Portofino (Monday 5th August 2013)

Portofino, OK here it is for the first time on this trip.... “Picture Postcard!!.”... I'd even go so far as to say... “Biscuit Tin Lid!!”..... OK, I'll go the whole hog... “Poster at your favourite Italian Restaurant!!!”.

It's really that good. We got up early and had breakfast at the hotel then walked down to the sea-front promenade to catch the first ferry to Portofino. The sea was as flat as a scheizenhaus carter's hat. Just a light breeze to take the heat out of the morning sun. Perfect for sailing. We steamed off on the calm sea with our first stop at Santa Margherita Ligure to pick up some more passengers, then onto Portofino. The whole trip took about 30 minues. What a sight when we arrived. A tiny little cove, filled with small fishing boats, wooden hulled speed boats, sailing boats and a few large yachts. The day was warm, the sky and sea were blue and the hill-sides were green. All around was the sound of cicadas chirping. The shore is lined with narrow, three and four storey buildings all painted in pastel shades of brown, blue, orange and yellow. Upon the steep, hill-sides are larger homes painted along similar lines and commanding magnificent views of the harbour. On one side. just above the village is a church with bell-tower. On the other side across the water a castello and another church. In the centre of the village by the water's edge is a large cobble-stoned piazza going down to a boat ramp. Restaurants and shops line the harbour in both directions from the piazza.

We stopped for a cool drink and a photograph with one of the local constabulary. They certainly have a different view about law enforcement in this part of Italy!!

Next we wandered around some of the small, steep lanes up to the church. There we actually found a bus stop so we set out plans about how we were going to get back to Rapallo and when. We found our way back to the main piazza and got some bus tickets for later in the day. In Italy tickets for buses and trams are acquired from most tobacconists. They're everywhere. Kerry bought some souvenirs to bring home the we headed up to the other church on the other side of the harbour. The church was quite plain but had great views of the town. We then strode on the the lighthouse, a walk of about 500m along a narrow pathway out to the headland. Along the way we passed many tunnels into the rock. These long, dark passages were all locked because they all represented th entrance to the numerous properties along the route. Earlier, back in town, we had found a similar tunnel. We stood in front of it for about 15 minutes as was operating like a huge natural air conditioner, blowing a beautiful cool breeze out to the street.

We made it to the lighthouse and found a strategically positioned small bar there so we stopped to enjoy the views of the blue sea over a cool drink. Back in town we found a restaurant right on the harbour's edge. The table was literally 18 inches from the water. There we enjoyed the magnificent harbour views and excellent pasta and service. Some kids nearby kept us entertained feeding the fish with some bread we had given them.

After a last look around we trudged up the hill to the bus-stop near the church. The bus cam along soon enough but was unexpectedly full so the pleasant journey back to Rapallo didn't eventuate. It was standing room only amongst dozens of hot and sweaty bodies. We jumped ship at Santa Margherita Ligure to have a look around this village. It too has a nice promenade along the harbour, some pleasant green lawns to lie on and plenty of comfortable park benches. We sat in one of these for a while to recover from the crush on the bus. Down the promenade we spied a rare sight in these parts – a public beach. I'd packed my togs in case such an opportunity arose. Kerry, after reminding me in the morning to pack mine, had forgotten to pack hers. The city council kindly supplied changing huts on the beach so I jumped in one, got my togs on and hit the water. The water was warm and wave-less but crystal clear.

I swam for about 20 minutes then Kerry paddled her feet while I guarded our belongings. Once we'd dried off we caught the next bus to Rapallo keeping an eye out for ticket inspectors as our tickets had expired a couple of hours ago. We made to Rapallo with our crime undetected!

We found the bar we were in yesterday evening and had pre-dinner drink or two. Our “regular” waitress even brought us some free snacks to enjoy! We then wandered around in search of a cheap dinner and settled on “Moby Dick” a restaurant with 6 euro pizzas. The evening had cooled off and it was very pleasant to sit an watch and eat and drink. We waited for the free concert across on the promenade to get going (sort of an Italian version of Weird Al Jancovic) at 9:30pm. When he did get going by 10:45pm even the locals weren't laughing, and they could understand his Italian, so we left for home to reflect on a great day. Next week's Pink Floyd cover band would have been worth waiting for, I reckon.