The Day the Pirates Parked in the Harbour, Genova

Yes, so the procrastination continues ... another photograph.  This time of the pirate ship I found parked, kind of casually, in Genova’s harbour.  I guess they were hoping to blend in and mingle with the cruise ship people down on the harbour’s edge.

Checklist so far includes, breakfasts made, dishes washed, laundry on.
Second shift breakfast for Miss 6.

Giuseppe Garibaldi, by Italian sculptor Augusto Rivalta.

I thought about doing a Craigslist advert for a hero on this next one but stuck to the facts in the end ...

Still having fun playing with the Polaroid Generator action.  I believe this is because I have much to do in the next few hours.  Hmmm, perhaps I shall re-christen mine the Polaroid Procrastinator.

In Need of a Window to Lean On the Sill of ...

The new website is almost done ...so today I’m taking the day off to wander in Antwerpen with the Belgian bloke, who has a day off.

Cameras packed, a terras stop planned - the one with great olives and nice wine.
Yes, a day off ... could be nice.

Once Upon a Time, In Genova ...

A memory from my last time in Genova alone ...

There is something truly delicious about lying in bed here in Genova, listening as the street comes alive ... the first footsteps, the quiet voices, followed by louder voices as people roll up the doors of their businesses, and the clank of the coffee cups on…

Bubbles and The Magic Flute ...

I really enjoyed trying to capture these giant bubbles in all of their splendour but was surprised with the results.  I applied nothing more than a simple increase in saturation and a little brightening.  The starbursts were already there in the bubble ...and to be honest, I’m not really a starburst kind of woman.

Maybe that’s Genova.  Even the bubbles…

a curve in the path ...

In Genova, Italy, there is always another curve in the road to fall in love with ... to explore.

GENOVA - in reflection

The other day I realised I might not be quite like the average mortal, and that my behaviour ... my way of seeing the world, might even border on a little odd ... but I love what I find in reflection, and have done since I was a kid, being driven along State Highway One in the South Island of…

Special People, Genova

For me, Genova is not just a place full of beautiful buildings, situated on a coast that reminds me of home.  It has its share of people I really enjoy seeing and admire too.

Our lovely friend, Stefano, was out town when we arrived but Gert and I spent those days…

A place of quiet beauty, Genova

Can you tell how much I love these places of worship?

It was the same in Istanbul, when I discovered the peaceful beauty of the mosque. 

The Boy who sells Roses, Genova

The flower boy passed through Porta Soprana, the ancient gate leading into the old part of the city of Genova, while I was there ... trying to capture something of this opening in a city wall, built back in the 12th century.

There’s something about this one that I like ...

a holy place, genova

A lovely old man saw me taking this photograph and took me to another shop window, and then on, round the corner, saying I must see inside this church pictured below.

I think we did all of this in Italiano, which I really don’t speak but sometimes, or oftentimes, you just ‘get’ what people are trying to…

Missing Genova ...

The oddest thing ... I begin missing Genova as I pass through that halfway-thru-my-stay mark.

I notice suitcases rolling along the alleyway below Paola’s apartment, and I know it’s silly to think of them even while I still have the other half of the holiday left ... but I notice them anyway.

I think I’ve lived one of those lives…

The Way Home ... when in Genova, Italy

I love this gate called Porta Soprana.  It was built in the 12th century, with the help of the citizens of Genova, as the government of the time attempted to defend the independence of the city from Emperor Barbarossa.

However, Barbarossa apparently knew that he needed the people of Genova, with their rapidly developing economic and maritime strength, and he…

The Bike on the Stairs, Genova

I love the challenges posed by this bike up an alleyway off Via Cairoli or Garibaldi ... I was rapt to find it parked there, a year after I first photographed it.

Different light, a different camera, time spent learning some more of my craft, all combined to give me this shot.
I’m pleased with it.

Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy

I want to write of the remarkable people we’ve spent time with these last two days but we’re preparing to leave, exhausted after a day scaling hills in the hot Italian sun ... only slightly revived after an exquisite dinner in the company of some lovely people.  I want to write the story of meeting these people but when I’m…

Palazzo San Giorgio, Genova

Palazzo San Giorgio was built in 1260, by order of the Capitano del Popolo Guglielmo Boccanegra, for the Commune.  In 1570 it was extended and this frescoed facade, showing Saint George and his dragon, was added. Later, in the 15th century, the palace became the headquarters of the first European bank, Banco di San Giorgio.

Marco Polo was actually imprisoned…

Night Shoot, Genova

We wandered out to Isola delle chiatte to see what the sun would do to Genova’s lighthouse and ended the evening using the tripod in Piazza De Ferrari, photographing the fountain we love so well.

A sunset stroll turned into 2.5 hours of wandering and photography.
A lovely way to end a day, writes this very happy kiwi from…

Reminiscing the Future ...

I love the way we can bring the past alive in our present ... recalling the people we loved and lived with, the way that they made us feel.  I find everyone is still there, as solid memories, if I manage to call them up.

7am here in Italy, a cup of coffee from my small traveling espresso coffee-pot and…

Musical Instrument-Maker, Genova.

I could have watched these guys work for hours ... well, photographed them for sure.

Down an Alleyway, Genova

I spun the ISO setting for this photograph.  The light was almost over but this beckoned as I wandered home along Via XXV Aprile.  Laughing, imagining it an impossible fish to land ... well, I like it.

Genova, in Reflection

Today was one of those days… everywhere I looked, there was a photograph.

We chased the evening light for a couple of hours tonight, exhausting ourselves after a day spent walking ... but it’s so good to be out in sunshine and warmth after the long winter of ice and snow.

Carrugi, Genova

The photograph below was taken in one of the many carrugi, or narrow alleyways, that criss-cross the ancient heart of Genova city.

I love them.  You can be constantly lost, although we are getting there ... retracing our steps and exploring a new favourite area in the Maddalena district.

Life is lived up close and personal, so very unlike my…

Perhaps this says it all of Genova ...

I hoped this guy would forgive me for wanting to photograph him tonight but you can see why ...

He looked exactly as I felt as I turn 360 degrees here in Genova some days.

Genova ...

I pass this regularly, walking up the stairs and through Porta Soprana here in Genova ...

I don’t take it so seriously, imagining it to be so beautiful that it can’t be real.  I promise to read of it tomorrow but tonight, I set my camera’s ISO to 6400 and took this ... surprising myself with the result.

Fountain, Piazza de Ferrari, Genova

The fountain in Piazza de Ferrari hasn’t been running lately.  Perhaps it’s the wind that blows the spray all over everything but whatever the reason, it means i can hunt down photographs like this by walking in the empty outer pool of it.

I took this tonight, in the last of the evening light. 

Did I ever mention, I…

Bubbles in Piazza De Ferrari, Genova

I loved this shot of the giant bubble ...

Kathleen Berger, Soprano

Kathleen arrived on a train from Pisa yesterday ...

We introduced her to Genova and she, of course, fell in love with this exquisite Italian city.

Last night we had appertivo before eating the most fantastic pizza ... much wine and laughter.

Today it was Nervi before saying goodbye.  A lunch…

Francesco Sepe, Magician

The extraordinary in the everyday, was how I titled this image ...

Imagine, you’re strolling across the beautiful Piazza de Ferrari here in Genova when you meet this exquisite bubble ... floating through the air as if normal.

I found the source, more to follow on the extraordinary Francesco Sepe and his bubbles.

A Bend in the River, Italy

When I wander, there’s this oftentimes unconscious thing going on ... the thing where I ‘recognise’ something of other places I have loved or lived in.

This bend in the river, in Nervi, reminded me of visiting my Grandma and Grandad in their little cottage in Northeast Valley, Dunedin, but it wasn’t about the house pictured, it was about the…

Streets of Something Like Gold ...

Isn’t this beautiful?

It is just one of many covered walkways in downtown Genova.  This one is my favourite.  There is a bank guard with a semi-automatic machine gun stationed halfway along the street, and my idea is that he uses his gun to ‘punish’ the chewing-gum-spitters who have marked some of the other beautiful pavements in the city with…

Clouds and Sunshine on a hill above the Ligurian Sea

I had this feeling that the clouds, the sea and the coastline might be interesting if we were to wander out to the look-out on the hill at Boccadasse this morning ... and they were.

I love sitting here. It took us longer than planned to reach it, as Gert is all but crippled by back pain and so, we’re…

7am and Working.

This morning, I was awake and working at 7am ...

Although I should admit that I enjoy working and to spend time working at this pretty little round table in Paola’s kitchen somehow makes the hours pass by in a sweeter way. 

Then again, I could be honest and tell you that it’s almost 8.30am and I feel…

Genova ...

I feel things strongly ... powerfully even, and so life is about negotiating this feeling ‘too much’, or it has been.

Here in Italy, specifically Genova, perhaps it’s okay to feel everything as I do.

I mean look ... below is one of the streets here in the city.  This is a street laid with beautiful old stones and you…

Lovin Genova

I know what it is that I love so much about this wandering life of mine ...

It’s about going out hunting in the early morning light and bringing back treasures like focaccia and photographs of beautiful places seen along the way. 

I do believe I’m a hunter/gathering kind of woman.

I Am Here ...

Whimsy in Genova ...

Today was one of those days where we set about finding our place here in this new world.

I called in to catch up with Lorenzo, at cibi e libri, my favourite vegetarian cafe here in the city of Genova.

We bought supplies from here and there, wandered, noted the times of boat trips along the…

Focaccia and the Internet ... my small cup of happiness runneth over in Genova.

Now I am sure I have arrived in Genova…

I began my day with some of the best onion focaccia in the world, bought from Panificio Patrone di Travaglini Mario e Luca at Via Ravecca 72.

Bliss!

But even more stunning ... Alessandro, at Acquarius Service, in Piazza Fossatello…

Genova ...

I am going through my photo files of Genova before flying tomorrow. 

For me, packing to leave also means loading external hard-drives and usb sticks ... organising all that I’ll need to work in Genova.

The quiet elegance of this Italian city is something I enjoy immensely.  These covered footpaths, next to roads with everyday buses and cars passing…

Returning to Genvoa ...

Next week, I will climb the small path at Boccadasse, the one that leads to this view out over the Ligurian Sea ... and restore my winter soul some.

I sat for a long time, watching the storm clouds gather, blocking then releasing the sunlight, not quite sure how to leave my seat there on the hill.
You can…

Genova!!  a return

My head is turning back towards Genova and my wee kiwi soul is so excited.  We fly soon ...

And we return to one of two places I love best in the world. 
There will be time to call in at the farinata shop ... the one the family have…

Remembering Genova ...

My Istanbul Window ...

I came to love this ‘window’ in Istanbul ...claimed it, in my casually colonial way, as my Istanbul window.  I have photographed it often over the years, measuring my progress as a photographer, seeing the instinctive become a knowledge-based act, still instinct- driven but perhaps enhanced by a growing ease with the technical.

It’s not at eye-level and that’s the…

An Extraordinarily Excellent Day

Yesterday began in another rush, with me racing over to Brussels to interview the truly interesting and talented Jessica Hilltout, photographer and world wanderer.  The interview will take a few weeks to appear, as I’ll wait for her beautiful Africa photographs to go through the selection process for her upcoming book.
…

Cooking Class, Genova

Bookshops (with English books) in Genova.

The bookshop I love best in Genova is la Feltrinelli Librerie at Via XX Settembre 231R, close to Piazza de Ferrari.  The English section is upstairs and quite varied.  I bought more than a few books while I was there.

FNAC Genova is on the other side of Via XX Settembre, 46R and closer to Brignole Railway Station.  It has…

Missing Genova ...

A street scene- Via San Lorenzo, Genova

Portofino Pathway, Italy

Galleria Imperiale, Antique Store, Genova

Galleria Imperiale is well worth a visit, both to view the antiques on display and to wander through the beautiful building in which they are housed. 

I used my Canon EOS 5D series II and the Canon EF 17-40mm 1:4L, without flash for this shot.

You can visit Galleria Imperiale at Campetto 8,  in the ancient heart of the…

Cafe’ Il Barbarossa, Genova

Cafe’ Il Barbarossa is well-placed here in the ancient part of the city of Genova.  It sits on top of the hill in Piano di San Andrea, 21-23R, next to Porta Soprana, with outdoor tables that attract all ages but most especially the younger crowd.

Opened in 1995, it acknowledges the ancient gate standing next to it in its name…

Pizzeria Ravecca, Genova

I ate more pizza than I should have in Genova but eating becomes very much something I can’t be bothered doing when I’m out wandering ... cooking is even less likely to happen and so the pizzeria across the alley became a second home, specially while Pippa was staying. 

One night, I popped into the kitchen and took a…

Genova via Webcams.

I can no longer remember how I discovered Stefano’s Genova webcam but I remember my delight and the regular ‘visits’ I made to Genova via his webcams throughout the long grey Belgian winter.

We exchanged email periodically after my initial approach asking permission to link to his site on my womanwandering blog.  Spring came eventually and…

Blog from Italy and DiMackey.com in Pavia.

One of the things about wandering with fellow bloggers is that they write of it, publish photographs ... things like that.

Actually, I was lucky as Alex didn’t publish half of what he was threatening to publish - not that anything was terribly wicked, I just might have dissed Belgium a little bit. 

Anyway, I mentioned Pavia previously but…

Onion Foccacia, Genova

Here in Genova, one of the best things about waking up is surely the onion foccacia bread ...

Flowers in the background and onion foccacia on the kitchen table I spend my days and nights working at ... life is good.

Vegetarian Cooking Class, Genvoa

There is something truly delicious about attending an evening vegetarian cooking class here in the old section of the city of Genova ...

It’s about listening to the Italian language flow around me, enjoying the fact that I was there as a photographer and simply allowed to observed ... only surprised into laughter when the teacher informed me that…

Scorpions, Genova

No one mentioned the scorpions in Genova ...

I met my first scorpion yesterday and watched horrified as a young man played with it, just a metre from my foot, trying to pick it up to throw it outside.

Seeing it induced a tsunami-like wave of homesickness and brought back memories…

Cafe Boomerang, Genova

This is aperitivo,Cafe Boomerang-style.  You can find them on via di Porta Soprana, 41- 43, Genova.
Interview to follow tomorrow but this aperitivo ‘snack’ came with my glass of red wine, the best aperitivo I’ve experienced so far.

Beginning on the work I came here to do ...

I have these days where I wake wondering who on earth I think I am and why I feel I have the right to wander and ask questions of strangers ...

Initially, waking this morning was gentle and delicious.  The first footsteps passed by my window, the voices quiet but later, after…

A Simple Thing

And sometimes it is simply about people doing something very ordinary in an exquisite light on an ancient street next to a building that has the last of the day’s sun warming and smoothing its surface ...

A way to arrive in Genova ...

I think I arrive once there are flowers on the kitchen table ...

Here in Genova there is always someplace to buy flowers and Paola’s round dining table invites flowers, even if I still haven’t quite organised a vase. Today one of my water bottles has been sawn-off to play hostess to flowers bought at a market on Piazza Scio…

Pippa and I, Boccadasse, Italy

Genova

It was a 1 hour and 15 minute flight to Milan ... perhaps 60euro.

Pippa, an old friend from New Zealand, not seen in 5 years, was there waiting for me in the arrivals hall in Milano.  It was so good to see this woman who knew me before I went wandering in a serious other-side-of-the-world way.  We negotiated the…

From a Hill in Boccadasse

There was something that bit me in the soul about Genova.  Perhaps it was as simple as living next to the sea again ...

Genova, Bach and I

These last few days, I’ve been trying to capture the Genova I fell in love with while staying in Italy last year ...

There was a paragraph where I tried to describe the quietly sublime beauty of a Sunday morning spent alone in that city I love.

I wrote: Sunday, my first day alone and the city is…

A Taste for Adventure, by Anik See

I’m looking up and in the sky there is the shiny glint of a jet airplane caught in the sun’s grasp, pushing silently east; I’m thinking there are four hundred people going somewhere else. I’m hoping that most of them realise the freedom of being 38,000 feet up and headed…