Unfortunately – and a post that starts off with the word “unfortunately” is never a great thing – Potofino wasn’t all we expected. It’s a beautiful little place, but once you’ve walked around and seen the city, there isn’t a ton to do. We considered a boat tour, but the waters were so choppy and the heat so intense, that we decided to head back for the boat around lunchtime.
We did this after we spent 14 Euro on one ice cream and two bottles of water at a little gelateria. Yesterday, one of the bartenders had warned us to always check the menu prices before ordering in Portofino – but did we listen? No. And that was the best advice anyone had given us about Portofino.
The other advice we had received about the beautiful town: “Just walk around!”. So we did. We walked around to one end, walked a little up the hill, and walked back to the tender because, besides overpriced eateries and boutiques, there wasn’t much to walk to. We did hear about a castle on top of one of the surrounding hills that was worth the walk, but it was so hot and we couldn’t figure out how to get up there… and wouldn’t it have been a shame to climb the wrong hill?
I should have done more research for each stop so that we would be better prepared. Instead, we chose our classic method of winging it, which hasn’t played out to our advantage. Next time, I will definitely do infinite amounts of research to find out more about the cities, any sort of walking tours, etc. Hold me to this so that I’ll have more interesting things to blog about.
Tomorrow is our guided tour of the French Riviera with a private guide from Nizza Travel Company – the great transfer and tour company who rescued me on several occasions during last year’s study abroad. I’m thrilled to take my parents back to the places that I lived and visited and see a few new things along the way.
That’s all for now – the big on-deck barbeque is tonight, so we might get a story or two out of there!
Ciao.
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