A luxury destination at the Ligurian coast: Portofino.
The path to the lighthouse “Faro di Portofino” is a 20 minutes walk and offers great views down to the little cove where the village of Portofino is located. There are some spots through the vegetation to observe the bay. I stop and lean on the wall that is like a balcony to appreciate the vantage point. The sea is so blue and calm, however down at the yacht club it is very busy. There are some yachts being prepared to leave for the day. Actually, the little marina is full with oversized yachts. It is like a showroom of the most luxury yachts available. Next to it, is the pier of the local ferry that does the connection between Portofino and Santa magherita. The ferry is leaving full of tourist. There is a small cruise ship at anchor and guest are being tendered ashore.
I observe the cruise ship, the tender ride is approximately 15 minutes each way. Only small luxury cruise lines are able to call this exclusive location. Looking down to the pier, there are guides waiting for the guest coming from the ship. Normally, the tour options offered here are:
- A boat trip to St Margherita which is the village just 5 km away. In the program may be the visit to the Villa Durazzo, a walking tour of the old town and a visit to the church. There is also a beautiful beach, great restaurants to be enjoyed during the free time. Since the ferry runs approximately very half hour, you can come back at your leisure.
-A day trip to Genoa which lies over 30kms away. You take the ferry to St. Margherita and there the tour bus awaits you for the excursion.
-A culinary adventure: learn to do some local specialties like pesto, foccacia, fresh made pasta. One of the locations used is in the nearby town of Recco: the restaurant El Vittorio where you are greeted with a glass of sparkling wine before getting hands on.
-Walking tour of Portofino which takes you to the lighthouse, to the Brown Castle with a beautiful garden, to the local church. Thereafter you are ready to enjoy this village which is very small and has a fix number of residence that is a bit over 500 people. This short walking tour gives you the introduction to understand the place and then explore it further on you own. There are boats to be rented to go fishing or just cruise along the Italian Riviera, stop for a swim at one of the little coves.
Other tourists just wander around, camera in hands, taking pictures of the oversized yachts, of the colorful buildings, of the little piazza.
I finish my walk and come back to the Piazza Martini dell'Olivetta, the main square of the village, surrounded by cafes, restaurants and by the sea. This is the heart of the place, it is quite busy. Here is good to keep your eyes open, it is not unusual to see celebrities around. The place actually got famous do to the movie starts that came and come to spent a couple of days here on luxury yachts, at a recluse place. There are names like Ingrid Bergmann, Elizabeth Taylor and Brigitte Bardot that started the trend of the rich and famous to come to this international exclusive cove. Nowadays you may meet Madonna, Denzel Washington, models doing a photo shooting.
All the venus are full of people, it is lunch time. There are great options like the Restaurant Delfino to eat spaghetti with seafood with a glass of wine. For desert, the recommendation is to take a gelato at “Gelateria Marconi”. There you should taste the flavor Pistacchio before ordering any other flavour.
After lunch, I take a walk up the main street called Via Roma. Along this street are the boutique stores of luxury brands like Hèrmes, Louis Vuitton, Armani. There you find some chic ideas. Up this street are also cafes and at the right you find a bakery. There I recomend to try the foccacia that is differently made in Liguria. Thin and crispy baked dough filled with soft cheese. Yummy!
A bit ahead is the taxi/bus stop from where also is a transfer available to the Belmond Hotel Splendido. I will take the rest of the afternoon off and enjoy the facilities of the Hotel. Tomorrow my adventure is to Cinque Terre. Arriverderci!
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