If It's Tuesday: Un Altro Portofino

And.. the splendor of the Italian Riveria ... I LOVE ITALY .. but you knew that and I loved Portofino.. playground to the rich and famous.. and on this August day in 1996 .. playground to the budget conscious backpacker.. 'Me'. Although even on a budget.. one is able to appreciate the faded glory of palazzos and terraces that grace this area of Italy... There is still an earthy presence as one finds in the architecture and streets of Roma.. but also an air of lightness .. playfulness in the brightly coloured buildings .. pastels and ombre hues dancing in the summer haze and reflected blues from the azure sea lapping at the walkways.. ... I LOVE ITALY ..

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Now I've posted about my time in Portofino and Santa Margherita before, so I won't bore you with these details again.. but present you with a re-run of some of my snapshots. This time in the blueish, sepia-ish tones of my Roma travel post [here]. I'm a little addicted to these colourways at present.. but being fickle, I'll probably move on to another colour love soon.

Hopefully you are not getting too bored with my Italy posts?

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Or rather my travel snapshots....As I'll have another Italy post for you soon..

Not out of my system yet.. so some shots of Taormina that I haven't posted before ..

Thanks everyone for the emails and comments re the devastating floods up north

My heart aches for those struggling with this

IMAGE SOURCE & CREDITS:

All Text, Photography and Artwork by [Being Ruby©]

Location: Portofino, 1996

If It's Tuesday: Portofino

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If it's Tuesday ... This must be ... Portofino

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Playground to the rich, the famous .. and .. in 1996.. Me!! Well at least for a day trip or two!! After a long long overnight train trip from France, hungry and tired, I arrived in Santa Margherita in the wee hours of the morning. Little did I know it was a public holiday weekend [Ferragosto - Assumption Day] and that every Italian in the region had flocked to Liguria for their vacation..

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Trudging along baggage in tow we systematically went into each hotel in the area trying to find a room... only to be told there were none available. Finally we came upon what seemed like our last chance.. a beautiful old villa, partially restored to it's former beauty with large formal guest areas and a beautifully shaded garden out the back. A well groomed gentleman was carefully sweeping the entry as we showed up, dishevelled from the trip, dressed in denim cutoffs and looking like.. well typical Australian tourists... my friend pounced on the guy and asked in her loudest English if he had a room available... The answer in Italian, accompanied by firm waving of the hands in the direction of the gate.. was quite firmly NO.. no rooms were available.. So then.. in her LOUDEST voice possible.. my friend asked again!!! Why do people do that? Speaking louder is not going to improve the situation.. As you would expect he ignored us and walked away.

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Out of pure desperation and sudden urge for breakfast, I went back in alone and requested in my politest broken Italian ... 'Mi scusi .. Ho bisogno di una camera per due ... per favore?' Amazingly... he replied in perfect English... "Oh yes we may have a room available later in the day.. you are welcome to rest in the garden until it is available'... Bingo!! ha ha ha... Moral to this story.. always try to speak a few words in the native language... it's called 'respect'. Would you want someone screaming at you in a foreign language?

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I had a similar experience a few days later when we went separate ways for the day. I had tried to buy something from the chemist [hairspray] but had trouble remembering the word for hair ['capelli']. Somehow I confused it with the word for Horse! ['cavallo']. So there I was pointing to my ponytail and saying Horse Horse... whilst making hairspray noises.. 'psssshhhh'... 'pssshhhh' .. These two little old ladies were buckled over in fits of laughter.. They sat me down, made me a cup of coffee and proceeded to explain the difference. It was a good day!!! I got my hairspray... I got coffee and I entertained the locals. Getting back to the hotel later we compared stories... My friend has apparently had the worst day, two rude ladies in the [only] chemist in town had not been very helpful!! Case in point!

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So .. how does Portofino come into this. Apparently, the famous Portofino was only a boat ride away. Somehow I overlooked this fact in the Lonely Planet guide, so lucky for me we met some nice Italians boys that were more than willing to show us around! Sadly I don't have any photos of the gorgeous hotel where we stayed, but I did manage a few of the famous Portofino. My only regret of this particular stay, was bowing to pressure and missing Cinque Terre. Oh well.. a good excuse to go back I say!

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So.. it's been a while since I've posted 'If It's Tuesday'. I will try to get back into the habit. Even if it's Wednesday or Thursday.. after all ... What's the point of having a blog if you don't use poetic license?

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Now I know a few of you had the chance to meet the lovely Meredith in my last post. But seeing I was anxious to get my 'Tuesday' post up 'on a Tuesday' .. some of you may have missed out. If like me, you enjoy your life in FULL colour!! [well I do like white also!!] pop over to Meredith's - Count It All Joy blog for a fabulous drool worthy post on her famous Rainbow Cake [here]..

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IMAGE SOURCE: ALL Text, Photography and photo editing by me - [Being Ruby]