A short stop in Genova on the way to Paris

8/11 - Vesimo to Genova - 17.27 grueling miles

Genova is one of Italy's most important port cities, having produced swarthy sailors and bold, enterprising captains on a quest for riches and glory (among them Cristopher Columbus) for hundreds of years.  The city, one of UNESCO's world heritage sites, straddles the middle of rainbow-shaped Liguria, dominating the entire region with its exotic and somewhat begrimed splendor.

Looking at the map from my tent in Vesima, I reasoned that Genova was fairly close, and needing any excuse whatsoever to gallop back to the water, I spent the morning lounging around on the rocky beach near to the campground.

At about 12:30 (the latest possible check-out time without having to pay for another day), I set off for Genova, and calculated that I would make my hostel around 4:30.

I could have surmised, if someone had asked me, that port cities tend to stretch out along the

 coast.  Even Savona, a smaller port town, stretched for miles along the coast, as I had found out only a few days before during my longest hike yet.  However, it was not until I was actually walking that congested, polluted boulevard that I realized that I had been in the city of Genova for quite some time, but still had a large amount of distance to cover befo

re reaching my hostel.

My next realization, another that should have been obvious to me, is that Liguria is a region with hills that come right up to the border of the water.  On my two-dimensional GPS, the distance inland that I would have to cover seemed pretty doable.  One would think that I would have made the logical connection in my mind, and realized what I was in for: I had stayed in this exact same hostel in 2003, had walked down very similar hills to the ones bodering Genova less than a week prior, and had previously spent three weeks in the Cinqueterre (picture hills meeting the sea).  Even so, the fact had entirely escaped me that the last part of my walk would be entirely uphill.

By 4 o'clock, it had become abundantly clear that I still had a good distance to go (so much for a 4:30 arrival), so I figured it would be wise to call the hostel and see if I could reserve a bed for that night. 

When I called, the lady asked me where I was.  I told her I was in Genova, and she replied that I should come immediately, since there were few beds left.  Actually, more specifically, I had told her that I was in Cornigliano Ligure (a part of Genova); she misheard me and thought I was near Portofino, and called me a liar for saying I was in Genova.  We had a bit of an Italian conversation (aka yelling match), and I finally managed to explain to her that I was indeed in Genova.  She said that I could take a bus to get to the hostel, I responded that I needed to walk there, she was confused, I was frustrated, but finally we worked it out that I had until 7:30 to arrive at the hostel.

Since it had also come out that by her estimate I was still between 12-15 kilometers (7-9 miles) away, I realized that there would be no time for breaks if I was to make it there in time.

Stubborn as I am, I decided that I would second guess my GPS and start looking for some shortcuts, which would give me time for some breaks.  I took a left when I should have gone straight, and after climbing over 200 steps and walking up various hills for 20 minutes, I ended up on an onramp for the freeway heading out of the city.

The streets that looked like the shortcut, or in other words the hypotenuse in the triangle, were actually up and down hills all the way to the hostel.  Realizing that I had now lost time, I recalculated the path on the GPS, vowed not to second-guess it anymore, and walked down the steep hill that I had climbed unnecessarily.

I won't go into too much more detail here, as I think you can picture me walking aimlessly up and down steep hills in areas where tourists have never stepped foot without me having to waste your time describing it.  Let me just say that if you are ever bored in Genova, I recommend you lose yourself on some hills.  Besides getting a killer workout for your quads, you will see some wonderful views of the city, and start to understand what that strange city is all about.

I arrived at the hostel at 7:00 PM, heaving heavily and drenched in sweat.  Since I had walked 3 hours straight without a break, I now had the luxury of 10 minutes to catch my breath and dry off, and headed into the hostel, where the now friendly (but obviously fiery, as I had experienced) Mella put me in a room with 4 Finnish kids fresh out of high school.  I took the bus down (no more walking for me, thank you very much) to town, ate some Chinese food that tasted a lot like Italian food, and headed back up soon after.  After all, I had a train to catch.