picture perfect Portovenere

Imagine the town of your dreams… In my mind, I see a colorful town full flowers and friendly faces. I see a town surrounded by the mountains but also on the seaside so you have the best of both worlds. In my mind, this town has shops, restaurants, and maybe even a castle. Oh yeah and this town also has the most amazing pesto in the entire world in it.

If your picture perfect town is anything like mine is, then you need to go to Portovenere because it is exactly as I have described it. Today, we decided to splurge and take a boat ride to Portovenere as recommended by an Australian couple who we met in Verona.

This day was probably one of the most fantastic days of all of history. First of all, the boat ride to Portovenere was incredibly beautiful. The water was turquoise, the air was crisp, and the sun was shining bright (I may have gotten a little sunburned, sorry mom).  We were able to see our beautiful little temporary home of Vernazza from the water as well as see the other towns of the Cinque Terre. It was a photographers dream! After a 45 minute boat ride, we arrived in picture perfect Portoverne where we saw a cute dog splashing around in the water within the first 2 minutes off the boat. After seeing the dog, we knew we were in love with the town. We hiked up to a church on the hill and even saw a castle! Also, if you know me, you know that I love pesto more than almost anything (except watermelon) and there was pesto LITERALLY EVERYWHERE in Portoverne. We sampled some of the best pesto in the entire universe and I almost cried it was so good. At the end of this beautiful afternoon, we took the boat back to Vernazza where we were welcomed back to a town flooded with day trippers. I can’t help but still be so thankful that the train strike was happening during our full day in the Cinque Terre. As for now, we are on the train to Bologna and we are so sad to say goodbye to the beautiful seaside villages. One thing is for sure, our legs are happy to be resting for a few hours!