TWO ARTISTS IN PARIS

Portofino, Italy

From Genova, Italy, we took a train to the coastal resort town of Portofino, Italy. We got lucky... after UNRELENTING rain, we finally got a bit of sunshine for the day!

We traveled through the hills and valleys and tiny towns that line the Italian Riviera.

We got off the train in Santa Margarita Levante, which is a tiny town close to Portofino that most people stay in, because Portofino is super exclusive and ritzy, with few hotels for under 900 Euro a night! (But we were only there for the day... we went back to Genova that night.)

We took a bus ride on a curvy sea-side road to Portofino, a place I've wanted to visit all my life. And when we got there, the port-side village was BREATHTAKING! Post card views everywhere! Sooooooo exciting!

Cute Sailors in the Port

We had a fresh Surf and Turf Lunch right on the Harbour. Then we started hiking up in the coastal hills to get some good views.

On the very top of the hill there is a beautiful yellow cathedral and a castle, both built around the 1600's.

Here's a view of the Portofino Harbour and boats from the top of the hills... incredible!

Here is the most beautifully located cemetery in the world, I think.

We also hiked around an ancient castle the locals call "Castle Brown".

Portofino was incredible, and we'll come back when we are rich, on our yaught, and hang out with Georgio Armani, who has a home there.

Camolgi, Italy: Sagra del Pesce

Today (Mother's Day) and the second Sunday of April is the Sagra del Pesce, in Camolgi, Italy, a tiny fishing village on the Ligurian Coast of Italy. It's an annual local festival where huge amounts of fish, squid and octopus are fried in a giant frying pan in the middle of the town, and given out to the local and visitors for free, in hopes that the seas will be equally as generous to the local fisherman in the summer to come.

We were lucky to meet a very nice Italian couple, who are also staying at our B&B who invited us to go along with them to the festival. Mateo and Katherine are from Eastern Italy... they didn't speak much English, and we don't speak much Italian, but it was fun at least trying to communicate with each other and learning about their culture. We had tons of fun and feel lucky to have seen this local yearly event in person, with the native perspective. And the Frita Mista del Mer was great!

Genova alla noche, una buona serra.

Genoa transforms itself an enchanted, errie (sp?) place at night, with it's narrow maze of tiny dark and narrow alleys giving way to plazas with gigantic ancient cathedrals lit by the moon.

We went to the MTV TRL Awards on Saturday night, a massive concert with tons of famous European Pop Stars (we only knew French Pop Star "Stromea" who we saw in Holland) but everyone else was going nutso over the performers. The concert was staged and taped live in the Harbor. We left a little early to catch the tail end on TV on MTV live to see where we had just been in the crowd. Pretty cool.

French Hip Hop star, "Stromea" performing his hit, "I Lova Dance"

Our B&B in Genova, Italia! (Genova, Italy)

We arrived in Genova on the 7th of May, and yet again, our research on Tripadvisor.com helped us find another great bed and breakfast. La Casa Aurora is a guest house owned by a lovely young family, on top of and ancient 15th century palace, in the middle of Gothic Genova. We have amazing views from our 5th floor window of the an incredible cathedral right across the way from us, as well as view of the narrow mid-evil Italian streets.

Ferry to Genoa, Italy from Barcelona, Spain

We took an overnight ferry on an 18 hour journey across the Mediterranean Sea to get to Genoa (Genova) Italy. It was about the price of a cheap plane ticket, but better because we got our own sleeping cabin for 2 with beds and a private bathroom/shower, kind of like a cruise ship. We think that these ferries were at one time (in the 80's) cruise ships, with a pool and a casino, and a piano bar, that still serves drinks, and a few restaurants. But now, they have just let them go, and they now seem to only be used by local workers, truckers, and fisherman as a cheap way to cross the sea and get a decent night's sleep.