Walking to Santa Margherita and time for a swim

 Wednesday  

21 August 

Day 52

44 to go

We enjoyed a quiet night and were happily awake at 8am. We stayed in bed a while longer, before thinking about our day ahead. Breakfast, showers and all packed up, we headed out for our day of exploring. 

We trekked back along the path we had used to come in on Monday, amused that we had managed and grateful we wouldn’t have to do it tomorrow. Once at the church at the top, we began the second day of following the red carpet walk, this time Portofino to Santa Margherita. 

We spent the first part on the road being careful not to be squashed by vehicles and taking in the view of the Celebrity Cruise line that was docked out of Portofino. Passengers were being ferried into the port, since at least 8am this morning, in their hundreds. 

We enjoyed walking above various coves, most with paid beaches covered in brollies and the less desirable sections covered in tourists not willing to pay. One stretch was very glitzy, with Dolce & Gabana featuring prominently. There were plenty of other high end choices along a small avenue. 

We continued to walk in the sun, warming up pretty quickly. We spied a place to sit, have a quick morning tea and then descend to beach level, where we could sit on a concrete platform and dangle our feet in the cool water. We didn’t go in as it was very rocky and the small waves from various boats sailing by was enough to splash up and keep us cool. 

Refreshed, we continued our walk, admiring the endless sea view, the boats and the rocky swimming coves. We stopped and had salad rolls for lunch that we had brought along with us. Once we were finished, we completed the walk into the town of Santa Margherita. It was quite busy here. There were tourists of all nationalities enjoying the sun and the sea. We wandered the streets, finding a supermarket for essentials and then it was time for an Aperol. We found a nice little spot to park up in the shade and just enjoy. 

Happy with our day, we found where the bus was leaving from and then went in search of gelato. It didn’t take long to find one and come away with a cool delight. We ate them before they melted and returned to the bus bay, hopping on the next one to arrive. We found a spot to stand, thankful we got on here and not the next one, as it suddenly became a very tight squeeze and remained so for the remainder of the trip. 

We got back to the room for 3pm, happy to chill out for a while and unpack. It was still really busy with cruise ship passengers. Just after 4pm, we decided to walk to the beach. This meant following the road again and then descending the steel stairs to a platform and a rocky beach. We found a spot to stash our things and then it was straight into the blue, rather than battling over the rocky beach. It was so lovely to be in the refreshing water, but you had to be mindful of the big rocks. I was happy to use them to stand on. 

We bobbed around for about 30 minutes and then made our way back to the room, using the secret stairway passage down to the boardwalk. We threw open the shutter windows and let the nosies of the tourists below waft in. We spent the next couple of hours watching various super yachts come to berth, admiring the skippers’ prowess. We ate dinner, salad and cold meats, enjoying our last night in this space as the sun began to set. 

At 8.45pm, we ventured out for an evening walk, so that we could enjoy Portofino by night. It didn’t disappoint. We trekked to the church on the hill for a fabulous view over the harbour. The buildings were twinkling and the super yachts were lighting up the water around them. It was pretty special. 

We returned to the harbour deck walking alongside the massive yachts. We shook our heads at the money that was floating before us. We did a loop of the town and along our side of the harbour, stopping at the very end for a while and just enjoying the peace. We watched an egret standing on a boat looking for his dinner below and then returned to the room ready to move on tomorrow