Travel :: Boccadasse, Italy

Happy Monday!  I hope you had a nice weekend.  We caught up with old friends and spent Sunday relaxing and reading.  I'm sorry that it has been pretty quiet in this neck of the woods over the past couple of weeks.  Life caught up to me and I have been struggling to find time to fit it all in!  But I have committed to invest in more "me time," which means bringing Dreams in HD back to where I want it to be!  And first things first, let's talk about travel.

In September of 2013 Ryan and I took a fantastic two and a half week trip to Italy.  We flew into Genoa and decided to spend the night there to give us a day to catch up to the time change and allow us to wake rested and refreshed for our train ride to the Cinque Terre.  We didn't have high expectations for Genoa - the guide book called it "dank, dark, and dangerous" {a winning combination}, but surprisingly found it to be quite enjoyable.

Our favorite part of Genoa?  A small fisherman's village about 20 minutes outside of the city center called Boccadasse.  While asking our hotel's concierge for restaurant recommendations a fellow traveler mentioned that she spent the first 40 years of her life in Genoa and told us to take a bus to Boccadasse for dinner.  Not expecting much, we hopped out of the bus and were just able to catch the sunset over the sea.  After a five minute walk we stumbled upon the village, and we were absolutely awe-struck!  

Boccadasse is in a tiny cove surrounded by colorful little buildings built up on the rocks.  We wandered down to the beach and stopped at a little bar for happy hour and to drink a glass of wine sitting in the sand.  Afterwards we had a delicious seafood dinner under the stars.  But the best part of the night?  We were the only Americans there.  Boccadasse seemed absolutely untouched by tourism and felt totally, 100% authentic.  It reminded me of the Cinque Terre but without the crowds and the tours.  If you ever fly into Genoa I'd highly recommend staying a day to visit Boccadasse!