After a week of getting adjusted to life here in Milan, we were able to travel for the first weekend of our trip. In my last post I said I was going to Lake Cuomo, but like everything else here I am learning that trips don't always happen the way you planned them to. My roommate decided to go to the beaches of Genoa with the rest of our group. After hectic back and forth phone calls, booking a 4 person room for 6 people, and riding around Milan to get train tickets, we were ready to go!
We left our dorm at 6:30am, earlier than I've been up in years! We had to take a 35 minute metro ride to the other side of the city to the train station. Once we figured out our platform we awaited for the train to pull up. When the train doors opened I understood exactly why our train tickets were only 9 euros one way. The train was packed with people, no airconditioning and no assigned seats. I fought my way through the train until I miracuously found an open seat next to two friendly women.
2 hours later I was able to see out of my cramped train car window my first sight of the sea which was crystal blue and sparkling like the inside of a Swarovski store. We got directions from a local how to get to the beach and were lucky enough to make friends with a cafe owner which brought us to a beautiful beach for the day. I spent the day laying in the sun, collecting beautiful stones and attempting to swim in the rocky waters (the beaches here aren't made up of soft white sand, but thousands of beautiful pebbles and stones)-I definitely don't need a pedicure anymore thanks to the rocks in the churning waves. We also unfortunately learned the tops are optional on the beach- for everyone.
Beautiful waters and a cloudless sky- the perfect beach day
another view from my chair
After everyone had enough sun we decided to leave. We realized our hotel was about 30 minutes away via train, so we had to hike, and I mean hike, back to the train station to get to our location. Everyone was very glad to check in and get showers after a long day of sweating in the sun, not to mention all of the little rocks that stuck to us from the water and shore. We grabbed a wonderful dinner in town and then headed to an outdoor cafe for gelato and after dinner drinks. I still find it amazing the Italian's can eat pasta and gelato this much and still be stick thin. Tell me your secrets!!
We noticed flashing lights and music from across the harbor from the cafe and decided to go check out what Genoa had to offer for a Saturday night. We found an outdoor club and were able to get in free to dance. The dance floor was floating on the water of the harbor and to top it off they started shooting massive amounts of bubbles onto the crowd. The foam came up to my knees at one point! After a while we had enough of the foam and went back to the hotel where I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
When we awoke in the morning we decided to just stay in the area until we were ready to go back to Milan. We saw a pirate ship in the harbor and wanted to take a tour which only cost 5 euros. The ship was used for the filming of Roman Polanksi's movie Pirates! When we ventured back to the train station I saw the amazing monument dedicated to Christopher Colombus, who was from Genoa (Genova). After this long weekend of sun and traveling I am ready for a good night of sleep in what now feels like home to me, sweet Milano!
Views of the pirate ship
I want to be a pirate!
Cristoforo Colombo
La Patria
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