Today (Oct 1) we arrived in Camogli on the Ligurian Sea in the area known as the Italian Riviera. We drove from Monte Carlo with stops in Toirano where we visited the amazing caves (see Blog #12) and Genova along the way.
One of the interesting looking buildings we saw in Genova.
We found that Genova was a bit of a disappointment and not worthy of a separate blog story. To be fair, we were running late and could only spend an hour in the city and if we had more time, we would have explored its famous maritime museum and aquarium, as well as more of the historic centre. However, what we did see in one hour was snarled traffic jams when driving (it took 1.5 hours just to get out of town); narrow, crowded streets when walking; and at one point we wandered into a very seedy section of town where we saw some sites that are not meant to be seen by tourists. We did however stop to get some Genova Salami, which is our favourite back home when we go to Farm Boy.
Sandy at the entrance to the Genova Maritime Museum in front of a model of the Santa Maria, one of Columbus’ ships on his 1492 voyage to the New World. Although Columbus sailed for Spain, he was born in Genova.
After Genova, we drove into Camogli 20 Km to the east, just as the sun was setting and started looking for the B&B we booked at Domus Giulia. Giulia is the name of our hostess and is pronounced the same as the English equivalent, "Julia". Although I thought I had a good map right to her B&B, including the street address, we soon found that finding buildings in Italy is much like finding addresses in Japan. It’s hard to tell what street you’re on let alone the specific house number, especially in the dark. I stopped and asked a local in my best Italian (which is really bad) for help. I showed him the address, which also listed Giulia’s phone number, so he whipped out his cell phone and called her. Giulia told him to tell me to go to the train station where she would meet us and lead us back to her place, as per her original instructions to me when we corresponded by e-mail.
Giulia and Sandy by the pool at her villa overlooking the Ligurian Sea (a branch of the Mediterranean Sea) on the Italian Riviera.
So we did as instructed this time and Giulia soon met us. We then discovered why she had to lead the way. She lived in a villa high up on the escarpment and we had to follow her on a harrowing 2K drive up a one-lane road with sections that had less than a foot of clearance on either side of our car. Although we were quite hungry and it was 8:00 PM with no restaurant within walking distance, there was no way we wanted to go out for dinner and face doing that drive down into town and back again in the dark.
Can you imagine driving up this road twice and down once in the dark in one night?
After wiping the sweat from my brow and explaining this to Giulia, she became quite insistent that we had to because she had made special reservations for us at one of her favourite restaurants, Lino’s. So we unloaded our luggage and reluctantly agreed after getting directions from Giulia – and we were glad that we did because we had the best dinner of our trip (and the most expensive, but it was worth it).
So for those who are interested in what fine Italian dining looks like in a town where the seafood is very fresh, here are pictures of all of our courses.
Drinks: Two glasses of Asti Spumanti sparking white wine (provided free by Lino’s; Giulia told them that it was our anniversary when she made the reservation), acqua frissante (carbonated water – Price €2.50 per bottle) and vino in caraffa 1/2 litro (red house wine - Price €4.00 per half litre)
Sandy’s antipasto: Warm seafood salad in pink sauce (includes squid, octopus, scampi, mussels, clams and small flying squid). Price €13.00
Lorne’s antipasto: Steamed octopus with potatoes. Price €10.00
Sandy’s primo piatti (first course): Pansoti (fresh homemade pasta stuffed with vegetables) in walnut sauce. Price €9.00
Lorne’s primo piatti: Spaghetti Sea Breeze style (with clams, mussels, scampi and large prawn). Price €13.00
Sandy’s secondo piatti (second course): Mixed grilled fish. Price €22.00
Lorne’s secondo piatti: Baked fish with small flying squid. Price €18.00
Shared plate: Grilled vegetables (zucchini, carrots, and mushrooms). Price €6.00
Sandy’s and Lorne’s desserts: Coffee-flavoured Tiramisu (€5.00) and Lemon sorbet (€5.00)
Sandy’s and Lorne’s coffees: Cappuccino (€3.00) and Espresso caffe (€2.00)
Total price of meal: €112.50 + €7.50 tip = €120.00 ($167.49 Canadian dollars)
(tipping in Italy generally consists of rounding up, i.e. to €115, so my understanding is that a €7.50 tip was quite generous)
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