Aquarium

Genova is a city with a long maritime tradition. It makes sense that it has a substantial water zoo – at the time it opened, it was the second-largest in the world, but has since been overtaken by various Chinese and Middle Eastern projects, including one in a shopping mall in Dubai.

After breakfast, we took a bus down towards the port, and the aquarium. It’s only a 10 minute walk away, but the bus had been laid on. At the aquarium we were issued with a ticket and told to be back at the entrance by 12 noon, and were then left to our own devices.

 

When you swim in the sea and an eel bites your knee that's...

We walked around, saw manatees, seals, sharks and dolphins in the bigger tanks and pools, and also all the usual suspects in smaller tanks. There was also a reptile and amphibian section, mainly pythons, tortoises and frogs.

A manatee

Piranhas

Crap penguin photography

Danger noodle

At noon we met up with the rest of the gang and went for lunch – a typical Ligurian lunch at I Tre Merli. It contained no seafood so I’d argue it wasn’t that typical, being ravioli in cream sauce followed by tacchina – salted turkey – with the inevitable roasted potatoes. Washed down with the house red it was acceptable enough. At this point we were grateful for the bus, as our hotel is uphill from the port, so a short ride up was in order.

In the afternoon, after a brief sojourn for laundry, we went shopping in the local area.

In the evening we dined at the hotel in a private room, with performances from our hosts, Kelly and Bonnie. Both are accomplished singers and performers, and they gave us renditions of show tunes between courses.