Chiavari, Portofino, and Rapallo

Classic Portofino

As we headed south to ultimately end up at Levanto we planned to stop in to Portofino, a well-known place for A list celebrities. I guess we saw one there, a popular soccer player with his pregnant wife since they were covered online the next day in a local paper.  They were just taking photos up near the church on the hill in Portofino.
On place to stay was Chiavari, a beautiful city about 20 kms away from Portofino.
Chiavari
The place we stayed, Casa Olivia is up behind Chiavari in the hills overlooking the sea and our host Cristina was incredible at decorating. Both the B&B and her kitchen were right out of a decorating catalog. She works part-time in Genoa as a designer, and runs the B&B as well. She does a great job of both apparently.






A benefit of the bike is when we drove to Portofino we fit right in with the locals and parked in the moto parking area and with the bike cover on, they couldn’t see that we weren’t locals not like our friend with the Lamborghini who got a ticket and was towed.
Not his day
From there we toured the picturesque spot, took our required pictures and finally went out for a really nice lunch sitting right on the water. OK, meal prices are all increased by 4E just to sit here, but it’s something you have to do.

Lunch in Portofino
.









On our way there we stopped in Rapallo, another bustling
Rapallo Fort
place and saw the old Fort that protected the harbor. The weather was perfect and later in the afternoon we enjoyed the private deck that came with our room. It was very enjoyable.  





View from Sestri Levante to Portofino




Old Guys Corner
The next day on the way to Levanto we stopped to visit Sestri  Levante a larger centre that has quite an Italian tourist draw. It is a pretty place that we will come back to. While there we noticed a group of old guysbegin gathering at a favorite beach spot, hidden under some trees behind the change area of one of the beach resorts, they come every day to visit. What a nice place!

Neck Muscles
I was intrigued by the strength of this African migrant worker carrying her wares, amazing.

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