The end.
Well, maybe I should add a few details.
After another home made breakfast on our balcony, we packed up and, right on schedule, the man from downstairs arrived to carry our bags down to the street. A bit embarrassing ( he was at least 60) but they are very dangerous steps to walk on, let alone carry big suitcases down. He picked the case up in both arms and headed sideways down the treacherous decline.
This is what they want to do if you stay there- no accidents wanted on their uneven, 60 degree angle steps please.
Bags down and everyone safe.
Our walk to the station was down hill thank goodness.
We caught the regional train from Riomaggiore with little fuss.
On arrival in Genoa we decided to ask the station information man where our hotel was - no where near here? Oh, no. I thought I had had another form slump, but alas, we were just at the wrong station. Believe it or not, I was happy with that ( rather than having booked somewhere too far away which would impact on our early train tomorrow).
Back on the train- oh, no- it left 6 minutes early and we had not checked the destination. We had visions of ending up hours away in the wrong direction. Remain calm. Next stop was ours. Now to find our hotel- that was easy. Across the road. A bit dodgy looking for a 3 Star compared to the others we have been spoilt with.
We settled in to our very basic room and headed off towards the port. With visions of a Darling Harbour type place we quickly learned that we were in the "interesting" part of town.
We walked quickly along the port waterfront and finally came to a family friendly area with aquariums, carousels, the ship from the movie Pirates and places to eat.
After lunch ( eating yet again) we walked to the main shopping district. We started to feel a little better about being here.
The red Hop-on-hop-off bus was waiting in the main square so Jim wisely suggested we hop on.
We did the full circuit and learned a few interesting facts: the area on your right is known as the ghetto. A familiar place - OUR neighbourhood!! We felt a little better when the commentary pointed out the palace at the end of our street.
We then got off where we started and wandered through the main shopping streets.
The whole town was there- a game of spot the tourist would have been difficult. The streets were packed with locals enjoying their Saturday afternoon in the city. The place was buzzing.
Back on the bus and off again near our hotel.
The red bus saved our day!
PS: Just back from dinner. If we had only turned left instead of right today we would have avoided the ghetto part of town and seen a nicer side of Genoa. The nice hotels and vibrant night life are just around the corner from us. live bands playing in the street, market stalls, families, locals out for a fun night- we just made a poor choice this morning when we turned into a dark narrow street thinking it would lead us to the quaint part of town ( as it seemed to in the other cities and towns we have been). Genoa has redeemed itself.
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