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.
