Friday, November 3, 2017

A Day In Genoa: Food

Our 2013 visit to Genoa consisted of being lost driving across the big city, foolishly hoping that the "coast road" would carry us right through Italy's largest port and to the other side. It worked out, but not without some confused and anxious moments: Genoa was not designed for camping-cars, even small ones. We drove on to La Spezia and our visit to the Sink Terror. This time, Vicki had done a bit more reading on Genoa and found a campground right on the train line into town (with a short bus connection), and we decided we would spend a day in the city, taking in its arts and architecture, food and drink. Two days would have been better, even confining oneself to the old city. Genoa is big, old, rich, and interesting in most all the ways we like. I took 300+ pix in that one day and am now confronted with reducing that number to something manageable. I think I'll do it thematically, food, art, buildings, scenes, etc. Most important, of course, food...
Yes!















In the pesto section of the museum gift shoppe
















Disappointingly under-flavored, we thought




















Moving right along: a beautifully interesting fine food store





















Family rule: never ever pass up a 200+ year old patisserie
















Pasticceria Liquoeria Mariscotti di Cavo; 1780















Best almond cookies ever. Period.
















More delights




















At the harbor, making sesame candy cookies
















https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySqec8WrEQQ
















A sophisticated food scene




















A fruit shoppe in an old palaccio with a marble entry-way





















The first place we stopped for lunch was closing for renovation and had run out
of the items we wanted; so we moved on to another place, Pintori, Vicki's
choosing, which, we noticed later, was actually a Michelin-listed restaurant


















Her pesto pasta
















Pintori specializes in Sardinian cuisine, so I figured, hey, why not the sardines,
of which I had a whole school...in the wonderful lemon/wine sauce they do in
Liguria; got my daily allotment of calcium in all the little bones, too


















Down to the subterranean WC















Past a most interesting artists's studio (the waiter? owner?)
















Chipotle goes Italian

Hopefully without the salmonella





Thursday, November 2, 2017

A Bientot, France; Buon Giorno, Italia

It was time to leave France and move on. Reluctantly. It would have been more reluctantly had the destination not been Italy, which we also love. We decamped, drove through Nice and then onto the Grand Corniche, over Monaco, all the way to Menton and the border and on into Italy, staying on the coast all the way, stopping finally at Camping Vesima just short of Genoa.
The aire de camping-cars at St. Laurent du Var

On the Grand Corniche

Villefranche sur Mer


On a turn, looking north to the Maritime Alps

Eze

Approaching La Turbie

And its Alpine Trophy; the Senate's tribute to Augustus for
finally subduing all the people of the Alps

Sign depicting the many aspects of culture here
























































































Monaco

Ditto

Ditto again

Last bit of France before dropping down into Menton; we stopped
there by the marina for lunch in exactly the same place as in 2013

Benvenuto in  Italia!


Pictures mostly out Vicki's window as we crept along the coast







Yup, we're back in Italy!!

To Eze And Back Again, 2

More of our excursion to Eze, the road back, and Nice...

Eze' first well/fountain, built in 1930; before then, water
was hauled up the hill en pied



No denying the beauty of the place

Where Swedish royals lived










Cruisifixion

Back in Nice

Walking by the performing arts place

The library building/sculpture Vicki posted on Facebook