天臺山是一方古老而神奇的土地，先秦古籍《山海经》里就有记载：“大荒之中，有山名曰天台高山。”南朝陶弘景在《真诰》一书中说：“山有八重，四面如一，顶对三辰，当牛女分野，上应台宿，故名天台。”

天台山有景有道有佛有茶，现代人记得更多的当然是有诗。

1300年前，一支庞大的诗人队伍从长安出发，他们由扬州经运河南下，渡钱塘江，入浙东运河，再南折沿曹娥江、剡溪溯流而上，一路载酒扬帆、击节高歌，最后来到天台山。由唐朝而起的天台热，成就了天台山这一浙东唐诗之路目的地，也奉献了诗路中最华美的篇章。

越过万千的红尘，涉过重重叠叠的山水，踏着蜿蜒山径，一路微醺去天台，寻找那了尘绝世的清凉神意，寻觅诗人们探寻的终极之所。那么今天，就让我们触摸掩于神秘色彩后的天台山本色吧。

Mount Tiantai， a place of wonder and antiquity， is described in Classic of Mountains and Seas， a gazette of geography and myths written in the centuries before the Qin Dynasty （221-207BC）. Tao Hongjing （456-536）， a Taoist alchemist of the Southern Dynasties， explained why the mount was called Tiantai in a book. Nowadays， Mount Tiantai is celebrated for natural splendors， Taoism， Buddhism， and tea. It is also known in modern times for its connection with ancient poems.

In the Tang （618-907）， numerous poets travelled all the way from Changan， the capital of the dynasty situated in the northwest. In the South of the Yangtze River， they traveled mostly by boat. Their boat journey includes a trip from Yangzhou by the Grand Canal and all the way to the Qiantang River. After they crossed the Qiantang River， their boat tour continued on the Eastern Zhejiang Canal and then they followed a path along Caoe River and Shanxi River until they reached Tiantai， their destination. For hundreds of years， they came to visit Mountain Tiantai. Modern scholars consider the road they took in eastern part of the province as a road of poetry. This is the most brilliant section of the roads of poetry in ancient Zhejiang.

It is poetically fascinating to take a look at Mount Tiantai to see why it attracted so many poets so many centuries ago.