Onto Milano!!

After our tour we were on the train and off to Milan. 

This train ride was a very different experience from our lovely, relaxing train ride from Nice to Genova.. For starters, our train had been cancelled. BUT with the help of a very kind, Italian woman, who spoke no English, we were able to decipher this message from her wild hand movements. She was catching the same train as us, so we followed her around the train station for a good 15 mins until she came to another platform, where we had a very interesting Italian conversation with her and another Italian man. The conversation mainly consisted of her and the man talking and then us smiling and laughing when we thought it was appropriate.. Haha. Who knows what kind of things we were laughing at. 

Once the train arrived at the platform we realised that everyone who couldn't get onto the previous train was now going to have to squish onto this second, already full, train - so much for those pre-booked seats. It was like a cattle freight. 

The corridors were packed with all of us who couldn't get on the first train.. We spent the next two hours standing over our bags, which did not really fit anywhere, and trying to let some people off and others on. 

Haha it was a crazy, smelly, two hours but we managed to pull through. Jess was even smiling. 

Stazione Centrale di Milano. This train station was the size of an airport, it was huge.

By the time we had caught the Metro, a tram and had walked for days (20mins) we arrived at our hostel, Ostello Bello. It was awesome!! You know how Jess and I wanted to find an aperitivo when we got to Milan? Well this hostel was an aperitivo restaurant as well! And because we were staying in the hostel we didn't even need to buy a drink we just got as much free food as our stomachs could handle. We. Were. Ecstatic! 

It has definitely been my favourite hostel of this entire trip, second only to Castle Rock (of course). Ugh it had such lovely bathrooms, the comfiest beds AND it even had hammocks, our dream come true!! We were worried that we would not go out and explore Milan at all because of these hammocks. But we did. Don't worry. 

This is us being very excited about our hostel.

There are many beautiful things to do and see in Milan. We weren't there for too long so we just picked a few places to explore. 

The famous Duomo di Milan .. Opp hang on. 

There we go! 

It was insane! 

So tall!

It was magnificent. 

Piazza Duomo

We also walked along the canals, which were beautiful, and ate lots of yummy food! 

The streets in Milan were cool too. So many wires! 

We strolled around the grounds of the Castello Sforzesco

They had a marble arch too!!

We loved Milan. The food was great, especially because we could eat as much as we wanted for free. We didn't get around to see everything but we took it slow and thoroughly enjoyed the parts of it that we did get to visit. 

And yes we did hang out in the hammocks one afternoon.

'Twas marvellous fun. 

Next stop: FLORENCE

Lots of love,

Jess and Jaz 

Xxxx

Walk about in Genova

Alrighty everyone bear with me, this post has a fair bit to take in so if you don't feel like a history lesson today then please close the little tab that has this page open, go into google and type in "awkward family photos" instead, you're bound to have a good chuckle. 

For those brave enough to soldier on, I salute you. 

On Sunday we embarked on a 4 hour walking tour through the city of Genova (Genoa being the Americanised version of the name). 

Genova: a port-side town famous for being the birthplace of pesto, Forcaccia, banking and, the big man himself, Christopher Columbis.

(All the facts that I write down are taken from what the tour guide told us on Sunday. If you have any complaints, queries, objections or disagreements, please bring it up with him personally. His name stars with a 'P' (let's pretend it was Pablos) and he lives somewhere in Genova.) 

Well.. Where the heck do I start!? 

Ummmmm oh ok!

So Genova was founded around 600BC by the Greeks and was the main power over the Mediterrainian for hundreds of years due to it's massive port, which enabled lots of trading and other such ship related shenanigans to occur. 

The port is a whopping 48 km long. However, despite this monstrous size, now a days, because everything is becoming 'bigger and better', the port can not accomodate for the some of the larger shipping industries. This being said it still remains one of the most important ports in the Mediterrainian.

The buildings in Genova are sensational. (Have to find a word other than awesome. I use it too much) 

The Galleria Mazzini

Piazza Metteoti

Basilica della Santissima Annunziata del Vastato - A beautiful Catholic cathedral in town. We did not get a chance to go inside this one but apparently it is amazing.

Palais Royale

Palazzo San Giorgio - Palace of St. George.

Marco Polo was imprisoned inside this building at some point. It was during this time that he wrote his book Le Devisament dou monde. (Tour guide Pablos, 2014)

St. George slaying the dragon.

The main gate of the city, Porta Soprana.

Cathédral de San Lorenzo was huge! The black and white stripey look was all the rage back in the 13th and 14th centuries. Very trendy. The white blocks are made of marble and the black ones, slate. 

This church is just next to Palais Ducal was incredible as well. Not so eyecatching on the outside but inside there was no space on the walls that wasn't decorated with some sort of painting or carving. It was so beautiful.

This is where Christopher Columbus was born. Actually I can't remember whether he was actually born in this house or just lived here for the first years of his life. Anyhoo he resided in here at some point during his younger years. Later on he moved to Portugal. Also a bit of trivia for you, all of his expeditions were funded by the Spanish king and queen.. Huh very interesting (I was never very good at retaining information in our history lessons so this is probably something everyone already knows..). 

Here stands Guiseppe Garibaldi (Well I suppose he is sitting and his horse is standing), the 'father of two worlds' who United Italy in 1870. I love his name haha very swish!

I know I said it before, but pesto and forcaccia (a flat oven baked bread topped with herbs and oil mainly, but can be spruced up with anything you feel like really. The tour guide described it as "kind of like a flat rectangular pizza") both originated in Genova. As we walked through the streets and alleyways of Genova we would get nostrils full of the smells of freshly baked forcaccia and other Italian food that made our mouths water. It gets even better though, we have discovered a little thing that the Italians like to call, aperitivo . Only some restaurants run in the apretivo style, but basically you walk into a restaurant pay about 5€ for a drink and with that drink you have access to an all you can eat buffet. This is a superb idea and as soon as we get into Milan, Jess and I will be scouting out one of these magical food proveyors.. 

We were also treated to the most amazing gelato today. Ugh I don't think I have ever tasted gelato as amazing as I did today. 

The streets and alleyways were awesome to walk through. Luckily for us, our tour guide new his way around other wise we would have gotten lost in that maze of tall buildings. A lot of the buildings were painted different colours too. 

Some washing, hanging out to dry. I'd be so frustrated if a wind came through my street and blew my undies and socks away.

The markets outside Palais Ducal.

Piazza de Ferrari

I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by this quirky little city. The tour we went on unveiled some interesting stories we probably never would have learned about had we simply walked around by ourselves. Tour guide Pablos was great and did an excellent job at helping us get the most out of Genova. 

Xxxx

Jess and Jaz

Arrivo a Genova

Yesterday afternoon we travelled to Genova by train. When we boarded we were more excited about the train ride than about actually visiting Genova. It was just like we were aboard the Hogwarts Express! It was decked out with cabins AND bag racks. Just like in the movies, so exciting! Many Harry Potter lines were quoted that train ride.

It was a beautifully scenic train ride along the coast. 

When we hit Genova we found our hostel, Hostel Manéna, where we were warmly welcomed by one of the receptionists who showed us the best places to go and was a great help. After dumping our bags we went straight out to find dinner. We dined in a very fancy Italian restaurant that did not have pizza. Pffft and they call themselves Italian. 

After dinner we climbed to the top of Belvedere Montaldo which overlooks the city of Genova. 

That one extra bright light is the lighthouse that sits on the port. 

Since arriving in Genova we have discovered that our few French phrases are of no use to us in this country they call Italy - we are going to have to start pretending to understand Italian. 'Si si a la pizza por fa vour señor a la spaghetti bolognase. Arivaderchi señorita della pesto... Prego!' This phrase loosely translates to 'I've got not clue how to speak Italian (or spell for that matter)' (very loose translation).

We retired to bed early last night (11pm) and were lulled into a peaceful sleep by the man snoring rather loudly in the bed across the room from us. Bellissimo! 

Love Jaz and Jess

Xxxxxxx