June 30 Tourists for Another Day (Day 277)
The Hop-On-Hop-Off bus ticket we got yesterday was a 24 hour ticket, so we had another half day to use it! We Hopped-On for a city tour this morning, passing by some highlights of the old town.
The fountain in Piazza De Ferrari, the main square of Genoa, surrounded by several palaces that were the seats of power, finance and influence throughout Genoa’s history.
A park with flower beds commemorating Genoa’s most famous son, Cristoforo Colombo and his 3 famous ships!
Unfortunately the bus wasn’t the best venue for picture taking, so after our ride we decided to do a walking tour.
Fairly close by our hotels we happened upon the largest and most important church in Genoa, Basilica de San Lorenzo. Being Sunday it seemed like every tourist in the city thought so too! The square was crowded and we opted to not follow the hordes into the church!
Instead we got some iced coffees and Ed found some pesto focaccia, both products (pesto and focaccia) that Genoa is famous for! A short walk brought us back to Piazza De Ferrari and the fountain!
Images around the squares of old town Genoa.
Another short walk brought us to the site of Christopher Columbus’ house! Or a reconstructed facsimile, the original structure not surviving the many wars since the early 1500’s!
Ed+ Claire at the front door inquiring if Chris Columbus is home today! The back of the house is quite wild, although it is in close proximity to one of the gates in the medieval wall of the city. The columned cloister is also behind the house, rebuilt here in the 1920’s from a monastery, dating back to the year 1000, that was demolished in the early 1900’s to restructure the urban area and build the Bank of Italy.
We meandered through the labyrinthian stone alleyways back to our hotels to rest up for our busy late afternoon plans; a visit to the largest Aquarium in Europe, just steps away from our hotels!
The first exhibit we encountered is the seahorse room, so cute!
Mixed among fish exhibits, displayed by ecosystem rather than species, are several marine mammal and bird species, manatees, seals and penguins, again grouped by ecosystems.
The colorful tropical fish among the coral are always fascinating!
Moving through many more rooms, displaying sharks, tropical species by location, i.e. Asia, South America, a touch tank with rays and skates, a sturgeon tank and even amphibians and reptiles, we finally arrived at the dolphin pool. It was exciting watching them, but sad also that such intelligent animals are housed in such a barren tank!
One of the dolphins seemed fascinated by the little human, it stayed fixated on the kid the whole time he was in view!
In another area of the exhibit the walkway went under the tank and you looked up at the dolphins silhouetted against the blue sky! The dolphin was blowing bubble rings from it’s blowhole!
After several hours ooohing and aaahing over the displays and the size of the Aquarium, much bigger than it appears from the outside, we finally concluded our tour in time for dinner. We looked around and came to a restaurant that was opening in 10 minutes, off the main drag that garnered good reviews. As we perused the posted menu, in Italian of course, the chef came out and introduced himself and explained that he specialized in fish! From Aquarium to plate, it almost seemed morbid, but we’re in Genoa, on the Mediterranean!
The food was Delicious!