Weekend in Rapallo

First and foremost - Happy Father's Day! I love you, Dad.

     This weekend I had the most amazing time visiting Kane’s wonderful aunt Angela in Rapallo, a small coast town near Genova. Angela and her boyfriend Andrea were so hospitable and kind, and of course, having lived in Rapallo for a number of years, they knew exactly where to go and what to see! Along with being an incredible host, Angela was also a top-notch cook. She also taught Kane and I how to brew our own coffee at home, and even solved my “I’m somehow allergic to the dairy here” problem by introducing us to local, delicious rice milk. Yum!

 

Angela picked us up at the train station on Friday afternoon and promptly showed us what we could see in downtown Rapallo. From what I gathered, Angela’s profession is somewhere along the lines of a hotel agent – the yellow inn by the beach is one that she used to represent. 

From the beach Angela took us back to her countryside home, which is about twenty minutes outside of Rapallo. I loved her house so much!! She designed the interior herself, and all of the artwork is original. I loved her stingray impressions!! Winston, my pet stingray who travels with me, was very busy appreciating the artwork too. There were a few farel cats living in her neighborhood, one of which Angela semi-adopted. That yellow house is the small guest house where we stayed. 

 

 The next day, Angela and Andrea took us on a walk from Santa Margherita to Portofino. Boy did I underestimate how far that was. Regardless, the walk revealed some beautiful sites…

 

That cliff side villa? Berlusconi’s preferred party house.

 

Lots of boats and pretty views along the way... 

     Oh, and if you’re into cars at all, just on our walk to Portofino we saw… A Ferrari F430, an old-school Triumph, an Audi R8, a Mazarrati, a Cararra 4 and a Cararra S, a BMW x6…. I could go on, but you get the picture! 

I know that my hair is in my face, but that house you see behind me? 

It may or may not belong to Giorgio Armani. No biggie...

  

     Andrea, or, more formally, Andrea de Carlo, is a fairly well known and excellent novelist/musician in Italy. We spent Saturday evening eating, drinking, and rocking out on Angela’s two guitars.  It was great to hear him play that night. The very next day  at lunch, someone asked for Andrea's autograph! Angela also shared her book that she wrote with me, called “Cats, Cats... and more Cats!” Naturally, I loved it.

    This morning we lounged around the house before heading down to a nearby beach. I was so happy that the weather was clear. The water here was incredible. We finished off our visit to Rapallo with a brief lunch by the seaside. What an incredible visit. Thank you Angela!

 

               Kane, Andrea and I at lunch.                 The Mediterranean - just gorgeous. 

By the way! I figured out what I am going to put my stipend money towards…

Ahh!!

Alright I must be off, I need to get busy planning our next big trip - to Rome!

 Any suggestions for our trip would be greatly appreciated.

Ciao!

Rebecca