I dug up my Italy journal. It's from May 2000

We arrived in Rome at 10AM and after meeting our four friends and getting our rental (9 passenger Fiat- the blue monster) we drove directly out of Rome up the coast road A11 & A12. We were a bit jet-lagged but had caught our second wind. We stopped for lunch at La Locanda di Ansedonia, 140 KM outside of Rome at http://www.lalocandadiansedonia.it/

A charming restaurant (30 - 35 tables) and 12 guest rooms. There were no vacancies and the food served for our late lunch is probably why the place was full. The grilled calamari was out of this world. The pasta was outstanding and so was the tomato salad. The Pinot Grillo was pretty good too.

We arrive at Rapallo about 5 PM and check in at The Hotel Eurotel Rapallo. 16035 Rapallo Via Aurelia Pontente 22. It had fantastic Bay views reminiscent of Monte Carlo. There was even a yacht in the bay with a helipad. We walked about the bay area, there's a kind of boardwalk street to stretch out the kinks from the trip and had an early dinner at Delphine's.( not the best food although the view was pretty ).

The next day was Sunday and we took the cable car from the center of town to the Santuario Basilica N.S. di Montallegro. It's a seven minute ride away, but you get a beautiful view and perspective of the town. You can walk/hike down or take the cable car back. We had a cackle of Italian women on our trip up and thankfully a quiet ride down. Unfortunately, there was a service in progress and some of us did not want to stay. So we went back to town and the pier for a ferry ride to Sta Margherite and Portofino. The ride was beautiful if uneventful. The view of the towns from the water is memorable and arriving in Portofino in the ferry gives you the best picture perfect view. Lunch there was quite expensive. As much for a salad and pasta as our dinner that same night. The harbor at Rapallo is by far the prettiest of the three. Dinner was at Casa Napoli on a back street had home-style food and plenty of locals. They served us great Gnocchi and a grilled fish mix of bass, swordfish, shrimp and crawfish. Nice indeed!

Back to our room for espresso and anisette. We asked the hotel for 6 doubles and got 12 doubles and we we used it to wash down the great dessert we had picked up at the patisserie earlier in the day.

So, I guess you can tell, we all (six of us) liked Rapallo. Hope this helps!

Regards, Marta & George Tamarac FL