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| Welcome to Portofino |
We had two excursions to Portofino, the first by foot, the second on Balvenie. We walked along the coast from Santa Margherita, it is a very scenic walk and well worth doing. Our first glances of the tiny harbour were a peep through the trees, down the walkway and into the village through the 'back door'.
The teeny terraced houses were only about 5 metres wide, several looking in need of a serious do-up but certainly adding character to the village. The main square sits at the harbour side, a large cobbled area edged by several swanky bars and restaurants, but some pretty normal ones too. The harbour is very compact and fits only about 10 superyachts, and that is a real squeeze, small local fishing boats fill all the other places and it certainly has the feel of a real working harbour.
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| Mark off to view the superyachts |
There were a few boutique shops, all set discreetly into the existing buildings, it wasn't nearly as ritzy as we thought it would be, it was just a real cute small harbour and typical run- down Italian village. It also has an outdoor sculpture museum showing some rather unusual 'works of art'. For some reason it has become a favorite holiday destination of several famous people, we missed Rod Stewart(skippers' boyhood hero) by just a few days! It certainly is in a beautiful setting and the whole area is just stunning, one of our favorites yet.
We stayed and enjoyed a sundowner, sitting harbourside, peacefully watching all the happenings. Then we walked back a block and found our first Italian restaurant in Italy that had red and white check tablecloths, how could we not dine there - we enjoyed excellent pasta under the stars in this splendid spot.
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| Pink pigs of Portofino |
We noticed a sign advertising an outdoor concert on Sunday night so decided to bring Balvenie along and anchor off if the weather co-operated. Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny with little wind forecast so we left Santa Marghertia mid morning and motored the short distance along, hoping to squeeze into the small area designated for anchoring just outside the harbour entrance. To say it was full would be a gross understatement, every one comes out to play on a sunny Sunday, and today was certainly no exception
The anchorage area is over 20 metres deep, way deeper than we are normally happy to anchor in. Mark somehow managed to manuveur us into a space just big enough for us, we put out just enough chain to hold us in place, and all our fenders then spent the afternoon keeping anchor watch, as did everyone else. It was just amazing, how anyone would consider this an enjoyable Sunday afternoon's entertainment I have absolutely no idea.
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| Fishing fleet mixing with the superyachts |
You can't leave the boat because someone will probably nudge you at some stage, and you haven't been able to anchor properly so you might hit someone. You rock and roll non stop with the wakes of all the passing traffic, you listen to 20 different sound systems blasting out all manner of music - you do not relax. But we had come for a purpose and felt sure that when the sun dipped over the hills all our new close friends would pack up and leave, we could re-anchor properly then go ashore for the concert.
All was going well until around 5pm when a tender from the harbour came out and told us we must leave as a superyacht was coming in to anchor and stern tie and we were in the way. Of course this didn't go down too well onboard but we are reasonable and felt sure we could anchor a little further across now that boats had gone and leave plenty of room. With that re-anchoring completed we were quite happy we would have enough room once a couple more small boats left. However our patience of sitting all afternoon was not to be rewarded.
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| looking into Portofino from the sea |
Once again were were asked to leave as another superyacht needed to tie up, bearing in mind this is a free public anchorage spot we were not very happy, we admitted defeat, lifted anchor and with not enough room to re-anchor returned to Santa Margherita for another night. Well at least we can say we tried!!!
Cruising info for Portofino, Italy:-
Anchorage - 44 18.285N 09 12.785E 23.5m We did manage to get into 10m on one of our re-anchorings further in, space is limited as there are swimming buoys across. Don't go on the weekend!
Ashore - It wasn't overpriced. Drinks on the waterfront 7Euro beer, 6Euro glass wine with good free nibbles. Dinner on the lane leading up to the bus station was 35Euro for 2 pasta's, 1/2 litre wine and cover charge. I'm sure we could have spent 350Euro at one of the others had we wanted to! Bus to Santa Margherita was 1.20Euro each one way.
