Have you ever had a dream or idealization of the one place, city, country or continent that you’ve anticipated seeing with your own eyes more than anywhere else in the world?
Have you ever had a plan in action to get to where you think is your dream destination, only to make a pit-stop, detour or “escale” en route, without any idea or expectations of what you’re about to find, and to be completely taken aback and fall in love at first sight?In the years before I started traveling, not knowing if I would ever get to travel in my lifetime, it was always my dream to visit Portofino, Italy. Fantasies swirling in my mind while listening to Andrea Bocelli’s My Love in Portofino, had this place in number 2 on my list right after Santorini, Greece, if I ever got the chance to leave the True North Strong and Free and the continent of North America!Well, in 2016 I did just that, high-tailing it out of Montréal to go live in Italy for two whole months (I figured, I better go big incase I never get another chance again!), and you can only image where I planned on making 100% sure I did not miss a trip to! Portofino!
Down for a few days from London to come and visit me while I was staying in Genova, my dear cousin Adrian Dunn and I decided to take a day trip to Cinque Terre and try to make it to Portofino on our way back. Getting off the train at Santa Margherita Ligure to catch a shuttle bus to Portofino, we realized that it was too late to take the bus and that we would never make it there and back in time to get the last train back to Genova. Disappointed, we decided to descend the train station steps and have a look around Santa Margherita, both of us completely oblivious and unknowing of the colourful and decadent coastal town that curved the shoreline below us.
And love at first sight it was! Santa Margherita fully embodied the “tropically glamorous paradise” I had always envisioned of Italy. Richly coloured shops, restaurants, cafés, hotels and historical buildings kissing the edge of the Mediterranean for as far as a kilometre. Lively crowds of posh-looking Prosecco and Aperol Spritz-sipping people pouring out onto the terraces co-mingling with passersby on the sidewalks. Marble, bronzed and gold coloured monuments, statues and sculptures dotting the marina and the perfectly placed green spaces and park. Rows of candy cane stripped changing cabanas that you thought only existed in movies from the 1950’s and 60’s lining the beach. A Virgin Mary gracing all of the yachts and sailboats out to sea, vibrant flowers everywhere, filling the empty spaces if there could even be any, and best of all, a castle and church overlooking the entire town and marina at the top of an exhausting amount of steps well worth the climb to bear witness to an incredible panoramic view that you would regret missing!
Like two lunatic children in a candy store, Adrian and I were feverishly running up and down the boardwalk and marina (only to even lose each other for over an hour in our furry…. I didn’t even care I was so mesmerized by everything in my sight!) desperately taking as many pictures as we could and take in what scenery we could as the burning sun was setting on Santa Margherita.
We spent 3 hours wandering that one kilometre stretch that night, in what was supposed to be a quick visit, a connecting village to my dream destination. Did I ever make it to Portofino? I did, for one hour at night, a couple of nights before leaving Genova. If you ask Adrian or I today what our favourite place was to visit in Liguria, we’re both still going to tell you with big smiles, Santa Margherita. ❤️
Jen
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