February 2026. Pavia. I was going to skip the architecture of Pavia and go straight back to Italian real ale, but Lana on her Retirement Chapter blog just got a great post out of Shirley, so how could I leave out the castle, the bridge, the cobbled streets, and those beautiful shops. In truth, Pavia… Continue reading PAVIA – COFFEE, CAKE, COBBLES AND CHURCHES
Author: retiredmartin
Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.
THE BLACK BULL, PAVIA
February 2026. Pavia. I’d booked Trenitalia tickets to Pavia, reckoning a 7pm return* would be ideal to allow us to have a quick pint before a mad 20 minute dash for the train to Genoa (though I would caution against ever making Mrs RM dash for anything). But as we stood outside the Black Bull… Continue reading THE BLACK BULL, PAVIA
WHAT’S THE OPPOSITE OF IMPOSTER SYNDROME ?
February 2026. Pavia. A day trip from Genoa to Pavia, an unsung but beautiful University town of 70,000, nearly 40% of them students. Not that you’d know it’s student-dominated; a bit like Cambridge they must all stay within the ancient cloisters, and all drink at the distinctly untrendy student bar. Mrs RM and I brought… Continue reading WHAT’S THE OPPOSITE OF IMPOSTER SYNDROME ?
PASTA IN PAVIA
February 2026. Pavia. For those bored of foreign muck, here’s a Bass mirror from Turin last night. Quite a bit of travel to go before we get there, though. A week in Italy was enough to confirm the greatness of Genoa, tick a new country, finally see what Turin is all about (food) and revisit… Continue reading PASTA IN PAVIA
THE CAMPAIGN TO GET ITALIAN CASK OUTLETS IN THE GBG STARTS HERE
February 2026. Genoa. Well, this is the post you were waiting for, I guess. Hand pumps in Genoa, according to Untappd. You just need to find the Public House*, tucked behind Piazza Banchi, only 5 minutes, but hard to follow the map in the drizzle. If you see this you’ve gone too far. Ah, here… Continue reading THE CAMPAIGN TO GET ITALIAN CASK OUTLETS IN THE GBG STARTS HERE
Via di Prè, Genoa. My Favourite Street.
February 2026. Genoa. It was actually that first morning in Genoa, leaving the grandeur of Via Balbi and those World Heritage palaces and descending to the noise and colour of Via di Prè, a half mile of multi-ethnic shops and barbers and even tinier lanes down to the sea, that I suddenly realised why Genoa… Continue reading Via di Prè, Genoa. My Favourite Street.
THE CINQUE TERRE ON THE CHEAP – LUNCH IN CAMOGLI
February 2026. Camogli. Italy. 25 years ago we flew to Genoa, hired a car, and set off around the Ligurian coast towards the Cinque Terre looking for signs saying “Zimmer Frei” “Camera” to stay for the night. In a world before websites and Booking.com, turning up at 4pm with two toddlers without accommodation seems reckless… Continue reading THE CINQUE TERRE ON THE CHEAP – LUNCH IN CAMOGLI
VIA BALBI
February 2025. Genoa. You’ll have to excuse this post, a little worse for wear after a night on the beer in Turin and now watching Mariah Carey introduce the Winter Olympics. Don’t the Italians have any singers ? It’s a dozen years since I was last in Genoa, marvelling at the 17th century palaces along… Continue reading VIA BALBI
LIGURIAN TROFIE
February 2026. Genoa. Mrs RM could stand the constraints of the weekly Sheffield-Waterbeach-Tunbridge Wells shuffle no longer and booked cheap flights (cheap to us, the cost to the planet is a different issue) to Italy and hoped there wasn’t a call from the in-laws for a few days. And you know what that means; load… Continue reading LIGURIAN TROFIE
ALBION
January 2026. Waterbeach. One more night in Waterbeach before exciting forrin’ travel, and as always it’s Mrs RM who insists we nip in the Sun while waiting for the Chung Hwa to work its magic on squid. I wish Mrs RM would work her magic on my phone camera, but for now I’m claiming this… Continue reading ALBION
retiredmartin 