Part 2: Bello Portofino

Portofino is a small port town, with similar small port towns neighboring it, and we had the option to get up early and take a tour (which started at 7:15am) of the three towns, totaling 8 hours in duration. So we gave that a big fat negative and all 3 of us slept in until 11am! So great. We all went to the gym, had some lunch and then prepared for a quiet afternoon exploring the town. We caught the tender boat because Portofino has no pier for big ships like ours, and this turned out to be an interesting and unorganized experience. Fortunately the scenery on the way there is gorgeous and there are a bunch of yachts cruising around and docked in this tiny pier – see pics. Once we were there, we wandered around taking pictures, checking out the many designer shops (I took pictures of the ones I knew but there were tons more big Italian names), and enjoying the nice weather. I was able to use my Italian speaking skills and asked a police officer for a restaurant – another recommendation. But unfortunately when we found it (because of my awesome Italian speaking skills) they couldn’t seat us because the cook had left. We should have known since it was mid-afternoon at this point. So we found another cute pizza shop, again with the tables outside under big umbrellas and shared a half bottle of wine and two mini pizzas. Delicious! It was a great people watching spot because like I said there are many yachts there so all the swanky people are walking around with their designer yachting clothes and sunglasses and bags, but also there are the locals walking around with their tiny fishing boats and children on leashes (no lie). So it was really quite interesting. Look for the picture I took of tiny little Nonna hanging laundry outside her window. Precious!
Our boat left this port at 5pm promptly so we did a little more wandering – see pictures of some back streets and shops, and awesome views – and then caught the shuttle back to the boat, took naps again (sweet!) and prepared for our first formal dinner night! I failed to mention in the last entry, but there is a casino on board, and only one lively bar it seems. We found both of these this evening J The bar was featuring disco music until 11, and then karaoke starting at 11:15, which Momma and Poppa D both participated in. I begged out luckily, and stayed behind the camera. Maybe later in the week I’ll have a couple more Tequila Sunrises and we’ll see. But anyways, then there was some dancing (hilarity ensued) and we hung out with our new British lady friend (from dinner) and then made our way to the casino! I never knew slot machines were so much fun, and so addicting! I never lost $20 so fast and had absolutely nothing to show for it except 3 minutes of entertainment. It’s insane that people will sit in front of one of those things and do it for hours! Myself probably included now…
Tomorrow we are off to the port town of Livorno to explore the Tuscany district, Pisa, and Florence!