PAUL

Our first taste of Italy was just over the border in Ventimiglia where we had to change trains and book our rail travel through Italy. Of course, all those helpful French words we learnt in the previous week were useless and we were back to square one. With the tickets booked, we were off to Genoa. We arrived in the afternoon and were soon exploring the city.

In the historic part of town we walked down a street full of renaissance buildings some with frescoed facades. At the port we found more "super-yachts" and an oriental market where you could buy any and every type of Asian and Middle-eastern food. Despite the serious appeal of the market, we decided to try something more regional and so found a trattoria in one of the narrow, medieval streets and had trofie al pesto and ravioli in ragu. YUM.

Another quick stroll the next day took us past some more of the imaginative architecture of the city and then we made our way back to the train station and off to Pisa.