San Fruttuoso to Portofino

Friday 24 April 2026 |

This was the first day of “Mel and Jane’s big hiking adventure”. The plan was to visit the and see Portofino.

Vincenzo, a Hobart tango dancer originally from Camogli, recommended I visit the “Christ of the Abyss” near his home town. He also advised never to order a capaccino after noon and NEVEr put cheese on pasta marinara.  I tried to comply.

We said farewell to Olivia and headed to the station to catch the 10:24 train to Camogli. After a short delay, we raced the 850m from the station to the port just in time to catch the ferry to San Fruttuoso.

If the planning stage I had thought this central location would be bigger, so we were a little surprise to find the crew telling us,  long after all the other passengers had, to disembark.  The newly waiting passengers cheered when we finally moved!

We stopped at a little cafe partway up the hill for refreshments and a chance to plan before heading off to walk the 4km to Portofino.

Our attempts to see the Christ of the Abyss failed.  It would have taken a 350m swim from the beach or absailing off the cliff. Clearly, the second photo isn’t mine.

We kept walking, enjoying the view, the steps, and even had time for Mel to school me in taking selfies.

Portofino itself was pretty typical of a rich coastal playground.  It is where the iconic photo of Diana sitting on a diving board was taken a week before her death in 1997.

We admired some fish, grabbed some water and headed out of town to walk the remaining 2km to Santa Margherita Ligure, and the train home.

Hot and tired from the days exertions, we had the remaining soup and toddled off to bed.