A very pretty town

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Geo: 44.304, 9.20777

Portofino is a very tiny harbour so we were moored off shore and tendered in. Directly from the harbour are some steep stairs which take you up to a narrow path leading to the Castle. It is 5 euros to get in and there is no furniture to speak of in there but the views are great. It was once owned by Mumm of the Champagne family and has been visted by many famous people when they were in residence.
From here you can,if you are feeling energetic, walk along to the end of the penisula where there is a light-house. Must confess for the second time we have set off along the path and then turned back.
On the way back towards the town is the lovely tiny church of San Georgio. St.George is one of my favourite Saints. It is then an easy stroll down to the square where there are huge numbers of bars, restaurants and souvenir shops. We took a taxi up to the Hotel Splendido where the rich and famous come to stay.Madonna has stayed here. We were the only celebrities as far as I could see. We just had a glass of wine on the terrace with lovely views over the harbour but some people flexed their credit card and stayed for lunch. We caught the boat back to the ship for a very nice lunch we had already paid for!
I regret to say that we did not win the Trivia quiz this time.
The evening was spent in Prime 7 which is a speciality restaurant on board. Seafood or steaks are the order of the day so I tried the Giant Alaskan Crab legs. They are huge and I could not eat them all- such a waste. I have been mainly drinking the Minutey Rose Wine on board so I asked for that rather than the white or red suggested for the evening. When it arrived it was corked- I know my wine- but believe it or not the wine waiter argued with me! He said he had only just opened it! I gave him a swift lecture on what corked wine meant and sent him for another bottle which was then fine but he wasnt having any of it. Later we had a word with the proper Sommelier who was appalled at the wine waiter's behaviour and I think his cards are marked. The surprising thing was that the wine waiter did not call on the Sommelier for advice at the time and he continued to serve the corked bottle of wine to a table of Americans who clearly knew no better!
Apart from such rare interludes we have had good service and food and wine.

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Comments

[David]

Shame about the wine! No such problem in Cyprus

[paul]

oh my lord - no trivia prize and vin bouchonn?. What is one to do! now, tell me, was that lout of a so-called "wine waiter" another darn Yank? Surely not a Brit?? Hey, maybe a Mick Life should present such disappointments!