Departing Venice
We began the day with an early (6:30am) walk through a deserted Venice. After coffee and cannoli at the only open caffè we could find, we returned to finish packing, then had a more robust breakfast at our hotel. We finished just in time for the water taxi that we booked the night before (with the help of the front desk). They picked us up on the dock of the hotel and took us to the train station. I took a few parting shots during the ride, but all but one were lost when my phone decided to brick itself. (Turns out it was a catastrophic motherboard failure…) So, the remaining photos on the trip were taken with Teresa’s phone.
The journey to Genoa was interesting. The train from Venice to Bologna was uneventful, and the transfer to another train to Milan was easy. Unfortunately, the Milan-bound train was delayed by 15 minutes en route, so we only had 10 minutes to make our connection to Genoa. We barely made the train, only to find some German tourists in our seats. We took nearby empty seats, but it was still annoying.
Our First Bad Hotel (That Ended Well)
Once in Genoa, we checked in to our original hotel, the Hotel Belleview. We chose the hotel because it was close to the train station, and the reviews we saw were fine. The hotel was terrible! The room had 2 single beds, but was so small there was no way to put the beds together. They were arranged an in L shape. The air conditioner was broken, so it was stifling hot and humid in the very old and musty room. The front desk said they have no other rooms available. We checked out immediately, and were told we would not be getting a refund. Luckily, Teresa found a *much* better hotel just around the corner: The Grand Hotel Savoia! (Actually, she found the Hotel Continental, which is a 4-star hotel, and when we checked in, and they found out we were on our honeymoon and had a terrible experience at the first hotel, they moved us next door to their sister hotel, the 5-star Grand Hotel Savoia.) When we checked in to the Savoia, they upgraded us to a mini-suite and gave us each a glass of prosecco!
The Grand Hotel Savoia is fantastic! Top notch service, and both the hotel and the rooms are beautiful. On a walkway overlooking the lobby they have a collection of ancient Samurai armor from different time periods. They also have a pirate-themed play area for little kids, a spa (at which we booked massages), and a rooftop bar with a hot tub. (Yes, the hot tub is right next to the bar.)
Genoa First Impressions
After unsuccessfully trying to resurrect my phone at a phone store, we grabbed some coffee and pastries at a caffè, then wandered around Genoa a bit. Genoa really reminded us of San Francisco: lots of hills, nice waterfront, charming bars and restaurants, but also a fully functioning city. Far less touristy than Venice, although, like SF, still plenty of tourists.
Let my phone failure be a cautionary tale: if you use a password manager (and you *should* use a password manager), be sure to have your recovery keys on your partner’s phone. I had been meaning to put my recovery keys in the shared 1Password vault, but hadn’t done it yet. Oops. If I had my recovery keys, I could have bought a new phone in Genoa, installed 1Password, and had all my necessary passwords at my fingertips. Instead, I had to wait until we got home to get the keys off my laptop.
Dinner at Tralalêro
We had dinner at Tralalêro Trattoria Genovese, which is attached to our hotel. It was delicious! Teresa had ravioli with Genovese meat sauce, and I had sea bream filet in Ligurian sauce. Both were fantastic.
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