Weekend on the coast

J. and I spent the weekend away in the Italian Riviera.  We stayed in Santa Margherita Ligure, it was so so beautiful!  It was still a little chilly, so no swimming, but it was also not crowded at all.  We stayed at the Hotel Mediteraneo, the owner's wife was Finnish and she had a good time trying to communicate in Finnish with J!

When we arrived in Santa Margherita Ligure we set out to explore the beautiful seaside town.  We loved walking down by the water, it felt so good to be in the sun and breathe in the sea air.

This was so funny - and ice skating rink right next to the sea!  And people were skating almost all the time.

So beautiful!

Since it was so sunny, we decided to take a boat ride.  The boat took us to Portofino and then onto San Fruttusso.    

Portofino in the background.  

After the boat ride, we took a walk around Santa Margherita Ligure.  We looked in the lavish churches and walked around the manicured gardens.  This is us in one of the gardens with the harbor in the background.

The next day we woke up to rain.  It rained almost the whole day, but it was still fairly warm.  We decided to walk the 2.5 miles from Santa Margherita to Portofino.  It was a beautiful path with stunning views of the water.

We thought this sign was so cute.  Oh, a sweet little beach to play with your children and dogs...

This was the beach...

Not exactly the sandy fun-land pictured in the sign - ha!

All along the walk, there were beautiful beaches and places to swim.  We heard that beaches cost up to 50 euros per day just for a "piece of sand" to lay on.  I think this place is quite different in the summer then when we were there.

We were happy we remembered to pack our umbrellas!

We ate lunch in Portofino right on the harbor.  It was a really special place to eat, the ultimate "ambiance."  

Once back in Santa Margherita Ligure, the sun came out and we relaxed and strolled by the water more.  We found an Irish Pub and had a beer, sadly the "Irish Pub" didn't serve a single Irish beer, oh well!

We had a wonderful and relaxing trip in the Italian Riviera, it was a perfect get-away!