After my internship, which I had actually wanted to do during my semester break, was cancelled, I decided to use my newly gained time to travel again.
After some consideration of where to go, Italy came to my mind. Because on my bucket list are many places that I have always wanted to see in Italy. Portofino in particular.

Going on to a roadtrip

I then decided to make a three week road trip by car through Italy. Even though I would have liked to travel with someone else, I left on my own again, because I couldn’t found someone.

This time I didn’t want to have the whole trip planned from the beginning to the end, I just wanted to see spontaneously how it suits me. Of course I had a rough route in mind.

Friday evening I went to Italy with a packed car. Since I had never driven such a long distance of 1000 kilometers on my own, I had some respect. But the trip went by without any problems.

After I left in the evening at 7.30 pm, I got tired relatively quickly. At 11.30 p.m. I then looked for a rest stop, laid down there on the back seat of my car and slept. To my surprise, I woke up five hours later.

So I drove straight on. Shortly before the border to Switzerland, however, I laid down in the backseat again, because I still didn’t really feel fit. There I slept for another hour and then I went on across Switzerland. With six hours of sleep in the car I was actually in top shape.

With a few breaks in between I got through Switzerland and then also through Italy. But 1.5 hours before my destination I realized that the long drive and all the concentration had been bothering me. When I finally drove off the highway at my first destination Portofino I was infinitely relieved.

Lost in Italy

My accommodation was not directly in Portofino, as a night there would have been priceless for me. My accommodation, which I had booked through Airbnb, was in Zoagli high up on a mountain. Zoagli is just a small town on the coast, 17 kilometers from Portofino.

I had almost arrived at the destination, but then my navigator sent me a wrong way to my accommodation. Even the very steep slope up was very suspicious to me. When I finally stood in the middle of the woods and the path was over, I became a little nervous. Fortunately, there was a man camping right in front of me in a van and I asked him for help. Luckily for me, he knew his way around and was able to tell me the way to my accommodation.

So I drove down the steep and much too narrow path again. Relieved not to have to drive this road ever again, I ended up on the main road again. The next road up was fortunately the right one. A few kilometers I followed the road up the mountain, looking for my accommodation. Of course I had to turn the wrong road again, but after a long search I was finally at the door of my accommodation.

23 hours later: Arrived at the destination

96 steps led to the entrance of my room and I had absolutely no idea how to get my luggage down there. I decided to leave my suitcase in the car and pack only the most necessary things in a big bag for the next three days.

My room was very small, consisting of a double bed, a one meter wide kitchen and a small bathroom. Although very small but perfectly adequate for three days for a single person. I only had a troubled feeling because my accommodation was very remote and I had very few neighbours.

That evening I went to sleep early, because after the 23 hour drive I was really exhausted.

Welcome to Portofino

The next morning I was awake relatively early. Outside it was windy but still quite warm. So I went pretty soon to Santa Margherita Ligure to park my car there. From there I went on foot to Portofino.

Portofino can only be reached by car by locals. Tourists can either take the bus or walk. In fact, I was surprised how many people made the 5 kilometre walk to Portofino.

After a one-hour walk along the coast, from where I also had an incredible view over the coast and the sea, I arrived in Portofino. In the meantime, I had of course stopped again and again to admire the view over the sea.

Although the place is really small and in a short time you have seen everything, nevertheless Portofino is a beautiful Italian place that you must have seen.

Already on the internet I saw that on a nearby mountain you have an incredible panoramic view over Portofino. Like many other tourists, I made my way up to Castle Brown. In fact, the steep climb was done relatively quickly and also easily manageable.

After a little search, I arrived at the top and realized that I would have the view only from Castle Brown. For this one had to pay five euros admission. After a lot of thought, I decided to pay the five euros, although I was actually less interested in the castle itself. Nevertheless, I have to say that the five euros were more than worth it for the view.

After visiting the castle, I went through the castle garden back to the inner city of Portofino.

Towards the afternoon I started the one-hour way back. On the way, I had to realize that the much running really hurt my legs.

Back in Santa Margaritha I explored the place a bit and did my grocery shopping for the next few days.

Around 7 pm I was back in my accommodation. I was tired and after the 23 500 steps my legs and feet hurt a lot.

Rapallo and the view over the sea

The next day I went to Rapallo. Rapallo is a small town just a few kilometers from Portofino away. Fortunately, after I had to drive the wrong way, I found a free parking place. Rapallo is a lot bigger than Portofino, but not quite as nice.

There I spent the day looking at the place and sitting on a bench in the sun. Unfortunately a beautiful free beach was not there.

When I drove the winding path back to my accommodation in the afternoon, I stopped at a parking lot from where I had a great view over the sea. There I sat in the car for an hour, listened to music and just enjoyed the view of the sea.

In the evening I packed my things back together, as I went on to Florence the next day.