Tag: Camogli

Portofino Peninsula – Camogli to Portofino

elainehayesblog

Another sunny day for walking so we took the train one stop to the chic resort of Santa Marguerite Ligure, popular with wealthy Milanese, with its castle and seafront studded with smart hotels.

We walked up to the Baroque Church of San Giacomo Di Corte then walked round the gardens of the Renaissance Palazzo Durazzo, typical of the villas in this area, complete with statuary and fine views.

We picked up rolls for a picnic at the supermarket and set off past the harbour …

… and up a narrow path winding upwards. It was another walk though the countryside, on a mule track, with glimpses of the sea and more ups and downs than we were expecting!

We found another picnic stop with a distant view of our destination …

… and some time later, the path became quite a bit smarter …

… as it made its final descent into Portofino.

It really is as one might imagine a perfect Italian fishing village to be!

Having said that, it still has working fishing boats moored beside immense luxury cruisers.

We took the path first to the church of San Giorgio, then higher to Castello Brown, built as a coastal defence in C16th, then bought in the C19th by the British Consul to Genova, Montague Yeats-Brown, and converted into a comfortable villa, hence its name. It is now open to the public and we went to look round and get a great view of Portofino.

Time enough for an ice cream … at €3.50 each well over the going rate but still yummy … the ferry back to SM Ligure and the train home.

Slight technical hitch in that we got on the wrong train and went whizzing past our stop … fortunately we only overshot by one stop … but owned up and bought new tickets to return to Camogli.

Friday night and the town was buzzing, especially with the festival tomorrow. All the restaurants we open and we picked an osteria with pizza for Chris and fish of the day for me.

Darkness had fallen while we were eating and all the buildings were lit up and twinkly …

… not that we will be there to sample the fish fest as we are off in the morning to our final destination … Lerici.

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Portofino Peninsula – Camogli to San Fruttuoso

elainehayesblog

It was definitely a walking day today and we had a route planned. We followed a path out of town and climbed up between gardens and villas on an old mule track to the hamlet of San Rocco. A huge group of teenagers were out on a school trip and while we waited for them to move on, took a great photo of the coast as far as Genova.

We bought some bits for a picnic in the local shop …

… then set off, getting a great view of Camogli and San Rocco.

There were stations of the cross made of colourful ceramics as the path climbed.

We took a detour round Monte di Portofino offering snatches of sea views …

… then a perfect picnic spot, complete with back rests and a view and tucked into a torte made of rice flavoured with cheese, onion focaccia and the vegetable torte filled with greens sold everywhere here.

A bit further and we went down on a cobbled mule track through the woods.

The track zig zagged back and forth and it seemed to go on forever … but finally we reached the monastery and hamlet of San Fruttuoso. How the remains of this saint were buried here is unknown, but there has been a monastery here since at least 984. In 1200 the Abbey was given some land and became connected with the Doria family who were allowed to bury their dead here in exchange for paying to extend the buildings. Over time, there were periods of disrepair then renovation and finally in 1983 the Doria Pamphili family gave the site to the FAI, the Italian National Trust enabling us to visit for free with our NT cards.

We took various pics of the church, tombs of the Doria family and a painting of Andrea Doria.

Luckily we didn’t have long to wait for the ferry … the only other way out of the bay … and 15 minutes later we were back in Camogli.

The book said the route was 7.5 miles although my step counter suggested 11 for the whole day … either way, we deserved our bowls of pasta for dinner!

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Portofino Peninsula – Genova

elainehayesblog

Having had a couple of sunny days, today was grey, chilly and damp so we took the train to Genova.

Genova was one of the world’s greatest trading powers in medieval times and controlled most of the Riviera de Levante from the mid C13th. This brought about Genova’s Golden Age, with its aristocratic dynasties trading all over the world and building grand palazzi in the city.

Walking out of the station the huge victory arch dedicated to the Genoese who died in WWI was ahead of us.

We turned down the main shopping street of the city lined with smart shops with beautiful facades and convenient arcades to keep dry.

We bought a couple of panedolcino, little rolls flavoured with pine nuts and dried fruit (which we ate for breakfast next day and were delicious!).

Reaching Piazza de Ferrari …

… we then turned into the maze of streets making up the old town, stumbling on Cattedrale San Lorenzo almost by mistake, but we went in for a quick look before it closed for lunch …

Next was Palazzo Reale, rebuilt in the Baroque style for the Durazzo family in C18th and used as a royal palace by the House of Savoy who ruled Italy between Unification in 1861 and the Republic in 1946. It is sumptuous, filled with gilding, rich fabrics, furniture and art. The hall of mirrors and the throne room say it all! Outside is a courtyard containing a fountain, set in a lovely a Ligurian pavement … the elephant and cheetah being the stars!

Lunch was takeaway farinata, a local chickpea pancake made in a large pan and served hot … tasty!

Christopher Columbus is Genova’s famous son, and he stands tall outside the main railway station.

The Palazzo Principe was built for Andrea Doria, the most famous Genoese admiral and virtual dictator of the city for much of the C16th. He planned his naval battles here and tested models of galleons in the garden pond. There are tapestries of the Battle of Lepanto, his most famous victory which stopped the advance of the Ottoman Empire, in a room with a very nice ceiling.

The Hall of Giants, named for the ceiling fresco also contained tapestries showing stories from the life of Alexander the Great including his horse Bucephalus and being carried aloft by griffins.

The Loggia has a fresco of several members of the Doria family depicted as Roman soldiers …

It looks out onto the garden, with a view of the docks and the Stazione Marittima built in the 1930 for transatlantic liners, a reminder that it was the sea that provided these great families with their wealth and power. You can also see the eyesore which is the flyover carrying the SS1 straight through the city!

We walked under the flyover which separates the main part of the city from the port …

… saw La Lanterna, the lighthouse dating from 1543 and 77m high …

… and continued round the port renovated by local architect Renzo Piano including Il Bigo, a panoramic lift inspired by old cranes and the Biosphere, containing tropical plants. there was also a maritime museum and aquarium, but as it was still grey, chilly and damp we walked past pretty quickly.

As we left the port, we passed the Palazzo San Giorgio, originally home to one of Europe’s first banks which financed royalty and issued the first cheque. It was also where Marco Polo recounted his traveller’s tales while held prisoner. It is now home to the port headquarters.

Piazza Banchi gave its name to banking as it once contained money-changer’s tables, or banchi that once stood here until they were moved to the Loggia dei Mercanti which is now an exhibition hall.

The church, San Pietro in Banchi, had stood here since the C9th, but was damaged and then rebuilt in the C16th, but to fund its rebuilding, concessions were sold as shops so it stands on a terrace above.

Our last stop before the station was the Porta Soprana, standing on the spot where the city walls were opened to connect Genoa with the Riviera di Levante.

We’ve only really had a taste of the city – there were plenty more palaces, churches and museums to see, but we think we saw the best bits …

It was still grey, chilly and damp when we got back, Camogli seemed deserted. Many of the restaurants don’t seem to be open for the season yet, especially with the bad weather, although we did find one!

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Portofino Peninsula – Camogli

elainehayesblog

The natural environment and beauty of this peninsula is protected by the Parco Regionale di Portofino and access to the rocky coastline is by footpaths and boats alone. We have chosen to stay in Camogli and will be using this as a base to explore take a day trip to the city of Genova and also visit Portofino itself, another picturesque fishing village which has become fashionable with the yacht-set.

Arriving by train, we checked in at Stella Marina and settled into another cheery room, then went exploring.

A short walk brought us to the front and we found Camogli to be similar to Vernazza … but bigger! The esplanade is very elegant as it sweeps round the bay, fronted by huge seven or eight storey buildings in the traditional warm yellows and oranges of the region, a reminder of the town’s glorious past.

From the Middle Ages to the coming of steam ships, Camogli was a bustling seaport known as the ‘city of a thousand white sails’ with the fleet being rented out to anyone who could pay, hence they fought at the Battle of Trafalgar for Napoleon. The ship owners were among the most powerful of Europe’s merchants in the C19th and one source of their wealth was the founding of the first maritime insurance against loss of freight and ships.

We sat outside in the sun and had some lunch then went to explore the medieval centre, dominated by the C12 Basilica Di Santa Maria Assunta. It had a typical Ligurian pebbled courtyard and a surprisingly ornate interior, but was once the chapel for Castello Dragonara, built to defend the town from Saracens.

As we wandered round, there were several signs of preparations for the Sagra del Pesce this weekend, when huge amounts of fish are fried in a 4m wide pan, the biggest in Italy. This festival began in 1952 to commemorate a night in WWII when the town were starving as German mines prevented the fishermen going to sea, but the situation was so dire they prayed to San Fortunato and went anyway, bringing back a massive catch. There will be much celebration, with fireworks, and here is the pan!

Beyond, was the harbour and lighthouse.

The town also has their Dragun Boat, made from an old lifeboat in 1968 by a group of friends to keep alive the nobility of navigation, which has become a symbol of Camogli and takes part in various folk events all along the Italian Riviera and abroad.

Looking closer at the facades, we realised how clever the painting was as most of the architectural features were trompe l’oeil!

We returned later for an aperol and to catch the last of the sun as it lit up the colourful houses and then set and ate dinner in a little Trattoria beside the B&B.

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