Dinner with New Friends

We were able to meet up with our new “Angel” and her boyfriend last Saturday night. We met inside the ancient walls of the City near the Porta Soprana (ancient City gates) in a quaint restaurant in an ancient building. We entered what looked like a tiny room with four tables and a bar,  but we were led by the hostess down tiny winding stairs to a larger brick walled basement area with about eight tables and little windows high up near the ceiling. The weather outside had been chilly (in the low forties Fahrenheit), but inside it was toasty warm (really almost hot), so we peeled off coats and scarves and made ourselves more comfortable at the table.

We dove into lively conversations, mostly in English with lyrical Italian translations from Angelica to her boyfriend when he did not understand. We tried to stumble our way through with a few Italian words and phrases and they appeared to appreciate our attempts.

We tried and tasted everything local that Angelica had expertly ordered… wine from Cinque Terre, four flavors of focaccia, a Genovese pesto dish, Pansotti (kind of like ravioli) with walnut sauce, and a thinly sliced meat dish with Tonno (tuna?) sauce. Everything was freshly made and delicious!  We topped it off with espressos and a local herbaceous aperitif served with Genovese butter cookies shaped like flowers.  

After dinner, they led us on our own private tour of this historic area of Genova. This area is a high point near the south side of the old port topped by the romanesque  church San Donato (originally built in the 12^th century and repaired in 1600s, and again in the 1800s) with its beautiful bell tower. We walked around the Giardino Luzzati and through the narrow stone paved streets of the area. One of the coolest things I saw was a nightclub area in the Giardino Luzzati that was built over an active archeological excavation.  You could walk out on fenced metal grated walkways that overlooked the digs while listening to music (they host various concerts here). We even walked by a tiny, functional, plastic car!

Too quickly (actually it was late for us 10:30 pm) it was time to say “Buona Notte!” Hugs and cheek kisses exchanged, we went our separate ways until the next meet-up!

Ciao for now!!!