people live, where you find a cobbler and a butcher, where kids play soccer and old grandmothers walk their dogs, the only companions left in their lives. Narrow alleys with hotels, trattorias, and locals hanging around water fountains to stay cool. It is a heatwave right now and those old 7 story buildings don’t have air-conditions. All they have are thick walls, high ceilings and window shutters that usually keep you cool, but with 100 degrees and 90 % humidity, those tricks have limits. You want to be outside in those narrow alleys – maybe you can catch a little breeze…
As said before, when you have lemons, make lemonade. So Ted splurged and booked the Bristol Hotel. So here we are in our air conditioned luxury, with antique furniture, an actual water cooker and teacups (!), huge fluffy towels, and expensive smelling shampoo.
My niece Stephanie, who has a fable for everything royal, would feel just like she belongs here!
We explore the city, try to find the consulate which seems to be hiding from us. Ted has the address, but there is no sign, no nothing. The address and a group of 3 or 4 police cars parking in front of the building – we thought that might be a no-brainer. But the policemen have no clue. One of them pointed out that the consulate is somewhere totally different: up the street, take a left where the street forks, another left and you’ll see it at the end of that street. So we walk a mile and there is nothing. We find a police station with a few carabinieri, hanging around and trying to stay cool like their colleagues out on the street. Consulate? Is there an American consulate? They Google the address and voila: they send us back to the same location Ted had found initially. “Grazie mille” and “buena sera” and off we go, floating back through the alleyways, stopping for a delicious dinner, still not finding the consulate…
Ted’s appointment is the next day at 3pm, so we still have time to search, call, be successful.
A sculpture in front of a museum. The building in the background is the official address for the consulate, but it is also the address of a parking garage underneath the fountain. According to the carabinieri, that address is given sometimes as the official address if it is otherwise too complicated to find (or if you want to keep it anonymous). Finding the hotel itself kept us circling around town a bit, because it is not where Google told us to go. Maybe Google should spend some time here, just because “they’ve never been here before!”
