Ahhh a little sleep in this morning 🙂 Santa Margherita is a wonderful picturesque town. It is obviously a beach resort that many tourists come to stay at for their holidays. The roads into the place are narrow, especially through the town, but all sorts of vehicles come and go the whole time. The place just buzzes with activity. Our bus driver was extremely clever to drive through the town and not cause any acccidents. We left the hotel at 8.30 to catch a ferry to Portifino – the place of calendar photos of Italy. Wandering through Portifino was soul satisfying – touched so many emotions. I felt full by wonderful sights! Hopefully you can feel the same by looking at some of the photos I have added below…
We left on coach and travelled on the edge of Genoa. How I would have loved to have spent some time there. We bypassed Chinque Terrie??? (Will look up the spelling later) as well and I felt grieved in my spirit about that too! Another trip one day maybe Robin?? There is just so much to see and you just can’t spend time in every place. But I am so very thankful for what I have seen so far
The highway to the lakes district was pretty straight with farmlands both sides, dotted with old farm dwellings. The dwellings consisted of a homestead with 4 or 5 other buildings and then a big stone fence surrounding them all. There were lot of rice fields which were a rich green colour, and also maize and other crops. I didn’t see many animal farms?
The views as we headed down to lake Maggiore was spectacular and there were many ohhhhs and wows from the bus.
Judy Teresa and I spent the afternoon wandering through the little town of Bevino. We came across the amazing little church with a group of local elderly people sitting outside. The Italians are very sociable and seem to love to gather and chat, and are very animated. I think I could fit into the Italian lifestyle quite easy. Out of all the people in the bus I think there are only a few that get excited and bubble over with emotion and I am one of them – along with our lovely American family (that have Italian heritage) Judy is worried that no one will want to sit with us at meal times because we giggle the whole time. I have never laughed so much as this holiday. I am having so much fun. I think the whole experience is enhanced by the people you are on holiday with and the willingness to just chat!
The afternoon was our first downtime. After our walk we went down to the hotel pool and outdoors area. Purchased a drink each and just chatted. We ended up with three others at our table and had a very pleasant afternoon. The hotel itself is like a palace. It is filled with expensive rugs, chandeliers, artwork and statues. The lady who runs it is about 80. She sits behind the desk ruling her reign – and the staff! And she is a multi millioneer!
After another delicious meal we headed off to bed at around about 10 pm. Off to Venice tomorrow. Yay! I love that place 🙂