Tuesday, June 11, 2024 Adventures in Italy Part 11

(To start at the beginning: Adventures in Italy Part 1) Also, hallelujah – what was lost has been found: our digital photos from this trip! So, no more pictures of photos in a book. Phew!

Church in Genova, then to Camogli – August 2016

 We’re sitting on a train that will take us to Bordighera, so I have a chance to catch up my travel journal for yesterday. Make yourselves comfortable! I never make a long story short, as you know – it always goes the other way. Someday I will be boring all our grandchildren to death when they ask a simple question and I launch into a 30-minute answer that includes what time I got up, what I had for breakfast, and how my bones and joints feel that day. 

We found an English-speaking Anglican church in Genova called “Church of the Holy Ghost.” We set out on foot for the 15-minute uphill walk and although we took one false turn still managed to get there on time.  It was a beautiful old building, built in the late 1800’s.

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We were greeted by an older lady named Liz in the British accent that never fails to charm. She seemed so very pleased to see us and asked us if we were the type to join heartily and loudly in the singing. Looking around at the sparse attendance, I could understand why this might be important. She explained to us that they wouldn’t have a priest that day. She also told us not to be alarmed if the service didn’t start right at 10:30 – “we’re on African time!”  It turns out that about half of their members are from Africa and tend to meander in at different times after the service starts.

We met a fellow named John who was visiting that day also, having been on a cruise ship that stopped in at the Genova port for the day. There were no hymnals, just words printed in the bulletin, so sitting by John ended up being a key part of being able to sing along. He knew the tunes and sang loudly and confidently in a wonderful baritone voice. I thanked him afterwards for “leading” the singing. The service itself was liturgical and in that sense was very familiar to us.  The woman who led the liturgy got a little off course occasionally and the order of service went somewhat cattywampus, but we all managed to figure out where she was eventually. Instead of a pianist, they had a violinist who played beautifully. Halfway through the service a little boy (3 years old?) came running up the center aisle and went over to say hello to her. It was a sweet moment that made us all smile. The father followed closely behind to retrieve the little escapee. 

We were invited to stay for wine and cake after the service, so we stayed briefly and chatted with a few people. We met a fellow named “Mondey” who was from Nigeria and had been in Italy for a year and 4 months and was still waiting for documents that would allow him to work. It’s hard to imagine how discouraging that would be!

We walked back to Il Borga di Genova (our B&B) and had some down time. It was already very hot outside so we turned on our room air conditioner and did some reading and writing. We didn’t have a firm plan for the day so we decided to go back out and walk over to the super marcato (super market) to see what it was like. It was smaller than most American ones but other than that, not very different. 

My only goal for the day was to do a lot less walking. Our host, Giovanni, had told us that we might enjoy a trip to Camogli (CAM-oh-lee) just up the coast to the east, which would involve a train trip. We really were longing for more than a glimpse of the sea (didn’t see much at the Genova port) so rather than spend more time walking aimlessly around Genova, we took the leap and went to go find a train to Camogli. We are getting better at reading the train schedules and navigating our way around the train stations by now, so it wasn’t long before we had found a train going that way and settled in for the 30-minute trip. Almost as soon as we were east of Genova we began to see the wide blue expanse of the Mediterranean. What is it about being by bodies of water that is so soul filling? The view was occasionally obscured by tunnels and trees, but was a thrill each time it broke through. 

 We got off in Camogli, made a quick phone call to Sam (3:30 our time, 8:30 a.m. at home) and then set off to get close to the water.

Kris’s instincts did not fail us and within a few minutes we had walked down steep flights of stairs and were sitting at table beachside, ordering salads for lunch. We have steadfastly tried to use the Italian we learned on Duo Lingo, but most people answer us in broken English that is better than our broken Italian.

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After lunch we strolled to the Cremaria next door so I could get my daily gelato fix. I’m still supposed to be avoiding dairy and eggs, but on this trip I have entered an alternate universe in which those things are allowed, my own deus ex machina.

Did we go down to the beach? Did we go swimming? Stay tuned for the next installment. Adventures in Italy Part 12

This daily blogato fix will melt away in the morning.