Mild Days in Busy Genoa
27 April 2012 | Genoa, Italy
Gaile/Sunny, Warm
This is not a photo of Genoa - it's Portofino.... See below -
We arrived in Genoa on Monday afternoon, after one of our best sails so far. Winds were in the 30's when we left Portovenere Monday morning, dropping a bit to the 20's as we moved up the Ligurian coast. We were eager to get all the way to Genoa, as the weather looked suspicious the next two days, and Bill and Anne needed to fly out from Genoa on Thursday. All worked perfectly - a good sail with a single reefed main and our standard 100% headsail the whole way. Pulling into the massive, busy port area of Genoa for the second time almost felt like home. I'm getting a little attached to the town.
Having a few extra days here was a blessing in many respects. We rented a car and had 2 days to show Anne and Bill some of the best features of this region - the Cinque Terre area, and the lovely towns of Camogli, Portofino, Santa Margherita Ligure, and Rapallo - where this venture all began with our putting pen to the agreement papers for our boat at the Rapallo Yacht Club last October. We also had a wonderful day in Portovenere, so that we could view where we had just sailed, but from a land view.
Genoa time also allowed us to dig into a few maintenance projects on the boat, with the help again of Glen Edwards and others from Pegaso and elsewhere. All systems are a go now, the Richardson's are safely home, and cabins are cleaned and ready to host our next guests, Maureen and Larry Burt arriving on Saturday. Plans are to spend Sunday in Genoa or maybe a short coastal tour, then set sail to head west for the rest of the Italian Riviera, stopping at Verazze, Imperia, and then Antibes, our first stop in France. We will be so sad to leave Italy! But many treasured memories will go with us.
Ciao for now.