Not Really How to : Portofino, Italian Riviera, Italy

Portofino, 28 July 2022 | Summer

Actually I kind a feels like I want to write down everything because I realize that without this blog everything will just faded into memory, which maybe I will forget couple years later. So I will keep writing this travel series as I prefer. 

This blog for sure, not the best travel blog, because this blog is not a travel blog in the first place. Its just a platform to write down what I like. So while I am refreshing to the Spanish Government website to get the TIE appointment, let's get down to the real deal. 

What is Portofino?

Portofino is a commune in Genova, it is one of the very famous Italian Riviera, known for small luxurious harbor and colorful building in the shore. Based on my experience, Portofino in my opinion is very cute and beautiful. There is not a lot of things to do except you own a private boat. This place is a jet set, expensive place, but this place is worth for one day visit (maybe if you visit Genoa or Cinque Terre, or even do a day trip from Novara which is possible, you should definitely check Portofino).

How to get there?

1. Take the train to Santa Margherita Ligure-Portofino Station (from Novara it will take 3,5 hours, you can go at 06:00 and arrived at 10:00).

2. From here take the 7385 bus to Portofino.

In order to go to the "real Portofino" you can walk for around 1,5 hours or you can take the 30 minutes bus. You can to take the bus directly from the stop near train station. 

Bus stop to real Portofino in front of the Santa Margherita Ligure-Portofino train station

The bus schedule

How do you buy the bus ticket? When you arrived in the Santa Margherita Ligure-Portofino station, there is a tabaccheria on the left side of the building. There you can buy a return ticket for the bus to Portofino (it will cost you 5Euro back and forth) in this tabaccheria. Remember this tabaccheria accept cash only. 

There bus ticket will look like this and there will be 2 sides (Andata means going -> validate it when you are going to Portofino, and Ritorno means back --> validate it when you are going back to Santa Margherita Ligure).

Another way to buy the bus ticket is by taping your debit card directly to the device on the bus. But this will cost you 3Euro one way, so it will be 1 Euro more expensive. 

There is this device, and some of passengers also use this device by tapping their visa/mastercard debit/credit card, it will cost you 3 Euro. 

Remember to validate the ticket. There are 2 ways to validate it : 1) On the bus 2) On the device near the bus stop. There will be random checking, so never get on the bus without buying ticket. 

 

You can also buy the ticket in the machine, that machine also works to validate the ticket before boarding to the bus. Once the ticket is validated it will active for 60 minutes if I am not mistaken. The bus stop will look like this.

What to do in Portofino?

You will need cute outfit, but you will hike a lot. For me I went here to take a good photos, so I really need to get to the best spot, and the best spot is uphill. 

1. Strolling around the port and the city. The city is cute and full of authentic Italian restaurants and it also have spots to do luxury shopping. But if you just broke student like me, strolling around is nice. 

 

2. Walking up to the church and cemetery. For me this is definitely highlight of the trip, you can see the whole Portofino with the cute iconic houses, boats from this side. You need to go up a little bit. The view from the road leads to the church is amazing and it has a lot of shades, and there are chairs as well if you want to sit down a bit to enjoy your snacks and cola to see the view is possible. 

3. Walking up to the castle brown. You need to hike up again, a little bit and pay 5 Euro to enter the castle, you can pay by card or cash. For me, this one is also worthed. There is a La Dolce Vita movie shooting location in this castle and the view from the castle is breathtaking. 

I think that's it about Portofino. Here.. everything for me is expensive, so I bring my own coca cola, water, snack and lunch to eat (I just went there to take photos). I did not pay for anything here except paying for the castle entrance and transportation, because I know Portofino is a jet set, luxurious place which is packed with wealthy tourist that come by their private boat. 

But this place is worth one day visit. There are other activities as well like cruising around and swimming, but I didn't try because at that time when I went it was freakin hot, but for sure you can try! Let me know if you visit Portofino and you like it. 

Not Really How to : Travelling on a budget from Novara / Buying your ticket

I always travel, people think either I'm rich, broke or irresponsible. But I couldn't fit myself into those categories. 

I'm not rich yet, I'm not broke and I'm super responsible especially about money. Since 5 years ago, my parents financially free from me, I never ask them for money. Even when I moved to Europe, I payed everything with my own money, because we need to pay everything with our own money before getting scholarship (but my dad was kind enough to gave me pocket money, but if he didn't I can still afford my expenses). 

Yes, despite all the instagram posts portrayed me as someone that is irresponsible in life by always traveling, I work very hard (shame on me saying this but I have to say it otherwise people think I have money from blackmagic), I know getting money is hard so I am trying to be very responsible when it comes to spending. 

I like to see stuff, and travel in general. But, who like to be broke? Not me.  

So if you feel like spending is easy for you, you don't need to worry about tomorrow, this post is not for you. Soleil ask me to write down things that can be tips to travel less especially around Europe. I actually have been writing one but in bahasa, so I will try to breakdown a bit more details in English. 

1) Travel in Shoulder Season 

Remember in Europe, summer is the most expensive season. If you are going to Italy its kind a hard to find a not-so touristy places in summer (because everyone is going around Italy in the summer), if you are going to super touristy place like: Cinque Terre, Santorini, try to go in shoulder season (like April or September/October), if you can manage the cold, going in winter is the cheapest. I went to Paris in December and the hotel cost 17Euro per night, in April nothing is less than 30Euro. The time will define the price. If you want to experience a lot of stuff in budget, try to deal with the season.

I think September and October, and February to April are very good for travelling on budget. But remember in April there is Easter Break, so if you want to go around Easter holiday in April, start booking in February or early March at least, otherwise the places will rip you off. 

If I can give you some visualization, this is the one bunkbed cost in Paris:

December -> 17 Euro, April -> 30 Euro, 

To be honest I also prefer to have less people when I see stuff during traveling, so summer is my least favorite because it was super packed. It was hard to just get one nice photo because there were just too many tourist. You need to go very early or ask people to leave from the frame otherwise it was impossible. 

2) Find Cheap Tickets

When you go around, you can choose between: 

1. Airplane

For the airplane, you can find the cheap ticket using skyscanner (but don't buy from their website, always use the official website). The Low Cost Career like ryan air, Vueling, jetstar and wizzair will save you a lot of money. 

Remember: 

1) Always pick the nearest airport from you (for example from Novara the nearest is Milano Malpensa and it cost 7Euro to go to Malpensa by train). If you pick Milan Bergamo it will cost you 17,6 Euro just to get there (train from Novara to Milano Centrale 5,6 + 12 Euro from Milano Centrale to Bergamo).

So going flying and landing from Bergamo is not very smart except you don't have any other options. Always use public transport and never use taxi to go and leave the airport. I have been to more than 12 countries in Europe, I never use taxi not even moving my life to Elche, its possible, we just need to do research and ask. Use taxi only if you travel maybe in large group and taxi is way cheaper options.

2) Overnight in the airport is possible. Sometimes the cheapest flight will fly at 06.00 in the morning. So how are you gonna do that? I usually take the last train and just sleep in the airport. Its actually not very bad. At midnight you can actually enter the gate and they have a good place to sleep (at least for me, if you never do this - train yourself, because Israa never do this but she is going with me all the time, now she is an expert at sleeping anywhere.. and she is very happy about it).

3) Use Backpack only. What? Yes. This is not only me that saying this. Rick Steve the legend traveler that have been travelling to Europe for more than 30 years said the best way to travel Europe is by backpack only. You can save money because you did not need to pay extra when flying, but beside that it will save you from a lot of stuff (for example you don't need to worry where to store the bag all the time, and if you have limited time to travel you can just go with a backpack and its all good). My principle is: just bring what you can carry, never bring anything that you can't carry because its gonna drag you down. 

4) Don't buy unnecessary add on while flying (the seat, etc.), just stick to the basic one.  

5) ESN card have 10% discount and also free luggage for ryan air. So if you are EMJMD student, get ESN card, it will be very useful.

6) Buy the ticket ahead of travel. Its no brainer to postponing buying for your ticket if you already know there is some holidays coming up and you also want to travel etc. If its a huge holiday like Easter, buy your ticket 1,5 months before especially if you want to go to super touristy area. That was how we find 10Euro ticket from Santorini to Milan. But buying 2 weeks before and cheap its also possible, but the price is moving as the time goes by, so just be aware of that. 

2) Bus

Going around with bus is very convenient. I like to use overnight bus to save some money that I need to spend on a hostel because I have no problem to sleep on the bus. Some of the bus has incredibly cheap price. I will show you how.

If you go around Italy, Itabus is definitely the best and the cheapest most of the time. They have promotion (30% discount) if you go both ways with the bus. How cheap is Itabus? From Milan to Bologna sometimes its as cheap as 2Euro 0__0. I just checked in September-October they are around 7-4 Euro (which is also very cheap).

From Milan to Rome is 9-10 Euro in September-October (Which is very cheap), so you can go Milan-Rome back and forth for 20 Euro. I personally will take the overnight one so I can sleep (the one that leave midnight and arrive in the morning), otherwise you will be very tired. 

Another bus to take is Flixbus (which is now not very cheap), Blablabus and Alsa bus. For Flixbus, ALSA, Itabus they also have ESN Student discount (10%), and they will give you like 100 vouchers. I personally always use the discount code. 

How to use the voucher? You need to login to https://esncard.org/, and click on the travel section --> choose the bus operator (flixbus/alsa/itabus). Follow on how you can get the discount.

For Flixbus, click Claim voucher and paste the code on the flixbus app when you buy the ticket. 

Its crazy that flixbus will give you 100 vouchers with one ESN card, 

I mean, whos is gonna travel 100 times in 6 months?

*Bonus

Traveling by Bus from Novara

My suggestion is always take the bus from Milan, its easier, cheaper, safer. Because Novara Bus Stop is in the middle of nowhere. Unless you have someone that will pick you up by car, or you arrive in the middle of the day (because the public bus is stop operating at 20:00, remember). Its actually located in Casello Autostradale Ovest (its like near the toll with very bad public connection to the city https://goo.gl/maps/vaqQwL38UQqVVJD17) or Novara Veveri A4 Westbound in Torino-Trieste toll road (https://goo.gl/maps/EJZnUtgEriD44tCr6).

If you take the bus from Milan, its usually started from Milan Lampugnano Bus Station. How do you get there?

a) From Novara take the train to Rho-Fiera Milano (it will cost 4Euro)

b) From Rho-Fiera Milano take the Metro (underground train) to Lampugnano (if you follow google, google will tell you to stop in a Metro stop called Uruguay, but this is not correct, you need to go all the way to Lampugnano). There is no need to buy physical ticket on Milan Metro, you can use your debit card to enter the gate and get out from the gate (find the orange box with card sign near the gate when you want to enter the platform and just tap your debit card). 

the metro

c) From Lampugnano you just need to find the sticker board that shows which platform, and wait for the bus. Picture: Sticker board sign and the platform + Inside the Itabus.

 

It takes around 40-50 minutes to get to Lampugnano from Novara, and the train departs very early, like 6am, so if you have bus to catch at 07:30 its possible. 

3. Train

I use trainline app all the time to find the cheapest train. Sometimes I use it as well to buy the ticket, sometimes not. We found the "Novara Nord" station from this app. 

Trainline is the third party app that very smart because you can find all connection in the whole Europe. They also shows you the bus options. Is the ticket I bought on this app valid? Yes, they are valid. 

If you buy ticket for Italian train, there is no charge/fee. But sometimes they will charge you when you buy the ticket (for example for Switzerland or France). If they charge you don't panic and just go to the official website of each train and just buy the ticket there, its the same and without fee.

But you can't rely on this app to all of the train in Europe, in fact I think this app only have connected to the Schengen Area, because on the more traditional side like Slovenia, or Zagreb you can't use this app to find the train. They will show "There is no train available".

For example like this:

It shows from Ljubljana (Capital of Slovenia) to Zagreb (Capital of Croatia) there is no train available, only bus. But this is totally wrong. In fact there is 4 trains available everyday between 2 cities and its only cost you 9Euro, you need to buy one from the ticketing office. 

So how do I find one? You can look at this website and check : https://www.seat61.com/

Travelling by train might not be the cheapest, but there are a lot of promotion you have to check. There is interrail where you can take train across Europe for couple days. I knew some of friends that buy that one with the summer discount it cost 300 Euro but you can travel for 30 days (the normal one will cost 670 Euro). But to get this you need to have the resident permit (Permesso di Soggiorno), because this one is only valid if you are the EU resident. 

 

In Italy there are a lot of Promotions as well by Trenitalia. In summer there is a promotion called "Estate insieme" where you can travel for 4 consecutive weeks for only 39Euro (From Friday to Monday) using regional train. I bought this one for this summer and I can say its very good pass T__T.

I want to say thank you Intan from telling me this. Using this pass I went to: Venice, Trieste, Bologna, Parma, Bolzano, Brixen, Turin, Milan, Aosta, Verona, Ventimiglia, San Remo, Genoa, etc I think if I count it will cost me 200 Euro or more without that pass. If you come around this summer, the pass still active until 26th of September. 

 

The train in Italy is very good and well connected! And the regional train is always fixed cost and no seating plan so there is no worry you will not get the train. We can always buy last minute without any worry. I just realized that not every EU country was like that XD. Kind a sad, but its okay. 

Each country has different promotion you need to check. In Germany they have 9 Euro ticket and in Spain the local train is free. 

Another thing to save the budget while the promotion is not there, in Italy there is Train Pass. The Regional 3 days pass will cost you 29Euro, unlimited ride for regional train. 

Maybe you will think this is a bit expensive, but trust me this one is worthed (and cheaper), you just need to plan some trips with you and go. If I can give you an example, day trip from Novara can be like this :

Day 1: Novara-Aosta (Train both ways: 22 Euro)

Day 2: Novara-Turin (Train both ways: 19,2 Euro)

Day 3: Novara: Genoa (Train both ways: 24,5 Euro)

Total without pass : 65,7 Euro

With pass: 29 Euro. You will save 36,7 Euro.  

The pass have advantages because its flexible, once you have it you can go to any train with Regional code on it: RV, R, RE and Metropolitani (this is regional in Campania), Tper (this is the regional train in Emilia Romagna) if Im not mistaken.

*Bonus

One day trip from Novara with Regional Train + small tips

1) Milan - you will find it boring, so try to do the walking tour (type "Free walking tour Milan)

2) Turin - try to go the first week of the month, the entire palace is free + some museum but you need a reservation, check on the website.

3) Genova - if you have ESN card there is discount on Genova Aquarium. You have to try the pesto and focaccia, here is the best. 

4) Portofino - Landing to Santa Margherita station go to the nearest Tobacco shop and take the bus to Portofino (5 Euro back and forth), try to go back early like around 3 to the station otherwise you cant get the bus (its too packed).

5) Aosta - its a very cheap and cute place to shop. Go to Pila using cable car (7 Euro back and forth)

6) Parma - Very authentic Italian city, there is a mission to find 13 statues if Im not wrong, you can try that. 

7) Bologna - They have good food and flee market every saturday that sell clothes for very cheap (like 2 Euro), some of them is brand new with tag from famous brand. Go to Bologna!

8) Lake Maggiore - Stop in Arona and walk and cruise in the lake, super beautiful.

9) Lake Orta - Stop in Orta-Miasino, the ambience is the best, very beautiful.

10) Ivrea and Domodossola, surrounded by mountain, very cute and beautiful city. 

11) Verona - If you want to skip Trenord (because from Milan to verona is trenord not trenitalia), you can go to Bologna and take the regional train to Verona, its possible, just takes a lot of time. 

12) Rimini - its possible to go until Rimini, and chill in the beach. 

13) Modena - if you are a ferrari fan, you should go. They have Ferrari museum here. 

14) The Italian Riviera is also very beautiful (from Savona until Ventimiglia), and one day trip is possible. 

actually there are a lot of one day trip you can do from Novara XD. Novara is very cute and strategic city. You can reach Switzerland, France and go home in the same day. You can go to Venice and go home in the same day (but its just a bit hectic and I recommend to stay in Venice at least one night of course), but if you are really really on budget I mean its still possible. 

In most of my one day trip I bring my own lunch and eat it on the park or near the lake, so it will cost me 0, except some cities that over specialties like Bologna and I want to try them, I will buy. 

A Sweet Letter to Holding into Your Faith

People change, and its normal. I change as well. I mean, it is normal.

But I kind a know that its hard to be a minority. 

Its hard to accept that you are being judged just because how you look,

or what faith you hold into you.

Because world is not kind enough to accept what you are

They portrayed you as poor and evil,

just because you have one piece of clothing in your head.

They think you are terrorist or something?

Need extra security check, they think a magnet that I was carried was bomb

But, well, duh, 

this is world, and its reality. 

The reality is,

World is not kind enough to accept what you are

No matter what you are

Its not only you that being judged. 

I mean, yes, people will always have something to talk about you

You are loud, you are quite, your didnt use make up, you use make up

you are thin, you are old, you are too young, you didnt have enough

you are posting too much, you never post something, 

you are muslim so you might harm people

duh! People! shut up!

The fact that no one is actually care about you

and they will always judge you no matter what you are

that words

it is just an empty, shallow words

at the end the only one that will protect you always is Allah,

people that talk, or giving you that judge-y stares 

you did not take one cent from them

you did not harm them

they did not protect you as well

Who is gonna protect you? Allah.

Let Allah judge you, only Him that worth your attention,

nothing else can harm you without Allah's permission

So disembarking this new chapter, I would like to send you this sweet letter

to holding on to the faith.

Allah knew you are trying, that is okay. that's all matter.

dont loose hope. and if you need support, Im here.