Genoa

With our late arrival in Genoa on Thursday, and a full day to Pisa on Friday, we had little time to actually enjoy Genoa itself during our stay.  The city is known for being the birthplace of Christopher Columbus and was once a powerful maritime republic back in the day.  But, otherwise, our guidebook offered surprisingly little on Genoa's sites.

Fortunately, much of historic Genoa is concentrated between the two main trains stations.  Shuffling back and forth between the stations and our hotel we did manage to snap a few pictures of Piazza de Ferrari (the central square) and the famous Via Garibaldi -- which is lined with historic 16th-century palaces (now museums).

We never made it to Porto Antico, the city's old port, but we did walk along the seaside promenade on our first night and found a wonderful restaurant that served fresh Mediterranean seafood.  Pam and I shared a plate of baby mussels with spaghetti in a traditional pesto sauce.  It was one of the best meals we've had so far.  

We left Genoa and headed to Verona on Saturday, hoping that we might have the opportunity to return someday...