Paul had read about Portovenere so we made the effort to get there and look for a place to stay. We did and probably got one of the last rooms available (and ended up paying for it!!).

It is a lovely port town that would have been nice to spend a relaxing day or two there.
As it was we were gone by 9am Friday.

First stop was La Spezia train station (after a couple u-turns - remember those Italian road signs that just don't appear for a mile or two) to pick up Pru, a friend of both of us. She was joining us from a business trip in Milan to journey to the south of France and join up with all our friends.

Friday was the day to tour The Cinque Terre, a National Park and territory protected by UNESCO, five small villages on the "Costa Ligure of Levante" characterised by the kind of coast falling sheer to the sea. We stopped in Monterosso for coffee and a walk before making a leap along the coast via the autobahn to Portofino.


Portofino was on a peninsula along the most narrow road you could imagine. After many stops and closed eyes for possible near scrapes on the cliff face we arrived. Beautiful! After lunch we journeyed up to the point looking back along the Italian coast. Now this area really deserves at least a few days and not just the few hours we spent there.

But we needed to push along towards France. So back onto the autobahn and Mandy had the fun of driving on the right at 120kms per hour plus!!