Sori for International Women's Day

Post date: Jun 11, 2019 7:36:6 AM

International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8th. This year Berlin decided that it also needed to be a day off of work, which was delightful (I’m going to side-step the problems with pink washing the problems of women, and instead focus on the delightful 3 day weekend).

I looked around for a travel buddy, but no one was free for that weekend. Determined not to let a lovely 3 days weekend pass me by I jumped on google flights and looked for flights under 100 euros. They were all places I had been. But then I thought “I want to be at a beach” so I looked for coastlines near Milan (which was only 45 euros to fly to) and found Genoa!

I decided I wanted to stay ON the beach, so quickly found an airbnb in Sori, an adorable little town on the coast between Genoa and Cinque Terre.

I rented a “cinque centa” (fiat 500, the stereotypical Italian car) and off I went!

Day 1 I mostly just putter around town, read my book, drank some wine and enjoyed the views.

This is Sori from above. Given how touristy the area is (pretty darn touristy), it was shocking to me how isolated this town was. The grocery store sold home made wine, no one spoke english and everything felt very homey.

During my first meal, I encountered what everyone told me was the regional speciality: focaccia di formaggio. I expected bread with cheese on top. What I got was a bread/cheese hybrid that I would write home about. SO. GOOD. You’ll be seeing this again.

Day 2 I decided to go hiking. Sori is just 10 minutes north of Portofino national park, rather close to Camogli, a much more developed town that borders the park. The buildings were more vibrant looking, the views more epic, and there was more than two restaurants. But it lacked the charm of Sori.

What it did have was a boat that could take me to the farthest point out in the park, so I could hike back (~4 hour hike).

It’s hard to describe this hike. It was all along the water, but almost never near the water. It was mostly uphill until the very end when it was steeply downhill. And it was stunning.

It also had a ton of small restaurants and cafes that if one wanted to, one could just eat their way back to Camogli instead of hiking. Please note, I didn’t opt for this route. I walked the whole way back, diligently.

And then ate all this all by myself. Worth it. You’ll note the focaccia di formaggio. I thought: “Oh no, this is too much…” and then ate everything. The hike was hard, I deserved it.

One of the things I often speculate on while traveling is “what would it be like to grow up here”. This is partially born out of the fact that I’ve never lived anywhere for very long. And Sori seemed like such a small town, I couldn’t imagine anyone living there (although I can imagine wanting to own a vacation apartment here). So it was delightful to see these youths playing around in the church football court.

My last day was a bit overcast, but I decided rather than going to Genoa (my original plan) I would go to Portofino and do some more hiking. Portofino is known for being the most expensive place in Italy. It’s were the ULTRA rich go for the summer. Like the Hamptons, only more expensive.

But for some reason, the road to Portofino was closed. People haven’t started their summer season there yet.

So rather than do the hike from Portofino into the park like I had planned, I walked along the road towards Portofino.

And the houses were… well they were insane. This is just a taste of how ridiculously awesome, they looked. Each more spectacular than the last.

Naturally, I pretended I was looking for a vacation home and tried to think of what it would be like to stay in one of these places for the summer. Who would I invite? Would I lounge by the pool, or swim in the sea? What would I wear?

My fantasy life is rich.

And I finished with one of the things I had done often on the trip: I ate. I treated myself to good food on this trip (it is becoming a habit while I travel… a delightful habit really). So not pictured are all the other amazing meals I partook in while I was in Italy.