La Spezia and the Cinque Terra

Its a wonderful thing when you find a great anchorage. I've had raves on here before about 'snuggle pots' and the joys of being in a secure and secluded spot, safe from the myriads of nautical nasties that can afflict other anchorages. Apart from safety and being sheltered from inclement weather, there are a few other things that make an anchorage great. Easy tender access, good public transport so that you can get around and see things, good provisioning with supermarkets and bakeries, and pleasant or beautiful surroundings are some things also high on our list.

Small shady beach at the head of the bay, yacht yard behind

Le Grazie, a small sheltered bay in the larger bay of La Spezia, ticked all these boxes for us. This small bay has a delightful but non-touristy village which is home for a boat yard specialising in wooden yachts. There are several excellent examples afloat in the bay.



Timber yacht in Le Grazie

Another fine example

Overhangs that go forever

We could easily jump on a local bus and go into the large town of La Spezia, which is home to a very extensive naval base, or travel 3 kilometres to the historic town of Portovenere. Portovenere was renown for a small cove frequented  by Lord Byron for bathing and meditation.

Rather disappointing naval museum in La Spezia

The naval base in La Spezia is home to historic collections of deep diving gear

Great markets in the town

Marina complexes in La Spezia

Portovenere, on the channel between Isole Palmira and the mainland

Panorama of the channel

Boulevard in Portovenere

The cove where Byron meditated

Same cove

Old castle battlements, church and path to Byron's grotto

Church in the castle couples at Portovenere

Lanes of Portovenere

Also, from La Spezia, we were able to get an all day train ticket that would take us to the five villages of the Cinque Terra. The Cinque Terra (meaning the five lands) is a strip of mountainous coast on the Ligurian sea north of La Spezia. The five villages of Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore nestle into the steep cliffs. The surrounding country has been terraced mostly by hand labour into fields growing grapes and lemons. There is no car access to the villages, transport is by foot, train or boat. These towns are unbelievably cute, but the tourists must outnumber the locals 50 to 1.

The beach at Monterosso 

The coastline south from Monterosso

Monterosso was our first stop. This town is mainly a beach and it is packed with tourists. We quickly decided we'd seen enough and embarked on the train to Venazza.

Harbour at Venazza

Coast north from Venazza

Main town square

Cave passage between the beach and town

Hiking up the narrow lanes

Venazza church and port from the castle above

Terraced fields behind the town

The next town was Corniglia.

Castle tower on top of the hill

Looking down from the tower  

Shady square

Farming the cliffs!

Manarola was the next town.

Railway station

Streets winding down the hill

Main street of Manarola

Perenial male sports

And finally, the village of Riomaggiore.

Tiny fishing harbour

The gorgeous blue of the Mediterranean

A main thoroughfare

We saw all five villages in the one day, but it was a real marathon in the summer heat. All up, we thought to spend five days at La Grazie, our perfect little anchorage. However, the night before our departure to Portofino, Megan and I both contracted food poisoning from something we cooked. It laid both of us up for the next two days. Such is the price of experience!