Unexpected Pleasures - Guest Comments

We hear a lot these days about the importance of Guest reviews via the various internet booking portals. All the major booking portals have them ....Booking.com , Venere/Expedia and Trip Advisor...giving those who booked with them the chance for a comment on their return and those who are thinking of booking a means of evaluating their potential hosts.

All those who work in the tourist industry work  hard to ensure guests have a great time and we are always grateful for a great review and a little hurt if we receive a negative one.

Recently we received a couple of emails from Venere.com informing us we had received awards both for the Quality of Service Offered and Cleanliness and are amongst the top 5000 out of over 135000 properties.

We would like to thank both Venere.com their clients for the award and hope to be able to continue to offer a great vacation to those to choose to stay with us.


                                       

Perfect Pasta

Cooking is a favourite pastime. It started when I was in my early teens making puddings and deserts for my mother's dinner parties in the 70's from there I developed a broader interest which continued into later life and then moving to Italy more than 10 years ago brought a whole new dimension to it. It is difficult not to become interested in food in Italy where there are so many regional dishes and specialities and where food is a national obsession.

Anyway for some reason I had been putting off learning to make fresh pasta for a while now. Pasta sauces, no problem, ragu, pesto, carbonara ... I mentioned it to some friends and they suggested they come round with all the ingredients and with their pasta machine (manual) for lunch for a pasta making party!

 

What better way to learn. I made a ragu sauce before hand and a desert. Other friends brought wine, a torta di verdura and fresh tomato sauce.

All in all it was easier than I thought and now I have bought a machine too. What next?  Home made ravioli for Xmas!

Portofino to San Fruttuoso by boat and back by foot.

One of the things about Italy which continues to amaze me is the extraordinary beauty that exists in the pensiular and much of it close by to us at Casa Colleverde.

Today with a day free and good weather forecast we decided to visit Portofino and the Abbazia San Fruttuoso in the Portofino Natural Park which can only be got to by foot or boat.We wanted to arrive by boat and walk back to Portofino.

To avoid the expensive car parks in Portofino (if there is a space) we decided to drive to Santa Margherita Ligure, park there and get the ferry to Portofino. We got the 10.15 boat having left home at 8.35.  The cost was 10 euro a head one way to San Fruttuoso , Sam was free.

Santa Margherita Ligure

Arriving at Portofino by boat is lovely as the port is very picturesque.We remained on the boat and continued on to San Fruttuoso.


 The coast line is beautiful and the water a deep blue green colour which makes you want to dive in to cool off.

Portofino harbour

The bay where the Abbey is situated is lovely. You could go there for lunch ( there are 2/3 bar restuarants) and then get a later boat back if you wanted just to have a relaxing lunch in a beautiful setting.We had packed a picnic so after a brief look around started our walk

San Fruttuoso

Like lots of walks along the coast in Liguria and the 5 Terre you have to start with a bit of a climb up the hill (here through the woods in the shade which was just as well as it was warm) this got us warmed up and a little out of breath but with regular photo opportunities giving an excuse to stop and get our breath we did it and once at the top the walk along the cliffs was relatively easy.

Path above San Fruttuoso

Fantastic views from the path on the way and after about an hour and a half we arrived at our destination.

Portofino

                                                                      Che spectacolo!