Welcome To Milan
The tourist office in the station was shut.
In the end, I took the Underground to the Duomo and then found that my hotel was by the station, so I had to come back.
I know there was a lot of building work going on, but surely some maps and posters around the station would have helped. Surely, Milan only has to look two stations down the line to Genoa.
I did fill in the survey, but there was no place for comments.
From Turin To Milan
I was glad to leave Turin for Milan.
I was comfortably in First Class, virtually by myself for €34.50.
There is a high speed route, but my train took the traditional one.
One point to note about Italian trains is that most of their stations are termini, where you often have a long walk down the length of the train to get to your carriage. You realise how good the loading is at Kings Cross and the three major Eurostar termini, where you can use a bridge to get to the middle of the train.
An Italian told me a few years ago, that depending on the journey, he sometimes travels First Class and sometimes travels Second, just to avoid walking the full length of the train twice, as some journeys have intermediate stops, where the train actually reverses.
I Nearly Missed My Train
on this trip, I have been making extensive use of Left Luggage offices. They have generally been fairly good, although more expensive than the self-service German lockers.
But I was greeted by this sign, when I return to Turin Porta Nuova station.
I Nearly Missed My Train
It could have meant a whole new meaning to left luggage.
When the guy returned, he was puffing away on the remains of a ciggie!
So I had found him out!
In the end, I caught the train with a few minutes to spare.
The Turin Metro
The Turin Metro is not a big system, although it is being expanded.
Unlike the system in Genoa, it doesn’t serve the main part of the city centre, although it does link up the main train stations.
Like London’s DLR it is driver-less and surely in a few years time, all metros will be this way.
From Genoa To Turin
This leg was done in another Freccibianca and took about a couple of hours.
It wasn’t the most dramatic of journeys, although we had to wait for half-an-hour for the incoming train.
The Metro In Genoa
The Metro in Genoa is only small, but it got me out of trouble. There had been a lineside fire and everybody was taken off the train from Rome at the Brignole station, rather than the main one at Principe. There was no information at the station and I eventually found a friendly concierge in a hotel, who told me to take three stops on the Metro.
It is only a small system, but it covers the main parts of the city centre and goes to the sites I wanted to see on my overnight visit.
I actually could have used it more, as it also ran from my hotel to the restaurant I found on the Internet. But the hotel concierge felt it best I took a taxi, despite the station being about thirty metres away.
Compared to some metros I’ve used throughout Europe and the world, the Genoa metro sets a standard that others could emulate.
Two Trains To Genoa
I took two trains to Genoa.
The first was one of the new high speed trains called Frecciarossa, that got me to Rome in just over two hours and the second was a Frecciabianca that got me to Genoa around six in the evening. I didn’t write the exact times down and can’t find them from the Trenitalia web site.
On the trip to Rome, I had an aisle seat, which explains the lack of pictures. Especially as the train was crowded!
When I booked the trip, I didn’t realise that the Rome to Genoa leg runs for a long time up the coast and has spectacular sea views.
Both trains were 2+2 seating and despite the bigger loading gauge in Italy compared to the UK, I think that the seating was rather cramped compared to some First Class I’ve sampled in the UK, in France and on Eurostar.
The stops on the Rome to Genoa leg are also quite important cities including Pisa, which is a major rail junction, so don’t necessarily do the leg in one as I did.
The Excellent Italian Rail Ticket Machines
Buying rail tickets in Italy is easy and it is true to say, I’ve never failed to buy a ticket, when I needed one.
They are very easy to read and navigate and work in several languages. Here’s a picture of a machine working in English.
The Excellent Italian Ticket Machine
One big difference between Italian machines and those in say Germany or Sweden, is that when you change the language, they change the destination names. Note how Genoa in this screen is shown as the English spelling.
I suppose it helps that Italian is a language which uses a pure Roman alphabet like we do, with no accents, umlauts or cedillas.
Ticket machines should use plain characters to help tourists.
Exploring Naples In The Morning
As i said here, I got back into Naples without difficulty on the free bus and explored the city in the few hours I had before my train left for Rome and Genoa, where I would spend the night.
I didn’t have to carry my bag, as there was a good left luggage office in the station. It was probably best, as last time, I visited the city I was mugged. The story is here. Two pictures refer to this incident.
the only problem I had was getting back to the station, as the Metro had stopped. I even got an honest taxi driver, who said it would be much cheaper to take the Metro as it was only a short journey. As it was it cost me only a few euros, but I made the train with a few minutes to spare.
If I go back to Naples, I’ll explore the city differently by taking the Metro to Cavour and then walking down the hill to the station. That way the Metro won’t be able to let you down.
Up The Coast To Naples
This wasn’t the most interesting of train rides. I can’t even find a picture worth putting in this post. The train didn’t even stop at a station, that was worth an overnight stay until Salerno.
The journey was enlivened though by two things.
I shared the compartment with a Dutch couple and we discussed a lot of things about our lives.
There was also an Italian gentleman of a certain age, who I think had a hearing problem. He had the speaker on his mobile phone switched on and pointed to his ear, whilst he shouted into the other end. If I’d known some Italian, it might have been a better experience.
The Dutch couple got out at Salerno, as they were going to Pompeii and Herculaneum, before carrying on to Naples after a couple of days.
On the other hand, except for a banana kindly given by the Dutch couple, I was hungry by the time I got to Naples.
The Anonymous Widower 