Travel Report ~ Natasha’s Notebook in Italy.

If you’re after a holiday where you can eat out after 10pm, use your bankcard instead of cash and have ice in your drink ~ do not go to Camogli in Liguria, Italy!

I am afraid to report that for the first time in my Italian-travelling life… I have had a bad holiday in Italy! (The country of my parents and my parents’ parents!)
It started out wonderfully at a guest house in the countryside, surrounded by Gavi vineyards just north of Genova .
Okay, the guesthouse belonged to my friend but trust me, if you ever find yourself, fortunate enough to be Sagida’s guest… wallow in it!
Best bit
We hired a car in the nearby chocolate-making town of Novi and for two days solid explored old churches, gobbled moreish ice-cream, slurped insomnia-inducing coffee and basically got drunk on the fresh country air ~ so depressingly absent from our sprawling metropolis that is London.
I think the highlight of our three night stay at Sagida’s Casa Bianca guesthouse had to be the visit to Outlet ~ Europe’s largest shopping area packed bumper-to-bumper with designer shops!
It was like Las Vagas for shopaholics! A fine-attire lover’s dream-come-true!
All that glitters..
However, the next stint of our break left a lot to be desired. We took the train back to Genova, where our Italian adventure had begun and headed eastwards towards the world renowned Cinque Terre (five lands).
Our destination was Camogli, situated just before these five coastal gems. Now… Camogli was abosolutely GORGEOUS.
And after lugging our luggage to our old gold decorated B&B, a stone’s throw from the train station ~ I thought we had struck gold!
However.. my fiance and I soon realised that all that glitter’s… ain’t gold. Our disappointment started that evening. I don’t know about you but I would say that 10pm is not an entirely ridiculous time to go out when you’re on holiday at a seaside town ~ well it is in Camogli!
CLOSED for the summer
So on the first night of our nine night stay… we were being refused at every single restaurant we tried. And the funny thing was… to begin with we were taking our time, trying to decide if we wanted fish or meat or pizza; when all along the lazy chefs were packing up their soup stirrers ready to call it a night.
Anyway, the following day we realised that there was something seriously wrong in this cute seaside town. And it wasn’t for the lack of picture-postcard views because the town boasted a little harbour with lovely boats and colourful apartments perched opposite the sea and cobbled streets full of character!
It continues
But the people were sorry to be alive judging by the way they looked. Trying to get a smile out of the two old bats who served us Focaccia (a Ligurian delicacy) each day or the man who served us crepes with Nutella one hungry afternoon was simply impossible!
And the amount of times we would go into a coffee bar in the evening and be told that the coffee machine was switched off, ‘Well switch it bloody on then!’ I felt like screaming.
Things reached boiling point in one ‘grilled meats’ restaurant. To start off we were sat right next to the toilets in an almost empty room.
Put your ego on a diet
We were deprived of chips with our skewers of lamb because the restaurant simply didn’t offer them. And when our bottle of water came without the ice we asked for (because they didn’t have any) my fiancé returned the bottle.
Later when the waiter presented us with our bill, he made a point of stating that we were not charged for the water. It was at this stage that I did something that I have never done before, I looked him square in the eyes and said: “Too right you didn’t charge us for something we didn’t consume!”
The waiter/restaurant owner retaliated. I then went on to give other dissatisfied complaints to him. He couldn’t take it especially when I accused him of having an ego the size of his derriere. And with that we made off.
So I think it’ll be Marbella in Spain next year!

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