Genoa

Genoa is a very unusual city. It's not like any other Italian city and not as famous among tourists as other large cities in Italy, but nevertheless attractive in its own way. I would call it a city of interesting and beautiful architecture.

The city will also interest the food tourists, because Genoa is home to the pesto sause and the "Spaghetti alla genovese". 

The most famous native is Christopher Columbus, there's even his house in the city. However, nobody can be sure that he was actually born in Genoa. There's a large monument to the famous navigator near the train station.


To walk around city, you can use this route, it covers many interesting streets in the central part (visit also a port) or a map at the end of the article. Genoa has many arcades, you can walk in the city even in the rain. The arcades are decorated with mosaics.










There's also a lot of palaces (Palazzo), we were really impressed. Many of them are on Via Garibaldi. Some palaces are museums and can be visited. And some have nice courtyards, you can visit them, just open the door from the street. Don't miss an opportunity to see such small courtyards, they are really nice.








There are also many narrow streets, which are totally different from the neighboring grandiose avenues.






First what you see on the waterfront of Genoa is a huge automobile overpass. It spoils the impression from the waterfront. There are three interesting places here: a big pirate ship, an unusual tourist airlift Bigo and the famous Aquarium, one of the largest in Europe.










Genoa as well as many other cities that are located on the mountain slopes, has elevators. Some of them are very interesting. We used the one that goes horizontally and then vertically! Entrance to this elevator is on the Via Balbi Street.


We spent the night at the hotel on the XX September Street. Located almost in the downtown, the street looks really great. The problem is that it's impossible to park here and if you have a car, you'll have to look for an underground car parking nearby. There are pompous old houses on the street and our budget hotel was located in one of them on the top floor.














More photos of Genoa












Genoa metro

Getting there: There's an airport named after Christopher Columbus. From the airport to the downtown you can get by bus (timetable and price). There are two railway stations almost in the downtown. The port of Genoa is connected by ferry lines with many countries and islands in the Mediterranean Sea (list of routes).