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We
became firmly rooted to Govia Marina
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. We had five
more coats of varnish applied to the bright work, Charlie stained
the rub rail and we did some cle aning
and organizing which we seldom take time to accomplish. This was a
relaxed time which included visits with friends we had met on the
Millennium Odyssey and the opportunity to meet more cruisers.
Corfu was a good ren devous
point for us to meet our friends Janet and Joel Hass from Florida.
They flew into Athens, spent a couple of days there, and then flew
to Corfu. Janet and Joel brought welcome spare parts and mail and
news from home. When
Charlie turned in our motor scooter, he rented a small car so that
we could tour the high points of
Corfu. We spent the afternoon of their arrival around Corfu
Town, visited
the Old Fort, walked the narrow streets which look
far more Venetian tha
n Greek,
and had a cool drink sitting on a shady street. We took photos of
Vlaherenas Church, one of the trademark photo spots of Corfu. We strolled
the Spianada, or Esplanada, the h ug
e shady park
which was designed during French occupation. The Spianada is the
gathering place
for both locals and tourists and the magnificent trees both there
and throughout
Corfu Town give the city a rare and lovely ambiance.
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We also toured
Achillion, in the village of Gastouri, 11.5 kilometers south of Corfu
Town. Empress Elizabeth of Austriachose to build the Achillion there
on the foundation of the area most loved by vacationing Venetians
during their rule. Elizabeth named her mansion Achillion after her
most beloved Homeric hero, Achilles. The statue of the dying Achilles,
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with the arrow
protruding from his heel, is dramatic and beautiful. The plaza of
the muses is another impressive area as well as the interior art and
architecture.The view from the palace is exquisite and breezes blow
through the massive windows cooling the interior without need for
air-conditioning.
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The following day we explored more of Corfu Island including the Monastery
at Paleokastrisa and the
real "high point" of the area Angelokastro which overlooks
the mountain housing the Monastery. The Monastery is reached by car.
Angelokastrois reached on foot, and the climb is worth the effort
for the view is spectacular. On the winding narrow road t o
Angelokastro we came to a T in the road and were uncertain of which
way to turn. A delightful little man jumped up from his seat in a
tiny roadside stand and rushed over to the car, map in hand. He pointed
to where we were, we then pointed at where we wanted to go and he
showed us that we must turn around and go a few meters back before
we turned into the narrow road which would take us as far as possible
to our goal. In the meantime he invited us to come to his
stand and with tooth
picks let us
sample his jars of honey, offered his own homemade wine and produced
all kinds of home dried herbs and spice s.
In all honesty the honey is some of the best I have ever tasted. While
all this is going on he became more and more excited shaking hands
and giving us traditional two cheeked kisses. When I pulled out a
camera to snap a photo of Charlie buying the honey and herbs he shouted,
"Bravo, Bravo." I don't know if he is normally so enthusiastic
or if we were
the big customers of the day but his great gusto will long be remembered.
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Our sail withing
Greece included the charming island of Paxoi where we anchored in
a beautiful harbor where we could swim directly off Sea Gem. As luck
would have it, we found another outstanding restaurant to celebrate
our last stop in Greece.
The blue
water passage to Sicily, our port of entry to Italy, was a mixture
of benign and choppy seas. The passage took forty-eight hours and
passed quickly for the Hasses as well as us.
During our
approach to Sicily I was on the early morning watch so that Charlie
could catch a brief nap before we arrived at our destination. The
lights of Catania as well as the coast line were visible from a
great distance as was a strange red streak at the top of a very
high mountain. The streak would brighten and then dim, only to become
bright again. I studied the phenomenon for a time before I figured
out it was molten lava running down the side of Etna, Europe's only
active volcano. I woke Charlie so that he could see it, and also
Janet and Joel.
We could smell the sulfur odor floating on the heavy smoke. We could
not photograph the hot lava, it was dark, but on our departure we
were able to capture the plume emitting from the volcano. We don't
know how common this much emission is, but it looked quite awesome
to us.
We checked into
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Italy at Catania,
on Sicily, where the officials were pleasant while requiring the usual
multiple form filing. There were plenty of handsome young
Italian naval men doing their compulsory tour of duty. The captain
sent out to find one that spoke English and Simon spent the remaining
time visiting with us and walking us back to the boat. He was
going to try
to arrange duty-free fuel for us but that never materialized. We went
to the tourist information office and received good attention from
the pretty girls who were happy to be photographed with Charlie.
We found the
Sicilians to be ultra friendly. A case in point was asking a marina
employee and a friend of his sitting at the end of the dock would
they please call a taxi for us? "We want to go to a good restaurant."
They got into what sounded like a violent argument, which was actually
a friendly discussion. One man jumped up and said, "I will take
you in my car." Actually all this was done by pantomime because
the English was very limited, but we understood and obediently climbed
into his car. He
then
introduced himself as a local surgeon and we carried on as detailed
a discussion as possible until
he deposited us at the
restaurant, which
was indeed excellent. We were there before
it opened, it didn't open until half past eight. We strolled around
the industrial zone neighborhood, shopping in an extensive restaurant
supply house where we purchased a fine new can opener. The idea of
eating dinner before nine o'clock is rather uncivilized in most of
Europe so you go with the flow, or go hungry.
Joel found a car and driver to take us on a tour of Taormina the following
day, one of the "must see"locations on Sicily. We saw: the
ancient Greek amphitheater, where all the seats have a view of the
sea as well as the stage the museum with a graphic illustration of
recorded eruptions of Etna the views alone are enough reason to take
the trip
up the mountain to Taormina. Our tour ended with the Hasses leaving
for the airport and their flight to Rome, then back home.
Joel and Janet's visit was delightful and we are flattered that they
spent their precious vacation time on Sea Gem.
We pulled out of Catania and sailed on to Syracuse where we anchored
in a delightful spot, finding out the next morning it was prohibited .
We swam, went ashore for an Internet and supplies. We shopped at a
small grocery and when we asked the owner to please call a taxi for
us to get the stuff back to the boat he, and his mother, volunteered
that he would take us in his car. He had to go get his car, maneuver
into the narrow alley where we loaded our supplies which included
a lot of bottled water, and we piled in and he drove us back to the
boat. The streets in these small cities are unbelievably narrow an
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d the Italians
do not drive slowly. I don't know why the streets and sidewalks are
not littered with dead pedestrians. I am as skittish as a nervous
horse when I am walking. There don't seem to be many rules, and no
way does the pedestrian have any rights. You just have to be quick
and get out of the way.
Syracuse
was a tempting place to stay but we were already in the mode to head
homeward so we left Syracuse and headed for Sardinia. We almost decided
to bypass Sardinia and gutsy it out straight to Spain. I'm glad we
didn't. We came into Villasimius, at Fortezza Vecchia early on the
morning of July 16. What a delightful new marina.
We pulled
in, to the fuel dock with three able dock hands to aid us in the
strong wind. We took on diesel at about US $3.50 a gallon and were
directed to a berth. Nice laid mooring lines for the bow, again
we are stern to the dock with a large boat from Brussels next to
us. The marina is new, not many boats are here, and the staff goes
out of their way to be helpful.
We mentioned
when we were in the marina office that we would like to eat out
and in a flash the manager called his restaurant friend and a car
came to pick us up and transport us to a lovely fish restaurant.
As it was after two p.m. they were actually closing but took us
anyway. Very few patrons were there and the fish, prawns and squid
were grilled and delicious. We went back to the boat and had a siesta,
as three nights underway take their toll.
We have altered
plans again and now plan to sail to the Canaries so that we will
not have to fly back from the states in September. Our next leg
will be all the way to Gibralter which is 753 miles or about five
to six days at sea.
I believe
I can send this off in the Marina Office before we leave. We have
fuel, water and with a few loaves of fresh bread will be able to
head out if the Mistral is not blowing too strongly. Until later,
from Sea Gem in beautiful Villasimius, Fortezza Vecchia, Sardinia
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