Friday June 27
After another wonderful breakfast at my hotel, I headed towards the park in Santa Margherita Ligure (SML) to visit the Villa Durazzo. The villa is located at the top of the park.
The Villa Durazzo was open to visit and the best part was that it was free! I wandered through the various rooms, including two bedrooms. I always find the bedrooms in villas, castles, etc. to be quite interesting. The park is well kept and a nice place to go to stay cool on a hot day.
Next to the villa is a beautiful church. Unfortunately it was not open while I was there.
As I walked down the path to get the entire church in a photo, I found a set of steps leading back down to the waterfront. While walking along the waterfront, I realized that the train I wanted to take to Camogli was leaving in 10 minutes. I wasn’t sure if I would make it but decided to try, hoping that the train might be running late. I arrived just as the train was supposed to arrive but still needed to buy my ticket. The train was running 5 minutes late (yay!), so I had time to buy my ticket and catch my train.
While waiting for the train, I ran into the couple that checked out of the hotel the same time I left the hotel earlier this morning when I was off to visit the villa. Their train was running very late and ended up catching the train I was going to take. We chatted until the train arrived and continued to talk while the train traveled to Camogli. They just spent 2 days in SML, were off to Bellagio for 2 days and then they were traveling to Perugia for 2 days. Fast travel for sure and a lot of train time in those 6 days.
The train ride to Camogli was only a 5 minute ride. It was wonderful being back in Camogli once again. I have enjoyed my stay in Santa Margherita Ligure much more this time but Camogli will always have my heart. Camogli is such a peaceful little seaside village. Much of the little town is a pedestrian only zone. I headed straight to the waterfront area where I walked the length of the town out to the lighthouse area taking tons of photos.
As it became close to lunch time, I started thinking about pesto. I checked out the menus at many of the bars and restaurants and ended up making not the best of choices. The view was the only thing good about this place. The trofie with pesto was terrible. I don’t understand how someone can mess up on pesto in Liguria since it is one of the signature dishes of the area.
After lunch, I found a nice spot on the rock beach to hang out for a while. The rocks were so hot that I had to double my pareo and had to make sure to keep all body parts off the rocks. I spent a couple of hours catching some rays, people watching, and enjoying the views of the town. I watched two girls sitting near me texting away. Their fingers went so fast. It was quite interesting to watch.
Two hours was all I could take in the hot sun. I went in search of granita and found a great little place that sold quite a few flavors. My favorite two flavors are lemon and coffee. I ordered a lemon granita, found a nice little bench by the beach and happily sat sipping on my granita while taking in all the wonderful views.
I forgot to check out the return train times and wasn’t sure when the next train was scheduled to arrive/depart for SML. I headed up to the train station and found out that the next train was arriving in 5 minutes. I headed to binario 2 and waited. After a couple of minutes, I realized that I forgot to validate my ticket. I ran back down the steps and under the underpass area, validated my ticket, and then ran back to binario 2.
Once back at my hotel, I took a nice long shower and I did some laundry. Earlier in the day, I saw a sign advertising a few things happening including some sort of dance in the evening. I decided to find a place to eat on the boat harbor side of the town to see if I could figure out what else was happening that evening.
After walking around checking out a few menus, I decided to eat at Restaurant Casanova. It was a fancier restaurant but the prices were still not too high. The homemade ravioli in a burro e salvia sause (butter and sage) is what drew me to this restaurant. Ravioli with butter and sage is one of my all time favorite dishes. After being seated, the waiter poured a little glass of champagne. I ordered the ravioli dish along with a mussel and clam appetizer. The waiter brought me some bread (also homemade and delicious) as well as a fancy little bruschetta with pomodori (tomatoes). The mussels and clams along with two crayfish or large shrimps was good. The ravioli dish was not the typical burro e salvia dish. The ravioli themselves were quite good, but the sauce seemed to be this new age fancy type recipe which was ok but just not what I expected and wanted. I would give this restaurant a neutral recommendation. I am guessing probably other dishes would be quite good. Without having certain expectations, I probably would have been quite happy with my ravioli dish.
I was pretty tired after a long day in the sun and decided to call it a night and skip the dance thing that was supposed to take place. I stopped for a gelato at my new favorite gelateria and then headed back to my hotel.
shave ice & gelato 
HI Girasoli, sounds like you’re continuing to have a wonderful time in my favorite place in the world . . . Italy! I have not been to Camolgi, but it sounds like a pretty great place to see. I might have to add it to my Italy list! :)
I just googled “granita” because I didn’t know what you meant . . . it looks like a gelato? I think I’ll add that to my list too! I’m learning a lot from your blog!
Thanks again for stopping in and giving me something wonderful to read this morning! It’s 6:17 am in California.
Keep having an awesome time . . .
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We are enjoying your posts and can almost taste the wonderful food. You sure were lucky with your trains to and from Camogli! Hugs and Aloha from the FECC
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A granita and gelato day has to be a perfect day!
Have you eaten at Il Nostromo on Via Del Arco, 6 in SML? Food is wonderful and reasonable (back in 2004).
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Ahh, I went up to that villa and park. I didn’t go into the villa, but I did go into the church. And there was an ornamental pond with big turtles in it.
We DO go to the same places!
I’m glad you enjoyed your day in Camogli, yes, it will always have a particularly special place in my heart too.
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Camogli sounds so lovely, I can’t wait to see your photos!
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Am enjoying tagging along with you. I’ve always loved your train stories, but your food descriptions are really great. Sure would love to try a gelato one day! You’re quite brave when it comes to trying new foods. Thanks for using so many Italian words.
We missed you at FECC.
IMUA!! AP
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Dear Girasoli, your trip sounds wonderful! I love reading your blog – sorry I haven’t commented much lately but I have tendinitis in my arm so i have to stay off the computer as much as possible. Enjoy your time in italy!
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girasoli, what a lovely day! The heat sounds so wonderful to me right now – we had a few hot days a week or so ago, but it’s been pretty cool lately. Too bad about the pesto dish, it is always so strange when a restaurant messes up with the local specialty, isn’t it? But my mouth is watering just reading about gelato!
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