Porto Venere

From Byron’s Grotto.

Beloved of Byron, Porto Venere is an exceptionally picturesque village a short bus ride from La Spezia, which in turn is train journey from Genoa and where we made our way to this morning.

Byron is famous for regularly swimming the 7.5 kilometres across the bay to visit his muse Shelley at San Terenzo - ironically, Shelley drowned in the bay when his boat capsized in a storm.
Also known as the Bay of Poets, Porto Venere is now home to the wealthy, visited by tourists and those who love pootling around in boats.

On the train in the way back to Genoa we chatted to a couple of American students who were spending a term of their degrees in Nice, living with local families and learning French - they are taking advantage of how tiny Europe is compared with the states and spending every weekend in a different Country. It was real pleasure chatting to them, but it did make us feel old ...!

An extra alley.