Freya & Us

On our last day in Genoa we thought we needed to visit some of the many palaces but were so disappointed after visiting 3 on Via Garibaldi, which has lots, that most of the palatial features were gone to be replaced by nice white, smooth plaster! They were simply art galleries full of Renaissance paintings which, while appreciating their brilliance leave us cold. After that we hopped on a bus to the cemetery - we do like a good cemetery! This one was brilliant and full of the most amazing ornate tombs dotted amongst the trees. Unfortunately, lots of mossies too! When we got off of the bus back in town we found ourselves outside of the Palazzo Reale - one more go we thought - and this one didn't disappoint. A proper palace full of ornate ceilings, frescos and trompe l'oeil. We went home exhausted again but satisfied!

We were proper sailors again the next day - first time for a while. On leaving Genoa the south westerly winds forecast turned out to be south easterly and you guessed it, we were going south east. There had been heavy winds out at sea and so the sea was quite rough and so we decided it would be more comfortable to sail and tack than motor fighting the sea and wind. It took hours to do the 20 miles but we had a great day. We were intending to anchor near Portofino but the sea was still too rough and from the wrong direction and so we headed for the nearby marina of Chiavari as Portofino was a bit beyond our budget.

The train ride to Santa Margherita was a bit disappointing as I was expecting lovely sea views but, obviously when I think about it given the hills, it was nearly all in a tunnel! But the 3 mile walk along the coast to Portofino was beautiful. Portofino is really pretty - not a real village anymore and a bit Disneyesc but full of tall houses in pretty colours with lots of trompe l'oeil, nice shops to window shop in etc. We were glad our budget didn't allow us to moor there as the swell was awful and even the super yachts were bouncing around! We took the bus back to Santa Margherita before the train to Chiavari.

In the evening we went into the old town of Chiavari which was a lovely surprise, as we didn't think it had much to offer, and completely different to the many Italian old towns we've now explored. It was flat apart from anything else and had arched colonnades over the shops and lots of squares. A couple of glasses of prosecco (very cheap with lots of nibbles!) in the square finished off a lovely day.

We were going to move on the next day but the forecast was for rain!

It didn't rain but we had a nice day in Chiavari and the following day headed for La Spezia. It was a horrible sail with no wind and a big swell and so it felt like we spent the day in a washing machine!Great views of Cinque Terre though. We anchored in the lovely bay of Le Grazie just inside the Golfo de la Spezia which was very sheltered and the next morning went into the marina to meet our visitors the next morning. We discovered as we arrived that we had a toilet malfunction! Paul had a very hot smelly morning taking out pipes etc - normally my job but thankfully on this occasion Paul decided it was time he saw how they worked! La Spezia is a nice city but in places a bit how we would imagine Gotham City to look full of very square utilitarian buildings built in the 1920s.

Lucas (Lorraine's nephew) and Hannah arrived that evening and we had a great couple of days. We found the lovely town of Lerici with it's pretty coloured houses and medieval castle and had a few hours on the beach. The main attraction in this area is Cinqe Terre and so the next day we joined the proper tourists on the boats heading for the 5 villages. Until recent years the villages were only accessible by boat and cars still aren't allowed. The villages are on impossible steep cliffs and the buildings are all tall and pretty colours. It's also famous for its wine and the vines cling to the cliffs on steep terraces. We tried to walk between villages but the footpaths had been destroyed by landslides and so the boat was the only option. It is a stunning place and a world heritage site but felt more like Disney land than real villages. It was also ridiculously crowded with tourists and the queue for the boats was absolute carnage! Definitely worth a visit though. In the evenings we explored La Spezia with our visitors and had some great food. Thank you for coming to see us. We really enjoyed it - see you again on the boat for some sailing?

We're now anchored back in Le Grazie with it's pretty village. We'll go and explore ashore later and then Pisa tomorrow for our next set of guests..........

Click here for the interactive map of our travels