Gym's Ramblings: Genteel Genoa

On the 27th of October we awoke to a grey morning. The sea the night before wasn't as smooth as it had been since the beginning of the cruise but Mrs. Gym had not been bothered by the slight roll that the ship had developed since leaving Monaco.

We anchored just outside of Portofino, Italy. The pastel-colored fishing village seated against the backdrop of the terraced green hills looked familiar to me. I think this little coastal town was the subject of one or more of my mother's oil paintings. We would tender into this little port to start our journey to Genoa.

Unfortunately, it wasn't just a matter of getting on a bus in Portofino and riding to Genoa. We first had to get on another boat to travel the few kilometres to Santa Marguarita Ligura and then jump on a bus to drive to Genoa. The reason for this is that the very narrow and windy roads from Portofino to Santa Marguarita Ligura were not safely accessible to buses. These roads would never be widened either because the area is protected. Portofino Natural Park has been set aside as a nature preserve since 1935 and is now a Unesco World Heritage site.

Today, we would visit three former palaces on Via Garibaldi in the oldest part of Genoa. Each of these palaces were the homes of very wealthy families in Genoa built in the 16th and 17th Centuries. In each case these palaces have passed from private ownership to municipal property. They are all massive structures containing enormous rooms. The oldest of the three are Palazzo Bianco finished in 1540 and Palazzo Tursi finished in 1565. Palazzo Rosso was finished in the 1670's. Together the three palaces make up the Musei di Strada Nuova. Each palace is full of priceless art. We saw art by artists such as Ruebens, Van Dyck, Caravaggio, Veronese and Guercino. We would also see a priceless musical instument called Il Cannone (a violin).

We ate lunch at L'atelier Dei Sapori Liguri not far from Piazza Raffaele de Ferrari. It specialized in Italian food prepared in the Ligurian fashion. I ordered a Minestrone Soup that was more like a stew than a soup but it was delicious and very filling. Mrs. Gym had a tortellini dish with pumpkin and a very strong cheese sauce and she loved it. The area is famous for its bread and claims to be where focaccia originated.

We are getting lots of exercise. Our tours are averaging 5.4 kilometres of walking every day and we are doing doing lots stairs in the ship (we try to avoid the elevators). We have also used the state-of-the-art fitness centre on this ship.

Today, I was on the elliptical beside the Captain whom I had met the previous night at a cocktail party. I was glad to see him there and not philandering and partying all the time. This is because he joked about the Costa Concordia affair at the party and I have to believe he takes his job seriously because I don't want to get my iPhone wet. I hear that they are a bitch to dry out.

Portofino from the ship

getting closer to the quait seaside village of Portofino on a ship's tender

multi-level terraced garden

Santa Marguarita Ligura

the narrow streets of Genoa

Palazzo Rosso

frescos on the ceilings except where there was WW2 bomb damage

it is hard to see here but this is a combination of fresco and sculpture where
the angels leg comes out of the fresco in 3-D

a masterpiece by Van Dyck

a bedroom in one of the palaces where you can see a servant's
door which is well camouflaged in the back corner

Jesus on the left is being mocked by Pontius Pilote. The face of Pontius
Pilot is said to be that of Galileo who had been excommunicated for
declaring that the world revolved around the sun and not visa versa. It was
then OK to use his caricature in this way. This is a Van Dyck.

There was a good story here but Gym couldn't hear the guide

the Cannone violin was made by Giuseppi Antonio Guarneri and played by
Niccolo Paganini for most of his life because of its unique power and resonence