Genoa

A city needs good public transit with simple ways to pay to be a good tourist city. Ideally, they have "tap n go", with your credit card, phone, or smart watch held for a second to a reader on tram or bus, and you're good for 2 hours, jumping on any transport. Second best is cash on board. You plop a 2 euro coin into a box and get one ride. 

Genova has neither. And it doesn't have a bus ticket machine at the train station, which some places do. And that would be not tragic, except for getting to your hotel the first time, and if it weren't as hilly as San Francisco, which makes walking a true commitment. You can see these streets just north of my apartment climb and climb by their shape.  That's a map of steep hills. 

Luckily, I only had one full day here, so I walked the flat areas near my b&b that morning for exercise and forgot about tourist activities. Getting to and from the train station with 12 kilos of luggage was no fun, but I was only 30 minutes away. And the temp was 30, not 35 as it was in Ferrara with a similar bus system problem. Could have been worse. 

The beach here is rocky, the waves more intense than on the east side of Italy. Can't really say more as they didn't make it easy to discover more . 🤷‍♀️

Happy to move on to Pisa, where they do have tap n go on buses! Last stay is Civitavecchia, where i have 2 nights in the center of town so should not need a bus.