International friendships and ESN

               Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity

...or friendship is a ship which includes a vast variety of friends

This time we will move a bit in the Northwest, along the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the region of Liguria and the province of La Spezia. You can easily go there by train from Pisa Centrale or Florence/Firenze, or you can take the bus from La Spezia - if you are already there. 

This ship I was talking about, led us to Portovenere, and to one of the three Islands in the vicinity, Palmaria - these places are just a part of the full UNESCO World Heritage List - where we practiced our skills in hiking like a pro! 

Portovenere is a small town located south of Cinque Terre with a great view over the Islands or the sea; it offers you a perfect union between nature and architecture and features a delightful touristic port. 

An infinite array of colors decorate its close arranged houses, staircases, and tiny alleys. The multitude of vivid, strong and green plants embrace you in a fresh air, the souvenir shops where you keep your hand in the pocket and your eyes on their small attractive items, that coffee in the morning you strongly believe that came from Gods and the joyful presence of Italians and tourists you meet there! Do you want more?

Okay, so... 

As tourist, you will be happy to find there the beautiful and old Church of San Pietro, built in the Paleo-Christian epoch, and eventually re-worked in the Gothic style. "The original church is a work of fifth-century realized in Syriac type, with rectangular plan and semicircular apse. It lost the title of parish in the late fourteenth century, in favor of the Church of San Lorenzo, and officiated by the secular clergy until 1798."

We were very happy to discuss all the architecture we saw around encouraged by the knowledge (we took with us from the countries we came from) of different architectural styles or specific elements related to the buildings we passed by. 

 - this picture united three different countries: China, Italy and Romania! 

   Poets and the Church of St. Peter 

This area is also known as "The Gulf of Poets"... which encouraged me to search deeper for at least one piece of proof. The poet Eugenio Montale dedicated a poem to the Church - that Gothic-style building that stands on the cliff overlooking the sea just above Byron’s Grotto (today, Grotta Arpaia is known as Grotta Byron)! 

The English translation (Italian is the original language of the poem) of this poem says: 

   There – comes Triton
   from the waves that lap
   the threshold of a Christian
   temple, and every near hour
   is ancient. Every doubt
   takes you by hand
   as if by a young girl friend.

   There – no one’s eyes
   nor ears are bent on self.
   Here – you are at the origins
   and deciding is foolish:
   re-begin later to assume a nature.

Eugenio Montale was an Italian poet (also prose writer and editor) who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1975, even if he had no more than five volumes of poetry in his fifty years as a writer. 

The marble sign that welcomes you to this amazing place reads “This grotto was the inspiration of Lord Byron. It records the immortal poet who as a daring swimmer defied the waves of the sea from Portovenere to Lerici”.

Also from there you can take in a fantastic panoramic view over the sea, you can take great pictures and make colorful memories. 

   Palmaria Island

Across the sea from Portovenere sit the Island of Palmaria, making up part of the Regional Park of Portovenere. As I said above, we were on a hiking trip in Palmaria and we rest on the other side of it, on the big stones along the beach. Palmaria is the largest Island from the three of them and the most-appreciated by tourists - and us!

There are some smart routes arranged according to the hours you want to spend on hiking or depending on which area of the island you want to discover. In our case, we tried the longest one, and we reached the top of the island, getting the most beautiful view over the WORLD! 

Also HERE I put an amazing 4K video for you to share the beautiful view I had, we had as ESN group in the late Spring of 2k17!  Enjoy the pictures, enjoy the video and enjoy reading!

Enjoy the pictures, enjoy the video and enjoy reading!

Photo gallery