Italy : Genoa in rainy spring

It was a rainy evening when we reached Genoa. Not a drizzle, but a heavy rain. The rain washed away the holiday mood.

But......

Thanks to our Polish hostess Lidia who had been living in Italy for the past 8 years, the mood-dampening rain was forgotten.

We started off with pastry shopping for breakfast as we were taking an early train to Cinque Terre. It was a famous pastry cafe in Genoa. I can't believe I missed taking any photos of the cafe (I was pretty sure I did but when I went searching through the hard disk, there wasn't any!!!) -.-

The name of the shop/cafe is Panarello located at Via San Vincenzo, Genoa (all the locals call it Genova). It is a shame the shipping doesn't offer to countries outside Italy, France, U.K., Germany, Spain and Swiss >.< Otherwise, I would love to order panettone for Christmas this year.

Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that we didn't understand Italian, our friend commented that the staffs in the shop were rather rude and arrogant.

After making sure we would not be starved in the train tomorrow, we took a stroll in the rain around the Genoa city. It is a charming little city by the Liguria sea and that makes it one of the strategic ports for trading in the Mediterranean.

Piazza de Ferrari stood all mighty in the main square of Genoa. It's surrounded by handsomely designed old buildings.

Cold, wet and a little tired, Lidia suggested to enjoy aperitif with some antipasti before heading for dinner. That sounded like a brilliant idea!
Aperitif comes from the Latin word aperire, which means "open". Hence, aperitif is simply to open appetite with a drink.

I especially love the idea of aperitif in Italy! It usually consists of drinks and a hearty platter of lips-smacking antipasti - fresh olives, cold cuts, bruschetta, and the list goes on. You can easily find bars or cafes serving aperitif throughout Italy. It is a norm or should I say a tradition here.

A glance on this picture brings back good memory of the company.....and of course the delicious taste of antipasti lingering in my mouth when I took each bite of them!! I love everything on that platter!!! The bill came up to about €18 for 3 drinks (alcoholic and non-alchoholic)a platter of goodies, and a bowl of chips, which I thought it was rather reasonable. If you are a light eater, that could probably be your dinner already ;p

Next, Lidia brought us to a quietly located restaurant in the heart of the town. I couldn't be sure if it was the rain that made the place less frequented or it was indeed a quiet area. Nevertheless, it is the good food that counts! Lidia said this restaurant is definitely recommended. Again, I couldn't find any pictures of the restaurant or the name of it!! This shows how "focused" I was in this trip -.- Maybe we were just too tired packing and cleaning due to the relocation.

But..but....I managed to get the pictures of the food :p

Rabbit dish - it is one of Genoa's specialty apart from pesto and trofie. Hubby decided to give this dish a try and he liked it.

Trofie (special type of pasta that looks like tiny spiral worms, which is widely found in Genoa. One of the specialties here.) with mussels. This was what Lidia and I had.

Panna Cotta. A must try dessert when you visit Italy. It is too tedious to make this at home :p

The restaurant's special Do-It-Yourself Tiramisu :)

After a scrumptious meal, what would be the best thing to do? Yikes, be a potato couch! We took a stroll once again, taking the other route to head back to the hotel.

We stayed in Hotel Astoria, which was a decent hotel and most importantly, it was a stone's throw away from the Genoa Brignole train station.

This is an antique lift! After we checked in, we waited for quite some time before we could get into the lift to our room. Apparently, it was stuck in some floors.....

It was a huge room.....with classical furniture and a huge bathroom!

Location of the hotel : Piazza Brignole, 4, 16122 Genoa, Italy