Travels thru Life: 6/11 -- Explore Genoa

Above/below: view from our hotel window. The odd
structure behind the boats is a huge aquarium.

This ship is outside the hotel and very
reminiscent of the Vasa in Stockholm. However,
it is only a prop from a movie.

We officially met and introduced ourselves to our fellow travelers before heading out on foot to see old Genoa. What we both noticed was that many of the building that looked like they had architectural elements had actually only been painted that way. At a distance, the facades appeared 3D, but not close up. The St. George building was built over the water and a Venician architect was hired because of their expertise in the area. For many centuries, Genoa and Venice were city states and important to trading and major competitors.

There is a freeway that separates the water-
front from the city and many of the pillars
are decorated like this one,

Above/below: this building is dedicated to St. George and
looks like an elaborate construction with stone, but it is
stucco over brick with a clever paint job. Even this close-
up can fool the camera. The front of the building is flat.

Arcades like these are found back from the
waterfront, but used to be closer. This one was
built in the 1100s.

We stopped at a fresh pesto shop for a small sample. I found this photo of basil gardening interesting. I cut off the top a bit, but you can still see two men picking, one lying flat on a board, apparently so they don't step on the plants. It takes 1,000 leaves to make a kilogram of basil.

Automated mortal and pestle!

Many of the streets were quite narrow, and the buildings are tall. Initially, there was not a lot of construction up the hills because of the inconvenience of getting there. Now, there are 18 public elevators and 3 funiculars to help people get around without cars.

There are few large spaces in the old part of
Genoa. I thought we were going to talk about
this building, but instead, we learned why part
of the dark brick hexagon is lighter: In digging
for something, an old Roman villa was found,
so the archeologists explored through the hole
where the red brick is today.

Buildings Genoa were often made taller in subsequent eras. Each level can have its own design. The second level here is quite grand and probably a space for entertaining and impressing guests. However, keeping it warm in the winter was a challenge. The shorter windows right above were probably the usual living quarters, plus room for the kitchen and the servants.

This church looks like it is black and white from a distance sort of like the one we saw a couple years ago in Sienna. Up close, there are many other colors of stone used. During WWII, Genoa sustained a lot of damage from RAF bombers and one bomb dropped on the roof of this church, but never exploded. There is a replica of it inside.

Up close, there is a lot of detailed stone work
in several colors.

There has been repair work done outside, but it is not
complete to help you see what it was like before.

The inside has been redone several times. The upper arcade is romanesque, the lower arcade is gothic and the altar is baroque.

Replica of the shell dud

This is the Doge's palace. It was similar to the position
of the Doge of Venice.

All the figures on the top level are shown
with chains, representing those vanquished
by the Genoans.

It's it bit hard to see unless you click for the
bigger version, but there are griffins on each
side of the shield representing Genoa, and
their tails are behind them.

Napolean destroyed the Roman statues here.
This one shows those the Romans defeated
lying on the ground.

The building behind the fountain is the Borse or
Stock Exchange

After Genoa was defeated, all the griffins were shown with
their tails between their legs, as above.

For a long time, the area below the Borse was the top of the city. Then sixteen noble families decided they wanted a private enclave and they sheered off part of a hill to make the flat area where the Borse is. Before that, all the streets were narrow, but they built the New Road-- quite wide by 15th century standards, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site-- and built their mansions on the other side of the street. Only one is still in private hands.

Interesting aerial decor over the new road.

Interior of a mansion built by the Spinolas.

Entry hall of the privately owned mansion. It allows limited
public visitation.

After the tour (which ended at an interesting candy shop), we walked back toward the hotel to find lunch and explore some more on our own. We had thought we would visit the Museum of the Sea, but I was uncharacteristically exhausted through the entire tour, and we were already pretty full from the food samples, so we went back to the hotel. I laid down for what I thought would be a short rest and woke up nearly three hours later. Very strange, but totally rejuvenating. We walked around a bit to explore some more and get a late lunch (gelato).