Genoa, The city of Merchants

I have driven passed by Genoa once but this was my first trip ever to stay, even if it was for one night, I arrived at mid-day and took a taxi directly to the Equatorial Guinea Consulate, it was a little difficult to find as it was basically a converted house and hidden in a poor part of town. The first person I encountered was a miserable old fart who needed oxygen to breath and it was probably something to do with the 100 cigarettes he smoked a day, he was complaining like a short-changed hooker, going on about how it was lunch time and nobody had informed him I was arriving and i didn't have the paperwork to say I had paid the money for the Visa and basically threw me out of the place, just as I got out of the door he chased after me the best he could and then told me they would do it right there and then, better than a normal appointment as that usually arrive before lunch and pick it up after lunch, it is all bullshit as it takes the young kid all of 5 minutes to hand write out a sticky label, so much for my 200 Euros. I then went to a nice hotel i found on the internet and it was probably one of the cheaper ones at 140 Euros a night and it was on a wharf in the old harbour and rightly named the marine hotel. It was new and was nice and clean and pretty nice, all in a nautical style. There was a fake galleon in the water besides it and from what i could see looked like a converted fishing vessel. I had a quick walk around the old area and my first impression was the town has suffered from inappropriate development and there is a raised highway around the harbour which destroys all the nice views of the old buildings and take saway the atmoshpere. there are some very nice old buildings including the cathedral and all the old apartments, must be a nightmare for decorating and remodelling a 600 year old building.













I liked the place but it is too busy for me and to be honest i have been spoiled by spending so much time in Florence and Sienna and Luca, all very perfectly preserved and peaceful with no traffic but it was a nice all paid for trip