Porto Venere and on to Genoa

After an uneventful motor-sail, Porto Venere was a welcome sight for a rest and a swim. The anchor dug in and held nicely in the mud in quite deep water, about forty feet. Although it looks a bit exposed on the chart, the anchorage was calm and sheltered from the moderate swell outside – the only disturbances were the occasional wakes of fishing boats. The water was lovely and clear.

 

Porto Venere (Port Venus – the port of love?) is a picturesque town with a hill-top castle and tall, narrow buildings in yellows, creams and terracotta pink – probably another place where property owners were taxed according to their frontage. We weren’t staying long, and Terry wasn’t keen to drag out the dinghy, so I paddled my kayak in to shore for a coffee, some fresh bread and a bit of a look around. It seemed a friendly little town, with just a smattering of accommodation for tourists, a restaurant overlooking the fishing harbour (with good coffee, like everywhere in Italy) and a row of shops with a mix of boutique and basic. This usually means that the town experiences a tourist-fueled summer high season, then reverts to sleepy fishing village come October.

 

I walked up the hill for a look at the castle, and was pleasantly surprised to find a plaque commemorating Lord Byron’s swim from here to Lerici. Another of his favourite haunts. Like Hemingway in the following century, Byron has left a trail of legends along the route of his travels – manly feats, romances and epic drinking binges commemorated in plaques and tour guide commentaries throughout the Med. The view from the castle walls takes in the harbour and Isola Palmaria to the south, but also the steep, rugged coast and the much wilder sea to the west of the promontory.

The low rumble of thunder interrupted our sleep that night. The squall was over quickly and there were no immediate concerns, but weather reports promised more of the same in the coming days so we decided to head directly for Genoa. We motored through the narrow St Pietro Channel, then found a brief bit of assistance from the wind which promptly swung around to the north – on our nose. It wasn’t the pleasantest of trips, with a headwind and swell on the beam, but it is a spectacular part of the Italian coast with the famous Cinque Terre villages nestled amongst the steep cliffs that rise abruptly from the deep ocean. Conditions settled down enough for us to enjoy a mid-ocean swim, and we arrived in Marina Porto Antico at about 18.30, in good time for a sunset beer.

Sunburst as we leave Porto Venere