Bay of Silence, Sestri Levante
We’ve just left Sestri Levante and four unforgettable nights at the Hotel Helvetia on the “Bay of Silence.” It’s very appropriately named. While other Italian towns and cities have the non-stop buzz and racket of an active nightlife, people outside enjoying the cool of the evening, young Casanova wanna-be boys trying to impress the local girls with scooter antics and so on, the Bay of Silence is on a dead end with no traffic other than what slowly approaches the hotel. My guests Art and Carol had a room with private balcony and view over the bay and the former fishermen’s houses on the other side. It was pure bliss.
A restaurant nearby became our steady dinner spot for three of the four nights. “Popolo Mario” has fantastic food and wine and we indulged in both. In fact, last night the second bottle didn’t seem to be quite enough so a third was ordered. The third was the house white, priced at less than half of what we had been drinking, and we concluded that it wasn’t too bad, or maybe our tastebuds were just slightly paralyzed?
That’s the view from the rooftop terrace of the Hotel Helvetia.