Joe Duckett, Windstar’s Vice President of Marketing and Sales, is currently on board the inaugural voyage of Star Pride. Today he enjoyed one of Windstar’s shore excursions in Portofino, Italy: the Walking Tour & Wine Tasting in Castle Brown. Joe shares his experience below.
We are over halfway through Star Pride’s maiden voyage. Today, we anchored off the coast of Italy to explore the charming village of Portofino. This was my first time here, and it may now be my favorite port in Italy!
The shore excursion started with a tour of this picturesque town. With a population of only 600 people, Star Pride’s 200 passengers were just enough people to blend in with the locals. The harbor is lined with colorful buildings, cafes, small fishing boats, and local artists.
We made our way up to the highest point in the village, walking on winding stone pathways. The scenery was stunning, with views of vineyards, olive groves, and of course Italian villas.
The next stop on the tour was to Castle Brown where we sampled local flavors of the region.
The tasting was led by Guida, a local chef with a wonderful sense of humor. He pounded fresh garlic and basil to create an amazing pesto. We sampled Italian favorites, such as formaggio bread, regional olive oil, sausage, and fresh cheese. We sipped our way through three varieties of Italian wine. The pictures speak for themselves.
It was hard to leave the beautiful town of Portofino, but Star Pride beckons, as tonight is the big deck barbecue!
Salut!
Amy, it was great meeting you on the Star Pride, and nice to see here that you were able to tear yourself away from your laptop and/or phone for a few hours, get out to smell the roses and taste the grapes. Your photos are pretty good!. I’ll be sending you all my interior photos of the Star Pride later today.
Ciao, Gary
Hmm, at second look it seems that this was posted by Joe, not Amy. Still working on the photos of the Star Pride decor, should be finished in an hour or so. Meanwhile, here’s one of the photos that I took of the harbor in Portofino.
My family group of 12 will board Star Pride on 23 July and so much look forward to visiting Portofino. This voyage will be our 7th with the Windsurf/Windstar yachts.
We can’t wait to welcome you on board, Brian!