Italy: Savona

For those of you that have been following me, you'll know that I recently went to Italy for work. I got to meet some interesting people, explore the towns I stayed in and I got enough of a taste of Italy in order to know that I am definitely going back there when I get a chance! (Anyone feel like sponsoring me?)

Flying from France to Italy - French countryside

Can you spot the mountains peeking out?

Flying in to Genova

From the Genoa (Genova) Airport to Savona, we drove through a collection of tunnels whose entrances were covered in ivy and lush-green vegetation which reminded me a lot of the vegetation around Durbs.

Mountains as we were flying in to Genoa

Genoa - at the bottom right you can see a white spidery thing.
Now slide your eyes to the middle, you'll see some blue buildings.
That's the aquarium.

The harbour in Savona, about a 2 minute walk from our hotel.

The one night we went out to dinner with our project team and drove up these hilly, windy roads that would put the Cape Town back-roads to shame! 

View from our team dinner (the place where we had to drive through
crazy windy roads to get there!)

We took a walk around Savona on the Friday before going to Genoa and walked into some absolutely breathtaking churches where the ceilings were all painted. Incredibly, many of the buildings in both places had painted motifs on their exteriors. From far away, these looked like actual stone pieces, window decorations and relief sculptures. On second glance, when you get closer, you realise that the beautiful architectural décor has all been painted on, in order to give the illusion of depth. 

The Priamar Castle in the middle of Savona is a beautiful landmark.
Concerts take place in part of the castle. There was also a restaurant
and what looked like some type of museum as well. 

Priamar Castle

Savona beach front - Getting ready for the influx of holiday makers

Savona Beachfront - how inviting does that water look?

Torretta Clock Tower - Savona at dusk
(South Africa doesn't get "dusk" like you do in Europe)

Savona Harbour Lights

Savona - Sculptures on the side of a building

The streets of Savona

Look carefully at all the different paintwork on the side of the building - I love it!

Again, it's not columns you see...

...the details have been painted on!

A beautiful stained glass window in one of the churches we looked at

The scale of some of these churches was incredible!

Detail from the picture above

One of the church ceilings - beautiful!