The Italian Riviera
Bondi Tram
Peter Colquhoun and Sandra Colquhoun
Wed 4 Aug 2010 07:06
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Leaving La Grazie and the gulf of La Spezia, we passed the pretty town of
Portovenere as we headed east
past the Cinque Terre on our way to the Riviera Levante, which is the
eastern Italian Riviera.
 The church on the point was quite spectacular
 Along the coast we passed by the five villages of the Cinque Terre and
enjoying another viewpoint from the
sea as we picked out the places we had walked along the day before.
This is Romaggiore, the first
village we visited.
 Then Manarola
 Then Corniglia
 and Vernazza
 and we saw by sea Monterosso ....the fifth village that we had not
previously visited.
 We arrived at Santa Margarita Ligure and anchored in the small
harbour.
 The town is Genoese, and follows the Genoese custom of painting their
buildings to give the appearance of
3 dimensional decoration (trompe d'oiel, I think it is called) and
balconies as on the building on the right.
 The main town square.
 Along the palm lined front with the changing pavilions for bathers.
For 27 euro per day, you get a little cabin
to change in, a deckchair with sunshade, towels and showers, and a cafe
with waiter service.
 A statue of Cristoforo Columbus, one of Genoa's favourite sons.
 The Hotel Imperiale and Hotel Continental.
 We took the bus to the town of Rapallo which has this small castle on
the harbour.
 The feast of Santa Margharita included a spectacular fireworks display and
putting thousands of lit candles
in waxed paper (boats) and floating them out to sea.
 This little cove has what was a monastery at the head of the cove, and a
large statue of Jesus Christ in
15 metres of water. Since you are not allowed to anchor here, I
stayed with the boat while Sandra snorkeled
to the stature which is clearly visible in the crystal clear
waters.
This spot is popular and boats bring day trippers from Santa Margharita and
Rapallo were coming and
going all the time.
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