On an Italian cruise ship, we were offered tons of different pastries and donuts, fruit, deli meat and cheese, eggs, and some weird fish dish that Brigham enjoyed trying. Gross. The donuts were fantastic with different fillings and flavors.
We quickly left our ship and walked 1.3 miles through the heart of Savona to get to the train station where we booked our tickets to Final Ligure. Nervous about navigating the train and directions all in Italian, we managed to stamp our tickets and get to Final Ligure without much of a hitch. Once we arrived, however, we wandered around a bit attempting to figure out what bus would get us from Final Ligure to Finalborgo. We missed a bus or two, but eventually figured out the stop and rode another mile to the small, beautiful town of Finalborgo.
Finalborgo is exactly like every quaint Italian village you picture in your head, with cobblestone walkways between old buildings, flowers growing over window planters, bicycles leaning against walls, and laundry hanging from lines high above your head.
Enjoying our stroll, we walked straight to a winding cobblestone pathway that took us up to Castel San Giovanni.
This castle is an old Spanish Fortress that is open to the public to explore. Hardly anyone was there and we explored the place mostly on our own.
An old kitchen, dungeons, lookouts, and other various rooms wound about with stairs between the different levels.
Castel San Giovanni is high up on a hill with gorgeous views of the area.
I spent a long time at the lookouts enjoying my view of the Italian countryside sweeping out to the sea.
Brigham decided he would try to head higher up the mountain because he heard there was more to see, but Mom and I opted out until he could report whether it was really worth it or not and sat and enjoyed the sunshine and landscape instead. Or what we could see of it anyway, through the smoke of men burning weeds. It turns out there wasn't anything more to see up top once Brigham returned.
Once back down our path, we headed to the Convent de Santa Caterina, an old convent with 15th-century frescoes and a garden.
That stop was short, but free and had a great bathroom - a rarity in Italy - so it got two thumbs up.
We continued walking through the town past pastry shops and small stores, and we stopped to watch families and dogs play in the small town square.
Eventually, we stumbled upon the town Basilica.
It was astounding to find this giant church with gorgeous, ornate paintings and structures in this small, quaint town. They sure know how to do churches in Italy.
We paid a dollar to light a candle of prayer while music played in the background.
After leaving the Duomo, we skipped the bus ride back to Final Ligure and instead walked down the streets. Along the way, we passed quite a few salons and beauty shops and small stores selling interesting produce. We took a picture of our hands next to what looked like giant green beans and sent it back to our family to show them.
Apparently, they are a type of bean. My sister-in-law eats them frequently in Brazil.
Back in Final Ligure, we stopped for a lunch consisting of different types of Italian pizza: pesto, zucchini, cheese, and more. It was delicious.
And then we stopped off at the beach for a hot minute before we had to head back to the train station to catch our ride back to Savona.
I could have strolled the beach for much longer. It was beautiful and our time was way too short.
Once we hopped off the train back in Savona, we wandered down a couple different streets to explore a bit more before we got back on the cruise ship. We checked out a couple of their pharmacies and paused to admire their "intersection". In Italy, the street signs are actually plaques or built-in blocks up high on the actual building walls. Sometimes the street names are there, sometimes they are not.
Eventually, we found our way to the Basilica in Savona.
Two Basilicas in one day! I thought the golden, ornate podium was pretty cool.
Then back at the docks/cruise terminal.
On the ship, we were called to another mandatory meeting about life-jacket safety in the event of an emergency. Brigham was off wandering on his own and missed it completely so Mom and I took a picture to show how much fun we were having without him. At a safety meeting. Wearing claustrophobic life-jackets.
At least we wouldn't drown.
Our fancy food at dinner included a poached egg in sweet potato puree (interestingly good), squid salad (ok), and prawns on a bed of salmon and rice (good except for having to get the prawn shell off which stained my shirt and gave a weird aftertaste to the prawn).
We tried out that evening's entertainment show - which were very hit or miss quality-wise - while my mom went to bed early. Her shoulder was throbbing from the full day of walking and exploring. But we were all pretty proud of ourselves for navigating foreign streets/trains/buses on our own for the first time successfully. And all in a foreign language. We were nervous it would be a disaster but it turned out great and we had an awesome day without missing the ship. Some of our tour friends asked how it went heading out on our own and we were happy to report the success of our day and the fun we had.
This destination was one of my favorites of the whole trip. If I could go back to Finalborgo, I would in a heartbeat. I would love to explore more of the cobblestone streets and try out some of the pastry shops and local restaurants. It's not a big tourist excursion so we were pretty much the only ones there besides the locals and we often heard "Americanos" as we walked by. We commented on how the Italians seem to like to wear dark colors and we stuck out like sore thumbs with our bright clothing. It was peaceful and beautiful and it felt nice to get out of the big, busy cities.
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