We just got an email from Marta (Residency Coordinator) reminding us that we needed to be prepared for departure next Tuesday morning. The time has continued to accelerate past us and we are now trying to plan how to make the most of our remaining stay. Today, despite a slightly cloudy forecast, has been destined as a quick trip down to Portofino for lunch.
On our last trip we decided that we might not need to revisit Portofino, primarily due to the crowds of tourists. We managed to talk ourselves out of this decision, hoping that a Thursday would avoid some of the crowds........time will tell!
Daniela is finishing up cleaning our room and changing the linens and we will probably head out after she leaves. Breakfast was fine, although a little chilly outside. Andrea and I went for a walk down to Gianni's garden after breakfast to check on the progress of the tomatoes! I could barely resist picking and eating one!
Quick start on the blog and off we go!
Or at least we headed out.
There are not a lot of photos to support this adventure.......so bear with us on the narrative. We launched our 40 minute drive to Portofino anticipating that the mid-week timing would work to our advantage. We have been here probably 7 times previously and never were stopped from parking. We saw this happen as we left the village 2 years ago.......and now confronted the reality. Apparently, the town has had to offer even more parking spaces to the 'townsfolk' which has dropped the capacity from 140 to 120 spaces. We must have been number 122, as the two cars in front of us were turned back about a 1/2 mile from town.
They told us we needed to go back to Santa Margherita and park our car and walk (1 mile) or take a bus. Needless to say we were a bit perturbed. I told the 'polizia' that my wife had a bad hip.....and he answered in perfect English that he needed to see my HC card! Oh well, we did a u-turn on the narrow road and retreated to Santa Margherita. We really lucked out and found a singular parking space right next to the cab stand. I told Andrea we could definitely grab a cab and go back out. When we jumped into the brand new Mercedes cab, I asked how much.......and he said 50 euros for a 5 minute ride! He laughed a bit and said we really had no choice......and he only had 6 months of work per year due to the weather......and we relented and jumped in. He actually spoke great English and we had a nice, short ride.
We arrived in Portofino and had a nice leisurely stroll down to the central Piazza. Portofino is actually a very small village.......and clearly suffers from the hordes of tourists that visit it. That being said, it is rather extraordinary and beautiful. For us, it is worth bending the reality a bit to only see the good perspective. We had a focus on finding a good lunch, and ended up at a place we had dined at before. It is a bit overpriced (hence fewer tourists) and has a small floating dock where meals are served.
The lunch turned out to be absolutely what we were looking for. Andrea had a great salad niçoise with tuna and I had a great sea bass which the waiter insisted that I order. It was idyllic as we bobbed up and down in the harbor. The sun came out and we were thankful for so many good things!
We won't write too much here other than to say that we had a great time taking on the throngs of tourists. Folks at Bogliasco wondered why we wanted to go to Portofino again.......and we said it had a special place for us. You just needed to navigate around the touristas! Andrea actually saw the restaurant that Jeff Bezos and his finance ate at last week. Ours was much more romantic!
Here are a few shots of the town.
Jeff makes a brief return......which pleased everyone. How do we know when he is not a threat?
We have to mention here that the sense of community and 'getting to know everyone' is quite an energized force here. There is really nothing to compare it to. The ability to live with 15 people and share three meals a day.....plus cocktails and after dinner drinks.......is something rather spectacular. There are times when we are a bit worn down from the participation, but in the end we recognize the extraordinary moments of this collegiality. It is nothing like what we experience in our normal routine......and we are thankful for the exposure.
Grappa on the balcony!
