Genoa

Some folks here say Genoa has its charms. It's a very crowded, traffic-congested city. I wasn't wild about it. Why are you renting a car to drive from Avignon to Nice? Are you spending a few days in between? If so, a car is an asset. If not, trains are easier. Will you have the car after Nice?

Doug is correct, Genoa is crowded and traffic will make you frantic, skip it. Now you know why Chris Columbus left there--ha!

Doug & Jerry, yes we plan to stop along the way. We pretty much have adlibed our travels, but we hear the area is rife with quaint farms and vineyards. We will hit the museums in the cities, but our real pleasure has been meeting the people. We have been very lucky in our travels to meet incredible people and learn a lot about their culture. I guess Genoa is out. What we have read about it is that after its cleanup and remake it had turned into something nice. We figured most tourists would hit the popular places, Genoa might have been an alternative, especially because we had to vacation at the height of the season. Thank you both for your help.
Ann & Frank

One more, "I have never been attracted to go to Genova even though I have been very close" camp. BTW you will meet more locals on a train and in stations than inside your car. But you can get to the hill towns and incredible places like Roussillon more easily with a car.

Well, one thing is for sure. You won't find many tourists in Genoa. There just isn't much there that most tourists would want to see. A few museums, but no really famous paintings. An aquarium, but we have those here. I have been to Genoa many times because we have family there so we like it but we look at it from a different perspective. The food is probably the best thing about Genoa, especially the focaccia and the pesto. Both foods originated there. The promenade is lovely and the residential buildings the way they rise up from the hills is unique to Genoa. I wouldn't drive in Genoa. You could stay outside of Genoa in one of the riviera towns and take a train in if you really wanted to see it for the day.

I'm sorry to hear that others have not enjoyed Genoa. My husband and I were there for one full day in late May 2009 (arrived 8:30 a.m. by train and left the next morning around 10:00). We found people in Genoa exceptionally gracious and helpful and Genoa itself quite interesting. There are 2 quite good art museums, Palazzo Bianco and Palazzo Roso. My husband got into a very interesting conversation with a guard there regarding the finer points of English and Italian. On two separate occasions we had a middle-aged, middle-class looking woman offer assistance when we were confused about the funiculare or directions. This is not a tourist town, but rather a regular place where people live and work. The streets were not overly crowded (midday, midweek). Perhaps because people were at work. It seems that the residents were fairly prosperous and perhaps gainfully employed during the day.