PORTOFINO AND CAMOGLI — MAY 10, 2026

If Saturday was picture perfect, Sunday was anything but. It was an ugly duckling, at least as far as the weather was concerned. The brilliant blue skies and abundant sunshine of Saturday had vanished and left us with gray skies, low clouds, heavy seas, and intermittent, sometimes heavy rain. If I was home I would have had a pajama day, but since I was in Portofino I decided the thing to do was get dressed and take my tour!

We had chosen a Celebrity tour called Portofino and Paradise Gulf by Land and Sea for Portofino. I wanted to see the town from the water, and I had visions of those classic Portofino shots filling my head. I also liked the ease of getting off the ship with a ship’s tour since Portofino is a tender port and they use the ship’s lifeboats to get passengers ashore.

The day started with a whole lotta waiting and (somewhat) controlled chaos. Celebrity is still using the archaic system of giving out stickers and attempting to get everybody to sit until their number is called. Nobody listens, so the person on the microphone ends up having to repeat themselves several times. Everyone ends up clustered in the back of the theater, because of course everyone thinks they need to be the first one out the door. We got our numbers, joined the cluster near the back, and waited. And waited. And waited. It seemed like forever, but in reality I guess we waited about 45 minutes until our number was called.

The tender ride into town was relatively short and not too rough, although I could see how it wouldn’t have been fun for someone who is prone to seasickness. When we got to the town pier we found our guide and lined up on the pier to catch the boat for the “sea” part of our land and sea tour. There were a lot of people on the dock, and our guide was quite petite so I found it hard to see her. It was also hard to hear her despite having the little tour headphone things.

I didn’t love the boat ride, but I think that was more a function of the weather than the ride itself. There just really wasn’t much to see because of the mist/clouds, and we had chosen to sit outside so we really couldn’t hear the commentary either.

The trip to Camogli didn’t take too long, and when we arrived we were greeted by the sight of many, many people lined up around the square. We learned it was the weekend of the annual Fish Festival (Sagra de Pesche), and after a weekend of celebrations and bonfires, the festivities culminate on Sunday with a giant fish fry featuring free food for all. Here’s a picture of a representation of the giant pan they use, a picture of the fish they serve, and a short video that tells about the weekend.

Camogli Fish Festival

The Fish Festival wasn’t part of our itinerary, so we followed our guide on a short walking tour of the town, and then we were given free time until lunch. Rain was threatening all during the walk, and it was very difficult to hear the guide, so I admit to removing my ear buds and just taking it all it. Camogli really was a charming town, it just didn’t show well on the day we were there.

During our free time we found a coffee shop that also had a restroom for customers, so we grabbed a table and split a delicious apricot pastry. We also had enough a time to purchase a travel magnet and look for tacky souvenirs. We found an abundance of tacky magnets — some were so raunchy I couldn’t even bring myself to take a picture! Who buys that stuff and what do they do with it?

By the time we met for lunch the rain had really settled in. Lunch was down a set of steep, scary, wet stairs, but I managed to get into the restaurant without breaking my neck (or tearing any ligaments!) so I’ll call that a win. The restaurant appeared to be a combination restaurant/bar/beach club. I’m not sure how much business the restaurant would get outside of the tour groups on a regular day. Perhaps people using the beach and changing facilities would also eat there?

Lunch was OK…not particularly memorable, but at least we were inside out of the rain! We had focaccia bread and pesto pasta, which are two of the things the Ligurian coast is known for. The wine and Limoncello were plentiful, and we were also served dessert, but I didn’t take any pictures at lunch and I don’t remember what it was!🤷‍♀️ The meal was filling and very carb heavy. I found myself longing for a lettuce leaf or some cucumber!🥬🥒

After lunch we made our way through town and the fish festivities to the boat for the “scenic cruise” back to Portofino.

We chose to sit inside on the boat for the trip back to Portofino since it was raining pretty hard. That meant we really couldn’t see much. The seas had gotten angry and it was a rough ride along the coast. We stopped briefly in the secluded Bay of San Fruttuoso to see the 10th century Benedictine abbey, but the visibility was so poor by this time that I didn’t even pull out my phone, much less my camera!😳

By the time we got back to Portofino Jim and I were more or less done. We walked with the group for a while, but we couldn’t hear the guide and we felt like we were just shuffling through crowded, wet cobblestone streets that looked very much like other towns we had seen but with more expensive stores. When the group got back to the main piazzetta (central square) we decided to call it a day instead of climbing up the steep, wet stone steps to the historic Church of San Giorgio perched above the town.

In hindsight, this tour was probably not a good choice for us. It was the only thing I found that would allow me to see Portofino from the water, and I had visions of the beautiful travel brochure shots I was going to take of Portofino from the water and then from above when we climbed to the church. You know the ones…you can find them everywhere when you look for things to do in the Mediterranean. Unfortunately there were just too many people on the tour for us, and that combined with the weather made it a not-memorable day.

Of course, we couldn’t leave Portofino without adding to our travel magnet collection, and I found another tacky souvenir — a pair of socks with pictures of classic Italian things. From the socks, I can conclude Italians like sunshine, wine, basil, lemons, peppers, and penises!😳

The tender ride back to the ship was interesting to say the least. I was lucky enough to grab a seat near the door where I got some fresh air, but even near the door the air in the tender was thick and the ride was uncomfortable.🤢 We were pitching all over the place, and the crew had a very hard time securing the tender so we could get back on the ship. Stepping off the tender onto the platform required timing, patience, and agility. We saw many people who were shaken up by the experience. It didn’t really bother me, but I admit I was relieved to be back on board.

We were leaving Italy and heading to France for our next two ports of Nice and Marseilles.🇫🇷 Nice was first — thankfully we had booked a private tour and we were hoping for better weather!