
Our 10-year anniversary Mediterranean Cruise stopped in Genoa, Italy following our time in Gibraltar. (Fun fact: did you know it's "Genova" in Italian but "Genoa" in English? I didn't until our trip.) Originally, I planned a complicated itinerary involving lots of train travel around the region, but M talked some sense into me and instead we spent the day exploring the city of Genoa itself as a family.

I tried three of the most famous local dishes: fresh Genovese pesto (which apparently is supposed to be made at room temperature fresh and never cooked but merely added to a dish at the end, oops) with focaccia, pansotti pasta with walnut sauce, and panisse (chickpea flour fritters that look identical to thick-cut potato fries). (I heard farinata, a fried cake of chickpea flour, is actually even more iconic in Genoa but I didn't have room for a heavy, creamy pasta and a full fried flour cake.) We also got gelato (because how can you not when visiting Italy), and it's always phenomenal.

Throughout our trip, S's appetite continued to amaze (especially when we found some of his favorite foods out and about in the wild, like grilled squid in Genoa). He was also a huge fan of panisse. To my surprise, focaccia was not so much his thing. It was nice we had plenty of options without allergens that he could enjoy, and he's getting old enough to understand that's why we sometimes can't share all the food on the table.

Besides eating our way through the city, we walked around without a particularly detailed plan or guide. One of my favorite things to do in an old European city is visit old churches, and Genoa had plenty we could stumble across and explore (as you can see by the dominant theme of this post's photos).

My favorite one we saw was the Cathedral of San Lorenzo, which has a unique striped design on the exterior and interior that sets it apart. (The black and white stripes also made S go, "It looks like Halloween!" - which I'm sure is not what the architects were going for there.) That church was built around 1098; the time scales are mind-boggling and it's amazing to think about when you're standing inside and enjoying such historic buildings and art.

We wrapped up our time in the city with a visit to the local aquarium, partially to get a break from the August heat and partially to do something more fun for S than seeing old buildings. Although we all had a good time, I agree with reviews online saying the tickets were quite expensive and the aquarium was overcrowded despite doing timed tickets only. I personally prefer the value in terms of quality for the aquariums in most other places we've been, but we did get what we needed out of it and learned a few things. My favorite things I discovered were about dolphins, including the fact that some species of dolphins form nursery pods where aunties and sisters help dolphin moms with their babies. Isn't that so sweet?

Eventually we returned to our cruise ship and watched the first part of Moana 2 for the umpteenth time at S's request. (Yes, we are those parents who stretch our normal screen time rules on vacation. We love family movie nights when we travel!) By then, we were grateful just to be back in an air-conditioned room and no longer dripping sweat from our summer stroll. It was a low-key day full of wonderful family quality time, and I was glad we took it easy because the very next day we went on a much more rigorous adventure... Cinque Terre! You can read all about that in my next post, but for now I hope anyone reading this is staying cool.
