Mountains Come First

As Fernando Braudel begins his history of the Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II:

Mountains come first: The Mediterranean is by definition a landlocked sea. But beyond this we must distinguish between the kinds of land that surround and confine it.  It is, above all, a sea ringed by mountains. This outstanding fact and its many consequences have received too little attention in the past from historians.

The mountains crashing into the sea outside of Trieste:

We spent our last days in Italy in the city of Genoa and on Saturday spent some time hiking in the rugged country to the south of the city.  Here high mountains really do come down to the sea illustrating Braudel’s famous observation that in Italy “mountains come first”.  The photos here are from the Val Polcevera.