First thing today was to buy our train tickets online for tomorrow's travel to Milano. The train station here in Rapallo is only a 5 minute walk from the hotel, but buying them online gives me a better chance to consider schedules and train changes, and I can also avoid the line of other confused travelers.
The next item on our agenda for today, our last full day in Rapallo, was to take the ferry and visit a couple of nearby villages. We got to the dock just as the boat was leaving, but it departs at the top of the hour throughout the day, so we had an hour to wander. Like we do a few times each day, we stopped at a place for espresso, standing at the counter for 4 or 5 minutes to have an espresso for 1€. Then we stepped into the big church in the center of town (outside photos posted yesterday, but we didn't enter because services on Sunday), and took this photo of the ceiling.
After strolling along the promenade, we board the 11:00 ferry, and it was a perfect day to be out on the water. This view is Rapallo from the departing ferry:
The first stop is a village 15 minutes to the north, Santa Margherita Ligure, which is very scenic from the boat, but we didn't get off there yet, because our plan to to get off at the furtherest point, and visit the other towns on the return trip. Here's what Santa Margherita Ligure looks like from the water:
Next stop is Portofino, a but further north, and a popular place for people with some pretty fancy boats:
Helena, how do you suppose Lester and Dad would would like this boat?
Approaching the dock in Portofino:
A light house guarding the entry to Portofino:
A small church on a cliff overlooking the water:
Here's the place that Jenae was looking forward to, at the end of the ferry route: San Fruttuoso, where she read about a tiny bar and restaurant called Da Laura:
Da Laura, where had lunch of silky pasta with tomatoes and basil pesto from their garden. As we sat there, drinking wine and eating pasta, a young couple in front of us laid out their blanket to sun, and the woman held a sheet with her teeth wrapped around her as she changed from shorts to bikini bottoms. I though that was a pretty good trick, and then she peeled off her top and bra for topless sunbathing!
Jenae wanted to walk on the smooth marble chip beach through the water:
Another view of the water at the beach in San Fruttuoso:
A fancy yacht in Portofino:
On the way back to Rapallo, we disembarked in Santa Margherita Ligure to wander that village. They have a beautiful church on a spacious piazza near the center of the village:
The day's laundry also hangs above the piazza, across from the church:
A few photos from inside that church:
One of their stained glass windows:
Later in the day, back in Rapallo, the water is very calm, and we stroll to an enoteca for a bottle of local wine and snacks, while watching boats return in the evening.
Ducks:
Tomorrow we go to Milan, for the final 3 nights. We'll miss Rapallo and the quiet, relaxing pace of the seaside town.
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