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.
Off Travelling Together 