Portofino

 Arriving in this [pictureque town in Italy was amazing.  From the time we woke up, there was a sense of relaxation in the air, not that we were not relaxed, but the truth be told we had walked far more than we had planned and were determined not to walk too much this time around.  The town was quite small with less than 1000 inhabitants scattered all around 2000 sq/km's.  Debbie and I were always the first ones off the yacht, our enthusiasm to see new things was evident as the seasoned travellers slept late.  Our first stop had to be an ice-cream shop. My cousin Shahaada advised me about the quality of ice-cream and there we wer at 9am in the morning eating ice-cream, the very thing we tell our kids not to do.

Landing on the shore of Portofino







The town square


The town square was just waking up and was quite empty so we decided  to take a walk up the mountain, the walk to the end of town should take 10 minutes up the mountain, but I had the shopping queen with me. Her propensity for diving into any shop with an open door astounded me.  Standing around at this point became a pastime so I took to watching people.  We eventually saw a path and foolowed it.  Ity was a lot of stairs and it indicated that we could walk to a town not far away. Apparently in italy 25 minute walk is an estimate, we walked for 90 minutes and were not even halfway.  After a "healthy" debate we turned back, thank heavens.  The return journey only took 30 minutes as it was all downbhill.. We returned to a town full of italian schoolchildren and felt rather clautrophobic.  We stopped at a local coffee shop of which there were 8 on the square.  I enquired about the cost of coffee to which the waitress said 2 euro.  If you look at the pic in the photo below you will notice that the cups were not from South Africa, but made by pygmies as it took 2 sips and it was all over. I savoured the taste as damn that was a pricey cup of java.  Some patrons at another coffee shop were charged 2 euro just to sit down.

Having espresso coffee
We retreated back to the yacht for lunch and had a swim and paddleski in the Med.  It was cold but had to say I swam in the Med Sea.  Debs is a real trojan and was the first one in.  I was more worried about the fact that my legs were dangling ni an ocean 200ft deep and possible food for some unsuspecting vermin.  Once the photo opportunity was done,  I made a dive for the stairs and once I was on the base of the yacht, I was a happy camper.


Later the afternoon we took a walk to the lighthouse which was about 30 minutes through the old village.  It was filled with history and I wondered how people got their groceries to heir homes as there were no roads.  There was a castle dating back to 1300AD and a church  to the same age.  The area in effect was at a cul-de-sac along the coast and definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me.


On the walk to the lighthouse Debs noticed the beautiful houses and amazing bricks only to discover thaqt they were actually painted if you took a close look.  It takes these guys up to a month ot paint a house.



 At the end of the day we had a braai/barbecue on deck as we sailed out of port at about 8pm.  The captain took us on a cruise back past the old village agin just to see the historic building nestled in the rocks.  An amazing spectacle. indeed.

The view below out of our porthole shows how low down we were on the yacht.  The level of the water was just below our window.

The lighthouse which also had a galeteria (ice cream shop) with undoubtedly the best views ever.

An artist in the 80's hung this rhino in a park  and a few more strange pieces of art has followed since



Comments

MrsLG said…
For people who set out not to walk much that day, you certainly did a good job of...walking!

I've heard fantastic things about Portofino and now you have added to it. I love the pics - just makes me want to go to!
30 May 2011 at 06:31
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