We left our beautiful hotel and took a ferry to San Fruttuoso to see a small abbey that is there (pictured above). It is a very small village which is only accessible by boat and foot. It was first inhabited by Christians fleeing Roman persecution. The legend is that a Benedictine monk had a dream where he saw three lions. The group fleeing Rome took shelter in the small sheltered harbor and saw the three lions. Hence, they stayed there and built an abbey. The structure was built in 10th and 11th centuries and is still a Catholic church today. It is hard to understand how they survived. I’m guessing they ate a lot of fish.
Today, San Fruttuoso is a popular place to come to the beach for the day or perhaps to stay for a few days.
A picture of pretty much the entire village.
Lynn and Caroline in the water.
The water was refreshing.
We took the next ferry to Portofino, a beautiful seaside town. During the ferry ride we saw some beautiful houses on the hill side and some were only accessible by foot. Here are some pictures of the houses.
I had suggested to Caroline that we live on a boat much like the sail boat in this picture. She did not think that was a good idea. But she did think she could spend time on the boat in the picture below when we weren’t living in the house above it.
She found the boat she liked in Portofino.
Portofino is beautiful and full of famous designer shops. It is often visited by both famous people and cruise ship tours.
A picture of Portofino from the ferry.
Above is a quaint restaurant where we ate lunch. The owner is Chilean. You can see Luciano in the background. The two servers are the daughter and son of the owner. It was a pleasant place to have a good lunch and relax.
After our visit in Portofino, Riccardo picked us up and we drove to Florence (2+ hours). We arrived at our hotel and had an hour or so to relax before dinner. Dinner was at il Latine, a very popular traditional Italian restaurant. I told Luciano that our dentist had told us we had to go to a restaurant in Florence. All we had was a picture so I showed it to Luciano. He got serious and I thought he was going to tell us it was terrible. I think he said, “That is too bad.” Then he smile and said, “We are eating there tonight.”
We did not order off the menu. Luciano must have decided the meal and we got LOTS of food. Multiple plates of antipasto, a first course, and a meat course. And, of course a sampling of deserts. We also had some il Latine wine which was excellent. A couple of pictures of the food. It was a nice experience.
Real hams hanging from the ceiling.
The first course. A pasta, 2 kinds of bread soup, a bean soup, and more.
The meat course. T-bone steak, prime rib, lamb, and pork. Needless to say we were not hungry when we left.
Outside the restaurant on our way home.
In a square very near out hotel this group was playing Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons." They were super good.
All in all, our last full day of the tour was a wonderful one.