With our destination reached and my hiking buddies back on their way to the airport, it was time for me to be reunited with Silvia and the bike. So I retraced my steps, heading back to Alessandria and eventually to Silvia’s place.
Later that evening we headed out to nearby Quargnento for an aubergine festival, organised to celebrate the town’s harvest. There was to be no aubergine for me, but I did get to try some delicious limoncello and meet some of Silvia’s friends. Two of them happened to have cycled down to Rome a few years back, and could give me some tips on what to see along the way. Sounds like there’s lots of great stuff to come!
I headed out by bike the next morning since Silvia’s family was off to the seaside for a few days. They’d all been extremely hospitable and welcoming, and by my second visit it really felt as though I was returning to a home away from home.
It also did feel good to be on two wheels again, even if the bike was beginning to show some signs of the distance covered. Each turn of the pedals was now producing a strange crackling sound, and as hard as I tried to pin it down I couldn’t quite figure out where it was coming from. Guess I’ll just have to live with it and wait till I can give the bike some proper TLC.
Once outside Alessandria, the day’s route seemed to lead me further and further into nothingness, and after a while I’d easily cycle for half an hour without passing a car (and yes, when in Italy that’s a lot). I was also slowly heading up again. The mountains didn’t end at Aosta – all I would be getting was a brief break, after which things got crazy again as I hit the Apennines.
At one point I came across some picnic benches and a water tap in the middle of nowhere, and stopped for lunch.
As lunch was cooking I headed over to the water tap for a refill, only to be hit by a strong smell of rotten eggs and this sign. Hmmm, to drink or not to drink?
One car later drove right up to the tap and the driver got out to fill up some bottles of her own. She confirmed that the water’s not only drinkable – it’s actually meant to cleanse the body, and she’d driven all the way up here just to get some of it for herself. Uh, lucky me, I guess.
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I spent the rest of the day cycling further up into the mountains. By the evening I’d made it quite high, almost reaching the road’s peak.
As the sun was setting I found a small path leading to a clearing beneath the road, and decided to make it home for the night.
The following morning I continued along the road, and around an hour later I’d reached the top. I was rewarded with quite the view – and I could finally capture the sea and the bike in the same shot.
Over on the other side I could see the past few days of cycling summed up right before me – the Alps, followed by the Piemonte plain, and finally the Apennines which I’d just climbed.
What followed from there was one long downhill right to Genova. I’d made it down in good time and was there before noon, which was all for the better since I still had to find a place to spend the coming night. I’d planned to stay in the city for a few days and had repeatedly sent out Couchsurfing requests, but all had so far been in vain. So I made McDonalds my first stop, and sat down with my laptop to get things sorted.
It took me forever to actually get online (just as a side-note, why do all ‘public’ and ‘free’ WiFi spots in Italy make it so hard to actually get connected? There’s always some form of phone number/credit card verification process, which only works with luck well on your side).
As I sat there trying to figure out my way into the WiFi network, I was approached by a group of Swiss backpackers. They’d just arrived in Genova and wanted to know if I had any hiking routes to recommend in the region. I told them to sit down and join, and we chatted about hiking the Cinqueterre as I retraced the previous week’s adventures. They couldn’t have possibly asked at a better time! It turned out they were also scouts and had been camping in Switzerland. After a few days of non-stop rain they’d had enough, so they grabbed their backpacks and caught a last-minute southbound train in chase of some sunshine. Awesome. This called for a group selfie.
Just after they’d headed off, I checked my emails again and was met with some good news – host found for the night. It was Rahim, who’d initially declined my request but then reconsidered when he saw that I was still desperately looking for a place to stay. Got to love the Couchsurfing community!
That just left one more thing to sort out. A few days earlier my travel insurance agency had finally mailed out my insurance card…to the Dutch address, of course. Seeing as it was probably a good thing to have on me, I’d arranged to have it forwarded to Genova. That hadn’t been too difficult, thanks to some great friends back in Maastricht. Linda, a university classmate and Genova native, had given me her mum’s home address. I’d passed that on to Svetlana, my roommate, and she’d forwarded the mail on to Genova. And just as I’d been sitting there at McDonalds, I received a message from Linda to say that the mail had arrived and I could head over to her mum’s to pick it up. Well timed, well timed.
I made my way to Rahim’s later as planned. We had a quick chat before both heading out again – him towards the gym, and me to pick up the mail. We’d just about had time enough to make plans for dinner. I’d be preparing my staple of sweet and sour sauce, and he offered to contribute a few mojitos.
We each went our own ways, and planned to meet back at his at around 2100. That should give me loads of time to find Linda’s place, pick up the mail, and maybe also see some of the city, I thought. Finding the place turned out to be easy enough. I was there within a few minutes, rang the bell, and the apartment building’s front door buzzed open. Linda’s brother came downstairs and initially mistook me for the postman – close enough, I guess. Only, this time I was here to do the picking up. Once he figured that Genovese postmen aren’t usually English-speaking and don’t work evenings, he realised who I was and welcomed me right in.
Both him and Linda’s mum were really welcoming and we had a great time chatting. They ended up inviting me to join for dinner – I’d already made plans with Rahim of course, so told them I’d just stay for an appetiser. Needless to say, that still turned into a full-fledged meal.
I was now running late and had one hungry Rahim waiting for me, so as much as I’d have liked to stay a bit longer I bade them farewell and headed back to my host. It was almost midnight by the time we were done cooking, so I was more than up for a second dinner by then.
The next day I moved over to stay with Abla, another Couchsurfer. She’d seen my last-minute request and offered to host me for a second night in Genova if need be. We didn’t have much time – I only got to meet her late evening and she had to leave for work early the next morning, but we got to put together a ‘Maltese’ meal with the limited ingredients we could find and had a good time chatting about her native Albania.
The day to hit the road again had now come. I went for a quick early-morning walk around the centre, and then got back on the bike Cinqueterre-bound. More on that in the next post! For now, some photos of early-morning Genova.
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