[Itinerary Page]The daily diary of a wandering restaurateur
May 29 - Portofino
Maybe it is just that we were getting close to the end of the trip, but our desire to go places and see things has diminished sharply. Today we thought we would take to the water. There is a boat that goes from Santa Margherita to Portofino to the little village of San Fruttuoso, the latter accessible only by foot or by sea. San Fruttuoso has an old abbey, a tower and some minor tourism-based businesses so we only went there for the boat ride and returned immediately to Portofino for lunch.
Portofino attracts the "beautiful people" although for the life of me I cannot understand why ... unless it is because other beautiful people go there. The town itself is small and rather nondescript. While we did see shops for Armani, Louis Vuitton and Gucci, they were small and the selection of goods very limited. Still, it was here and we were here and it seemed like the thing to do.
The weather has been unseasonably warm and humid for the past week, conditions we usually manage to avoid in May. Since I have a busted thermostat and do not do hot and sticky well, the hiking that we might have been tempted to do never happened, much to my regret. There is a "shortcut" path into Santa Margherita from the Villa Gnocchi (our B&B on the hill for those who have not been taking notes) that sounded like a nice trip ... but after 632 steps -- even downhill -- I would be wringing wet! Instead we did the American thing and drove down. This is really a pleasant area and the accommodations are among the most comfortable of the trip, the closet-sized bath notwithstanding.
We went to a little trattoria up the road for dinner and ran into most of the people staying in the B&B! The food was good and the prices reasonable. I was reminded again that when in Italy, do as the Italians do. My colleague Joel Cohen talks about the 2-minute drill -- get the check to the table within two minutes of when the guest asks for it. Last night I think we had the two hour drill ... but never mind. We shared one of the small dining rooms with Jan and Tony Lawrence. They are British living in Glasgow, Scotland and avid hikers. The shape this man is in at age 65 gives me new resolve to get back on my walking program!
Tomorrow we head for Lake Como and the last leg of our trip. With luck we will run into more temperate weather.
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