Mon, 4/14/25    Genoa, Italy

Day 99 - Monday, April 14th, 2025 – Genoa, Italy

We actually slept pretty well, so when the alarm went off at 6 o’clock, we were pretty rested. We got up and did our bathroom routine and we were on our way to the restaurant on seven by about 9 o’clock. I had poached eggs and hashbrowns. I had a cup of Americano that was actually pretty good. Getting a good cup of coffee on the ship has been a challenge. Mary had fruit and tea. The bread that she got from the winery yesterday was sliced up and we each had a piece with butter. It is pretty good bread. Maybe tomorrow if we go to breakfast on seven I will see if they can get a toasted. That would make it even better.

We got off the ship at exactly 10 o’clock. We didn’t have to go far before our tour guide, Marco, met us. The driver’s name was Giorgio. They have a nice Mercedes van with the pull-down ramp in the back. It seems that the pulldown ramps are more popular than the lifts. The driver easily pushed me up the ramp. I am writing this early in the day, so I only have a limited perspective on Marco, but I’m not sure he understands English very well. Mary asks him the question and he kind of half answers it. He also starts sentences but never ends them. We’ll see how the day plays out. It’s only noon right now. It is only about 45°. There is no wind, but it is cold out. When we looked at the forecast yesterday, it was supposed to be 100% rain. Thankfully that has not happened.

The first place the van stopped was along the seaside about 10 or 15 minutes from the ship. Mary and Marco got out and walked for about 20 minutes. Mary came back and showed me the pictures. I will let the pictures do the majority of the talking.

Of course, we are on the hunt for T-shirts, refrigerator magnets, etc. We drove about 20 minutes through the city. It’s actually a very big city. The older buildings seem to outnumber the new buildings. Of course, the history of the city goes back thousands of years, but it seems to have taken off in the 1500s. He said it went from a commerce city to a financial city around that time. It must be due to the gold coming back from the New World. Like I said, Marco talks in half sentences so I’m trying to fill in some of the gaps.

We came into the older part of the city and there were shops everywhere. Mary got out of the van with Marco and they walked for almost an hour. I said in van and napped. I can watch the people from here. It seems like most Italian cities. There are 1 billion tourists everywhere. When we were driving out of the harbor, there had to have been four or five cruise ships in port. Marco said something like this is the homebase for MSC cruises so there were two or three MSC cruise ships here. They may have been in dry dock. That’s just a guess.

Marco said this would be a good place for shopping, at least that’s what I heard. So, Mary and Marco walked around for an hour. Finally, they called and said come pick us up. We drove to the spot to pick them up. Mary gets in the car and only has bought two Monster Energy cans. She said there were no souvenir shops. They get in the car. We drove a little further and out of the corner of my eye I saw a souvenir shop. I asked the driver to stop, and he did. Mary and Marco got out of the car, and they’re gone for about 20 minutes. When she came back, she had everything except stamps.

We then drove a while till we got to what is called the Old Port. This is exactly as it says, it was the older of the ports. It was surrounded by warehouses, whereas the new port was surrounded by huge bays and flat areas where they put the shipping containers. Marco said that most of the warehouses have now been converted to retail and business spaces. There were super old buildings that were still being used instead of being knocked down. It was in this area that we decided to stop and get lunch. Marco had a place in mind, so we went there. We have pictures of the name of the place. We were seated towards the back of the place near a window. The waitress did not speak English at all. There was information on the menu about what we were eating, but not in any real detail. Marco was no help either. I looked at the wine menu, looking for a glass of wine. Once we adequately translated what I wanted to the waitress she pointed it out on the book. It turned out to be a very good dry red wine. We then struggled through the food menu. I think we want pizza, but we’re talked into getting focaccia. Mine was just cheese and her Mary’s was ham, so it was kind of like pizza but not pizza. So, it took a while before the food came. We waited a while before our focaccia showed up. They were bigger than I thought they were going to be. But they were, like I thought, pizza. Mary’s was piled high with ham. Mine was just a lot of cheese on focaccia bread. They were good. There is a lot of food. We ate and drank for about 30 minutes.

Marco said that this restaurant had an accessible bathroom. Mary and I were leery, but we checked it out. As it turns out, it was a very nice bathroom. It is probably the only disabled ready bathroom in that part of town considering every building was built either an 1100s or 1500s. I was pleasantly surprised. We did the cath and we continue to walk through the old port. Mary took pictures of this and that. Eventually, we made it back to the car. It was discussed that we were going to drive around some viewpoints to take some pictures of the area. I suggested to Marco that we go out of town and get some of the scenery out of town. I don’t know if he didn’t hear me, he didn’t understand me or what, but that did not happen. We stayed within the city grounds the entire time. The views that he did point out were nice. Mary got out at several points and took several pictures. Then the game became “find a place to buy stamps”. At one point, Mary and Marco got out of the car and walked for a few minutes only to come back empty-handed. We then drove a short while further and Marco got out of the van. He walked across the street and came back with the stamps. Mission accomplished. We made our way back down to the cruise terminal area. What a confusing mess that was. I’m surprised Georgio found the place. Eventually, he did. We got out of the van, took her pictures and went on our way.

We made our way back up onto the ship and into the cabin. We both pretty much immediately closed our eyes. I think we slept for about two hours. At least that’s what it felt like.

Mary made a phone call to her cousin Denny. They talked about this and that for about an hour. Then Mary went to get tea on 14. I played poker and poker stars. I am updating the log as I play cards. I’m multitasking.

When looking back at Genoa I would have to say that there was not anything that was that memorable. It's a nice city. It's got a ton of history. Beyond that, it is another Italian city. It didn't have something there made it special, like The Leaning Tower of Pisa or the Colosseum. Nonetheless, I'm glad we visited it.

Another successful day.