After two long, hot, tiring, but incredibly enriching days exploring Rome, Florence and Pisa, today was mercifully far less taxing, though certainly interesting. Instead of big cities, this morning saw us anchored offshore near the exclusive yachting town and moneyed retreat of Portofino. Our plan called for us to start and finish the morning in Portofino, with stops in between in the nearby towns of Santa Margherita Ligure and Rapallo.
Portofino is pretty well known, and my biggest surprise of the day was how small it is. In fact, it’s downright tiny, so tiny that only 460 people live there. So tiny that private cars aren’t even permitted to enter via the narrow road that drops down the mountainside, and forget about buses. And so isolated that to get to Santa Margherita Ligure, which is right next door, you have to take the ferry.
We tendered into the compact harbor around 9:00 am, met our guide for the morning, and boarded the ferry for the fifteen minute ride to Santa Margherita Ligure (I told you they were close). Santa Margherita is a bit larger than Portofino, with a population of about one thousand, and it has the advantage, or disadvantage, depending on your perspective, of having narrow roads that actually permit cars and buses to use. there we boarded a bus for the ride to a much larger nearby town, Rapallo. There we began our day’s tour in earnest.
Rapallo has a population of 29,000, and it has a nightmarish traffic problem. The road through town that leads to Santa Margherita is so narrow that trucks and buses often have to stop and wait for a gap in oncoming traffic to navigate around curves. However, those gaps are few and far between, and stop and go, bumper to bumper traffic is the result. The bus drivers are used to it though, and eventually we made it into town and disembarked for a walking tour of Rapallo.
The highlight of our visit occurred early, as we were led to a very nice waterfront restaurant, the Gran Caffè Rapallo, where we were served a delicious assortment of fresh pastries and very good coffee. Then, revved up on caffeine and sugar, we set out to see the sights.
And here is where I’m going to abbreviate this report a bit, because much of what we saw in Rapallo, and later in Santa Margherita and Portofino is similar to what we’ve seen in so many other towns and cities in the Mediterranean—charming, narrow pedestrian streets lined with shops and cafes, beautiful old churches, and crowds of tourists. Hopefully my photos will adequately paint a picture of the three towns.
After touring old Rapallo we bused through awful traffic back to Santa Margherita, had a nice walking tour there, and then ferried back to Portofino, where our tour ended and we were free to spend as much time as we liked in that tiny village. Michele and I strolled up and down the main street once, and we could have climbed a steep hill to see a small castle, but the cost/benefit analysis quickly came out negative, so we passed. Instead we hopped on a tender back to the ship for a late lunch, happy to call it a day and use the afternoon and evening to catch up on our rest.
Tomorrow we’re on the island of Corsica, birthplace of Napoleon, and a semi-autonomous possession of France. By then I’ll be fully rested and ready to go, and I can’t wait to see what the day brings. I’ll be back to report on whatever that is, so until then, ciao, ciao, for now.
Portofino’s tiny harbor is certainly picturesque.
The harbor front buildings are charming too.
The harbor in Santa Margherita Ligure is larger but equally picturesque.
Santa Margherita’s waterfront plaza has an impressive statue of Christopher Columbus.
An equally impressive statue of Victor Emanuel II, the first king of Italy.
There are umbrella trees in the plaza too.
Gravel beach in Santa Margherita Ligure.
Our first stop in Rapallo was at this waterfront restaurant, where we sampled excellent coffee and pastries.
Like I said, the coffee was excellent.
Walking through the streets of old Rapallo.
The old town of Rapallo is nice. Basilica in the background.
The only remaining original gate into Rapallo.
Like so many other Mediterranean towns.
At the fruit market.
I would like to have joined them, but I don’t speak a word of Italian.
Our meeting point in Rapallo. Pretty fancy gazebo, wouldn’t you say?
Back in Santa Margherita. Pretty church.
One more shot of the Santa Margherita Ligure waterfront.
We’re told this is a local specialty.
Final selfie in Portofino.
For a place that’s so well known, Portofino is really small. You’re looking at most of it.
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