Author: Merro

We have been in Corfu for a few days, mainly going through the formalities of entering a new country. Yesterday, was to be our day to go sightseeing in Corfu Old Town, but we were starting out with a coffee at our favourite cafe, so we could access wifi. James looked up to see our mate and yachting legend, John Valentine, approaching. We were expecting to see John and the crew of Tainui, but somewhere further east. What great luck to see them while we all are still in Greece as they were leaving the next day for Montenegro. We met Maxine, Pasha and Tatiana, all of whom we had heard about from John in Sydney. We have been looking forward to meeting his formidable crew, who had sailed the Volga with John on Tainui. You can read some of their exploits on Tainui.org, John’s blog. For any sailor thinking of sailing the Belomorsk Canal, the Volga, the White Sea, Black Sea and other Russian Waters, these are people to read.

We chatted for awhile, about Montenegro and Croatia, enjoying our coffee and telling them about a book called 777, which an excellent cruising guide to Albania, Montenegro, Croatia and other points along the Adriatic Coast. John gave us some information about ports for us to visit in Greece and information about Marmaris too. He introduced us to Marty, at the next table, who was sailing Canty, with husband Paul and son John from their home port in Camden, Maine. We decided to meet for dinner that evening to discuss sailing. James and I went off to visit Corfu Old Town, the Liston and the old fortress. This town has been influenced by hundreds of years of Venetian rule, a decade or so of French rule and influenced by time spent as a British Protectorate.

 

 

We walked through the Old Fort and visited the church of Saint George and enjoyed vistas over Old Corfu Town, the Greek Mainland and also Albania, under heavy cloud, in the distance. We saw young cricketers checking out the cricket pitch between the Liston and the car park. The night saw the crews of Tainui, Canty and Mercier tell sailing stories until the wee hours of the morning. Paul and Marty have sailed extensively in New England, Scotland, Ireland and Scandinavia, much chillier climes than we are used to.  Fascinating to hear about sailing in such different circumstances.

Before we leave Vieste, we should say that we were welcomed by several of the Italian Coast Guards’ finest, including the handsome Captain, who was there with his wife and their adorable son. We have mentioned it was a feast day and even though he had the day off, he was just checking that everything was going well at the office.

When he found out we were from Sydney, he told his wife and she asked if we knew her first cousin. She said he lived in Sydney. This happens quite a bit.

She said “His name is Joe Tripodi.” James said “Oh yes, he is infamous.” I quietly kicked James in the shin and smiling said “ We do know who Joe Tripodi is, but we don’t know him personally. He was a politician for a very long time.” She nodded demurely and we can see she had been told Joe was famous and important. What is that line about not being able to pick your relatives?

Even though the weather in Vieste was nice, by the time we got to Bari, the weather was a bit grayer. Bari is a big city, with some beautiful old buildings and Centro Storico, but very busy and a bit rough around the edges. We walked quite a bit, found Nespresso, also a great supermarket – Numero Primi and Eataly.

All of these made provisioning for the boat easier as the meat, cheese, condiments and pastas were fresh and at Eataly, we were able to have a wonderful lunch with the nicest salad we had eaten for weeks. Eataly also had a terrific wine selection of wines from all over Italy, so we think Bari is a good place to provision.

We decided that even though the wind was strengthening, it should be safe enough to dash down to Brindisi on Wednesday, because Thursday’s weather was raising red flags. The front came in a bit early and we had 2 meter seas following us on Wednesday, but it was manageable because we were running with the wind. It wasn’t comfortable, but it was safe enough.

The natural harbour of Brindisi, is famous for being at the end of the Appian Way, famous even before the Roman times. It is such a narrow entrance, it was easily protected. The Brindisi citizens decided that Mark Anthony was going to start a civil war in Rome, so it chained the harbour and denied his war ships entry from Greece.

We were thankful that Brindisi’s grand seawall offered immediate safe haven and protection from the rolling Adriatic waves. We had two days to repack and sit out the storm before we would head off to Greece (via Otranto).

We sailed to Otranto, a medieval walled city and then left early the next morning for Greece.

Arrivederci Italia, we hope to be back next year.

 

The way forward in 2014, for James and I seems to have a theme of embracing family, friends and experiences.  We had great Christmas eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day get-togethers with family and friends.

Although Mercier is safely tucked away on a hard stand in Croatia, we have shared plenty of time on the water with good friends.  The sailing season resumes in January and we hope to do Tuesday and Friday Twilights on Jackie Clare followed by Saturday club racing for James on Impetuous Too. We will be looking at what to do in Sydney for our gap year and how to structure our days. Our longs walks on the shores of the Med are sorely missed.  The passeggiata is such a wonderful time of day, social as well as aiding fitness. We will try to fit them into our day here in Sydney, walks through the nearby suburbs, along the water and through the bush.

 

 

 

 

 

So Happy 2014, hopefully this year will bring health, happiness and adventure to all our friends and family. We look forward to speaking to you, seeing you or even just sending an email.  Good Luck to my sister, Linda and brother-in-law Rick, moving from desert to mountains later in 2014 sounds pretty exciting.