Apia: the home of the author of Treasure Island

The Villa Vailima, residence where Robert Louis Stevenson lived his final years, preserves original furnishings and documents of the Scottish writer.

A few steps away, his tomb on Mount Vaea, reachable with a brief excursion, offers views of the Pacific Ocean that he so dearly loved.

Continuing, one visits the covered market of Apia, where traditional Samoan craftsmanship and local products are sold under a large wooden structure.

Toward evening, the Papapapaitai Falls, just outside the city, cascade over one hundred meters into a gorge covered with tropical vegetation.

The inhabitants of Apia carried Robert Louis Stevenson's coffin on their shoulders to the summit of Mount Vaea, a gesture of affection testifying to how beloved the writer was by the Samoan community that had welcomed him.

Stevenson chose Samoa precisely for its climate and to escape the tuberculosis that afflicted him, finding in the island a refuge that allowed him to continue writing until his death in 1894.