In this penultimate post in the series covering our boat trip along the Italian coastline, the excursion we arranged during our cruise ship’s stop at the port of Genoa, I’ll cover the last of our visits during the day, that being to the fishing village and holiday resort of Portofino. I hardly need remind you of the places we’d already visited nearby because you, being a person keen to know as much about my life as is humanly possible and someone who has been totally rapt with the thrilling boating accounts to date, already know, and yet I shall anyway because writing unnecessary things is where I excel. We’d started the cruise excursion with a half-hour ride along the shores of Liguria to the charming village of Camogli and followed that up with a brief visit to Santa Margherita Ligure before taking the short ride back the way we’d come to the most well-known of the three locations we’d be hitting.
Getting off the boat we were led to the piazzetta, the small square that’s unmissable at the harbour entrance. One side faced the water and the multitude of boats and yachts tied up while the other three were lined with shops and cafés. Our guide gathered us together to tell us when we needed to meet back at this spot for those who wanted to wander off on their own or perhaps go get something to eat or drink but she also offered to take anyone who wanted up the Salita San Giorgio, a steep set of steps and slopes leading up the southeastern arm of Portofino and the place where all those stereotypical photos of the town are taken.
Regular readers will know that we are not fit and that my wife has both issues with regulating her internal body temperature as well as an old injury that blossoms from time to time that causes her pain in her ankle when she has to climb uneven surfaces. These things do not combine well with strenuous activities. Regular readers will also know that we’ve never let that stop us before and it didn’t this time either, hence amongst the grand total of eight people from our tour group who decided to accompany the guide there was the pair of us as well. I’d like to say that the majority of our tour group, the mass that stayed behind in the main area of Portofino, went to explore the church near the square or to hunt down other historical spots of interest nearby but if I know cruisers as well as I think I know cruisers then I imagine that coffee shops did a roaring trade at about this time.
The walk up the hillside wasn’t too bad, all things considered, and there were plenty of chances to just take a break for a photo or two. I was quite pleased to spot a lizard and we noticed that there was some interesting artwork for sale that we made plans to take a look at on the way back down if time allowed (time did allow but our memories failed us and we forgot). We also passed alongside and above a modern art sculpture park that was almost universally panned by the group with whom we were walking but which my wife and I thought looked great. We made plans to visit that on the way back down if time allowed too (time did allow but this time the park’s opening hours stopped us).
At the top we reached the Terrazza San Giorgio, an open space small enough to be dominated by the compact church of Chiesa di San Giorgio. We were pleased to see that the trend of adorning the entrances to churches in the region with the black and white pebbles, the Risseu, was carried through here too.
You’ve probably worked out that San Giorgio is Italian for Saint George who just happens to be the patron saint of Portofino and after whom this church was named. His patronage wasn’t enough to prevent the church – originally built in the twelfth century – from being totally destroyed during a bombing raid in World War II but the church was restored after the cessation of hostilities and to the same design as that which had been present during the original building’s modifications of 1760. Chiesa di San Giorgio reputedly holds relics of the saint.
The southern side of the terrace offered an observation point of the Portofino coastline, its rocky cliffs and greenery atop making for a very relaxing view.
East of the terrace, behind the church, was a small cemetery, as well as a view to Castello Brown.
Our guide explained that only people who lived in Portofino could be buried here and that the place had been home to some famous people over the centuries. There were some markers on the walls to back this up but some of the more familiar names among the inhabitants included Rex Harrison, Guy de Maupassant, and Guglielmo Marconi. King Richard I also sailed from Portofino during the Third Crusade and Richard Burton apparently proposed to Elizabeth Taylor for the first time while staying in the town.
Castello Brown is a museum now but was once a defensive structure for the harbour, dating back to the middle of the sixteenth century. Our guide told us we’d have enough time to get to it if we wanted but would likely have to hurry and wouldn’t have much time inside so we decided to simply admire it from afar on this occasion. If you’re visiting Portofino and have the chance then it looks like it offers spectacular views over the area and a coastal path beyond it leads along the cliffs to the Portofino Lighthouse too.
But the most attractive views from Terrazza San Giorgio could be found on its northern side looking down on Portofino Harbour. If you ever do an image search for photos of Portofino then it’s typically from around this location that most of the pictures of the place will have been taken before the colours are oversaturated to ridiculous levels prior to being posted on the internet. If the trend for boosting the vibrancy of Portofino photos continues then by 2028 an EU directive will have to enforce popups warning that looking at pictures of the town may lead to instant eye diabetes. You won’t find that kind of unreal photo processing on this site.
This was as far as our guide was taking us and with the decision already made to leave the castle for now we headed back down into Portofino with a couple of stops in the shops that lined the sloping path along the way on the lookout for souvenirs. These duly purchased we soon found ourselves back in the harbour area.
The shops surrounding the piazzetta didn’t interest us and while we weren’t averse to having a drink (you know us) there didn’t look to be anywhere that wasn’t either rammed to the rafters or with seats in direct sunlight on what was already quite a hot day. We decided to skirt around the harbour’s edge instead with the idea being that we’d either get some nice shots of the boats and yachts tied up in the bay, find some shade from the hilly area from which we’d recently descended, or possibly find somewhere less packed with tourists that might provide refreshments.
Our stroll took us past the entrance of the sculpture park but, as I’ve already mentioned, it was closed. A shame, because we quite like modern art and the pieces we could glimpse looked like they’d have been great photographic subjects up close. We had to make do with a rhinocerous suspended in a sling. As you do.
Our walk took us under the terrace location from where we’d photographed Portofino and proceeded until we were in line with the castle. A path in a wooded park there indicated it was possible to reach the castle up steps but that was never on the cards for this trip.
With us having travelled as far as we could without having to climb steps we turned back and made for the meeting spot in the piazzetta. The sun had burned off most of the cloud cover by now and it was easier to see just how pretty Portofino was and why it could attract people in numbers although quite why the international jet set, the stupidly rich, and the stupidly famous keep returning to it was less clear given its very small size. I like gazing out at the water, I like seeing boats bobbing gently, I can’t dispute that rocky cliffs and trees surrounding a square with cafés and bars is appealing. But there needs to be a little more, I think, and I’d imagine that being fabulously wealthy still couldn’t quite counter the onset of boredom that might come from the apparent lack of activities on offer. Not only that, but with Portofino effectively sheltered from the south and west there doesn’t even seem to be much opportunity to spend an evening drinking and soaking up a Mediterranean sunset without a clamber up the hill. But, yes, it was pretty.
We got back to the square in front of the harbour with ten minutes to spare so had time to grab a gelato (when in Italy and all that) to help cool us down. The church at ground level in Portofino is the Chiesa di San Martino and we’d briefly discussed taking a look at it when we’d been coming down from the terrace on the hill but ultimately decided that as much as we like looking at churches there comes a time when you can see too many of them at once and both Camogli and Santa Margherita Ligure had satisifed our religious building nosiness needs for one day. Still, Chiesa di San Martino is one thing you could look at while you’re in Portofino if you’re after something to do other than just enjoy the views.
That brought our time in Portofino to an end so all that remained was to get back on the boat and make the trip back along the Ligurian coast to Genoa where the Emerald Princess would be waiting for us. Portofino had the prettiness factor to it but it didn’t make us think it was a place we’d rush to come back to. The same was true of the other places on this day’s excursion, to be fair, with Camogli just edging it in terms of interest. I don’t think we’d recommend this trip on the whole unless you really like being on a boat and if we were docking at Genoa on a cruise in the future we’d be far more likely to explore the city itself next time around.
