Allison's Wonderland

Day two of our excursion, Megan and I said goodbye to wonderful Andrea and headed to the train station. We sauntered our way through Monterosso because we thought we had plenty of time. Well we didn't. There was a HUGE line at the ticket booth for the trains and while I paid and got our train tickets, Megan hurried along to get some breakfast brioche. They didn't have Nutella. :( We just made our train in the nick of time. We didn't really have a plan for the day other than seeing Portofino so everything else was kind of just up in the air. I kind of like it that way...sometimes.

Once off the train in Santa Margherita we had to figure out a way to get to Portofino. It's not accessible by train, so we had to find the next best thing. A bus. We were running around like little chickens with our heads cut off trying to find a place to buy bus tickets because the bus to Portofino was just sitting right outside the train station waiting. Come to find out, we could just buy them on the bus. Go figure. The drive to Portofino was absolutely stunning and Megan and I were right next to the window. I opened the window to get some fresh air because the bus was packed and stuffy. Some man came by and closed it on me though because the old bitty's in the back of the bus were getting cold. Seriously? SERIOUSLY!?! DON'T TOUCH MY WINDOW!!! I just gave him a look and kept it closed. He felt my stare though. Oh I know he did!



Once the bus pulled into the little parking lot above the marina we were greeted by Wisteria. WONDAHFUL!! Portofino was absolutely beautiful. Simona doesn't think it's that pretty and wonders why it's famous, but she grew up in Genova, so that doesn't count. :) When you're not use to seeing Mega Yachts, blue Mediterranean Sea, and brightly colored buildings all piled on top of each other, it's pretty stinkin gorgeous. Megan and I had to get some sustenance as we were pretty hungry, so we bought bananas. Everything in the port is pretty expensive so .40 cent bananas will have to do.



We walked up to the top of this hill where we had a bird's eye view of the port. It was just so beautiful. Can I say that enough? I would love to be there in the summer time to actually swim in the water. It looked so inviting. I guess we could've swam, but it would've been pretty cold. I was obsessed with this one sail boat that had a Mast the size of Texas. This boat was seriously huge!! I just wanted to find the owner's and be like, "Hey, I like your boat. Wanna take me for a ride?" That probably wouldn't have worked, but it's worth a shot!! On our way out of the Port I had to find a post card and Megan made fun of me. This is just what I do when I go places. Find a post card and a pin and I was successful with both!! Yeah for me.

We stopped in Santa Margherita for some eats at this place called Ristorante Colombo. Megan got the gnocchi with pesto (something I'm not very fond of) and I got the vegetarian pizza.
It was so good with peppers, eggplant and zucchini on top! HEAVEN! We ate right on the water side and it was just so pretty. After our big day out we had to catch the train back to Prato where Ivan was kind enough to pick us up. What a nice boy! So we were off to spend our last night in the little ski resort town. Such a perfect little ending!