Our dinner last night with Alba and Alex was a gustatory delight. We tasted some of the local dishes of Genova that included fried chips made from chick pea flower, frisciue which is something like a zucchini and onion donut (savoury), verdure pansoto (vegetable tortollone with a walnut cream sauce. The pansoto was something different and a real treat! Today we met old friends Franco and Sabina for lunch/coffee. Johanna and I met them for the first time 20 years...

Well Lucy won out last night and consequently we ended up eating again! Pizza, of course. It's hard to resist when it is so tasty here! We were up early this morning and off on a trip to one of the most beautiful and renowned towns in the whole of Italy: Portofino. This town is located on the Italian Riviera, about 30 km from where we are in the centre of Genova. We catch the train at Genova Principe and get off at the picturesque coastal town of Santa Margherit...

For the avid readers of the blog, we have been in hiatus for a couple of days as we spend a proportion of our time navigating our way throughout this beautiful Italian City - we did not die of food poisoning! In fact, the quality of eateries here is excellent. We had just had a bad experience. I mentioned in the first blog for Genova that the architecture here is exquisite. I have attached some photos with captions for those that have an interest. Yesterday and...

Sadly we say goodbye to Vernazza and get onto the train to Sestri Levante. Here we will make a changeover to the Savona train that will let us off mid way at station Genova Piazza Principe. We are entertained, along the way, by the beautiful coastal scenery of the Italian Riviera. Green mountains set against a cloudless blue sky and turquoise ocean. We pass through countless tunnels as the train snakes its way up the Ligurian coast. We arrive in Genova and are ...

We say goodbye to Florence and negotiate our train travel to the coastal town of Vernazza located on the world famous coastal strip of Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera. We will travel out of Tuscany and into Liguria. Liguria is the birthplace of our senior Tony Rao (who, by the way, has finally disposed of his silly hat) so part of my knowledge base for this area will come from him. This strip is composed of five towns; Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Verna...