We left Florence and set the GPS for Rapallo on the Italian Riviera.

We decided to stick to the Autostrada and have an early day at the end. We were all quite tired after the busy visit to Florence. Our decision proved to be a very good one.

Arriving in Rapallo about 2pm we were soon settled into Hotel Italia, right on the waterfront of a very beautiful town. We headed out to explore and have an afternoon relaxing. A few beers later we were ready for a lovely dinner in a little restaurant in one of the back alleys of the town.

After breakfast next morning we decided to ride through Santa Margherita Liguro to Portofino before heading to Varese - our destination for the day.

The riding around the coast was similar to riding the Amalfi Coast in southern Italy. The differences were that the cliffs were not as high as Amalfi's - much to Greg's relief.

Portofino is one of the playgrounds of the wealthy. This was soon obvious as we walked around the small harbour full of expensive vessels of all shapes and sizes.

Morning tea was spent watching the well dressed wander about doing their shopping at the boutiques - what else would you do? After a conversation with a couple from Sydney and answering the routine questions about our trip it was back on the bike and back to the Autostrada.

These roads are not as good as the Autobahns of Germany but usually still flow well. Today, however, was not one of those days. We soon encountered heavy traffic due to road works and decided rather than sit in the traffic, to stop at a service station and have a coffee.

Back on the road we headed for Varese - our destination for the next three nights