Tuesday, April 21, 2015

We woke up at 8:30 AM after a normal restless first night and went to a nice Bar around the corner for breakfast of cornetto (Italian croissant), strawberry tart, cappuccino and tea.  We went back to the hotel to leave our bags in the lobby so we could go do some sightseeing.  We took the Metro to the San Giorgio station which was near the port and made our way to the Cattedrale di San Lorenzo.
The cathedral was built on the site of a Roman temple but the present Gothic church dates from the 13th century.

Typical of Liguria is the black-and-white striped façade and the steps are flanked by two of the least scary stone lions I have ever seen!  We walked through the beautiful interior and then continued on down the street to The Palazzo Ducale.

The Palazzo which dominates Piazza Matteotti became the Doge's palace in 1339 and is made up of two palaces.  The Palazzo was heavily bombed during World War II and abandoned, then beautifully refurbished in 1992 and now hosts art exhibitions, a jazz museum and tours of some of the royal apartments and Grimaldi tower prisons.

Piazza de Ferrari was laid out in the 19th century and was pedestrianized in 2001.  The opera house, the Teatro Carlo Felice, just behind the fountain was gutted by bombs in World War II and rebuilt in the late 1980s.  It is one of the most modern theaters in Europe.

We then headed into the Old Town by way of the tiny streets called caruggi that run in all directions.  We found a place to have a focaccia sandwich for lunch before making our way back to the hotel to pick up our suitcases to catch the 1:49 PM train to Rapallo.

We enjoyed seeing the views of the coast from the train for the fast 38 minute trip and found our way to the Astoria Hotel in Rapallo.

 

Our room was on the first floor (which is actually the second floor in America) and had a private terrace with table and chairs, a chaise lounge and a beautiful view of the Gulf of Tigullio.  We walked around the town a little and did some grocery shopping before cleaning up and getting ready for dinner at  our favorite restaurant in Rapallo, Hostaria Vecchia Rapallo.  Our favorite waitress from the last trip was no longer there, but we had a very nice waiter who spoke good English and we split an insalata mista and each had the spaghetti vongole (spaghetti with clams) and a nice bottle of Vermentino wine before walking back to our room to try and get a good nights sleep.