2012
MSC Melody Cruise & Italy & France
Part 8
We arrived in Genoa at 6am on the morning
of the 10th March 2012
Having been here in 2010 and new the city
pretty well, I promised to help Pat & Elaine get to the train station and
see them off to Nice.
New exactly where my hotel was so got
there as quickly as possible – needed to catch up with that extra day at sea.
I was so looking forward to having two
full days in Genoa to explore but once again you have to make do with what you
are given, so decided to make the best of what time I had.
First place to go was the harbour, and
there she was – one of the big ones – MSC Splendida – oh boy was she huge.
Remembered standing there and thinking, maybe it’s time to progress to one of
the big ones on my next cruise. Needless to say will be cruising on her sister
the MSC Magnifica in May 2013. Much more about that cruise later.
Worked my away around to the other side
of the harbour as I had spotted a few private motorised yachts.
At least here I could get close up and
personal as back home our harbour is very restricted.
Had the privilege of bumping into the
Captain of the MSC Melody and he was kind enough to let me take a pic – thanked
him for bringing us safely to Genoa – shook hands and off I was again.
I had wanted to see as much of Genoa as
possible and see what I had missed in 2010, so went walk about and went further
along the narrow streets and you cannot walk around any city in Italy without
popping into a few churches, and that’s what I did. Quite a few I might add.
Found this amazing market, stopped and
had a slice of Pizza and strolled through the market and absorbed all the
sounds and smells of the fresh produce.
Worked my way around and back down to the
harbour and found some wonderful old buildings along the way.
By now it was getting late in the
afternoon, so decided to head back to my hotel to freshen up and go out for an
early dinner and then just relax and have an early night. Up early and off to
Pisa by train.
But paid a last visit to the MSC Cruise
Terminal and was lucky enough to see the MSC Melody depart on her next cruise.
It was a sad moment as I knew that I would probably never sail on her again.
She has been sold since then.
Piza 11th March
Florence 12th March
Turin 13th March
Train to Paris from Turin on the 14th
March
Fly to Cape Town on the 23rd
March 2012
