Genova, city of possibilities

[original snippet written Aug. 27]
Sunday afternoon. A lazy Sunday afternoon. New setting: the balcony of an apartment in Genoa. Gorgeous sunny day, it's still summer, but it's not as hot as Crotone. The breeze is cool. It caresses my body while I read a book about Calabria. A book of a passionate man and his family, his history, his traditions and focus on rebuilding a legend. The rumors of life bubble around me. Snippets of conversation. A child crying. A dog barking. Planes overhead, far away. Going to other places. And for a moment, I am still. Amid such movement, mental, physical, my emotions are quiet. A sense of peace. A hint of possibilities. The constant doubt of the future. But I feel the ghost of a life. Or rather, the soul. A ghost is of things gone. A soul is of things to come.
[end snippet]

Many things have accumulated since my last full entry. Let's pick it up again from Crotone. I realized I should write down something about the places I've seen...

Crotone itself is a small town, but its historical center is built over and around a castle/fortress on a hill. In the last blog entry where I posted pictures you can see some of that. As far as beaches, once you have a car it's an easy thing to take on of the winding coast streets and stop anywhere, and hike down the semi-cliff to the water. Many small beaches dot the coastline, and the locals know and use them all. They also have this habit of taking along tents, tables, even portable gazeboes, and set up an all-day eat fest. And we're not talking sandwiches... They take along lasagna, eggplant parmesan, sausages... and they'll offer you it all if you get too close, forcing you to fill up until you can't stand anymore, and then you lay in the heat for hours, comatose... The friends we visited, who had a camping spot on a private beach, were more reasonable than that. We ate cold pasta and watermelon. 'Til we burst, too, but at least it was healthy food :)

A couple of days we drove around to nearby towns to see some sights. Among them: Le Castella, a much-visited castle on a tiny island (pic was in last blog). The gorgeous thing about that place was that we witnessed a huge storm approaching from the sea. The lightning was so violent and there were so many hits, that I managed to take several pictures of it! I also took the stormy clouds behind the castle, the look of the rain approaching, the boats running away from it all... We had to run, too, into a bar, to escape the violent downpour for the 15 minutes it passed over us. I love storms. Such power!

Santa Severina is a medieval stronghold town built over a hill further inland. It also has a small castle in it, and we found our way to a small hostel known to our hostess, where she had simply called the night before saying "prepare a meal for 6, of Calabrian specialties". For a couple of hours we sat and kept passing around plates of cheeses (eaten with honey!), assorted cured meat, olives, pasta with mushrooms, a home-made fruit tarte dessert, and several bottled of "digestives", which are a staple at any italian table. Amazing all the different herbs, fruits, and veggies you can add to alcohol!

Back near Crotone is Capo Colonna, an archeological site where both the Greeks and the Romans established temples and residences. A new museum opened just last month, with artifacts found during excavations. Such richness of culture and soil in those parts. Unfortunately, much of it goes to waste, unorganized, unvalued, and unpublicized. The "Colonna" (column) that gives the name to the place is the single remnant of the temple to Hera that used to be there. It is a solitary sight, but the stories behind it, all nicely retold within the museum, talk of much prosperity in the past.

We visited several other places, but the names escape me at the moment. The book I mentioned in the first paragraph talks of the whole region. Alexander Dumas was said to have passed through it, and the book kinda revolves around that. Don't know if there is a translation, but the original is titled "Tra Due Mari" by Carmine Abate.

After the week spent with the group of friends, I spent the couple of days before my own departure organizing my things and my thoughts. I clocked in several hours at my trusty internet spot, the "Maxim Cafè" [ciao Antonio!] and basked in the last of the heat. By some weird law of impossibility I managed to pack my luggage with the couple of extra things I bought while I was down there, and it all fit! I even seemed to have some extra space!! One of them mysteries of life...

My friend accompanied me to the train station on Thu morning... and I nearly didn't make it back north! Out of 3 trains I had to take, the first was cancelled altogether. Loosing all my connections and seat reservations, I had to re-form my travel plan. The original 14 hours of estimated travel time became 22. The wonderful thing about this trip is that I never have to be anywhere at any specific time. So I sat back and relaxed in the chair of the customer services office, while I observed an interesting exchange of thoughts between the local employee and a yelling girl that was upset 'cause her train had left exactly on time, leaving her behind. She kept yelling things like this was outrageous, how dares a train leave on time, here in Italy! No, this isn't Italy, this is Northern Africa! She demanded her money back, and an apology! The employee, a philosophical fellow, had a very unhurried manner, and insisted on taking time to explain to her his thoughts on the matter. Lucky for me he pushed her aside (with a humorous "since you're already upset, let me make you even more upset, sit there and wait while I take care of this lady...") and sat me on the next train going in the right direction, with some sketches of possible schedules I could take, if I found space.

Lightly worried, but still unhurried, I carried on. Had I stayed, it would have been a week before I found a spot. End of august the population that migrated south for the holidays migrates back up, so trains are overbooked... The first train became a combination local train and bus. Then I had to spend the trip from Lamezia to Naples on the floor at the entrance of the wagon, 'cause all the seats were sold out. At Naples I sat around for 3 hours waiting for the overnight to Genova. This was a claustrophobic "cuccette", a 6-seats-turned-beds where all sorts of women travelers played tetris with their luggage and bodies. Nothing like the happy experience I had coming south...

I finally sat foot in Genova around 5:30am. Still pitch dark, I spent the 15 minutes previous looking out the window to a gorgeous sight of a storm over the Ligurian coast. Genova, here I come!! ;) At the station was my new friend and host Claudio. New city, new set of keys. To a gorgeous small apartment in a nice neighborhood just outside of the city center. First order of the day: focaccia! Second was a shower and some sleep... then we spent a long weekend going out and about, visiting Genova, meeting friends, getting to know the neighborhood... I have no clue what the names of the streets are, but I finally know my way around :)

The time here has been great. I have savored some more of the local life, shopping at the indoor markets, learning about food, eating more than I should but loving every bit of it. (I finally bought a scale today to keep track of the belly... lol) The map I have of the city is a flat rendition that gives no justice to a land that winds its way up the hills through narrow streets, stone stairways and even "funicolari", mini trains used to simply go from one level of the city to the one above it. A plaza reached that way gave us a gorgeous overview of the center. I took some pics at sunset, on a clear day. Beautiful thing.

Tomorrow night, Sat, we are having an actual bday party at my friend's home. Tonight it's "aperitivo" time! This is another custom that seems particular to Italy: you go for a drink before you go to dinner. Kinda of the happy hour we used to do in NY on Fridays, but it's a lighter deal. Just one drink, some munchies, and then you go eat real food. If you meet up with friends during the evening, you usually go for an aperitivo. Drinking yourself stupid doesn't seem to be a widespread custom. Munchies are served as part of the drink order, for free. So the smart thing is to know which bars give you the best/most munchies :)

Aaight, it's pictures time. This is Genova!

PS) After many phone calls and visits around several city offices, it seems there's a way for me to become a resident without having an actual home... My being in limbo poses bureocratic questions, I can't even visit a doctor for routine check-ups, 'cause I don't appear in the system... more on this next week, after I go to my appointment!