{"id":565,"date":"2013-06-07T12:35:24","date_gmt":"2013-06-07T11:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/merrington.net\/?p=565"},"modified":"2013-06-07T12:35:24","modified_gmt":"2013-06-07T11:35:24","slug":"a-tale-of-two-citadels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/?p=565","title":{"rendered":"A Tale of Two Citadels"},"content":{"rendered":"

In case you missed the last blog, we had a lovely detour into Bonifacio.\u00a0 Sue hadn\u2019t been there for 31 years and Donald hadn\u2019t been there ever, so a trip seemed mandatory.\u00a0 Bonifacio is so lovely that I was ready to return after a week.<\/p>\n

The pen we were given was a pen right at the dock, 50 inches to the nearest restaurant.\u00a0 Donald actually jumped off at the end of the arm, to check that there would be enough room and to take the stern lines. We backed down to the space and 39 diners put down their forks and watched James put Mercier into the confined space. At the best of times, mooring and anchoring are a tense task.\u00a0 With the feeling the whole of Bonifacio was watching, the pressure was certainly on.\u00a0 Thank goodness for James great eyesight and bow thrusters!\u00a0 Donald took the stern lines and bounded back on board.\u00a0 There was a collective sigh of relief by the crew and the diners had to continue with their lunches without any amusing incidents to fill their postcards. Not to worry, a few charter yachts, which berthed on the next arm, gave them ample material to send home.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Luckily, it was only a week, since James and I had been to Bonifacio.\u00a0 Did I mention that my friend Sue is a fitness trainer?\u00a0\u00a0 Not to mention, Donald is hyperfit\u00a0 and has incredible balance*.\u00a0 Sue says like a \u2018monkey on springs\u2019.\u00a0 \u00a0James and I had climbed to the Citadel three times last week, so we could almost keep up with the Swannos as they bounded up the steps.\u00a0 Sue saw amazing changes since she had last been in Bonifacio, so I will let her tell us about it.<\/p>\n

\"Sue<\/a>
Sue taking a photo of petanque players in the Citadel at Bonifacio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SUE: \u2018 31 years since I last sailed into Bonifaccio & was delighted when we berthed in almost exactly the same position as on that last visit. However the \u2018town Quay\u2019 of the past where visiting yachts simply dropped anchor & reversed stern to the main street has now been replaced by a large number of pontoons accommodating the unbelievable number of visiting yachts that now seem to frequent the pretty ports of the med. The restaurants of the quay all now have their few street tables of the past sitting in glamorous waterfront annexes complete with retractable roofs, wicker flooring & cane lounges. The waterfront by day was teeming with people & there is a whole new development on the opposite side of the fjiord like bay which appears to be still being added to. However as we climbed the steps to the old town, admired the spectacular views & strolled around the charming little streets very little appeared to have changed at all which I found strangely relieving. A memory of one of the favourite places of my youthful travel can hold its place & so grateful to James & Gaila for the opportunity to revisit.\u2019<\/i><\/p>\n

\"In<\/a>
In the Citadel at Bonifacio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We walked out to the edge of the citadel before dinner to gaze across to Sardinia.<\/p>\n

We had another lovely dinner at Stella D\u2019Oro, we went back so Sue and Donald could also taste these typical Corsican dishes. Then a lovely walk down to Mercier.\u00a0 It was an early departure planned for the morning, to make up the time well spent in going those extra ten miles.<\/p>\n

In the morning, it was once again bright and sunny and we motor sailed into Castelsardo in the early afternoon.\u00a0 We were all telling ourselves it would be a \u201cquiet day\u201d; no super yachts, none of the excitement of Bonifacio.\u00a0 We were all pleasantly surprised when Castelsardo came into view.\u00a0 The old city is up on a granite outcrop, with the castle built in the 12th<\/sup> century by the Doria Family and today\u2019s town built around it still exists from about 1624.\u00a0 The streets and the buildings are essentially \u00a0the same today.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Castle at Castelsardo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The old castle is now a museum, mainly of beautiful pieces dell’apprezzata basketry on display including for sailors, a \u2018boat\u2019 made of lake reeds with marsh hay to create a Fassoi boat, used by fishermen from local islands.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>
On the Rampart Castelsardo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We climbed up to the ramparts passing cross bows, a rock throwing catapult and drawbridges.\u00a0 The views from the ramparts were beautiful vineyards in the distance and we could see Corsica in the distance. \u00a0On the ramparts baby seagulls were learning to fly, being encouraged by their mothers.\u00a0 It was a noisy affair with the chicks crying out \u201cWait for me\u201d and the mothers squawking back encouragement.<\/p>\n

After our Aperol Spritzers, we walked back down to Mercier and a \u2018 Sue cooked\u2019 dinner.\u00a0 We enjoy the aromas from the cockpit, with a bit of Swiss jazz radio in the background.<\/p>\n

\"Sue<\/a>
Sue tenderising the meat with special implement<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Several other sailors are walking back up the steep hill to town for dinner \u00a0stop by and chat about which way we are headed tomorrow and we hear about where they have just been.\u00a0 A beautiful pork dinner arrives as we sit outside watching Vivid Castelsardo, colors being beamed onto the granite cliff behind the marina. .\u00a0\u00a0 It is warmer now and we last outside until coffee.\u00a0 We all agree Castelsardo has been a marvelous surprise.<\/p>\n

\"Rene,<\/a>
Rene, how about these doors for the Nand V?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In case you missed the last blog, we had a lovely detour into Bonifacio.\u00a0 Sue hadn\u2019t been there for 31 years and Donald hadn\u2019t been there ever, so a trip seemed mandatory.\u00a0 Bonifacio is so lovely that I was ready to return after a week. The pen we were given was a pen right at … Continue reading A Tale of Two Citadels<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3VxXq-97","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=565"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":576,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565\/revisions\/576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}