It’s a sunny morning in Santa Margherita Ligure, on the Italian Riviera – perfect weather for a side-trip to Portofino. The little harbor at Portofino is a playground of the rich and famous. It’s just north of here. We’ve been told that taking the local bus is a great way to get there. What could be more fun than a Santa Margherita Ligure bus ride?
Mrs. “Io Non So”
As described last time, we tried to purchase bus tickets at an information office, but the surly lady inside, as far as I could tell, possessed no information whatsoever. Her answer to each of my questions was “Io non so. (I don’t know).
It was so peculiar. Even though this was an information booth, she seemed to possess no information whatsoever. She did possess a great deal of attitude, though.
Employing my utmost powers of patience and perseverance, I eventually pried out of her that we could buy bus tickets at a ticket machine. It was only ten feet from where we were standing. Was that so difficult, giving up this precious piece of information? I guess so!
Multi-colored bus schedules, times, and instructions were posted on the side of the machine. Any Italian first grader could decipher these instructions in two minutes. It took us a little longer than that, but we thought we had figured out how it worked.
I put in some money, pushed a few buttons, and sure enough, out popped the tickets. Okay! We were making progress. The bus stop was just a few steps away. We walked over, sat down, and waited for the next bus, which would be coming along in just a few minutes.
No Bus
A half-hour later, we were still waiting for the bus. Not only had we not seen our bus – we had not seen any busses. Not even busses going in the opposite direction. Maybe this was when bus drivers here take a mid-morning siesta. Nah. Something was fishy.
There was one thing for certain… I wasn’t going back to the Lack-of-Information Office to ask Mrs. “Io Non So” what was going on. Our hotel was only a block away. We decided to ask the people at the front desk.
They informed us that today there was a one-day strike by all unions related to public transportation. That’s why we hadn’t seen any busses. Hey – that’s also why the train station had been deserted when we were there this morning.
A little while later we were back near the Lack-of-Information Office. This time I noticed a piece of paper taped to the side of the building. It said, more or less, “Notice to All Users – There’s going to be a 24-hour national strike by all these unions on this date…”
Sciopero
The only words you need to know are “Avviso”, which means “Notice.” That’s a good one to know. The other one is “Sciopero.” (“SHO-peh-roh“). “Sciopero” means “strike.” “Sindicali” means “unions.” All are good words to know, eh? I knew ‘em in french. Now I know ‘em in italian.
We wouldn’t have been surprised if this had happened in France, but it caught us off-guard in Italy. I guess we learned something that day.
That explains why Mrs. “Io Non So” in the Lack-of-Information Office was so reluctant to give us any kind of information. She must have been supporting the sciopero. (But my guess is that she’s pretty surly on “non-sciopero” days, too).
We needed to come up with a Plan B. It was almost lunchtime, so we decided to walk towards the marina to find something to eat.
Lunch and Plan B
It didn’t take long to find the perfect place – a nice-looking little restaurant on a quiet side street, but still overlooking the marina. We went inside and were greeted warmly. This was the perfect spot to have lunch and work out our Plan B for today, and also plan out the next few days.
We had lots of options… stroll around our home base of Santa Margherita Ligure, go to Portofino by some other means, or to head south to some coastal towns a friend had recommended.
We could drive or take a boat to visit the little town of Chiavari. Maybe visit to Sestri Levante or Levanto. We could still go check out Portofino – we just wouldn’t be able to take the bus. We had read that Portofino is within walking distance from Santa Margherita Ligure. That could be interesting.
To be continued…
