Yesterday we decided to drive to Portovenere. It took only about 40 minutes and parking was easy. We hadn’t read or researched anything about the place and really I expected another pretty resort town, which it certainly is. BUT as we walked through the shopping street we came upon the incredible scene of the church of St Peter on the rocky point–and the grotto where Byron swam–and the views of the cliffs of the Cinque Terre. The natural beauty and the historical beauty so intense in one spot–really a WOW!
Heres a picture through one of the many stone window frames that go along the walk:

And here’s a modern stautue of “Mother Nature” we discovered on the walk back from the church.

We spent a long time just taking it all in, breathing there. We hiked up to the Fort also and then back down to the town. We hung out watching the yachts for a while. One was there from the Cayman Islands and we were trying to figure how long it had talken them to get here from there.
Lunch was at a little Enoteca called La Piazzetta on via Capelinni. It was nothing special–niente male (not bad). I had a big salad but Ken ordered testolino with pesto. It turned out to be interesting. She said it was a big farina pancake cut up into small pieces and then boiled??? I’m not sure if I lost some in the translation but I think that’s what she said. The pesto seemed watery but somehow Ken managed to clean the bowl.
We came back to Lerici tired and satifsied. We decided to go to the market and buy some things to make a picnic in the room for dinner so we could watch the game without having to rush. We shared a Negroni at our bar in the hotel. We both hated it! So bitter! It was great fun eating out on our little terrace watching the storm clouds. Right around half time the storm hit and there was lots of lightning and thunder and plenty of rain. We could still hear plenty of cheering from the piazza below us. Italy won and it was the perfect end to our day!
This morning the view looks like this: