AT#937 - Travel to Genoa and Liguria in Italy

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Let's talk about LaGuria. I'd like to welcome the show Enrique Montsani who has come to us to talk about LaGuria in Italy. She is coming from the a small kitchen in Genoa.com website that does food tours and food experiences in Genoa and LaGuria. Enrico, welcome to the show. Ciao Chris, thank you for having me. It is quite possible that food may show up in this episode. I don't know for sure, but I think food and food tours might be mentioned. Can you put LaGuria on the map for us? Where are we talking about in Italy? Okay, LaGuria is a very small Italian region. It's a tongue of land in between Tuscany and France. It's in the north. It's a coastal region, so it is the upper part of the boot, if you think about Italy like a boot. And we are on the Mediterranean Sea of the Terenas Sea, and LaGuria is this thin land squeeze between the mountain and the sea. That stretches for 350 kilometers. Though it's a coastal region, LaGuria is also the most woody region in Italy. So we have this huge contrast in between the mountain side and sea side, which gives a spectacular geographical landscape to this region. Excellent. Well, and there is one well-known tourist area in LaGuria, which we're not going to talk about today in that particular area. Exactly, I'm not talking about Cinquaterre, which probably are the most famous part of LaGuria. Though, I think that people may not even know that Cinquaterre are in LaGuria, because most of the people go to Florence, and then I have one two days in Cinquaterre, but they are so well-known around the world that I would like to focus on LaGuria beyond Cinquaterre, because there is so much more. Excellent. And if you're interested in the Cinquaterre, love the Cinquaterre. We have another episode back in the archives about that if you want to know more about that, but we won't be talking about that today. Enrico, why should someone go to LaGuria? Okay. LaGuria is a wonderful region, not just because this is my region, but there are many reasons why traveling here. First of all, for its spectacular scenery, because of the geography of LaGuria, we have a mix of mountain and sea with dramatic cliffs, hidden coves, scenic trails, and indeed from the landscape point of view, it's an amazing region. And we have, of course, Cinquaterre. You can have an idea of how the steepness can explain the region, but we also have other fantastic landscapes like the well-known dry-installed walls, so-called Morekia seco, which are awarded as a patrimony of UNESCO for its beauty and for its importance. So the scenery are fantastic. Then we have a wonderful cuisine. You that would come up. Yes, for second place, not the first one. I was modest. But indeed, we are the capital of the famous Basile Pesto, which is the second most eaten pasta sauce in the world, and the Genoese Pesto. And then LaGuria is famous for its olive oil, especially the west part of LaGuria, where we have a fantastic extra virgin olive oil from a special olive called Tajasca olives, which is well-renewed all around the world. Then we have extraordinary wines, and our extraordinary wines are pigato, vermentino, rosese, or mesco di por naso. And these wines are fantastic, just because they are in this very steep and difficult to cultivate land. They live in this microclimate on the sea, but at high temperatures, so the wine production is amazing in LaGuria. Though it is so small that they cannot export abroad. And so maybe you don't know LaGuria wines because we don't produce enough wine to export, but coming here, it's very interesting to visit wineries and taste our wines because they are fantastic. Then of course, another reason to come to LaGuria is to visit Genoa, or Genoa, as everyone else known, because Genoa is an amazing city, nothing to compare to Venice or Florence or Naples. Genoa was one of the most powerful marinara public during the Middle Ages, and Renaissance. Since 1100, Genoa was one of the richest D.T. in the Mediterranean Sea and also in Europe. So it was the seat of very important merchants and shipowners and financiers. Genoa was a very important finance hub in Europe, and this powerfulness of the city is reflected in the beauty of the city. So we have wonderful palazos, and all this richness is palpable when you walk through the city. So visiting Genoa and discovering its long history, which many people just think about Genoa probably because Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa. Yes, that, but Genoa is much more. So when you visited you just a big world opens. You discover so many interesting things about the Mediterranean Sea and the European history because the genomes were very important actors in European history for so many centuries. And that's a pity it is not so known, but lonely planets awarded Genoa as the best travel in 2025 city. We had this recognition as the best city to travel in. So lucky enough. And then there is the outside, not just Genoa, with its special charm, but also Liguria has so many tiny medieval villages and tiny villages on the coast and inland, which are amazing. And the beauty of these places is that they are still very authentic. So Liguria is a little bit out of the mass tourism. So it's still keep its authenticity, especially the inland, also because of the character of the Ligurians because we are not so welcoming, I would say. And so when you get to the inland, everything just remained as it was in the past. And it's really authentic. And then we have stunning wonderful beaches, the best beaches in Italy, and a lot of outdoor activities in the inland for climbing, for hiking, for diving. So why don't we get into some of the specifics of your itinerary then? Where are we going to start? Are we going to start in Genoa? My idea is to start in Genoa. And what are we going to do there? Okay. We arrived in Genoa just because we have an airport and we are well connected to Milan. My suggestion is to fly to Milan and then take a train or a car to get to Genoa. My suggestion is to rent a car because if you have a car you can really be very flexible and you can also visit the inland which is not connected by train. If you travel by train you will remain on the coast. You can make many activities on the coast but you will of course miss the inland because the buses are not suggestible as a minute transplantation. Okay, so my 18th is we start in Genoa. I suggest to stay at least a couple of days in Genoa. When you're at in Genoa it's better if you stay in an hotel. My idea is pick some high standard hotel in downtown or look for a hotel just in the city center because the city center downtown could be a little bit not safe at night. So my suggestion is for very high rating hotels in downtown which are in nice areas otherwise stay in these surroundings of the old town. That's safer for you. That's the thing I want to say because our downtown is fantastic but at night bigger. When you arrive in Genoa the first thing you have to do as a very first thing is to go to Spianata Castelletto. Spianata Castelletto is a fantastic stunning panoramic terrace overlooking the city. So when you get to Spianata Castelletto which is this terrace with pine trees and wonderful bourgeois palazos you get there and from there you overlook all the roofs of the city and the port area. You can have from there a wonderful idea of how the city is conceived. So you can see how wide is our survival center which is the widest in Europe by the way and you can see the sea and the port and this geography of the city because also Genoa is squeezed between the mountains and the sea. So we have very steep mountains getting through into the sea and so you can easily orientate. And the best way to get to Spianata Castelletto is with a public elevator which goes from Piazza Dronunziata to Castelletto and this public elevator is fantastic because you get inside this elevator inside the mountain and then you get up or you lift you go up and when the doors open up the elevator you have this wonderful landscape. So that's something you should not miss as the first let's say business card of the city. Then another thing that's the business card to me I always take people there as a first step and then the other things that you can do just when you arrive is just getting used to the city walk around downtown our downtown is famous for it narrow alleys which are called the Carruje walk around there and people the shops. Genoa is famous or to me one of the most interesting things in Genoa are the old shops. Genoa has many tiny little old shops belonging to the same family since generations which remain unchanged many of them more than one century and so when you get inside in these tiny shops it's like a step in the path and so they really are worth the visit of the city by themselves. We have so many and they have a group of the organization called Bottega Storiche which means a historical shop and they are protected by our commercial chambers so they try to market a little bit these tiny tiny shops and they are fantastic and a good way of visiting the city just having a first bite of the city may be doing a food tour which is what I do. Not just because I'm doing that but because these walking food tours of two hours three hours are interesting for visiting these tiny shops and tasting the food of the city along the way that's a nice way of getting used to what you can eat in Genoa and in Liguria so you can taste pesto you can taste the farinata which is our famous chickpea pie which we bake in the ovens and you can have a taste of our wonderful candies candied fruits, focaccia we haven't mentioned the focaccia which is also very well known a flat bread with deep dimples, a shining of oil which is our most common bread. So walking around the city and nibbling and tasting all these tiny food to me is one a very interesting experience. Anybody who's listening to the show for a long time knows that starting your visit of a city with a food tour is something I suggest a lot of places so this is not just something that is coming from you so it's a great idea. I think it's a great idea especially if you have to spend the rest of your time in that region you already know how to move. Exactly and what you expect and if you have a good guide they can also tell you what's sureistic and what's local and so you get used a little bit to how to orientate in the food scenery as well. So these are my ideas for the first day so just walk around. In Genova before we dive into the more long things there is a neighborhood of Genova called Bucca Dazsett which is a little bit outside the city center well connected by cab or by bus which is a tiny fisherman village inside the city and so if you haven't been to Cinque Terre or if you long for Cinque Terre anyway you can get there and that's very nice you have this little beach with the boat on the beach and the colored facet of the houses and that's a fantastic place for having an aperitivo or for having dinner there for example if it is summertime there will be a lot of people on the beach having their cocktail negroni or their aperitivo or their beer and that's a very alive tiny town inside the city. Name of the city I think means the donkeys mouth. Exactly Bucca Dazsett that's because there was a river getting there once and the shape of the bay looks like the mouth of a donkey. Okay all right I was going to ask thank you exactly that's why that is why then once you have finished use the first bites of Genoa the day after you can dive into the UNESCO patrimony of our city which are so called Palazsidairolli. As I mentioned at the beginning the Genoese Genoa was a very powerful city the Genoese were extremely rich they were the richest people in Europe they used to lend money to the other rains they founded the first bank in Europe which is Banco di San Giorgio all this richness reflects in their maison. They had built during the centuries different palazos inside the city and this palazzo have nothing to envy to any king courts so they have cloister gardens in the back they have ballrooms, frescoes, stucos, mirror you name it you have it paintings everywhere very important Dutch painters like Fundaic arrived and painted the Genoese so there is a huge patrimony of art and culture and all these palazos are grouped into the so called rolling system there is a main street in Genoa named Via Garibaldi which was once the luxury street of all these noble families where many palazos were built one close to the other so you can visit these palazos and have an idea. Via Garibaldi is a long street with many palazos noble palazos one close to the other so if you go there you can visit them for example I suggest that you visit Palazzo Rosso which is a noble residence and now it's a museum where you can see how these noble houses were and how they used to live then you can visit Palazzo spinola di pelliceria which is fantastic too or outside Via Garibaldi but closer there is Palazzo reale which was the seat of our king our king decided to go to live there in the 1800 actually it was the Palazzo Grazzo before the king decided to occupy it and the Palazzo reale is fantastic because it has this mirror saloon with lots of mirrors and stucos and frescos and then it has a huge ballroom. From the time period you were talking about the king victor Immanuel the first king of the reunited Italy exactly exactly exactly exactly in Queen Margherita so they made it their residence in Genoa so this is why it is called Palazzo reale but before then it was the palace of one of the richest family in town and then so you have to do the palazos then in Genoa we have an aquarium which is famous one of the biggest aquarium in Europe for sure in Italy if you have kids that's a very nice activity to do because we have dolphins and sharks and a huge amount of different fishes so it's a nice thing to do. Also related to the sea, we have Museo del Mare, the sea museum, which is interesting because you have a history of the Mariner Republic and the history of Genoa from the marine point of view. And you can also visit a submarine. There is a second world war submarine in front of this museum. We have a very new museum of emigration, so if you're traveling to Liguria because you are looking for your origins. I had many clients who are looking for their origins here in Liguria. Just to clarify, you're saying emigration, not integration, so this is it. Everybody leaving from Genoa. From Genoa or taking the sheep from Genoa to the United States. Here we have this museum of emigration, which is the only one in Italy. It's very new, modern. It's in a fantastic old building called the Commenda Depret, and it's very, very interesting. I suggest it as an experience if you have time. Yeah, I haven't done that one, but I've done a similar museum, the Red Starline Museum and Antwerp, and it was fascinating. It's almost the other side of Ellis Island, if you will, all the story of people and why they left and how they left and all that they had to go through to get to, even just to get to the board sometimes. How they were leaving before leaving. 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See, because you will see in general many palaces in stripes, black and white made in marble and slate because this was an honorific pattern that just the religious building and the building belonging to the municipality or to those family who rented special services to the municipality were awarded to have their palaces with this pattern in stripes, black and white. So if you see a palazzo which has this pattern, it means that it was an important building or a church, for example, like a worker figure. And then there are tiny squares that are fantastic that you should not miss. One is Piazza San Matteo and it is all in stripes, black and white because this was the neighborhood of one of the most important family in Genoa, family Doria because Genoa was an oligarchy and we had so many rich families competing for power and they divided the city among them. So each rich family had its neighborhood with the palazzo, the private church, private warehouses, private square and so we have this tiny neighborhood. One is Piazza San Matteo which is fantastic. Then there is also San Donato Church which is a very old church that guide books often miss and it's amazing. Then there is a neighborhood surrounding Santa Maria di Castello which is a church that neighborhood which is also Santa Maria di Castello, the name of the neighborhood in downtown is the oldest area of downtown and to me is the most magical because one, there are no tourists because there are no bars, no shop, no souvenir shop, you can't take a coffee there, no, there is nothing. Neither for the locals, there is nothing but there is this wonderful charm of very, very old town with this old church Torrembriacci which is one of the few towers that take in middle ages that remain up in Genoa. To me you don't have to miss that area. Walk there. And then last you can visit the Lanterna which is the symbol of the city, our lighthouse, the Genoese lighthouse. It's a nice thing to visit if you have time. So you go to the Laui Tower, you get in not at the top, at the middle of the lighthouse you can get and from there of course you have a wonderful view of the city from the port. So you can see the mountains. That's quite the opposite view that you have from Castelletto, the first Paris I mentioned, use Pianata Castelletto, you have the opposite so you can see the city from the other side. And so that's the other thing I suggest you to do when you are in Genoa. Now you had suggested we get a car. I'm driven through Genoa and I'm not sure that I want to have a car while I'm in the city. No, no, no. So I probably want to pick it up when I'm leaving the city, right? No, you don't need the car in the city. Genoa is really very, everything is so close. You expect it's dense. Benz. Yeah, you have been into Genoa. I've been into Genoa. I've driven through. Sorry. Yeah, okay, not the best thing to do. Okay, it's back. Yes, you can run the car when you need it. The first day you don't need it. Everything is walking this time or you can take a cab and in five, eight minutes you go everywhere. And we should say in terms of driving, so I've driven from Nice down to the towards the Chinquatera area. And when we talk about the coastline being right up against the mountains, in many places there's not really even any room for the road. And so the road is going through tunnels and bridges and it's just really barely clinging to the coast here. See, true. That's true. It's very quite, quite beautiful. It's beautiful. You give me the opportunity to say that also that's about the cuisine, of course, which is my topic. But people think that being Liguria a coastal region, we have a lot of so many beaches, sandy beaches, and we eat a lot of fish. And so our culture is conceived around the sea and the sea cult, which is not true because by the way, we are peasants. So we must live in the countryside. Also our cuisine is a more countryside cuisine rather than a sea cuisine. It is interesting. It is interesting. And there is a big misunderstanding about that, which arose at the beginning of the 1900, because our sea is very deep and it's dangerous. So catching fishes was not so easy in the past, where nowadays we can catch everything. So people were not very used to eat fish. So fish was not something very common to eat. But for the tiny villages where the fisherman used to eat rock fish, what they can fish from the coast. Fish was not something very common. The misunderstanding was that at the beginning of the 1900, when the first tourist started arriving to Liguria to spend their holidays, especially from North and Italy or from England, from North and Europe. And they expect to eat fish because we were in a constant region. And so the grand hotel of Liguria, in Sanremo, in Portofino, to accomplish the needs of their customers, start preparing these big fishes in the oven, for example, now to try to satisfy them. Meet the expectations. Meet their expectations, thank you. And so a big baked oven, sea breams, Ligurian style is nothing very traditional. It's something relatively new and more for the tourists rather than for the people living in the region. This is because we are most peasants. We live in the countryside rather than on the village, on the coast. And we have also very few sandy beaches. On the west we have wonderful sandy beaches. Otherwise, it's everything rocky, isn't it? Right. I can chew with that. Okay, so this is Genoa. But we can move from Genoa. My suggestion is stay in Genoa as a home base. And then from Genoa take the train and go to the east part of Genoa, visiting the area of Portofino. Portofino is as well known as Cinque Terre. Maybe you have read about Portofino. I've even tried to park in Portofino and the idea of taking a train seems like a really good idea. We never found a place to park. Actually, the train does not arrive in Portofino. To get to Portofino, you have to take the train and go to Santa Marguerita. Then, when you are in Santa Marguerita, you can either walk to Portofino. There is a wonderful promenade from Santa Marguerita to Portofino. Either one on the sea, so you just walk along the coast and there are these wonderful beaches like Paragibits, where Berlusconi had its house, and a lot of many other rich people have their villas. And then we arrived to Portofino, or there are hiking trails from Santa Marguerita to Portofino. There are a couple of different intensity and they are spectacular for the view. Or if you don't want to walk, you can take a bus. There are buses going back and forth from Santa Marguerita to Portofino. That's the easiest way to get to Portofino. I suggest to visit Santa Marguerita because Santa Marguerita is a very charming resort town with a grand promenade and then they have very nice shops. So if you want to do some Italian fashion shopping, that's the place where to go, though they are a little bit expensive, but you have a lot of shops and there is a nice villa to visit as well, Villadurazzo with fantastic gardens and the interior as well, phrase code interior, so you can visit that very nice. Then when you are in Portofino, do not think to make any shopping or fashion shopping in Portofino because it's immorally expensive and neither consider to die in Portofino because it's immorally expensive as well. So my suggestion is go to Portofino, visit the village, it's very nice. It's better in low season rather in high season, like in England, because it's so terrific that it's also a port and you risk to see huge mega yacht more in this time port and so you can't even see the horizon because you have this maxi yacht more in front of you on the key, so low season is better. And when you say low season, I'm thinking sort of November the march, am I close? Right, see, that is the low season. Okay. Even October, October March, but when you are in Portofino, you can visit Castello Brown, which is an ancient fortress and you have a breathtaking panoramic views and also the little church of San Giorgio, which is the church of Portofino, and from there you can see the inner part of the village and that is very nice. Or if you want to walk a little bit, there is a wonderful walk on the coast until the lighthouse, which is just around the promontory. And you get to the lighthouse, you have a fantastic view of the coast and at the lighthouse there is a nice cafe where you can have lunch or an aperitivo. And that's a smarter place because you have to walk a little bit so it's just not inside the fashion square of Portofino and that's a very nice place to stay. La Portofina in say is the name of the bar there. Then in the same area there are another couple of things you can't miss. One is Camolli. Camolli is the train stop before Santa Marguerita. Camolli is a fisherman village, which is remained still authentic. Camolli has this nice sandy beach with all the houses of different colors facing the sea, a fantastic castle, prolonging on the sea. And Camolli was very famous for its sea farers and it was an important hub in the Middle Ages for shipbuilding. Camolli is very nice. In Camolli you have to taste the focaccia al for mangio. Focaccia for mangio has nothing to do with the focaccia, the bread, like cake, bread. Focaccia al for mangio di reco is a pie with creamy cheese inside. It's made of thin layers of olive and a dough like filo dough and a lot of creamy cheese inside. That's one of the most fantastic things in the world. And in Camolli there is a tiny shop called Revello where they make this fantastic focaccia, which is also by the way is an IGP product. So that's product protected by the European Union as one of the products that is produced in the very same place. They define that place so they put a label on any slice of focaccia you buy and there is a tiny mark that they put on their slice. You must try it when you are in Camolli. And from Camolli you can take a ferry boat and go to San Frutoso Abbey. San Frutoso Abbey is a medieval Benedictine monastery hidden, really hidden in a very very tiny bay and you can get there just by boat or hiking for almost one hour going down and going up. So it's engaging and quite tough hiking, but you can take the boat. A hike about a straw. Exactly. A climb. A hike. Okay. But you can take the ferry boat and there are many ferry boats along the day. And you visit San Frutoso Abbey as this Christine Waters and there is just this old Abbey and a couple of restaurants where you can eat very well. And if you have succeeded to have lunch there, you can also stay on the beach of the weather supermix. And if you have lunch or dinner there, I will suggest to order Mandili desa. Mandili desa are the local lasanias of Liguria and they are squares, sheets of pasta, layered one over the other and in between there is pesto. So they are not like the Bolognese lasagna that you can imagine. They are these big sheets of pasta which are called Mandili desa because in Genoese dialect it means silk handkerchief. So like the handkerchief in silk which are smaller. So and you have these layers of pasta with pesto in between. And there in San Frutoso they prepare the best one I have ever tasted. After mine. After the one I prepared. By the way that to me that's the best way of eating pesto is with that shape of pasta. There are a couple of restaurants. My favorite is Santa Giorgio which you have the table on the sea. It is very nice and charming and romantic and whatever. And so San Frutoso Abbey is fantastic. Also in that area but you have just one day but you can choose. You can also do many outdoor activities hiking because the portofino mountain promontory is the national park and so there are lots of trails in between. You can also do some snorkeling and in the marine reserve which is just outside the area. The area is all marine reserve or you can go kayaking in portofino or if you love extra virgin olive oil and you want to do a food experience you can visit a very good olive oil producer just in Santa Margarita. A few meters above Santa Margarita. Its name is Agricola Santa Barbara and there you can taste a fantastic Ligurian oil and the owner is also a natural guide so you can take you around the mansion for any hiking or you can visit their olive grove. It's a very nice. The owner is a nice person and you organize with him really out of the touristic path walk to Portofino along the mountain. So this is Portofino. Then you go back to Genoa and stay in Genoa. I don't suggest to stay in to sleep in that area because it's very very expensive and crowded. So to me going there back and forth by train is the thing. So it's very very easy. Then my suggestion is to move to the west of Liguria. But I have one additional day that if you don't want to move to the west, if you don't want to rent a car, if you're arriving from Cinque Terre and you want to stop in between Cinque Terre and Genoa, my suggestion is to go and visit Sestre Levante and Ciaveri. Sestre Levante and Ciaveri are in between let's say just to orientate Cinque Terre and Portofino. So they are closer to Portofino and they are very nice both. Sestre Levante is famous for its fantastic beaches because it's a very old city on the sea which has two bays, Bia del Silenzio and Bia del Le Favolle and because it has a very very special shape with this promontory which is almost an island but it is connected with a very thin tongue of land where there is the old city. And so you have these two bays from one side and the other side. Difficult to orientate when you are there because you don't know where you are. And the historic center is this very nice alley, main central alley with a lot of nice shops. So I suggest to go there. In between the bays there is an old monastery convened to the L'annunziata which has a stunning view and so you can visit it and it's fantastic. So the Convent of the Annunciation. The L'annunziata is that. Okay. And the two bays I'm seeing that one is the Bay of Silence. One is the Bay of Silence, Bia del Silenzio. The other one is Favolle and I don't know how to translate that. Favolle are accounts. Ferritails. Okay. Ferritails. Translated. And when you are in Sestilavante, if you are a foodie or a wine lover, you can visit the winery Cantina Delia Bissim which is just in the back of Sestilavante. Five minutes driving. You can hire a cab. When you are there, it doesn't look like to be on the seaside because you think you are in pediment because you are surrounded by these very gentle hills with the vineeries and the old abbey. It's a wonderful vineery out of the context. Cantina Delia Bissim, they produce a special wine which is aged under the sea. So the owner invented this way of aging wine at very deep levels in the Portofino marine reserve. That's a special way of aging their wines. Cantina Delia Bissim. When you taste their wines, you have these bottles which stay under the sea for a couple of years which gets out with all the shells attached to the bottles. That's an interesting thing because the owner, he graduated in archaeology so he made a lot of studies about how the Romans used to preserve wine invented these methods and so it's interesting to see and also their wines are fantastic. So I suggest to visit there in that area. I never heard of such a thing. I was looking at their website trying to make sense of it before you said that and I was not getting it. You have to understand what I said. So these, yeah. Okay so have a look because he's the only one who makes it in, I don't know if in the world but for sure in Italy. He had this very special idea. Every so often AI comes back with something that makes me think you don't really know me. That's why today's sponsor explore worldwide would never put your itinerary in the hands of an algorithm. Every explorer adventure is 100% human-made created by destination specialists and led by expert tour leaders who genuinely know the places you're visiting. They can take you beyond the headline attractions to a Roman road most visitors miss a family run tavern serving their signature dish or a train route that turns getting from A to B into part of the adventure. Plus they take you deeper into the culture they understand why the old city grew up around that particular harbor the origin of that cultural tradition or the one local phrase that'll get you a smile. Explore takes care of the transport, accommodation and itinerary so you're free to follow your curiosity once you're there. You want average? Ask an algorithm. You want an adventure. Visit exploreworldwide.com and don't just travel. Explore. Shaq here. What's it like to buy a car from Carvano 100% online and get it delivered to your door? Let me tell you. Your car is here, Mr. Shaq. Thank you, Mr. Carvano guy. Can't wait to take it for a spin. Only the best for you, Mr. Shaq. Hey, have you always been so big tall and handsome? Not always. I was six, 10 once. Seven days to love it or return it, Mr. Shaq. Not that I would. You never do. No, I never do. So buy your car today on Carvano. Delivery fees may apply. See our seven day return policy at Carvano.com. And then after ses relevant going back to Genoa or going to, they are very close. You have to stop in Kjavari. So Kjavari is on the coast. You have to disregard the seaside and the promenade on the sea. Kjavari is fantastic for its old town and for its particles. It looks like a little bit polonia with these long particles, medieval particles. And under the particles there are again like in Genoa, old shops remain the same since decades with these old shopping windows. And you have nice cafe and you can taste Fari Nata. You have small artisans. And if you are lucky enough to get there the first Sunday of each month, they have an antique market along the streets, which is fantastic. Also they have a food and vegetable market in the main square of the church every weekend where all the peasants brings their food and it's very alive. To me Kjavari is fantastic. I would love to live there. And you can eat very well in Kjavari. So, which is not a bad idea. And so that's an optional day before leaving Genoa. And then I have to suggest a couple of other days in the west of Liguria, which is still very unknown to most of the tourists. I wish it a good thing because when you travel there you really leave the Italian life. It's very authentic and can really experience our ordinary life all year long even during the summertime. So it's not so crowded. So going to the west, because it's easy to travel to Liguria because it's just a long line. So we are going to the west and I suggest to move from Genoa to Alasio and to have another stop and leave in Alasio or in Albinga. And in this journey from Genoa to Alasio or Benga, I suggest to stop in two places. One is Finalborgo. Finalborgo is a perfectly preserved medieval village surrounded by ancient walls and very rich in history. Let's look at being in a movie. So you have this medieval village very well preserved with the city walls all around and I really suggest to go there. And that plays the area of Finalborgo. And there there is a wonderful restaurant called Il Torchio inside the Alas and they prepare fantastic local food. Finalborgo and all the area of Finale is famous for the outdoor activities. They are famous for climbing, but that's not something. Maybe you want to do in seven day tour, but lots of climbers from north to north. Maybe lots of climbers from north of Europe come to Finale because they're in Finale. There are a lot of cliffs. There are cliffs on the sea, but there are a lot of cliffs in the inside. So that's a very interesting place where to climb in between and almost untouched woods. This is a very amazing place. Or if you like biking, you can mountain bike. There are a lot of trails that goes around the trees and the forest for getting down with the mountain bike and then there are a lot of trails. And the trails are fantastic because you can walk in the mountain side with a astonishing sea view. So you are very high on the sea and see the coast, but you are on the mountain side. So that area is fantastic for any sport activity. And indeed, there are many, many people coming, especially from the north and of Europe to spend their days and their summertime in Finale. And that's for the outdoor mountain side. Close to Finale, there is Noli. Noli was a marine republic time the Mariner Republic in Middle Ages and it's a fantastic village on the sea and Noli has a pristine beach, sandy beach, which is fantastic, one of the most beautiful along the Ligurian coast, but also the historic center of Noli is very nice because it reflects the fact that in the past it was an independent Mariner Republic and so there are these medieval towers, cobblestone, parazzos and it's fantastic standard. There is also a fantastic trail leading to Kaponoli, so you have this trail always on the coast and you have this breathtaking views of the sea, from the cliffs or on the from the coast. If you go to these scenic trails you can access to very tiny rocky beaches which are almost not visited by anybody, so very private and nice. And in that area, again back to food, actually wine, there are nice winery in the back country of Finale and Noli. In that area they produce a special wine called Granaccia and a very good winery called Punta Crena and I know that they run for example wine experiences, so I know that they run wine tastings also for tourists, so they pick English and you can go and taste, but for doing these activities in land you need a car for sure because you can't get there by trains or bus. And then when you get to Alasio, Alasio is a beach resort, a tiny village, again on the coast, which has a very nice inner street called Budello. Alasio is the village where many people from Milan come to spend their holidays and so it has a special charm because they reach people from Milan, go to Alasio to spend their time in the holidays, so you have nice shop, everything is very well maintained and you have these Pedastrian streets with gelato shops and bars. It's a nice place to spend, I would say an evening, so this is why I suggest to stay in Alasio, in a peritivo, to some shopping, walk around and there there is a special treat that you have to taste, which are Bacci di Alasio. Bacci di Alasio are like Bacci di Dama, which you probably know what they are, they are these tiny cookies made with hazelnut shortbread and in between you have chocolate, two disc of hazelnut shortbread with chocolate inside, they are typical of Pedimon, most of the time, mainly, but we have them in general as well. Well, in Alasio they do it just with chocolate, so you have this tiny, let's say, balls of chocolate and hazelnut cookies put together with a chocolate paste, chocolate paste. Fantastic, that's the special thing about Alasio and by very few of them, otherwise you could try not to exaggerate because they create addiction. In Alasio there is to stay, there are some very nice resort, four-star resort on the beach and there are also many Airbnb, it's a touristy place, so you can have a lot of accommodation, you can decide where you want to stay. You can also decide to stay in Albinga, Albinga is a material town, this is also a nice town, very well preserved and you can also consider to stay there, skip Alasio and stay in Albinga and you have a different, of course, another option because Albinga is inland, it has no beach and it's, again, a medieval city. Then my suggestion is to move ahead to the France border, let's say, with another visit of other places, interesting. One of this is a chair voliguaire, so in day five I suggest to visit a chair voliguaire, which is a village on the sea coast, clinging on the sea with a fantastic big, I would say cathedral, though it's just a church, facing on the sea. It is a medieval village as well and it really deserves a visit, not only because it's where my grandparents come from, but also because it is a word that one of nicest villages in Italy, it's very steep, so you have to walk up because it's only pedestrian, so you cannot go there by car, you can get at the top of the village with the car and then you have to go down or reverse, like an action with that or more or less, and it is very nice, but it takes one hour to visit, nothing more, just you stop there, visit the village and then go, because there are a few restaurants and few shops, so it's nice to see the village itself, but not consider to spend too much time there. But then, instead, going towards the France border and towards the next stop I suggest to stay in, which is Sanremo, I really suggest to visit the island of Imperia, because the area of Imperia is one of the main city of Liguria, that area is the extra virgin olive oil district, so it is where the most part of the extra virgin olive oil in Liguria is produced, since the 1100 when the Benedictine monks decided to implant this special variety of olives called Pajasca, and so the island of Imperia is just made with stone terraces and olive grooves, it's amazing, you have these stone terraces very well kept and preserved, with all the olive grooves there, and my suggestion is to go to Luchinasco, so your goal is to get to Luchinasco, which is a very tiny village on top of the hill, and to get there, you need a car, you have to drive along these curvy streets going up until the top, all olive grooves, it's amazing, it's amazing and there you can have your olive oil experience, so there are lots of olive meals, which offer tastings, who sells their oil, for example, all your matto, Cristina is a very dear friend of mine and she stays in Luchinasco, and she runs this extra virgin olive oil experience where she like to taste the olive oil, you can visit her meal, and she lets you visit the old olive meals and the old church, so you can have this 300 degrees visit of the tiny village of Luchinasco, and get immersed into the extra virgin olive oil traditions and history of this place, and also there is another place very nice to have tasting and eating, which is called Petricore, and that's also in Luchinasco, it's not an olive meal, so you will not visit the olive meal and all this stuff, but you can have tasting and have an aperitivo and dine under the olive grooves, it is very nice, along the street you can find a very nice village called Borgo Maro, always authentic, very well preserved, almost unknown village deserving stop Borgo Maro, and the Ingrin Imperia, or actually on the way to Luchinasco from Inperia, there is also the museum of extra virgin olive oil, which is very interesting, that's the capital, it's the museum of oil, so from the Roman area until today, so you can really leave the history of oil since the beginnings of human life, human existence, it's very nice. Okay, and that is in an ancient olive mill, is what I'm seeing. Carly mill, because that was the seat of one of the biggest oil producer in the area, which is Carly. If you dine in that area, you should taste brandacujun, which is one of the most iconic dish where extra virgin olive oil is and main ingredient, actually there is a lot of them in there, and brandacujun is potato and stock fish mesh, so stock fish is caught fish, boiled caught fish and boiled potatoes mesh together, season it with a gentle amount of extra virgin olive oil and garlic and parsley, and you have this mesh, and it's a typical product of this area, so you will find it in the restaurants, in that area there are many savory pies, I can general as well, so pies made with filo dough and stuffing of vegetables. When you travel Liguria, you will find savory pies made with vegetables everywhere. In that area, they have many, especially made with the Swiss chard, the enzucchini, the west of Liguria is famous for its rabbit. I don't know if you can see eating rabbit, but it is very Liguria, rabbit. I've had wonderful rabbit dishes. Okay, did I love rabbit. It is chewed with other Liguria flavors like pineapple and rosemary and olives, and so rabbit is very typical of the West Liguria, so in that area there, it's very good. We decided to stay in Sanremo and then from Sanremo we visit the far west of Liguria. That area has wonderful villages, two wonderful villages that we really need to visit. One is Dolceacqua. Dolceacqua is famous for its coastal and for its old bridge of the Vecchio and for its historical center. And I'm translating that sweet water? Sweet water. Exactly because the river is passing through and they used to call it Dolceacqua, probably because the waters were sweeter, right? Actually, I don't know. By the way, talking about Lichets, Dolceacqua is famous for its wine. There is a famous DOC wine "Rossese de Dolceacqua" and that's the opportunity to visit a winery. So there are many wineries producing "Rossese de Dolceacqua" and when you are in the area, I suggest that you visit some. Then in Dolceacqua, there is a special bread called "miquette", which is a sweet bread kind of brioche. And so if you walk around Dolceacqua and find the bakery, ask for "miquette", "miquette de Dolceacqua". And then from Dolceacqua, there is a curvy narrow treat letting you to Apricale. Apricale is another fantastic village which is just on top of the hill. You walk when you're in Apricale, you can't walk around the village by car, you have to a little bit walk high climb because it's very steep and at the top of the village, there is a castle called Castello de la Luchertola. Don't ask me how you translate to Chertura in English, I don't know, Chertura is. And my suggestion is just to walk around the village. There are many tiny artisanal shops. This is a very artistic village. In the summertime at night, they used to do theaters in the squares of the village. So there is this walking theater with different scenes in different squares of the village. And there is also an albergo diffuso, which is an hotel that has each rooms in different houses scattered here and there in the mountains, which is very nice too. And the typical dessert of Apricale are Panzerole, which are fritters, sweet fritters, the Panzerole de Apricale. I'm seeing the translation of the castle name to lizard castle. Okay, thank you. My English is not that good to get to that village. Your English is much better than my Italian, so. You are not going to get to that village. But I am not going to get to that village, because I translate it very well. The words I miss. And so with this, I have finished my suggested itinerary, which would take probably 14 days rather than 7, because it's very long. But anyway, you have many. And there are much more to say, but we can't stay here all the day. Well, and we will go to wrap this up because this is one of the longer shows here. Anything else we need to know before we head to La Guria? Travel during low season. Okay. The perfect time is springtime and deep fall. Skip December and generally because everything is closed. So it's too extreme. Rent the car and if you have time travel inland, because there are so many wonderful landscapes and tiny villages and old shops and whatever scattered here and there, that's the amazing part. Still the uncovered the secret mysterious part of our region. And you should take it before it goes away. You are standing in the prettiest spot in La Guria. Where are you standing and what are you looking at? Camoia. Okay. I would stay in Camoia. I love that village so much. To me, it wraps everything in La Guria. Excellent. One thing that makes you laugh and say only in La Guria. That is only in La Guria. Yes. Because some of them are not welcoming. You mentioned that. Because it happens also to me when I travel especially the inland of the region. And you have these people working in the business. They are not welcoming. And so you cannot but laugh about that. So that's the most beautiful part to me. And if you had to summarize your home region here of La Guria in just three words, what three words would you use? I'm guessing one of them is food. Three words. Food, sea storms, swabs, food, swelves, and chestnuts. And chestnuts. Okay. I didn't see that one coming. Interesting. Because chestnuts means a lot of things here in La Guria. We don't have time to talk about that, but chestnuts. And our guest again has been Enrique Monsani. And her website again is a small kitchen in Genoa.com, which I'll put a link to in the show notes. And if we wanted to send people to your best post or maybe your best tour that has to do with this episode, where would we send them to? Well, on my website I have a Genoa food tour to Howard's food tour. To me it's a good opportunity to discover Genoa and La Guria when you are in Genoa. And I also suggest to take a cooking class if you are a really passionate foodie. Excellent. Well Enrique, thank you so much for coming on amateur traveler, ensuring that's your obvious love for the beautiful region of La Guria. Thank you for having me. Thank you so much. For long distance love. For introverts. And extroverts. The thinkers. And the doers. For old friends. And new. Coca-Cola. For everyone. Pick up some Coca-Cola at a store near you. When you shop Kroger delivery, you can expect the savings you love and fresh groceries delivered right to your door. Our refrigerated trucks keep your items fresh while our associates are committed to getting every detail right. 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And go to amateurtraveler.com/trips for details and for signing up when that becomes available. Join the mailing list if you want to make sure that you find out about those things ahead of time. With that, we're going to end this episode of amateur traveler. If you have any questions, send an email to [email protected] or better yet. Leave a comment on this episode at amateurtraveler.com. And thanks so much for listening. For the big, for the small, the short, and the tall, peacemakers, risk-takers, for the optimists, pessimists, for long-distance love, for introverts, and extroverts, the thinkers, and the doers. For old friends and new, Coca-Cola for everyone. because you don't simply step into the season. You create it layer by layer until it finally feels like fall. Find fall your way at Ross.