Mantis Posted April 18, 2016 Share Posted April 18, 2016 Anyone ever been there? Normally do a city break in Italy every year and this looks like a good place to go to. I'm mainly looking for somewhere that looks pleasant and has lots of cultural stuff to do (museums, art galleries, big churches etc) and Genoa seems to fit the bill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted April 18, 2016 Share Posted April 18, 2016 (edited) Where else have you been in Italy ? Ive not been to Genoa so can't comment but if you haven't already been , then I'd say Florence ... It ticks all your boxes and places like Pisa are also close enough to do in a day trip ..arguably my favourite place in Italy Sorrento is another option , close(ish) to Pompeii and mount vesuvius but it means being near Naples and your probably safer wearing an American flag and walking through ISIS HQ than you are spending time in Naples ( ok it's not that bad but Naples is a funny place , more so when your hire car company have a sense of humour and give you a car with Fench number plates !! ) Edited April 18, 2016 by tonyh29 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted April 18, 2016 Author Share Posted April 18, 2016 Done Rome, Florence/Pisa and Bologna (would definitely recommend Bologna btw). Yeah I looked at Naples but it looks quite run-down. Genoa does look really good though so I've kind of got my heart set on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFC_Hitz Posted April 19, 2016 Share Posted April 19, 2016 'Course I do, she's my wife. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 On 18 April 2016 at 23:56, tonyh29 said: Where else have you been in Italy ? Ive not been to Genoa so can't comment but if you haven't already been , then I'd say Florence ... It ticks all your boxes and places like Pisa are also close enough to do in a day trip ..arguably my favourite place in Italy Sorrento is another option , close(ish) to Pompeii and mount vesuvius but it means being near Naples and your probably safer wearing an American flag and walking through ISIS HQ than you are spending time in Naples ( ok it's not that bad but Naples is a funny place , more so when your hire car company have a sense of humour and give you a car with Fench number plates !! ) Naples is hell on earth. Security standing outside shops with machine guns wtf? Big time dump too. Would definitely not recommend there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted April 21, 2016 Share Posted April 21, 2016 On April 18, 2016 at 18:22, Mantis said: Anyone ever been there? Normally do a city break in Italy every year and this looks like a good place to go to. I'm mainly looking for somewhere that looks pleasant and has lots of cultural stuff to do (museums, art galleries, big churches etc) and Genoa seems to fit the bill. The city of my forebears. Well, some of them anyway. I've only made it to Rome and then southeast by train to Brindisi to catch the boat to Greece. But the place in Italy I really want to see the most is Genoa. It's not going to be overrun with tourists either, which is good. Ligurian culture is distinct from other regions of Italy, and I think it seems like a really interesting place. Once the greatest port in the world....Who knows, maybe I'll go find a relative to bother Keep us updated, Mantis! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted April 21, 2016 Author Share Posted April 21, 2016 9 hours ago, maqroll said: The city of my forebears. Well, some of them anyway. I've only made it to Rome and then southeast by train to Brindisi to catch the boat to Greece. But the place in Italy I really want to see the most is Genoa. It's not going to be overrun with tourists either, which is good. Ligurian culture is distinct from other regions of Italy, and I think it seems like a really interesting place. Once the greatest port in the world....Who knows, maybe I'll go find a relative to bother Keep us updated, Mantis! Really, how? Sounds interesting. Will do! Probably won't be going until next April though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romavillan Posted April 21, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted April 21, 2016 Genova rules, it's the Napoli of the north. Way different vibe to the rest of the north. Stayed in a great central B&B if your interested, everything doable on foot from there. The old part of town isn't huge, tons of teeny streets to get lost in. Good food too if you avoid the tourist menu shit. Fried octupus for €2 in the old port but you have to eat it standing up, there's a few good places under the arches that you have to catch at lunchtime or 4pm when they are frying to get it fresh, stupid cheap and straight off the boat into the pan. Awesome. If you don't hire a motor or a scooter, you can get to some nice private coves on the bus, I think the 38 if I remember right takes you south out of town to a nice bit of coast, volcanic (black) rocks and sand so careful in teh summer co that gets stupid hot. You have to pay for access in the private coves but the north is like that unfortunately. Been quite a few times, had a deposit down on a flat years ago but the landlord weirded out and I ended up staying in Rome. Great city, pm me if you want the B&B details, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romavillan Posted April 21, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted April 21, 2016 On 18/04/2016 at 00:56, tonyh29 said: Where else have you been in Italy ? Ive not been to Genoa so can't comment but if you haven't already been , then I'd say Florence ... It ticks all your boxes and places like Pisa are also close enough to do in a day trip ..arguably my favourite place in Italy Sorrento is another option , close(ish) to Pompeii and mount vesuvius but it means being near Naples and your probably safer wearing an American flag and walking through ISIS HQ than you are spending time in Naples ( ok it's not that bad but Naples is a funny place , more so when your hire car company have a sense of humour and give you a car with Fench number plates !! ) Napoli has an unduly bad reputation. I've always had great times there, if you aren't trying to score in Scampia or being a dick in the suburbs then in the center of town I have never had a problem. It's an incredible city, the food is way better than Rome or the more tourist destinations. The people are **** hilarious, incredibly generous too. Only good times for me there. I'm not an idiot though, if you are getting off a cruise ship wearing a rolex and speak 2 words of italian and no napoletan, you may well be getting back on the boat without your watch. Same can be said of a lot of the UK though ay. Also, from either Napoli or Pozzuoli you can get a ferry out to places like Procida and Ischia, prefer the former myself, for cheap and takes an hour or so. Procida is gorgeous. Hire a little motor boat for like €50 for the day and if you like yourself a swim with a mask and a snorkel you'll be in heaven. Then there's Salerno, which is massively underrated but has a stunning old centre with tons of good bars and restaurants. Further south still you get into Cilento, punta licosa is amazing, Paestum has the best preserved hellenic temples in mainland europe, it's cheap and great food too. All doable if you have a few days in Napoli and have a motor. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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