La Spezia in January - Portovenere

We want to get an early start after an early lunch in order to visit Portovenere so in the morning we just go to the nearby Coop to do some shopping. There's nothing very exciting, local products seem overpriced and the meat and fish sections seem a little tired, but we get a few basics and a couple of sea breams on special offer.

On the way back we stop outside a greengrocers attracted by the personalized labels on the various fruits and vegetables extolling the particular virtues of each and specifying where they are from. Unusual. We go in. Most of the products are Sicilian and the owner is as enthusiastic as the labels would lead one to presume. We buy sheep/goat milk ricotta, olives, fish sauce for pasta, dried tomatoes and come out full of nostalgia for Sicily in the midst of our stay in Liguria.

Nevertheless, we still manage the early lunch and by just past 12.30 we set off by car. It's quicker driving out of La Spezia in the direction of Portovenere and we are soon parking in the locality called Le Grazie where parking is free in the winter (well, until 14th March). The painted houses, some modern, are either side of the enclosed bay with water so it seems we are still back on the lake. Even though the village faces east it still manages to get some early afternoon sun even in January. 

We see a sign pointing out the path to Portovenere so we decide to go on foot. The path starts by the directions to the Roman villa, goes up and crosses the road and quickly goes through the wood, over the hill and down some steps and then along the road to Portovenere.

Portovenere is, well, Portovenere is absolutely lovely.....The typical Ligurian style tall painted houses reach new heights of narrowness, impossibly thinly squashed in one next to another like in a Naif painting. I sit on a convenient bench and admire. 

The magic which had so far been missing in this trip is suddenly working, especially when we continue along the seafront. Before the severe dark stoned Chiesa di San Pietro perched on its rock overlooking the open sea, 

there's access through the dark stone wall along the rocks, there's a handrail, to Byron's grotto. The view of the coast north with tall pale cliffs and seagulls and Mediterranean vegetation clinging here and there, is spectacular. 

The church is open and free to visit, inside the roughly hewn black and white rocks tell a somehow less polished but more authentic spiritual tale of Liguria in this tiny village poised between the calm harbour to the east and the towering cliffs and open seas to the west. Small but impressive inside. 

Outside there's some filming going on so we can't get a look at the terrace with the arches or the one above so in the meantime we head up to the castle. On the way we stop to look at the outside and in, of San Lorenzo church. The small yet perfect black and white exterior hides an unusual church within. The stone (fortunately recovered from baroque coatings at some point in its history) is mainly black and the discordant and more elegant white columns were replacements for other black ones. Very different and very atmospheric. A corner is dedicated to the Madonna Bianca painting which legend says underwent a miracle in the late 14th century when the picture, blackened by age and dirt, suddenly appeared beautiful and clean again.

Above, the castle is closed but we look into the cemetery, perched on the sheer rockface above the sea, and go as far as the old mills for the view.

We can hear wifts of opera music from the small orchestra being filmed above San Pietro so wander back down through the one main narrow street of the historical centre, as far as the port and square.

Back at San Pietro the musicians are coming down the steps so we go up to admire the view. A dilemma ensues but one of the shortest, impossible not to wait for sunset here even if it means walking back to Le Grazie in the dark. Nevertheless, the early lunch has now resulted in a decidedly hungry feeling so we stop at one of the very few places open in the historical centre, Bar Zurigo, for coffee and in my case an uncharacteristic but eagerly devoured brioche. We partake outside on the terrace. The weather today has been splendid for January, sunny all day and so mild that even at 4.30 we can sit outside on the terrace, in the shade, to drink coffee without feeling chilly. A cappuccino, an espresso and a brioche out on the terrace overlooking Portovenere cost €5.50. I'm not complaining.

Sunset is now approaching. First we go back up to the castle but eventually for the sun's final decent behind cloud on the horizon we are back at the arches of San Pietro. 

Nature needs nothing to complete its beauty but sometimes a human made frame can add even more poetry. There were few people today in Portovenere, a few couples or friends strolling around, some photographers, probably some discreet tourists like us. As dusk is falling and we walk back along the seaside towards Le Grazie it's almost perfectly deserted and silent, hardly a car passing, just the soft sound of miniature waves lapping, the gulls have turned in for the evening.

We take a short cut up hundreds of steps (this may be an exaggeration) and look at the first lights back in Portovenere

and then there's a short stretch along the road in the dark, but there's little traffic and I use my phone torch to alert the few and courteous cars to our presence. We are soon going down the steps towards Le Grazie when we nearly jump out of our skins to see four eyes, clearly belonging to two large dogs (they were growling) glaring hostily at us in the dark. One comes towards us barking and snarling. Fortunately, at this point an irritated female voice shouts 'Giada' and Giada, much to my relief, stops. Eventually Giada's owner convinces her dog she has better things to do than getting her teeth into stray walkers, although to be fair Giada probably got (nearly) as big a fright as us, and gets her on a lead and out of the way, and we reach the car unscathed. A beautiful afternoon in a beautiful beautiful place.