Day Trip 1: San Fruttuoso and Portofino

On Thursday, August 28, we made our first day trip led by Professor Bruhns. We took an early train to Camogli, a town most of us were familiar with from our previous beach trips. From Camogli we were to take a short ferry to San Fruttuoso, but we had some time to explore Camogli a bit before we left. In our group, no matter how often we visit a place, there is always another picture to be taken, and we had never seen the town in the early morning bustle before. John took this beautiful shot of a child taking a break from catching bait for a day of fishing on the family boat.


courtesy of John Oxenfeld


A brief ferry ride took us to San Fruttuoso, a small but beautiful village set in an inlet at the foot of mount Portofino. Here, we had time to explore the Benedictine abbey in the town, and enjoy the cluster of beaches between the rocks.



If you look closely at the white boat front and center in that photo, you might be able to read that it taxis out to "Al Cristo della Abissi," or "Christ of the Abysses." This references an eight-foot tall statue of Christ sunk more than 50 feet deep beneath the surface of the water off the shore of San Fruttuoso. The Christ of the Abysses is supposed to be the protector of divers, and many newlywed couples in the area make a trip out to the statue and leave a wreath behind on the statue to bring good fortune to their marriage.

We had heard about this statue and the many legends that go with it, so a group of us decided to make the journey to find it. Since the water was so crystal clear and inviting, we decided to swim out to the location. Some friendly locals sunning in their boats pointed us in the right direction, but even with their help it was a long swim. It was worth the effort though, because the brilliantly clear water let us see right down to the pale white statue below. Not knowing how deep the statue was under the surface at the time, I decided to dive down and see how close we could get to it, since the clarity of the water made it seem deceptively close.

Needless to say, I did not make it to the bottom of a 55-ft dive with no scuba equipment, but I did dive down far enough to snap a few photos on Chris N's waterproof camera. The result of my dives was a slightly better view and a lot of ear-popping.

We swam back to our group, and let the sun dry the salt water off of us as we ate the sandwiches and fruit we had packed at the villa. Feeling thoroughly relaxed and more than a little tired from our swim, we met up at our predetermined point to begin our "brief" hike to nearby Portofino.

Ahem. "Brief" is apparently a relative term, and could refer to a hike a la Outward Bound. During the steep climb, I was fairly certain that my overloaded camera backpack was going to send me toppling backward down to sea level. Our lack of preparation for the hike was evident, as our hiking gear ranged from polos to flip flops to swim suits.

And then suddenly the terrain flattened out and the worst of the hike was over as quickly as it had begun. We all began to catch our breath and take in our surroundings. What we saw took our breath away as quickly as it had come, because the view from the ridge was absolutely astonishing.
Here is a vista we took in during a brief rest on the hike:
It is important to remember that we started this hike at sea level...

The trail curved along the ridgeline and slowly descended towards Portofino. The group spaced out as we trickled down the mountain, some falling behind as they took extra photos while others scampered ahead to stake out the trail. At one point Elissa, Frank and I found ourselves on one outer curve of the mountain with a few of the leading boys on the curve ahead. We got a hearty rendition of "CLEMSON..." "...TIGERS!!" going between the two groups and it felt just like being back home in Death Valley.

As the clumps of people thinned out along the trail, a group decided to pose for this priceless photo of them lost, tired and dejected:

Mariana, Shana, John, Brian, Ryan, and Mason wilt on the hike to Portofino. Photo courtesy of John Oxenfeld.

When we finally reached Portofino though it was definitely worth the hike. The area was chock full of colorful buildings and colorful people, with ridiculously expensive sailboats and yachts as far as the eye could see.

We wandered and sketched amongst the designer shops and designer boats, taking in the pure luxury of the site. Even the colors were rich.


We of course made time to indulge in some gelato before barely making our bus back to the train station, where we had a very sleepy and quiet train ride back to Genoa.


A final view of Portofino, photo courtesy of Mason Couvillion