May 5, 2018 - A Tour of Italy with the Griners - Portofino and Cassagna

We begrudgingly left the beautiful Dolomites, catching a few more mountain views as we drove toward the Mediterranean Sea.

We made a quick stop at Lago (Lake) di Garda on the way.

After driving through the coastal towns of Genova and Santa Margherita, we had to park in a parking garage outside of Portofino and take a bus the rest of the way.  The parking garage was the tightest we have ever been in, and it took spotters at both ends of the car, and about 30 minutes to navigate the numerous 50-point turns necessary to descend the 4+ floors to find our parking spot without scratching the rental car.  Despite the stress of the parking, the bus ride out to Portofino was gorgeous!!!

As you can see below, Heather liked the ride quite a bit!

Portofino is a quaint, little harbor town that caters to the yacht crowd, so of course we fit right in.  Despite its wealth and focus on tourism, it was impossible to not be struck by the beauty of this place.

There are no roads through the hills of the peninsula, but there are abundant trails and paths (some of them quite steep) that are fun to explore.

Though we did not swim, we had to at least dip our toes in the beckoning, crystal clear, emerald water.

The quaint church on the hill overlooking the bay is almost too much.

Even the cemetery was beautiful (can you spot Heather in the picture below?).

The video below was too big to be loaded, so we broke it into two segments.

After another bus ride and a treacherous exit from the parking garage, we headed for the small hill town of Cassagna to find our apartment for the night.  It was a wonderfully scenic and very curvy road.

The apartment was rather quirky and full of character.

 When we arrived, Aurora, the owner of our apartment, seemed quite relieved that Mark spoke Italian and asked if we would like her to take us on a tour of the small, medieval village the following day.  We agreed and met up with her early the next morning.  The tour was extremely interesting, and we enjoyed Aurora's warmth, kindness, and humor.  She said that the town dates back to the 1200s and that it was a mining town.  The mine was nearby, and they were mining for manganese. The area still has many rich deposits of ore and active mines. She said that at its peak the town had over 400 residents, but now there are just 10 (though she was quick to add that there are 25 cats).  It is a beautiful little town.  One of the 25 cats, named "Foofy-Dog," joined us on the tour and seemed to be posing for pictures all along the way.

Our apartment was on the top floor of the building behind Aurora in the picture above.  She lives below.  Here's Foofy-Dog, ready to take us on a tour (See how many times you can spot him in the following pictures!).

Arora told us that the stones jutting out from the wall used to hold shelves. These shelves were facing the south (roughly) and were used to put out fruit in jugs to ferment, or on trays to dry.

Who knows how long this grape has been here?!

Aurora said that this used to be a communal oven that was used for many generations, to bake the community's bread, etc.

These are the town's millstones.

The picture above is a feeding and watering trough for animals.  She said that every home had a carved, stone sink like the one pictured below.

We said goodbye to both of our tour guides and headed out for our day along the coast.  We were so grateful that we found this little place in Cassagna!  It was a highlight of the trip to be able to see and learn about this little town with so much history and character, and to have it all to ourselves!  Aurora was a fantastic hostess!

On our way out of town we stopped at a stone bridge that was built in the 1700s to connect Cassagna with Nascio, the closest neighboring town.  The picture above shows Cassagna from the bridge.

We started the day out great, but it only got better after that, as we headed to beautiful Cinque Terre!