In our report of May 28th we had just arrived at our second destination
on our Italian trip,
Portovenere >
http://www.traveleurope.it/portoven.htm< is a beautiful
little village
(hamlet) on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea and situated on the Gulf
of the Poets and
near the Gulf of La Spezia. Arriving at the Royal Sporting Hotel,
around two o'clock
in the afternoon we were greeted, in English, by the hotel manager,
Marisa Burga, after
our introduction and passport identification, we were shown to our room
on the
second floor of the Hotel. It was a lovely room and balcony overlooking
the GULF OF
THE POETS, the Hotel being located about a half mile up the beach from
the Old Village
of Portovenere. After getting situated we took a walk around the
grounds. The Hotel is
located right on the beach. Less than 500 feet behind is a shear wall
of rock which was
close to 75 feet high . The hotel grounds consisted of a small (gardin)
and a full sized
tennis court as well as a yard full of flowers including Jasmine shrubs
that were in bloom
and had the most delightful fragrance:
>http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/carr/images/jas_sam.jpg<
That evening we ate at the Hotel where again the prices of the full dinner ran at 60,000 Lira plus there was a cover charge per person of 6, 500 Lira. The full course dinners were more than we wanted eat so we ordered from the menu.
The next morning when we got up there was a very large white sailboat,
(cruise ship)
anchored in the bay not far from our Hotel. They did not have the sails
up but the masts
where there and it was very impressive. Smaller boats came to it and it
looked like they
were either taking passengers off or restocking the ship. (We will take
our field glasses
next time) It was a lovely sunny, fairly warm day so we decided to take
the bus up to
LaSpezia , go to:
>
http://www.mi.cnr.it/WOI/deagosti/regions/liguria.html#La Spezia<
about a half hour bus ride. We were told , at the Hotel, we could buy
our tickets on the
bus, however, that was not the case but there was a kind Italian man
that talked with the
bus driver and he said we could purchase them when we got into
LaSpezia. However the
bus station headquarters were located outside of LaSpazia and we rode
all the way out
there which was almost as far out as it was from Portovenere to
LaSpezia. We bought two
tickets back to Portovenere and after looking at the size of the crowds
in the city decided
that with all the trouble we had finding our way around in Milan & Genoa
that we did not
want to get lost in LaSpezia so we went back to Portovenere. A nice
sightseeing ride.
Much on the order of a tour bus but no real contact with the city of
LaSpezia. When we got
back we decided to walk down to the Old City of Portovenere and there is
where we were
pleasantly surprised. Here was a small village type town with it many
building build along
the waterfront and then the remains of an old fort and a church build
in the 6th century on a
foundation of a 3rd century church.
A unique shopping area lay between the buildings along the waterfront and the buildings up the mountain side where there was only a walking street - maybe 30 feet wide with 4-5 story apartment buildings on both sides and unique little stores under most of the apartment building. Most of these little stores were not more than 50x100 feet in size and during business hours the merchants displayed a lot of their merchandise out in front of their buildings so the buyers to see what they had inside. Many of these buildings had been there for over a thousand years. We did a bit of shopping, but like here in America a lot of the products are imported it was hard to come by products "Made in Italy".
We went back again the following day. They had a nice town square there
where one
could sit on nice park benches, under towering trees and enjoy "people
watching" and just
relaxing. There was a limited sandy beach. We went up to the old
fortifications and
church, See picture at:
>
http://lisa.shiny.it/housing/portovenere/porto.htm< These are
among some of the oldest fortifications and have been put on UNESCOS
list of World
Heritage sites to be preserved..Go to:
>
http://www.unesco.org/whc/sites/826.htm<
Includes photo of site taken from the Gulf or Isle of Palmaria.
Also, in this area is a plaque in memory of the poet Lord Byron, a well
know English poet
who reportedly spent considerable time in this area. An informative WEB
site about Lord
Byron is at:>br>>
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8774/lordbyrn.htm<
Encyclopedia Britannica also has a lot of information on Lord Byron but
you have to be a
member to access it. You can get a 7 day courtesy access by going to
their WEB
site at:
>http://www.eb.com/csc/faqh.html#Free Trial Questions< Here is
a few words
taken from one of the Britannica articles: "Byron, George Gordon Byron,
6th Baron,
byname LORD BYRON (b. Jan. 22, 1788, London, Eng.--d.
April 19,
1824, Missolonghi, Greece), English Romantic poet and
satirist whose
poetry and personality captured the imagination of
Europe. Renowned as
the "gloomy egoist" of his autobiographical poem
Childe Harold's
Pilgrimage (1812-18) in the 19th century, he is now
more generally
esteemed for the satiric realism of Don Juan
(1819-24).
We spent four days in the Portovenere area and it was one of the most
delightful vacation
sites we visited. Largely due to the fact that the little villlage was
so charming, it was only
a short walk from our Hotel, the people were so friendly even though our
Italian was
almost non-existent. Here are people who's little village dates back
nearly two thousand
years, living in houses and apartments hundreds of years old but still
in fairly good shape
and many of the 4-5 story apartments having small family owned
businesses on the ground
floor. A place where one could enjoy a bit of bygone history coupled
with the modern
age of automobiles, TV, computers etc. Some of you are perhaps wondering
why we did
not go to Rome, Venice, Florence and such sites. The fact that we were
in our mid and
late 70's in age, our lack of Italian, but most of all because we found
a place that had
all the charm of old Europe without the stress of trying to find our way
around.
Both my wife, Thema, and I found PORTOVENERE the ideal vacation spot and
would go
back again if circumstances made it possible.
On May 22nd at 3:30 in the morning we reluctantly took our leave of this lovely village. This early departure hour was necessary in order that we make our train connections to get us to the airport where our American Airlines plane at Malpensa Airport was scheduled to leave at noon that day. It was approximately a five hour train ride from LaSpezia to Milan and then a half hour shuttle bus ride out from the Milan train station to the Airport at Malpensa. We had to take a Taxi from Portovenere to LaSpezia arriving at the RR station about four thirty that morning. We then boarded the express train that had come up from Rome and was a very long train. Because we did not know where the 1st class coaches would be, we were stationed too far back so had to get on the 2nd class coaches and walk quite a distance through the train before getting to our compartment. Our connections at Genova back to Milan went much better than our first experience at the Genova RR station and to make a long story short we got to our Airport destination with out too much trouble again traveling through the fertile farm lands in the Genova/Milan area. We arrived at Milan Central RR station and caught a shuttle bus out to the airport almost immediately and in plenty of time to get all the documentation, etc. done before our flight was to depart.
It was a beautiful warm summer day when our plane lifted off and headed
up over the
Italian, Swiss & French Alps, what a lovely view from the plane
windows. Our scheduled
trip was to get us into Chicago about 3:00 o'clock Chicago time.
However about an hour
after crosssing over Ireland, the pilot announced that we were having an
electrical problem
and that we would be turning back possibly landing at the Shannon
Airport in Ireland if
necessary but they would try to make it back to London. There was
some concern on the plane but actually there seemed to be more of a
spirit of , "whatever
is to be will be" and more a feeling of community than before. It took
nearly two hours
to get back to Heathrow Airport in London. go to:
>http://www.airwise.com/airports/europe/LHR/LHR_01.html< where we were required
to go through identification and customs the same as though we had come
there for a
vacation. We then were told we could use our boarding passes as
vouchers to get a meal
at the restaurant in the airport. We did so and had a delightful dish
of cheese lasanga. It
took us a while to find our way around but we finally found the gate we
were to depart
from and three hours after landing we were back on the plane and headed
again to
Chicago with an arrival time there of about midnight.
Since most of us had lost our connections with other flights out of Chicago, we were put up for the remainder of the night at the Chicago Hilton next to the airport, with a voucher good for breakfast the next morning. By the time we got through customs and to our Hotel room it was about two o'clock in the morning. They scheduled our flight from Chicago to LaCrosse to leave about 11:44am. The plane was not full and there were a number of young ladies who were a part of a Clown Group that was going to the Universtiy of LaCrosse to put on a clown demonstration. They provided a lot of fun and entertainment for the passengers on this flight to LaCrosse. making the time go by very rapidly. We arrived in LaCrosse at 1:00pm where we were met by our son, Roger and family. A nice welcome home.
We want to thank everyone who helped give us such a wonderful trip and vacation, especially to Mary Weber of Wisconsin Public Television, Ellen Shonene, our Italian Liaison that helped us so very much in planning the trip, our daughter, Dawn, and husband, Bernard, and family who gave us the chance to take the trip, our daughter, Sue, who took us to the airport when we left and who took care of things while we were gone and to our son, Roger, and family for meeting us at the airport and getting us back home.
We also want to thank all of you who have shown an interest in our trip and have commented on the articles we have written it is all appreciated.
WE HAD ONE WONDERFUL TIME