Essex (CVA 9) - Naval Cruise Book

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NOA Genoa was the ESSEX's first taste of Mediterranean hos- pitality. For us it meant an entirely new world, unfamiliar people, a strange way of life. Not that this is anything new to the ESSEX: her travels of the past several years have con- stantly brought us in contact with new ,lands and people- and so now, the ancient Mediterranean with its traditions and culture, produced by thousands of years of growth and change. The perfect introduction' to this newness was Genoa. Here .we saw a city fathered by sea-faring men of such an- cient an age as- to be lost in history, a city chosen for its deep, spacious harbor, a city spreading in its growth over the neighboring hills whose buildings, piazzas, and thorough- fares are an odd assortment of various historical times. This is the real fascination of Genoa-this harmony and conglomeration of the old and new. The harbor, which saw Greeks and Phoenicians also sees today the sleek pleasure liners and freighters that bring trade of all kinds to this flourishing spot. Within a few yards 'of each other in the Via Dante stand the ultra-new grattacielo, a modern achieve- ment of offices, theaters, and restaurants, and the brown stone and mossed house where Christopher Columbus is said to have lived. Nearby is the turreted entrance to the Old Cityg a maze of narrow alley ways that seem to wind forever between tall brown stoned houses and shops. We wandered through these little streets and watched vendors hawking pizza and peculiar assortments of tangy meats. We saw insignificant, almost shabby little shops that contained for the curious shopper magnificent examples of Italian leather and metal craftsmanship. Now and then we'd step aside for someone in a hurry-perhaps a Fiat, but sometimes a donkey. We no- ticed the strange musty, earthy smell that seemed to have been built right into the streets. Columbus' Monument

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Sfczglieno Cemetery GENOA Occasionally we'd come to a rather stately building that was probably one time a house of nobility, now maybe an office or municipal building, there we could peek through courtyards at a glimpse of gardens and fountains that at one time were perhaps the back yard of a wealthy mer. chant family. Not far away is the Piazza de Ferrari, the financial center of this city which is, above all, one of commerce, and stretching away from it is the Via XX Septembre, a wide boulevard flanked by houses of trade, fashionable shops, theaters, and coffee houses Q which serve among other drinks, coffeeb. Some of the more adventurous among us took the funic- ular, an old rattling cable line to the Righi, which overlooks the city and the neighboring hills. There we could see sev- eral old forts which wer-e outposts protecting the city from invasion. Below us lay the huge, beautiful Staglieno, the city's cemetery, with the mausoleum of Mazzini. Many of us used Genoa as a jumping off place for Milan, the Queen City of the Italian North, for Florence, Venice, and Pisa, the artistic and architectural miracles of Italy, and for the famed ski spot, Sestiere. Whatever we did and wherever we went, we found that Genoa was a pleasant and happy indication that the Mediterranean cruise would be one we'd enjoy and remember for a long time. Pantheon