Intro Part II (Liguria & Lake Como) Part III (Villages & Friends) "From Napoleon to the Riviera II" Thursday, 23 September. By morning it had been decided that the ship was going to Portovenere. Many of our shipmates were disappointed with the news, probably because Portofino was famous and they'd never heard of Portovenere. I was delighted with the change, though. I had found pictures of Portovenere on the internet while researching for our visit to the Cinque Terre, and I was eager to see it.
We had an early breakfast because Jane had a full hour Thai massage scheduled for 8 a.m. Not long after she finished, we anchored off Portovenere. This medieval village is on the end of a mountainous peninsula, with a large Genoese fortress (1161) directly above. The church of San Pietro (1277) sits atop a rock formation at the very tip of the peninsula. The island of Palmaria lies just across a narrow channel from the church. Portovenere could be considered the sixth town of the Cinque Terre. It lies just south of the other five, is almost as inaccessible by land (less so by train because it is not on the main line), and is probably more beautiful than any of them. But it has not benefited much from (or been plagued by) the tourist craze over the Cinque Terre, so it was relatively uncrowded.
We took the 10:20 tender ashore and walked past the high, narrow, brightly colored houses along the waterfront to San Pietro. Just before the church was a small, rocky inlet called Byron's Cove. This is the spot from which the poet began his dangerous swim across the Gulf of La Spezia (also known as the Gulf of Poets) to Lerici. The church is built on the site of an early Christian church and an earlier Roman Temple of Venus. There were many magnificent views from the church.
We continued our walk by heading up the hill toward the fortress. From Piazza Spallanzani we had a great view back toward San Pietro. Just below the fortress was the even older Church of San Lorenzo (1130). The old cemetery, with fresh flowers on nearly every grave, hung on the side of the cliff overlooking the sea. This location of the cemetery near the top of the mountain was a common practice among the Cinque Terre towns, too. We made our way across the base of the fortress to the other side of the village and started down the long, steep steps leading down past the Capitulum Tower to Via Capellini, the main shopping street. The prices in the shops seemed quite reasonable.
We caught the 12:30 tender back to the ship and had lunch on board. At 3:30 there was an IST meeting about post-cruise travel arrangements, followed by a lecture on the Bonaparte family. Afterwards I took a tour of the engine room led by the ship's Chief Engineer. IST sponsored a cocktail part on the aft deck at 6:30. This was followed by the Captain's dinner, featuring lobster tail and the traditional baked Alaska. At 10:30 there was a talent show. Only one passenger had volunteered, but the crew filled in and put on an excellent show. Many of them were very talented. Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 |
