As
it was my birthday, Mel took me out for the day on a boat trip, before he wined and dined me!
We
took a scooter ride around to Rapallo from San Rocco (8kms) to get on a boat
trip that takes you on the Riviera Ligure.
It’s a hop off and on boat, that calls in to Santa Margherita Ligure,
Portofino and San Fruttuoso and back again.
This time of year, they run about every 1/2 hour from 10:00-18:00.
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| Leaving Rapallo |
We
decided to get off at San Fruttuoso first.
It’s a tiny fishing hamlet that is only accessible by boat or on foot (a
2 ½ hour walk from our Sosta at San Rocco).
The San Fruttuoso Abbey sits on the front of a picturesque little bay.It
was originally built to house the relics of the Christian martyr Saint Fruttuoso’s,
brought here from Spain after the Moorish invasion in 711. It was rebuilt in
984 and later became a Benedictine abbey.
The Doria family took over in the 16th century adding the defensive
Torre dei Doria nearby.
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| San Fruttuoso Abbey and Torre dei Doria |
It
was well worth the €6.50 to go in and wonder around and to understand the history around it, but unfortunately so
much restoration work has had to be carried out on the abbey that a lot of
the original parts no longer exist. Leaving
San Fruttuoso for Portofino we saw some people out on a private boat swimming
near some Dolphins. Our boat driver
stopped for a short while to let us watch them – a fantastic sight to see.
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| Dolphins swimming around the boat - hard to capture them on camera! |
Next
stop was pretty and luxurious Portofino, that’s tucked in to a protected inlet
surrounded by cypress and olive-clad slopes.
It attracts a lot of the rich and famous, which is evident by the giant yachts
anchored nearby!
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| Portofino from the hill by San Giorgio church |
We
thought we might have something to eat here, until we saw the prices! So, we decided to just have a lunch-time
birthday drink in a little café/bar.
However, when the menu came and Mel saw the prices, I thought I was going to have to give him CPR! It was €9 for a pint of beer, so we
opted for a glass of wine each at €6.
The only thing was they forgot to fill up the glass and we ended up
getting about a third-full small glass of wine! It was a nice place to sit though and people watch.
So, back on the boat again...
... next stop was Santa Margherita Ligure. A lovely palm-laden resort, tucked into an
inlet. We watched the fisherman bring in
their catch (it had just turned 5pm), where they took it to market and a queue of people waiting to buy from them.
One
fascinating feature of Santa Margherita is the town’s painted houses. It is said that the local custom of
decorating houses’ facades with trompe-l’oeil images came about when the Maritime
Republic of Genoa started taxing windows. In order to avoid paying up, the
Genoese began to paint on non-existent windows, for purely decorative purposes.
The art has been honed over time and these decorated houses are now a renowned
feature of Liguria’s landscape. Trompe-l’oeil
images (meaning to fool the eyes) is a naturalistic painting technique making
what two-dimensional images appear three-dimensional
We
then walked up to Villa Durazzo and the gardens, where
we found this unusual sight - turtles swimming around in a fountain!
From here we walked back into the town and in to Santa Margherita church, which was really ornate.
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| Santa Margherita Church |
Boat
trip finished, it was back on the scooter around to the pretty fishing village
of Camogli where we enjoyed a lovely meal and watched the sun go down.
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| Camogli |
A perfect end to a lovely day.
Sally
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