Day twenty-six, September 12, 2010

Day twenty-six, September 12, 2010


I wake up to my alarm but I lounge in bed until about 10:00. I make it to the breakfast and there is a large crowd today but I am the only one on my own. I get my favorite coconut yogurt and my cappuccino as well as a croissant and I am a happy traveler. I go back upstairs and shower and get packed up and barely get everything back into its appointed place before I check out at 11:00. I leave my bags and go to get my bus ticket. They sell bus tickets at tobacco shops(just a reminder from previous info in my blog). The closest tabacchi shop is closed of course on this Sunday morning. The next one I find does not sell bus tickets but finally on the third try I get my 1.20 euro ticket and I am now ready to get to my next destination. I go back to the hotel, reorganize my bags a little and give one last pat on the head to Catch and I am off to Santa Margharita Ligura.

I get to the bus stop and wait about 15 minutes but at least it is in the shade. The bus comes and it is quite crowded. There are two old ladies standing and a girl of about eight sitting in the first seat. I know the Italians kids are revered(especially now that they are having less of them, but come on you can't let an old lady sit down on the bus. A man helps me sit one of my bags down behind a seat. I ask him "Santa Margharita Ligura?" and he indicates it will be the third stop when he gets off. He helps me get my big bag off the bus....at least the men are gallant still to foreign lady travelers. I have looked up the map of this city on my Iphone and so I have a little clue where I am headed. There is actual a sign pointing the way to the hotel so that makes it very easy! It is very beautiful and interesting here. Almost all of the buildings have painted facades. I get to my hotel in short order and get checked in. I am up on the fifth floor, I know I need to practice stairs but with my bags, I will take the elevator. My roomie is already in the room. Her name is Theresa and she works for REI adventures and lives in Ballard. She is checking out this adventure for her work.

We both unpack a little and then decide we will get some food before the first hike. She has some left over pizza and wants to eat it. She wonders if the pizza will still be okay. I don't know but I ate a lot of day old pizza in my college days(granted this was in the USA so probably the pizza had a lot more preservatives in it) but I tell her I am sure it will be okay. It is different here in regards to pizza, when you order one here it is a cross between a small and medium size and it is just for you. No pizza sharing here...I would have loved this as kid because if you did not eat fast in the Wilson household, you would be only be able to nab a slice or two. But here, ordering 9 pizzas when on an outing would seem crazy!

We walk down the two short blocks down to the sea. We decide would like a beer because it is hot. We go in one place for a beer but we seem to be invisible (two women working here so I don’t get the same attention) so we head on. I find a place that has decent looking sandwich and we get beers and take them to a seaside bench. It is quite active here with people enjoying the sand and the warmth. We have our little picnic and now it is time to head up to the hotel so we can meet our hiking group.

We meet in lobby at 2:00 in the lobby as scheduled. We meet our REI guide, Stephanie (she is an ex-pat from the Bay area) and our Ilaria(Hilary in Italiano) who is the local guide. There are about 14 of us all together. We say brief hellos and then head out on the introductory hike. We walk through the town, which is very cute. A very beachy town. We head up some stairs. We spend about 45 minutes going up steps. I have this tendency to want to race up stairs after my Big Climb this year. One person has to drop after this short climb. Ilaria says that she sees old woman walking up this steep stairs to the houses along the way. I guess that keeps you young but that is impressive. The next portion is more meandering and not so many stairs. We meander and make our way to Portofino. Portofino means port of the dolphins but no dolphin viewing happens often here. Dolphins should be stars of the show but it is the celebrity stars that are the stars of the show here. We look for George Clooney or Sophia Loren but no such luck but we do some big ole yachts in the harbor here. We stop in the church Divo Martino...inspired by Dean Martin? A very nice with church with chandeliers through out. There are some neat mosaics outside the church made of black and white rocks. We head down for some gelato. I have not had any for days so I need to make up for some lost time. I try nutella with the old standard of Limone. Quite fine flavors when placed together. We have the option of taking the bus back or walking. I decide I could do some more walking after that gelato so I take the 45 minute walk back to Santa Margharita Liguria with Stephanie, Ilaria, Debra(the 19 year old Aussie traveling on her own, Theresa and Linda ( the engineer from Houston). Part of the trip back is shared with some cars, which leads to a few tense moments but these drivers are used to pedestrians in the road.

I make it back to the hotel with enough time to wash out a few things and have a quick shower. We then meet the group in the hotel garden for a little review of the trip. We introduce ourselves and enjoy a little prosseco, pizza and some type of fried olive ball( Ilaria says the olive with its “bone removed” and filled with meat). Then it is time to go to dinner. Dinners are included in this tour so it will be neat to see what we will be served. We take a short trip down the street to our restaurant. The appetizer is a shrimp dish with some white beans. (very nice). The next course is fish covered with these thin slices of fried potatos(quite yummy). And then of course dessert. I get a lemon tart type dessert and a cappuccino. And of course I had red wine with the meal. Boy these Italians know how to bring on the courses. We then roll ourselves back to our hotel, walk the stairs to our fifth floor room and head to bed about midnight ready to take on the challenge of the hills of these beach towns to