Santa Margherita to Portofino

Congratulations Annelies on your speedy posting and the great photo taken at the bus stop! All that remains for me to do is provide a summary in English!

A beautiful sunny day, hinting that spring may be around the corner. Our departure from Santa Margherita was not promising: some work was being done on the sewer right where we parked and the stench was overwhelming! But once we got past that it was all uphill - literally and figuratively! A steep but brief ascent took us to Nozarego, where I'm told there is an excellent restaurant... but it was too early for lunch so we pressed on along the trail, past olive groves and idyllic country homes, through a construction site in full swing and down a steep descent - a brief stretch of which I travelled on my backside - to Paraggi, where we enjoyed a break on the beach. The sunshine was quite warm by now and the water was a deep emerald green, especially when glimpsed between the trees from the trail continuing on to Portofino. We continued on from the bay of Portfino to the lighthouse before returning to the village for a snack in the piazza. A snack is about all one can afford in Portofino... but I must say the enormous chocolate ice cream sundae I ordered has kept me going for the rest of the day, it's now nine-thirty and I have needed no further nourishment, so at ten euros it might actually be considered a bargain!!!

Annelies and Krista ordered much healthier meals - salad and sandwich - and, just to make me feel even more guilty about all the whipped cream, rightly pointed out that today is the first day of Lent!