Portofino and Finale

After some creatively decorated cappucinos (pictures when the PHOX photo people do their weekly E6 run), we got on the road to Rapallo. The road out of Venazza was shrouded in fog again, which made for interesting driving.

We had decided to go to Rapallo to check out the the massive and foreboding Castle mentioned in Frommers.

Although somewhat underwhelmed by the castle and Rapallo itself, the pizzas, calzones and tiramisus we had for lunch were pretty good. I convinced everyone to have a quick look at Portofino, since it was just up the road and I had wanted to see if for a long time. The housed and coast are indeed beautiful, and I can only imagine what itwas like before it became such a tourist hub. Now, however, it is absolutely packed with tourists and multi million dollar yachts, and I think any sense of authenticity is gone. It is simply a theme park. apparently my parents had taken me there years ago, but I have no memory of it. From Portofino, we continued on the autoroute paste Genova to Finale Ligure, and after a few wrong turns finally ended up in Finalborgo, a beautuful walled town with cobbled streets, cafes and two rock climbing supply stores. Amy and Mark bought new shoes and a rope, and we had dinner at the only place we could find that wasnt fully booked (it was the night before Easter). The food was acceptable, but not as good as what we had been eating on thursday and friday night. Chloe had a special pasta called "Trofie" in a nice pesto sauce, and I had fish kebabs. We then drove up to our accomodation for the night in Bardineto. It was quite a long way (about an hour) through winding mountain passes, and by the time we got there we were all exchausted and ready for bed.