As I was still surprised and delighted by the number of craft beer locations in Genoa, I decided to visit Scurreria Beer and Bagel. I timed my visit well as it was packed by the time I left, which was still early evening.
Staff welcome customers at the door and then seat them, with a QR code on the table giving access to the drinks and food menu. The beers are ever changing, hence why providing a printed menu would be challenging. Table service is then offered and I found the whole arrangement well managed and organised. It all had a vibrant and personal charm, this isn’t a large venue by any means.
The online reviews are very positive for this venue and it felt like mostly locals rather than tourists. That certainly bodes well for the future of craft beer and hopefully more similar venues to this will open up.
For the second time in one day I accidentally ordered a burger, but I don’t mind a bit of duplication. This one was the spicy beef burger and the meat was juicy with the spicy mayo adding flavour, along with the rather lovely caramelised onions.
The beer is the Heavy Punch from the Bonavena Brewing Company, a punchy, hoppy and citrusy beer which was rounded and complemented the burger nicely.
I found the venue friendly, welcoming and the beer range was nicely curated with a selection of different styles. The prices were reasonable and the background music was at an appropriate level for the day. The food menu is primarily bagels and burgers, although there are some other options to surprise and delight customers. All really rather lovely.
Located next to the former home of Christopher Columbus are these medieval cloisters which feel slightly out of place. That’s primarily as they are out of place, they’ve knocked the nearby church down but thought they’d like to keep these cloisters and so they moved them.
They were attached to the twelfth century Benedictine Monastery, but progress was progress and in the early twentieth century the city authorities wanted modernity and a better infrastructure, so the demolition took place in 1905.
They’re quite understated here, even though they’re next to a busy historic attraction. Which has the advantage that there’s no people, tourist shops or anything else cluttering the arrangement up.
The monastery’s existence had really ended in 1799 when the religious community was shut down by Napoleon. The monastery then became a college, then a prison and so the religious links had long since gone when they decided that the entire area needed clearing.
I’m aware that this scam is hardly the preserve of Genoa, I’ve seen it in Rome, Florence, Athens and Milan, but it still feels sub-optimal. I’ve blurred out the two ‘victims’ in this photo but I saw numerous people being upset by this and so it appears they weren’t aware of how it worked despite it being such a common scam.
But, in short, they offer to put a free bracelet or some other rubbish on the wrist whilst trying to be engaging and welcoming. The aim is that the tourists, who are looking to enjoy their day, are pleased to be offered something for free and they make conversation. They are then asked for a donation and it’s hard to remove the bracelet now it’s firmly attached to the wrist of the victim.
I did ignore four different people trying it on me, although it’s never going to work on me as I don’t want a free bracelet. Indeed, I don’t want any adornments of any kind even if they were complimentary. Now, if they tried giving me a decadent can of craft beer, then they might be in business.
The whole arrangement here saddens me as it causes distress, from minor annoyance to general upset, to those targeted, brings the area into disrepute and I can see a relatively large number of negative online reviews about the area because of it. Although this certainly isn’t a new thing, there’s a review from 15 years from someone who felt intimidated by it happening in the Genoa Waterfront Marina area.
I’m not sure if it’s a criminal offence or not, but some of the behaviour I saw today from victims who pushed back was certainly verging on harassment and threats of violence. There were a fair few Carabinieri nearby, so perhaps those involved know just how far to push their little scam without getting into trouble.
This accumulation of bricks is known as the house of Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) and it is the location of where it’s thought he lived between 1455 and 1470. The actual building is later, built in the early eighteenth century, and a relatively early attempt to try and preserve history. It’s thought that the original structure was destroyed during the 1684 Bombardment of Genoa by the French.
The property is now just two stories in height, but the reconstructed one was across five stories. However, when they knocked the neighbouring buildings down, which had shared beams, they lopped off the top half of this structure. That seems a slightly less inspired attempt to maintain history, but at least something is here.
It’s now a museum, but I didn’t pop in as the reviews weren’t that positive and I can’t say I’m entirely engaged with reconstructed buildings or extensions that are turned into ballrooms. It’s said that the building was lower in height in around 1900, but I can’t find any photos of how it might have looked before that.
It’s not Essex, but this is Genoa who share the same flag of St. George. Indeed, there’s a strong line of argument that the English took this flag from Genoa and the Duke of Kent said in a speech in the city in 1992 that:
“The St. George’s flag, a red cross on a white field, was adopted by England and the City of London in 1190 for their ships entering the Mediterranean to benefit from the protection of the Genoese fleet. The English Monarch paid an annual tribute to the Doge of Genoa for this privilege”.
The history for all of this is a little disputed and quite controversial, but there is certainly a shared lineage of sorts.
Many years ago, I always tried to visit the top rated pizza restaurant and the top rated burger restaurant in every city that I went to, something which I’ve fallen out of the habit of doing. But, as it’s my first time in Genoa, I thought I’d try the top rated burger place which also happened to be advertising craft beer.
I did once know a little Italian, but I’ve forgotten that as I’m trying to muster a few words of Polish together. Fortunately, the staff member here was helpful, engaging and spoke perfect English.
Craft beer in the fridge, this surprised and delighted me.
I went for the TUKA New English IPA from Birra dell’Eremo and had a taste of stone fruit, it was refreshing and rounded.
I went for the Miscio burger with iceberg lettuce, tomato, tomatoes and gherkins. All very decent, the burger was cooked well, tasted meaty and the chips were crispy, salty and fluffy inside. And the gherkins, as they always are, were delicious. All the food had a depth of flavour and the beer complemented the arrangement nicely.
The service was attentive, although it was pretty much empty when I was there, which makes matters easier for all concerned. I can see why this restaurant is so well reviewed and I would be tempted to come back and try their hot dogs.
After a few hours in Warsaw, it was time to get the train back to the airport for my onward flight. The S2 railway line takes around thirty minutes to get from the city centre to the airport, with a 24 hour ticket to use all public transport in Warsaw costing around £3.
The Preludium Executive Lounge was at near capacity, but I found a quiet spot which was helpfully next to a power point. Here’s the chicken kebabs with green beans, alongside an espresso, beer and Fanta.
And salad is my middle name is healthy.
Mine was the 17:30 flight to sunny Genoa.
I allowed thirty minutes to walk to the gate, although it took me around fifteen seconds such is the delight of Schengen. I like being early…
Just for reference, the price of things at the vending machine (divide by 5 to get the approximate GBP cost). I had some time to kill at the gate as I had arrived early.
Over half of passengers, including me, were sent to another queue for additional document checks. It transpired that the Italian Government had decided to reintroduce border control checks because of the football game between Napoli and Eintracht Frankfurt. The staff dealt with all this admirably, it was quite a lot of extra work performing extra checks on tens of documents.
The document process meant that we departed around thirty minutes late. The aircraft is 9H-WNN, another new one for me.
The seating Gods had given me an aisle seat, but I noticed that the row of three seats in front of me was clear when boarding was completed. Some other passengers started to eye them up, but I planned to move forward so that the two passengers on my row had more space. And also because I would have more space if I’m being entirely honest….
Most lovely.
The pilot made an announcement that passengers on the left hand side of the aircraft could look out the window at something. He said it in Polish so I didn’t know what exactly I was looking at, but I think this is Venice. ChatGPT thinks it’s New York, but I’m relatively confident from my knowledge if geography that it isn’t.
The flight, yet again, was comfortable and well managed. The crew were friendly, organised and the service was quiet which worked well for my little nap.
And safely into Genoa Christopher Columbus Airport…..
The flight cost me £9 as usual as part of Wizz Air’s Multipass arrangement, which I considered to be decent value for money.
After an uneventful rail journey to Luton Airport, I popped in Big Smoke where I get £18 to spend with my Priority Pass card. There has been another price rise, which is the fourth of the year to my knowledge, which makes menu ordering slightly more difficult each time.
I opted for the dirty fries with beef brisket, the latter of which is just about hidden in the photo but there was a big lump of it at the bottom. It was entirely adequate, with the service being friendly and helpful.
And a quick visit to My Lounge to see their collection of dirty crockery and to try their Heineken 0%. They’re really nailed the flavour of it, it tastes just as bad as Heineken so that’s a win for the brewery. The Mexican chicken and spicy rice is actually decent, the food standards do seem to have improved here over the last few months. Or my standards have dropped, either is possible.
I was moderately amused as the customer in front of me asked for two Birra Moretti beers. They’re quite tight here, so every customer gets 2/3rds of a bottle, unless you have the 0% Heineken where they just give you the whole thing as I don’t think many people want that. This whole thing just makes matters more faffy and the bar server ended up with one glass of Birra Moretti full and the other 90% full. The customer complained he wanted 100% in each and the barman actually just tutted in response. The customer looked annoyed and the glass was topped up begrudgingly. Lounge entry here is nearly £40 (unless you have a lounge card or similar) so this tightness does them no favours. But, since I get free entry with Priority Pass, I won’t complain about anything else in here…..
They started boarding twenty minutes earlier than advertised, but Wizz Air are efficient and everything here was under control during the boarding process. One customer got charged £70 for having a large bag, he had got confused which bag sizer he was meant to use and I thought he was very gracious about it all. We were on the aircraft at the time that the gate was meant to have closed, something that British Airways always struggles to manage as customers faff about with their bags.
Boarding the aircraft which was HA-LGO which I don’t think I’ve been on before. The seating Gods gave me a window seat and it also transpired that there was no-one in the middle seat despite the flight being around 90% full.
The flight was, yet again, peaceful and uneventful. The crew were efficient and polite, sweeping down the aisle selling things without waking everyone up. The aircraft was clean, I had plenty of space and I was rather pleased with my £8.99 flight cost.
We were put on a bus to get the 75 metres to the airport terminal and they really struggled to get everyone on two buses, I think they’d usually use three. It felt slightly sub-optimal, but it was hardly a long bus journey so I was only briefly annoyed.
My shiny new passport, which doesn’t have around 120 stamps in the bloody thing, is allowing me to sweep through border control so I was able to get one of the last trains of the evening into Warsaw. I don’t have much leeway here, although there are plenty of night buses which serve the airport if required.
It’s always good to be back on public transport in Warsaw, peaceful and efficient.
Arriving into Warszawa Zachodnia (Warsaw West) railway station, which is currently being upgraded. However, it feels at times that Warsaw is constantly being upgraded, such as the fast rate of change here.
And there’s the Ibis Budget, hidden behind road works. This was only a ten minute walk from the railway site, and I’ve stayed at the adjoining Ibis several times, and fortunately I found a gap in the road works to actually gain access to the hotel.
All in all, I was once again pleased and content with the whole airport and flight experience.
The station, located on the M2 line, opened on 8 March 2015 which was a few years after the stadium itself opened, but there is also a national rail network station here. The stadium was built on the site of the Tenth Anniversary Stadium, which opened in 1955 and was built on rubble from the Second World War. The stadium was a bit sub-optimal, it was a ten minute walk for football players to get back to the dressing rooms, so half-time had to last for half an hour. It closed in 2008, ready for the development of the new site.
Here is the lovely shiny stadium, which is used by the national Polish football team amongst others.
It’s possible to walk around the perimeter, it doesn’t seem to be closed off at all.
This is the Ryszard Siwiec (1909-1968) Memorial and is one of the heroes of the Polish nation. On 12 September 1968, he set fire to himself in front of the country’s leaders and 100,000 spectators. The communist authorities were livid, it took the shine off their day and they pretended that he was an alcoholic who was mentally unstable. They seized the letter that he sent to his wife and tried to pretend that the whole thing didn’t happen. But it did, his vision for Poland took a long time to come about, but it has.
The neighbouring rail station.
A tunnel under the railway line which gives access to the stadium.
There’s a nearby park to the metro station, Skaryszewski Park.
A long path through the park, which was built on the site of a floodplain in 1905. Some beavers made the park their home in 2006, but they caused so much damage that they removed the little angels and plonked them in the nearby zoo.
This memorial needs repair as it’s nearly impossible to read, but it commemorates the lives of those Poles who died in the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers in New York.
A sculpture outside the park of Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) who served as the Prime Minister of Poland for most of 1919. He was perhaps more well known as a pianist and he served as part of the Polish Government in exile between 1940 and 1941. The entire park has now also been named in his honour.
Apparently, if AI is to be believed, the circular wheel is a telecommunications mast.
The old looking building is one of the towers constructed as part of the bridge which was designed to be ornamental and it also houses the staircases.
This Adam Roman (1916-2013) sculpture is named ‘The Relay’ and is located outside of the stadium and it dates from the previous 1955 structure. It was originally meant to be located at the Central Park of Culture in Powiśle, with the artist adding a third runner to his initial plans to have just two.
Back into the metro station, which is also planned to be one of the ends of metro line M3 which is currently under construction. There is another island platform and two tracks already in place for this, but they’re not currently in use. Hopefully by the time the first section of the M3 line opens in around five years I’ll have actually finished visiting all the stations that are currently open….
As I had a couple of hours spare in London before my train from Farringdon, I thought I’d pop into the JD Wetherspoon operated Sir John Oldcastle which is at the end of the street. It’s not been one of my favourite pubs as it’s often very busy, but matters are more sedate on a Sunday early afternoon.
As usual, I’ll use the pub chain’s own history of the pub name:
“Named after The Sir John Oldcastle Tavern, which stood in the former grounds of Sir John’s nearby mansion, this was already long established by 1680. Oldcastle is thought to have been the model for Shakespeare’s character ‘Falstaff’.”
Not a vast amount has changed with the street layout here in the last 150 years, the pub is located just above the “EET” of Charles Street. The ward of Saffron Hill has now gone, which originally took its name as saffron grew around here. It’s also where Fagin’s den was located in Oliver Twist.
The bar area and coffee machines and today it was the £1.81 unlimited hot drinks that tempted me in here rather than beer. It all seems functional enough and it felt well managed.
Carpets in every JD Wetherspoon venue are unique, although this one isn’t necessarily the most decadent in terms of its styling.
The online reviews are pretty decent for a JD Wetherspoon venue, despite the challenges they must have here with having a small site and limited space in terms of facilities.
“I was so surprised when the staff said to me I can not paid by 50 in cash. No explanation why. The answer was “not because not”. This is absolutely disgusting and ridiculous. I asked about manager to explanation me this situation. He didn’t show up to speak with me. I will never back to this place. Higley not recommended.”
Disgusting that a venue won’t accept a £50 note? Hmmmm. Seems quite reasonable to me given the number of forgeries.
“I’ve just been kicked out of here, because I had the audacity to bring a Costa Coffee in; even though I’d just ordered and paid for breakfast. They’d rather refund my breakfast purchase; than let me have a Costa with it. If their machine coffee was better; I wouldn’t have had to in the first place.”
Why not just bring in your own food as well?
“Good interior. Ordered porridge. I went to the toilet and when I came back some waiter had taken it away. I hadn’t eaten any of it. I found it was thrown away! Another diner’s beer was also taken away by the same waiter undrunk.”
Very efficient service, it’s good to keep the tables clean.
“If you want to sit and read a paper or a book, this is the place for you. If however, you want to have a laugh and giggle with friends, go to the castle pub instead.”
I’m with the pub, this group sounds needlessly frivolous.
“Leffe. £3.49 a pint in most Wetherspoons. John Oldcastle £5.49 some might say different location BUT McDonalds do not have this issue.”
It feels inevitable to me that a pub in central London will be more expensive than one in Swindon.
“Asked to leave when we were causing no trouble…”
I suspect another side to this story….
Anyway, once again I digress. I thought the pub looked relatively clean, although the toilets probably need more rebuilding than cleaning, with the team members seeming friendly enough. And the coffees and other assorted hot drinks tasted as expected, so a rather peaceful couple of hours.
