05.10.2020 - Portofino

05.10.2020

Since the author of most of the previous lines got the day off today, I have to take over.

After a restless night - our parking space was right next to the railway line - we were greeted this morning by a friendly mix of clouds and sunshine. After the first walk in front of our cozy home, the decision was made - today is 'shorts weather'! So we took our bicycles down and off we went. First, we rolled along the promenade of Santa Margherita. Here we could still observe the weekend storm clean-up work - it must have been quite a mess here. Then we continued comfortably along the coastal road to Portofino. On the way, we made a short stop once again and enjoyed the great view of the bay and the slopes with countless little houses on the opposite side. Arriving in Portofino, we wanted to explore the village quickly, but no - the bikes had to stay outside. Finding a parking space was rather unproblematic for us, but almost impossible for those with four wheels.

The tiny village is an absolute dream! It is located in a small protected bay surrounded by mountains. Directly by the shore and spread over the slopes, there are numerous small houses, hotels, and churches. At the highest point, there is a small castle. Since Lea loves castles so much, we logically had to climb up - the stairs seemed almost irrelevant to her. But the view compensated us a thousand times over for the effort.

Now the question was - what do we do with the rest of the day? Since the sleeping place was anything but comfortable, we quickly packed up and started our journey towards La Spezia. Always following the coastal road "Via Aurelia". No idea how many meters of altitude we gained today, but the number is considerable! Once again, we cursed the navigation system multiple times, but there is nothing we can do about it - we only have this one 😊.

Shortly before reaching our destination, I had enough and we switched to using the navigation on our phones. Tomorrow it will get a break and maybe it will have recovered from the strain and start cooperating again.

Upon arriving in La Spezia, we quickly prepared the bikes again and rode into the city. The city is completely different from what we have seen so far. No grand palaces, churches, or other monumental buildings - at least we didn't discover any, but there were many delicious things in the pedestrian zone. On the way home, we discovered a drugstore and bought Uhu glue. The slipping soles in Lea's hiking shoes are glued now, so there is nothing standing in the way of their first use.