Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting There & Away
Porto Venere is served by daily buses from La Spezia.
From late March to October,
Consorzio Marittimo Turistico Cinque Terre Golfo dei Poeti
(
0187 732987;
www.navigazionegolfodeipoeti.it
)
sails from Porto Venere to/from Cinque Terre vil-
lages (one way with all stops €16, return €24 to €26) and runs boat excursions to the is-
lands of Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto (€10), as well as services to La Spezia and Lerici (call
for seasonal information).
Lerici & Around
POP 10,447
Magnolia, yew and cedar trees grow in the 1930s public gardens at Lerici, an exclusive re-
treat of pool-equipped villas clinging to the cliffs along its beach. In another age Byron
and Shelley sought inspiration here.
Sights & Activities
From Lerici a scenic 3km coastal stroll leads northwest to
San Terenzo
, a seaside village
with a sandy beach and Genoese castle. The Shelleys stayed at the waterfront Villa Magni
(closed to visitors) in the early 1820s and Percy drowned here when his boat sank off the
coast in 1822 on a return trip from Livorno.
Another coastal stroll, 4km southeast, takes you past magnificent little bays to
Tellaro
, a
fishing hamlet with pink-and-orange houses cluttered about narrow lanes and tiny squares.
Sit on the rocks at the
Chiesa San Giorgio
and imagine an octopus ringing the church bells -
which, according to legend, it did to warn the villagers of a Saracen attack.
Castello di Lerici
(
www.castellodilerici.it
; Piazza San Giorgio 1; admission €6/4; 10.30am-1.30pm & 5-9pm Tue-Sun)
For outstanding views make your way on foot or by public lift to Lerici's symbolic 12th-
century castle, once taken by the Pisans but today given over to a rather bizarre collection
of dinosaurs in its
Museo Geopaleontologico
(fossils have been found near here).
CASTLE, MUSEUM
Sleeping & Eating
Locanda Miranda
INN, GASTRONOMIC
€€
