ssp

For those who remember my postings and who responded, I wanted to let everyone know that I had a wonderful trip. We planned the trip last minute, my husband got off a merchant ship in the Port of Genoa. I flew air france into Genoa. What a great little airport. We stayed at the Sheraton, at the airport. It was very convenient, just a quick walk through the airport. We picked up a rental from Hertz, right at the airport. No problems, great little ford focus, it was expensive though. Total with taxes and insurance, 581. Euro . But our trip would not have been the same with out it. Driving in Italy is fun and easy. The Autostrada is very well maintained, and you can't beat the AutoGrille, for a coffee, and a pannini, (not to mention clean rest rooms) We drove from Genoa to Venice, parked the car in the Tranchetto lot, took the water bus #82 to our hotel. We stayed at the Metropole, we had reserved a canal room, but they upgraded our room to a waterfront room. The shutters opened up to the water, with great street view. We enjoyed having a glass of wine watching the tourist passby. I highly recommend this hotel, and would definately stay there again. It was just a quick walk to the San Marco area, one bridge down from the Bridge of Sighs. We only had 1 and 1/2 days in Venice, so we could only see some of the attractions. We did the Palace, and also the Naval Museaum. The weather was rainy, so we skipped the Gondola ride, with the hope we would return another time. From there we went to Tuscany, more on that another time.

LoveItaly

Hello ssp, thanks for sharing your trip. I think driving (well I actually am always the passenger to tell the truth, is fun and easy. And agree with you about the AutoGrille. Wish we had something like that here in CA.

Genoa, what a beautiful city to meet your husband in!! And it sounds like your hotels worked well for you. The Metropole sounds lovely. I love to sit at a window with a glass of wine and enjoy the traffic go by on the canal. I look forward to the rest of your report. Take care.

Lorac1127

So glad you had a great time...how could you not? Sometimes these last minute trips turn out to be best...there is definitely something to be said for spontaneity.

We were floored by the AutoGrille Ciao restaurants. We had wine, tossed pasta, risotto...amazing.

I would love to know more about Genoa and definitely all about Tuscany.

Carol

ssp

We spent 3 night total in Genoa. It is a very busy, working city. I don't think we ever ran into any other American tourist while we were there. My husband is a merchant marine, so he was interested in visiting Christopher Colombus' birth place. What a joke, a shell of a structure in the down town area. It was funny to us, but for some it would be a huge disappointment if they had made a special trip. We had dinner twice at "RINA's Seafood restaurant. A must if you like seafood. Of course the menu is only in Italian, so you need to depend on your waiter for advise. We were lucky to have the same waiter, Georgio, both nights, who recommended wonderful local dishes to us. It was my favorite restaurant that we visited in all of Italy. There is a newer aquarium in the downtown area also, but we did not visit there. If we had children with us we would have though. I would return to Genoa if I return to Italy. It was a great beginning and ending point.

buongiorno

I always like to hear about others enjoyment of Genoa as it's one of my early memories of going to Italy. We had a good time but I also remember shutting down our hotel's electricity with a hair dryer without the right converter...oops.