Santa Margherita Ligure
We landed at Milan Malpensa Airport, took the airport bus that stops right in front of Centrale Train Station and bought 2nd class tickets to Santa Margherita Ligure. There is always someone at the train station who speaks English and we don't buy them in advance in case there is a problem with plane delays, etc. I use the Trenitalia website to do some train investigation and also Rail Europe for more detailed country passes, etc.
Through Genoa...in hindsight, we've never visited Genoa and should have scheduled two days there ...off the train in Santa Margherita...and a short walk through some twisty cobblestone streets running on angles (without getting too lost)...passing many restaurants, cafes and Gelato stands... to Hotel Fiorina. A small, crowded hotel in a wonderful, central location with an extremely friendly staff. This was easy!
Before falling into bed, extremely jet lagged, we took a walk along the waterfront and immediately saw several "cigarette boats"...the ones that cost over 1 million U.S. $! They are so long and narrow that they reminded people of a cigarette....ergo, the name. The cigarette boat, or go-fast boat, is a high performance boat originally designed for offshore racing by the Cigarette Racing Team. These fast, powerful boats became the drug smuggling boat of choice in many parts of the world. We read some of the "for sale" signs - 55' OTAM Cigarette Millenium 55...current price US$1,203,175...located in Monaco...twin diesel..." and in the same harbor were some extremely huge yachts...the biggest we've ever seen...at first, we thought two of them were small cruise ships (perhaps, Seabourn Cruise Line)...with deliveries from exclusive stores being handed up the gangplank to the staff on one of these monstrosities. Talk about a wealthy area!
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