WHOA lansi

We woke up the next morning to a wonderful breakfast prepared by our Genoese host before heading off to meet our family friend at the cruise ship terminal. She got us all checked in & even took our bags so we could head out for the day unencumbered.

We’d gotten a recommendation to take the train to Santa Margherita & then hop on the boat or bus to Portofino – a small, but well-known Italian fishing village. We bought our tickets from one of the machines in the Genoa Piazza Principe Station for under 10 euros. The only confusing part was finding the right destination. Look for S. Margherita Ligure & a travel time of about 45 minutes. The trains seem to run often that time of year, so we didn’t need to book in advance.

Santa Margherita

The weather was perfect when we arrived in Santa Margherita so we opted to take the ferry over the bus. It would also give us the opportunity to enjoy the coastline we’d heard so much about. As a boat lover, I can’t imagine a more perfect introduction to the beauty of Liguria.

If you’re looking for the cheaper option, the bus is a better choice. Seeing as only we only paid 10 euros round-trip each for the boat, it wasn’t a huge splurge either. We had perfect weather too – all blue skies & calm waters. If you’re planning on using the ferry service, this is their handy website. Or you can do like we did & just show up in Santa Margherita & buy a ticket for the next boat. We weren’t travelling at peak time, but we had no trouble.

As our boat pulled into the narrow harbour in Portofino, the reasons for its popularity became obvious. Crystal clear water, colourful homes, & a slower pace make this little village a breathtaking & relaxing stop. We spent the day wandered the surrounding hilly paths, checking out the castle, church, & lighthouse before sitting down to lunch in the busy harbour.

We hadn’t done any research about where to eat so we picked a spot a bit further from the water & hoped for the best. Luckily, Trattoria Tripoli was a pleasant surprise. We went for a local beer (recommended by our waiter) followed by a clam spaghetti for N & the regional pesto & potato pasta for me. I’d read about the pesto in the region & jumped at the first opportunity to try it. I have no regrets.

Italians have this incredible ability to take the simplest ingredients & turn them into something unforgettable. Its origins are in this region, so while I expected it to be great, I didn’t expect it to blow me away. I’ve made pesto many times, but I have never tasted a pesto with such depth of flavour. I truly didn’t think pesto could taste like that. The simple fact that I don’t love pasta when I’m at home, but ate it daily in Italy certainly speaks to the quality of the food in this country & the level of care that goes into its preparation.

I could write a novel on how much I enjoyed everything we put in our mouths in every city we visited in Italy, but just take my word for it & go. Eat! I promise it’s worth it.

I’m drooling over this pesto

After lunch we wandered a little more, hiking a steep road to take it some more of the incredible views, before catching a boat back to Santa Margherita. Trains come through the area pretty often that time of year so, once again, we easily caught one back to Genoa.

Our ship: Ventura!

My parents had also upgraded us to a cabin with a balcony as a wedding gift. They insisted that we would want it & after our week onboard, I couldn’t agree more. I’d highly recommend the splurge to anyone. We used ours every day.

As our ship prepared to leave, we popped the prosecco & got comfortable in our chairs. We sat outside watching the shore fade into the distance, sipping on prosecco, & enjoying the perfect evening.

Our first meal was in the main dining room. Each meal included three courses & we took advantage of cheese for dessert every night, ordering Branston Pickle to go with it, of course. Every since my mom introduced us to Branston Pickle with Stilton Blue Cheese, we’ve been kind of obsessed. (& when you’re on a British Cruise, why not take advantage!)

Branston Pickle & Cheese

The rest of the evening was spent exploring the ship. It was huge! You can do pretty much anything from relaxing with a drink to golfing or playing a game of basketball. It’s amazing! I think we only really figured out where everything was halfway through our week onboard.

It was nice to get a feel for the ship, but we made sure to get to bed pretty early. We had scheduled an early transfer to Florence so we wanted to get a good night’s rest.

When I first started planning our honeymoon, I figured we’d fly from Lyon to Genoa for the start of our cruise. As I did more research, however, I was pleased to discover that the train would actually be quicker. I am a big proponent of train travel. I originally assumed we could hop on a flight to Genoa pretty easily, but all routes required a stopover in Zurich or Frankfurt, forcing a major detour. So instead we opted to spend the day on the train. Not only would it be cheaper, we’d arrive earlier & the train station would be a few metro stops away from our airbnb rental in the historic district. Our train would leave Lyon a little bit earlier, but since we wouldn’t have to travel out to the airport, we’d actually leave our rental later. Perfect!

View from the train

Our train made a couple of stops along the way, first in Chambéry & then in Turin. We had a couple hours in Turin & when we arrived at Turin Porta Susa, I thought we were in for a pretty boring stopover. There weren’t a whole lot of amenities going on. I pulled out our tickets to double check the time we were leaving at & quickly realized we were supposed to leave from Turin Porta Nuova. They’d sold us tickets that had a different departure station than the one we’d arrived in. I swear Italian train travel is always an adventure! We quickly purchased tickets from a surly ticket agent & ran to catch our new train, only to get kicked off due to technically difficulties. A friendly university student pointed us towards the metro – it turns out we could have done this all along. Thanks, Mr Ticket Agent.

Our host in Genoa had given us very simple instructions to his apartment in the centre. We had arranged to meet him when he got off work, but arrived a bit early so we grabbed a drink in the shadow of the cathedral around the corner from his place.

Drinks in the square by the Cathedrale

Maurizio welcomed us into his beautiful attic apartment & gave us suggestions for how to spend our evening. He pointed out the important sights, his favourite restaurants, & the best gelato on a map. We didn’t have long so he made sure to give us a manageable list, which we definitely appreciated. This kind of hospitality is what truly makes airbnb my new favourite service.

We set out for the old quarter, map in hand. Luckily, this historic area is quite compact & it only took us about 10 minutes to get there. The buildings here are so different from those in France. With mostly flat facades, they’ve painted columns & art to mimic different types of architecture. We both found it quite beautiful. Maurizio had suggested a gelato shop up the hill. He told us it was his favourite place to get get granita. We opted for gelato & happened to accidentally time it perfectly for the sunset. The little shop is located on the spianata Castelletto, overlooking the port city. You can take the funicular up from the old district or find your way up the maze of stairs, like we did.

We decided to have dinner in another spot recommended by our host. Conveniently located around the corner from our apartment, Cantine Squarafico is a romantic little spot with a great menu, helpful & friendly staff, & a wonderful atmosphere in an underground setting. Our server spoke perfect english & recommended a beautiful local wine. It was exactly what we were looking for & started things off on the right foot. It doubles as a wine store, so if you’re not looking for dinner, I’d recommend stopping in to take a look at their wine selection. If you do decide to eat here, go for the lobster taglioni. It was by far our favourite part of the meal – we’d decided to share our appetizers & found ourselves fighting for more lobster. We could have ordered one each.

We capped off the evening with a wander through the summer market in the Porto Antico and a beer on our spectacular rooftop terrace. They had built a little terrace right into the tile rooftop. Our host brought us some lanterns & we sat at the little table, enjoying our beer & the impressive view. Most of the buildings are quite short so we had an unobstructed view of our surroundings, including the nearby port & Cathedral next door. It was gorgeous.

Evening Light

Interesting restaurant in the Old Port

Our terrace in daylight

& the view at night

I didn’t have any expectations for Genoa so it was a pleasant surprise to find we enjoyed our short time there so much. The friendly people, beautiful sights, & incredible food make it a very worthwhile destination. I wouldn’t hesitate to book another few days to explore a little further.