We’ve just hiked from Santa Margherita Ligure to Portofino – two beautiful little towns on the Italian Riviera. We hadn’t done our homework, so the hike was more than we had bargained for. We didn’t know that we’d pass through a little hideaway called Paraggi. And we especially didn’t know we’d be hiking through a wild boar-infested forest. But we made it. Now it’s time to take a break in Portofino.
From the Church of Saint Martin, it was a short walk downhill to the marina. The marina at Portofino is beyond picturesque. We’d seen photos of it on calendars and in travel magazines. It looked just as picturesque in person.
Portofino Marina
The marina widens as it goes out towards the sea, but in close to the town it narrows down to a small rectangle. You could throw a rock from one side to the other. Three sides of the rectangle are lined with cafés, restaurants, and gelato places, (gelaterias), one after the other.
Classic Italian buildings with lots of windows and long, vertical wooden shutters surround the marina. They stand side-by-side with no space in-between. Each building is a different color, but all the colors go together. (Do they plan it this way?) This place is really nice. REALLY nice. No wonder the rich and famous like to come here to hang out.
We parked ourselves at a table in the shade at one of the cafes. I ordered an ice-cold beer, and my amateur-hiker Better Half ordered a cold glass of vino bianco. Under the circumstances, we’d have been happy just to have a couple of glasses of ice-water.
It was so nice to sit there in that beautiful spot, rest our poor, tired dogs, and people-watch for a while. Most people looked like they were tourists like us who came here to see what all the Portofino fuss was about.
Portofino People Watching
Shuttle boats and tour boats run regular routes between the little towns along this part of the coast. One of these boats would come in every 30 minutes or so. A crowd of people would get off, then the place would be crowded for about 15 minutes. It was entertaining to see all those tourists, (like us), on parade.
The incoming crowd dissipates while an outgoing crowd boards. The boat leaves, then everything is quiet until the next boat arrives. The only noises are the clinking of glasses and the sound of little wooden boats bobbing in the water. For a tourist destination as popular as Portofino, it was amazingly peaceful and quiet.
Another surprise was the absence of glamour and glitz that one would expect to see at a destination of the rich and famous. From where we were sitting, the only giveaways were a few boats moored farther out in the marina. They were too big to come in any closer. Big, and awesome-looking. No fishing poles dangling off these babies. Yikes.
The Portofino Piazzetta, (piazzetta – small piazza or square), lies behind the marina. There are some VERY nice hotels on the piazzetta, which is good to know, in case you don’t want to sleep on your yacht.
As nice as it was in Portofino, we needed to start thinking about getting back to Santa Margherita Ligure. We weren’t hiking back – that’s for sure. After paying our tab at the café, we headed toward the center of town, where we hoped to find a taxi.
We walked up a couple of blocks on the main street, and sure enough, spotted a taxi stand with four taxis lined up, ready to go. These didn’t look like any taxis we’d ever seen, though. These must be “Portofino” taxis.
Portofino Taxi
Each taxi was white, with a discrete little “taxi” sign on top. There wasn’t any advertising or anything else on the sides. They were all clean as a whistle. And each one was either a Mercedes Benz, a BMW, or an Audi. Big ones. I was wondering how much this “taxi” ride was going to set me back.
The taxi at the front of the line was a big, white, Audi SUV – the biggest one they make. It was a beauty. The taxi drivers were standing nearby, chit-chatting. They didn’t look like taxi drivers we’re used to seeing back home, either. They were all very nicely attired.
When we walked up, one of them gave us a signal that the Audi was his. “Go ahead and get in and I’ll be right over.”
We climbed into the back seat of the Audi and waited for him to come over. Ooooh, it was nice in there. That Audi must have been brand new. It had that new-car smell. The leather upholstery looked like no one had ever sat on it. I felt kind of bad, because I might mess it up. After our hike through the Ligurian woods, (speaking only for myself, of course), I was no longer as fresh as a daisy.
Our driver came right over. He was an enormous guy. Very dapper. We didn’t know it, but we were in for quite an interesting ride back to Santa Margherita Ligure.
To be continued…
