Sat down for a smoke underneath a marble statue of someone or other.Wizened old bloke strikes up a conversation which I fail to understand of course.Explain I’m British with not much Italian speech “No no no no Italiano! Calabria! Calabria! No Italiano” he was getting quite animated in his insistence he was Calabriano not Italian(a long way from home too) sometimes it’s a minefield trying to keep up with all the different separatist movements…even though he got pretty heated he was still a nice old fella and we did that awkward shake hands/ fist bump thing on parting ways…
At the moment I’m looking around the Caruggi district of Genoa.For those unfamiliar Caruggi just means “Alleys” and that’s a wild understatement of where I am.Google rather unhelpfully calls it “Ghetto “ when posting a position update on Facebook and whilst it may look like your classic ghetto in parts, in reality it’s anything but…firstly if you charge €5 for a coffee in an artisan cafe you’re about as ghetto as Shoreditch,secondly some parts are full of top of the range independent clothes shop with prices that make you blow out your cheeks…however that being said the area has got everything going for it.Miles of tiny walkways littered with shops & cafes.Also leading off every main alley are lots of smaller alleys that either look inviting to investigate or absolutely terrifying depending on your nerves…it’s truely fascinating,terrifying,exciting,beautiful & ugly all in equal measure.I would recommend anyone who visits Genoa to spend a day walking around as it’s worth it but probably best to depart before the night descends as I believe it’s an area for some roughhousing and picking off of unwary tourists…the days are fine though…
Luckily it appears Caruggi has escaped the dreaded curse of gentrification.I don’t think even those snakes responsible for such heresy across the world would either dare,or get away with, trying to modernise such a wonderful area of the city…Infact it looks like many parts of Italian medieval cities have escaped this curse.I could be wrong but hope not…
Tomorrow is not only my last full day in Genoa but in Italy also and it’s been a blast.It’s an excellent country full of great food,beer & people and of course wonderful well preserved historical cities.If you’ve never been then give it a go.It’s very easy to see why it’s so popular.Even the bigger cities seem to have a certain calmness despite their size.I’ve enjoyed it immensely.Fits in perfectly with my state of mind,if you don’t take yourself too seriously,laugh easily and don’t mind the odd local gently taking the piss out of you I’m betting you’d love it too…like all countries,say hello,please,thank you,goodbye,don’t be a disrespectful arsehole and expect locals to fall all over you cos’ you have a bit of money to spend then you’ll be fine.It’s good to know some local language obviously but the basics will do and people always get by even if it takes a bit longer.So be cool and you’ll get on fine with the Italians.They’re ok…sorry went on a bit of a lecture there.Whooops…anyway I will no doubt return,hopefully soon…sadly there is one down side.No matter how cool you think you look,you ain’t ever out cooling an Italian…sorry.
If you’re a smoker by the way it’s pretty friendly that way.Not as many seem to smoke here as in Germany ( to be fair nowhere does,even France).But it’s still ok that way.Not found any bars that allow it but the weather is generally that good it doesn’t matter.You can smoke on train platforms like Germany and a pack of 20 is just over €6 which is half that of the UK and also I think France too.So I might stock up before Sunday…
Laters alligators…
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