Oldies On Tour

Portofino from the top of the hill

The last time I visited Portofino was around 1955 when I was 11 and it has always stuck in my memory as it was so pretty and quaint, built at the end of a small peninsular and with an interesting and significant History.  As we were in this part of Italy I suggested we spent a day there as I was sure Christine would enjoy it, albeit not the historical side of things!!

Our Camp Site is about 35 Kilometres from Portofino but as the

Portofina

coast road winds its way through several towns and villages hugging the mountain sides it will take over an hour on our bikes to get there so the first issue is what we can do with Sooty & Bella. Obviously if we wanted to go they would be on their own for far too long in Rosie, so again Christine with tongue in cheek, asked the camp site Manager/owner if he knew anyone who dog sat; well blow me down, he did!!!

Arrangements were made for the “dog sitter” to collect them Monday early evening and return them Wednesday afternoon.  He is a local Policeman and the times fit in with his travel arrangements to and from work and the shifts he does.  During his absence they are cared for by his wife, who it turns out competes in obedience competitions with their collies and has in fact just returned from competing in Scotland.  Anyway I digress: firstly with no dogs pattering about Rosie and waking us up anytime from first light, we didn’t wake ‘till 0830, on Tuesday morning, a real treat.

We had a leisurely breakfast, did a few housekeeping chores, showered and after coffee left on Pinky & Perky.  We had a coffee before we left as we had been warned that a coffee in Portofino could cost up to €20!!!!!!!!!!  I think at this point I would just quote from the Italian “Lonely Planet guide”     Portofino is described as follows:-

A byword for refined luxury, stately Portofino is beyond the wallet-stretching capabilities of most budget-minded travellers

Visitors motor bike park

We finally arrived, parked in the wrong place at first and were moved on by a very friendly female “copper” speaking excellent English.  When we parked in the right place, we were amazed as to how many motor bikes and scooters were parked together in one place, there seemed to be hundreds of them.

We walked down the pedestrianised cobbled street to the

Typical street

harbour. Apart from there being more people milling about, Portofino is very much as I remember but when we got down to the harbour it is not quite the quaint fishing village I remembered; it is now a marina, but worse than that there was a cruise ship moored in the bay and the place was full of Americans.  We now understand why we were warned about the prices of everything, not to mention the cruise ships calling, most of the locals are celebrities, millionaires with some royalty attracting shops that sell very expensive diamonds, jewellery, designer clothes, shoes and fancy handbags.

We wandered up the hill to one of the many churches; this hill also had a castle built on top and as it overlooked the bay and harbour was an excellent look-out used in by-gone days, but today

Church Interior

highlights the very pretty views and well worth the struggle up the hill.  We then headed back down some very narrow and steep steps back to the harbour area and started looking at the restaurant menus as we were both getting hungry.  Yes there were very expensive eating houses but we did manage to find something reasonable, well reasonable for somewhere like Portofino, and though we had only 1 course and wine, and very acceptable it was too; it only hurts when you think that back in Spain we could have had 4 x 3 course Menu Del Dias with ½ a bottle of wine each for the same money!!!!!

After further exploring round quaint streets, up and down the hill and seeing inside numerous splendidly and richly appointed churches, we indulged in another wonderful Italian Ice Cream. Now it was time to start the return journey but we would stop and take a swim in the Mediterranean en route. Walking back to our bikes, Christine agreed this was a place well worth visiting and thoroughly enjoyed herself.

The traffic on our return was horrendous, people returning home from work together with the tourists doing their thing made our bike rides interesting to say the least.  I have decided the reason there are so many motor bikes and scooters is very simple, cost of petrol, it is around €2 litre.

We stopped in Santa Margherita for our swim;  just parked Pinky & Perky, walked onto the beach and into a warn, clear, empty sea, great. This was followed by a walk around town then back to fighting the traffic round the sharp bends and ups and downs of this coast road on this beautiful part of the Italian Riviera.

We made a detour around Sestri Levante (the town below our camp site) Marina and the sea front before setting back up the mountain to our camp site.

We both missed the dogs but would not have been able to have such a great day out if we were worrying about their welfare, thank you Mr Italian Policeman, €30 well spent.

We will now hang around tomorrow waiting for the dogs return, pack up and off on Thursday morning for another adventure

Having had a week of really bad thunder storms, rain, and generally grey days, we thought winter was upon us, but now we have moved away from the mountains, everything is back to normal!

View from our pitch

We had a day without doing much, time to get Geoff’s back better, and for me to top up the tan, went for a lovely swim in the pool, and the dogs enjoyed swimming in the river, what a difference when the sun shines again. Moving tomorrow, so have not fully unpacked, but

View from our campsite

thoroughly enjoyed a day in the sunshine. We left early after Geoff upsetting the natives, first he made someone’s stuff wet, and mind you they did put it by the water tap, when he was filling the water tank! Then when we went to leave, we were trying to pay, and the lady wanted us to park no mean feat when you have 11 metres to fit into the normal parking places, so Geoff went out the gate, an Italian coming the way, just blocked the road, we could not reverse, and he would not, so he struggled to get around us.  All good fun!

View by the Pool

Geoff wanted to go on the coastal road, which we did, but the only problem was it went up the side of a mountain, it was S bends, very narrow in parts, and sheer drops, and very scary, I was not a happy teddy, we had to spend some of the time in first gear, as it was so steep, so certainly not a relaxing drive. (Geoff enjoyed it though!)

We eventually found our campsite, and the welcome we had was lovely, so friendly, and so helpful, quite a shock, and such a lovely space, we get ourselves sorted, and I manage to get TV for the first

Geoff in the Pool! Somewhere!

Ready steady………..

time in ages, so we watched the highlights of the Qualifying of the Grand Prix and the ‘Last Night of the Proms’ Brilliant! Today we spent washing, and cleaning up, sunbathing, swimming, and catching up with the website, a lovely lazy day. The swimming pool here is lovely and deep, very big, and also empty of people, maybe because it is cold, but it is a pleasure to be away in September

Up early walked the dogs, I did not want anyone in the office to see we had two dogs, we are paying nearly 40 Euros a night, which is scandalous, so don’t want to pay anymore, we will be moving as soon as we have completed Pisa. The big plus is we can walk from here to see the sights.

Cathedral and Tower at Pisa

We left about 9.30a.m walked through a tunnel under the railway line, past all the stalls selling their souvenirs, and into the walled Piazza Dei Miracoli.  The Piazza’s expansive green lawns provide an urban carpet on which Europe’s most extraordinary concentration of Romanesque buildings – in the form of Cathedral, Baptistry and Tower – are arranged. Two million visitors, every year mean that crowds are the norm.

We visited the Cathedral, this was first started to be built

Pisa Cathedral

in 1063, and continued until the 13^th century. The elliptical dome, the first of its kind in Europe dates from 1380.  The buildings striking cladding of alternating bands of green and cream marble became the blueprint for churches throughout Tuscany. The wooden ceiling decorated with 24-carat gold is a legacy from the period of Medici rule of the City.

The Tower was started in 1173, and then ground to a halt a decade later, when the first three tiers were observed to be tilting. In 1272 work started again, with artisans and masons attempting to bolster the foundations but failing miserably.  Despite this, they keep going, compensating for the lean by gradually building straight up from the lower storeys and creating a subtle curve.

Over the centuries the tower has tilted an extra 1mm each year. By 1993 it was 4.47m out of plumb, more than five degrees from the vertical.  The most recent solution saw steel braces slung around the third storey that were then joined to steel cables attached to neighbouring buildings. This held the tower in place as engineers began gingerly removing soil from below the northern foundations. After

Stairwell going down

some 70 tonnes of earth had been extracted from the Northern side, the tower sank to its 18^th century level and, in the process, rectified the lean by 43.8m.  Experts believe this will guarantee the tower’s future (and a fat tourist income) for the next three centuries.

As there are 300 steps inside, Geoff has declined going up, (he is also not feeling well) if you suffer from giddiness

View from top

(which he does) or have heart problems, they say do not go up.

I bought the tickets, and it was very well organised, they only let 40 people in at a time, and on the ticket is the time

View from the top

you can go in. So I went alone, I had no trouble with the steps, but it was very claustrophobic, especially when people started coming down and you had to pass each other.   I walked all around, and you had fantastic views from the top, we were then shown more steps, which were very narrow, and even more claustrophobic, (Geoff would have hated this) when we

Bell Tower

arrived at the top there were six huge bells, and several small ones, I felt wobbly at this point, so had a quick look around, and climbed down again.  Glad I did it, but do not feel the need to do it again. I joined Geoff for a drink, and

Part of the University of Pisa

we then took a horse and cart ride around Pisa itself, which was very good, with the guide pointing out the points of interest on route.  We couldn’t always understand her, but we nodded in agreement.

Narrow streets of Pisa

Next onto the Baptistry which was completed in the 14^thcentury, there was a beautiful hexagonal pulpit, with amazing carvings on, and whilst we

Baptistry

were there a custodian demonstrated the double dome’s remarkable acoustics and echo effects.

Midday and we have seen enough of Pisa, so we headed back to the campsite, had a quick lunch, and managed to slip out just before the start of another day. (2pm)

We went looking for another site, but just couldn’t find one suitable, although we have this year’s Aries book, it seems it is totally out of date, we worked our way further and further away from Pisa but the only ones available were 40 Euros, and we decided we could not afford to stay there waiting for Jane to arrive.

Eventually we ended up in Sarzana, which is near La Spezia, a delightful site, which is

Peace and quiet

almost empty, on a riverbank.

We put the ground sheet down, plugged into the electricity, and then went to do our emails, three campari spritz later, we left the bar, but at least Geoff is far more relaxed, and forgotten how bad his back is! We had an early night, after we had played a few games of crib.