Sunday, May 15th … in Portofino.
We began the day having breakfast delivered by room service. This is no extra cost and is GREAT! It was delivered warm, on time, and complete – everything we asked for was provided. Basically, the menu choices are the same as the buffet. The waiter sets up a larger tabletop designed to fit on top of the coffee table and drapes it with a white linen cloth and he quickly sets up a beautiful dining table. (We ordered from a menu sheet that is delivered every evening.)
Since it was Sunday, we thought many stores would be closed (European custom). We were wrong (most were open). We were in no hurry to leave the ship and had a fun competitive game of ping-pong. He won…no mercy.
At about 2pm, we boarded the tender for a 10-minute ride to the port. The number of people walking around and shopping surprised us. This is a relaxed, charming town! We wished we had left earlier! Most passengers commented on how much they liked Portofino.
We hiked up to Barons Castle (steep walk) for some fabulous views and gorgeous shots of flowers. On the way down, we stopped to see San Giorgio church (I think). We did not hike over to a lighthouse, but it looked interesting.
Once back in the center of town, we ran into fellow cruisers who had taken a bus to see the adjacent town of Santa Margherita. It isn’t a long bus ride, so we decided to give it a whirl. It cost 2 Euros per person for a round trip ticket that we bought at a “newspaper†stand across from the bus stop. Getting on the bus, there is an “honor system†re: punching your ticket.
Santa Margherita is also a lovely town, but we didn’t get much of a chance to explore it (time constraint). We weren’t sure where to get off the bus and went a little too far. Walking back to the town, in a square, we saw many people dressed in “Halloween†costumes getting free drinks, ice cream, etc. from tables set up. It took a few minutes for us to realize this was the end of a bike race and when the bikers reached the end, they changed into costumes…many in drag. I wish I could post a description of a few of them, but then this post would be “X†rated. It was really, really funny. You’ll have to take my word for it.
Catching the bus back to Portofino was challenging. We couldn’t seem to find the bus stops. I showed a 30-something Italian man my bus pass and said, “Portifino?†He flagged down the bus for us! We hopped on and I waved my “thanks†to him from the back window of the bus.
Like I have commented before, we feel most Italians are warm, very friendly and helpful to Americans travelers.
Returning to our ship via the tender, we had a cocktail in our room and freshened up before dinner…once again in the Compass Rose. Looking back, I wish we had tried La Veranda since we so love the Mediterranean cuisine. But, of course, our food was excellent and we had become “friends†with our Snicker (candy bar) loving waiter.
The other restaurant on board the Radisson Seven Seas is called Latitudes. It is open seating from 7-9 pm. This restaurant always had an Indochina menu, which did not appeal to us. We do eat Chinese food at home, but are not fond of Japanese, Mongolian, Thai, and Vietnamese selections, so we passed up this restaurant.
During dinner we met a nice couple our age (50ish) who were seated at a table near ours. The gentleman had proposed marriage to the lady on the cruise. We shared many common interests (he is a high end custom home builder in CT and my husband sells high end homes in Florida). Since returning to the states, we have exchanged e-mails and have sent each other brochures on our favorite local places to visit. They sent us a wonderful recommendation for a place to see/stay in Maine (future “fall leaves†trip) and we, in turn, sent them information on the white sands of Siesta Key and Sarasota.
The 45-minute show in the Constellation Theater that evening was very, very upbeat. It was titled “Oh What a Night†and the cast sang and performed many popular numbers. The sets, costumes and choreography were incredible. We thoroughly enjoyed it.
After dinner we went into the casino and although I saw others winning, I was not as lucky. By this time, I was pretty much “even†with the Radisson’s casino. One gal won $1,800.00 on a $1 progressive slot machine! She wasn’t at all excited…I would have been jumping up and down.
We headed back to our cabin to rest up for sightseeing in Monte Carlo (after filling out the form for another room-service breakfast
P.S. I just got our MasterCard bill and the restaurant that we had the WONDERFUL cheese pizza and house red wine…was the Ristorante Villa Verde in Capri. We paid 25.76 Euro = $33.56 U.S. You can find a map to this restaurant on the internet. We HIGHLY recommend it if you want to try an individual cheese pizza that is out of this world.
Monday, May 16, 2005 … Monte Carlo…
Gentlemen…start your engines…it’s YOUR turn to shop!
