Portovenere

They say if there was a sixth town in the Cinque Terre it would be Portovenere. This morning we caught the boat down the coast to this lovely little town - stopping off at the towns of the Cinque Terre along the way to let passengers on and off. When I first saw the boat arrive at the quay and it was pitching sideways in the choppy waters I thought it was going to be an awful journey, but no, it was smooth and only took about an hour to get there.

Portovenere is a charming little town just south of the Cinque Terre towns in La Spezia Bay, also known as the Gulf of Poets. It has also been designated by UNESCO as a world heritage site. A few well known writers temporarily settled here - Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, John Keats, and DH Lawrence - hence the nickname, Gulf of Poets. It is dominated by a large castle and has some beautiful churches too, well worth a visit.

On the way back we got off at Vernazza as I wanted to take some long exposure shots and I knew it has some flat rocks on which I could set up my tripod. The popular spot for these long exposure shots are some rocks at the entrance to Riomaggiore, but as can be seen in my extra where a young girl was splashed by the waves, I did not want to risk taking my camera equipment out on those rocks! I have added an extra of the long exposure shot of Vernazza. I had a few strong words with a young Frenchman who saw me taking my photos but thought it was necessary to step onto the rock I was on and walk across my photo, not once but a few times. It was quite frustrating taking LE shots with all the tourists around who apparently did not know I was taking a photo! We then caught the boat back to Monterosso again.

It has been a wonderful 5 day break, and I am very pleased that I decided not to go with the professional photographer and group on a workshop but to rather do it own my own with Gavin, who has been an excellent sherpa carrying my heavy camera bag for me! My camera and extra lenses were very heavy to carry on those steep hiking trails, so a very big thank you to Gavin! We get the 9am train tomorrow back to Pisa to fly home.