Although we haven’t been tremendously motivated to go on day trips while in Genoa (this we blame on a smidgen of travel-fatigue) we did muster up the energy to hop on the train south this morning to hit two scenic towns on the Italian riviera. Santa Margherita Ligure and Portofino. Why both? Well, Trenitalia has a regional route that goes from Genoa to S. Margherita Ligure in just over 50 minutes (yes, it stops everywhere, on the way) and from there we had the option to take the bus (route 82 for those who are interested) or walk. The latter of the two options has some appeal as it’s only 5.4 km from the train station of S.M.L to Portofino and the path hugs a coastline that is just as scenic as we’ve come to expect along this part of Italy.
In addition to the walk being relatively short, rather flat and, again, very scenic, it is also a bit special in that the whole way we walk on a red carpet. No kidding. I think they got into some kind of Guinness Record kerfuffle with the Germans about this, but possibly came out victorious in terms of having the longest red carpet. In fact, from Portofino and north, it doesn’t even end at Santa Margherita Ligure but goes all the way up to Rapallo, a larger community that we didn’t visit on this trip.
As perhaps should be expected at something known as “… Riviera”, it carries with it a certain whiff of upper crust. In fact, starting at S.M.L, the communities along this coast just ooze of money. However metropolitan Vancouver is, the proceeds from selling our townhouse there likely wouldn’t get us much in either of the communities along this stretch. While causally strolling (in the blistering sunshine, I might add) south-west towards Portofino, we see one mega villa after the next. I got a similar feeling of unabashed and flaunted wealth when visiting the island of Capri (outside Sorrento, close to the Amalfi coast) that proudly hosted villas of Sophia Loren and Ralph Lauren etc. This size and overall opulence of the yachts moored and anchored in Portofino did nothing to eradicate the perception of this gratuitous wealth-flaunting. All in all, this had a rather detrimental impact on the overall impression. Yes, it’s beautiful. Yes, the climate is to die for, but when simple tourist haunts charge 13 Euro for a caprese salad, 8.5 for a gelato and no less than 15 Euro for a cocktail in addition to the 3.5 cover charge, it stops being entertaining for us regular folk.
Instead, after a to-go lunch, we hiked back a short distance to a previously spotted swimming hole and spent a good hour sun-bathing with like-minded people who just wanted to enjoy the natural beauty of the place with sun-drenched rocks and duck-diving in crystal clear waters among schools of small yet curious fish hanging out above the seaweed. It was such a gorgeous day that we ended up walking back as well and rewarded ourselves with some well-earned gelato in S.M.L before hopping on the train back to Genoa.
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Distinctly less rustic than the red-paths (on the map) between Cornigia and south on the Cinque Terre.
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