From Tuscany to the Sea.....Il Boro to Camogli !

Woke up again to the sound of the turtle doves!  We walked down to the breakfast room and enjoyed a nice breakfast.  We were still amazed by the beauty and unique quality of Il Boro.

Andi was still trying to shake off her pesty cough and cold, so we agreed to head straight to Camogli and skip some of the sightseeing.  It was just under 3 hours, so we were at the Cenobio dei Dogi by 1:30 in time for lunch on the terrace.  It was a gorgeous afternoon and so wonderful to see the brightly colored fishing village facing the sea from the perspective of our hotel.  Great, simple food.......fresh pasta with pesto and a ham & cheese omelette......and we cheated with lunchtime rose!

Camogli is quite extraordinary.  It is vehicle-free along the walkway by the sea and has an amazing row of brightly colored buildings.  Camogli means "Ca" (house of) "mogli" (wife).  As the town has always been a fishing village, the story is that the colors of the houses were identified with the wives so that the fisherman could find their way home!

Our room was fantastic.  We had asked for one of the large terraces and were able to get one.  We had not stayed here before, and really lucked out with the room they gave us.  After a short nap we headed down to the beachside promenade that is the central 'social room' of the town........right on the water.  I would hesitate to call it a beach, but it is actually labeled a spiaggia.  People were actually swimming.  The problem is that it is all small rocks........and no sand.  We had tried this two years ago and it was actually painful!  We grabbed the obligatory gelato at a place right on the passeggiata.......and Andrea did a little gift shopping!

We had a bottle of wine on our terrace and went out for dinner around 8:00.  The town had become much more active and we were surprised by the number of people.  We then realized from some posters that this weekend was the festival of Sagra del Pesce.   We had heard about this during our last trip and were warned that it was a crazy festival that lasted the whole weekend.......ending in a massive fish fry with a 15' diameter skillet! and free fish for everyone!  We checked back at the hotel and they said every hotel in the area was sold out for the weekend!

This is the fish fry pan!

getting ready for Saturday's bonfire on the beach!

We ate at a very picturesque restaurant, Camogliese, fairly close to the hotel.  We ate outside on the terrace along the sidewalk.  Our only questionable decision was to eat a significant amount of fish.  We first ordered "anchovies cooked three ways"........delicious but a lot to start with.  We then each had an order of fritto misto (fried fish) each order of which could have fed three people!  In the end, we really had no idea what kind of fish it was.......lots of small crunchy things along with octopus and squid.  We thought we really enjoyed it but later in the night were revisited by our indiscretion! 

All in all, a very nice day and a challenging night!