Mark Dong Photography

Camogli

I don’t remember how I happened upon this idyllic little town in my research for places not far from Venice.  I had intended to stay in Portofino and explore from there, until I chanced upon this little place and fell in love!

Camogli is on the Italian Riviera between Genoa and Portofino.  It is a fishing village, not a beach resort, so it is not crowded with tourists.  When you get off the train, you have no idea what awaits.  Some say it is as much a  hallucination as a view.  It is unbelievable.

There is not much to do in Camogli but enjoy the view, eat the delicious food and find internal peace after long days of exploring the surrounding towns.  If that appeals to you, Camogli is the place to stay!

Camogli is a hill village in miniature, with a few houses, and a church clustered around a few narrow lanes.  The remains of the stone fort sits at the promontory point at the end of the town.  The street (more like a Boardwalk) is pedestrian only.  There are several  restaurants, souvenir stores, gelaterias, and small bars - in any one of which you could get an expresso, a cocktail, or some great food!  

The land portion of the town (as you can see in the photographs) is filled with several tiers of pastel-painted tenements which stand six or seven stories high and are very old.

I came into Camogli by train and immediately walked along the narrow streets, which, oddly, only allow you to go in one direction, to find my hotel.  Although the walk  was very strange and a bit long, the hotel was wonderful!

I stayed at the Hotel Cenobio dei Dogi.  It has a lovely comfortable interior and a beautiful outdoor balcony dinning area and a  breakfast room!

This village is priceless! There is nothing like it!   It’s absolutely perfect!

The outdoor dinning area is the stuff of dreams.  Eating fabulous fresh fish meals while listening to  AND LOOKING AT the lapping ocean…this town is amazing!

I immediately went for a walk around the back of the town where the harbor is located.  It is also beautiful!  Yachts  parked among everyday  fishing boats!

Camogli is amazingingly beautiful at anytime of the day.  You want to wander around it constantly as if time didn’t matter anymore.  I often forgot to take photographs after the first day.  I felt as if I were just living there and fell into a pleasant daily routine.  I loved sitting outside watching the sea and drinking my coffee before my daily excursion.  One of my favorite sights was the fishing nets draped along the mountain railing to dry!

The Hotel Cenobio dei Dogi has a lovely breakfast room with floor to ceiling windows and a 180 degree view of the Italian Riviera!  I ate breakfast every day looking out over the ocean.  There was an extensive breakfast buffet which included scrambled eggs, various cured meats, yogurt, cereals, fresh baked bread, fruit juices, and, of course, espresso!

My first day trip was to San Fruttoso.   It is on the other side of the Peninsula. 

I took the Ferry from Camogli to San Fruttoso.  The ride to San Fruttoso was frightening, the seas were pretty rough.   The bow of the ship would rise up with each wave and slam down onto the water.  The Captain told us the ferry would not be going any farther down the coast, but would be available to get us all back to Camogli.  

San Frutosso has a small beach.  The beach does not have sand…instead it has gravel and large pebbles.  

In San Fruttoso is the Abbazia di San Fruttoso, an abby built in the 11th century and set among pine and olive trees.  It is beautiful inside!  Simple and elegant.  See the photo below.

I was told that under the water there is a huge bronze statue of Christ, said to protect sailors and divers.  At the end of July every year there is an underwater procession to the statue where a laurel crown is placed on its head.

There is also a path that leads up to a small museum.  I just wanted to walk the path!  I could see other people climbing it as we arrived on the ferry.  See the photo above.  It was very steep and narrow and made of rock!  Another harrowing experience!

Then, it was back to Camogli in time to clean up and dress for dinner on the terrace!  

The view of the ocean was breathtaking!  It is difficult to imagine a more beautiful place to dine than this.  And the food was exceptional.  On this night, I had sesame crusted halibut with grilled vegetables/ potatoes, salad and fresh baked bread.  I also chose a house wine that turned out to be a mild, but perfect,  companion to this meal.

The next day I took the train to Portofino!   

Portofino is known as the playground for the rich and famous.  It is a half-moon shaped  seaside village with pastel houses lining the shores.  It’s harbor is often filled with varied sizes of yachts nestled along side or among the locals’ motor boats.

 I climbed up another narrow path to the San Giorgio Church and that is where I took the photograph of the port of Portofino.  Another steep climb worth the trip.  The view was spectacular!

And, happily, someone else had the same idea and was kind enough to catch a photograph of me while I was up there!

The following day I took the train to Sestri Levante.  Sestri Levante is another beautiful town on the Italian Riveria.  

The sea entering their bay is much calmer than any other city - almost like a pond - where the locals sunbath all day!  

The gardens around town were also extraordinary probably because of the variety of trees grown there.  Some were amazing, like the one below growing  across the street from a beautiful hotel.  The hotel made a perfect backdrop for the shape of the tree - what an amazing shape it had taken - as if a gardener had grown it as a bonsai and then decided to let it grow wild.  Impressive!

My final day journey was taking the famous walking path from Manarola to Vernazza. Many people come here just to attempt this path.  It is a walking path that takes about 2 & 1/2 hours to walk.  

I should say climb!  And many a tourist is caught on this path, exhausted and unable to get down.  I helped a couple of them myself.  Everyone is covered in sweat on even a mild day!  Evidenced by the photo below of me, (with Manarola Bay in the background), dripping in sweat already, and this was only the beginning of the climb.   

I was laughing that I should be having my photograph taken in such a condition!

This is the path!  It starts out innocuous enough (immediately below ) but becomes incredibly frightening as you can see on the left!  And it is steep!

But, as promised, you arrive in Vernazza at the end of it!

I arrived back in Camogli as the sun was beginning to set.  I took these final photographs of this incredible place.

When I arrived here, my first thought was that this would be a place where my wife would love to stay!  You constantly heard the sound of the ocean, everywhere you walked, ate, or sat.  She loves to be by the ocean.  I took the video above for her.  Along with all the photographs of this beautiful place, you also need to HEAR how wonderful it is here!

It was sad to look back at my beautiful hotel with its balcony dining (visible in the last photograph on the left) and know I had only one dinner left there.  But, that is how you feel when you travel to these beautiful places - sad, that at the appointed time, you have to leave to go home.