Merry Christmas to all our Readers

The Devonian Period

It's a Saturday, 20th December 2014, and Jane and I are cleaning around and packing up the cottage we have been staying in in Devon since 3rd October 2014.  When we arrived here outré plan was to stay for two months then continues our Gap Year travels staying with friends in Toronto, New York and Miami before having Christmas with my sister and her family in Orlando, Florida.  How the best laid plans of mice and men can go awry!

Merry Christmas everybody.

In very brief summary, Jane was not only diagnosed with bowel cancer, but thanks to the quick ministrations of the UK National Health Service she was diagnosed, admitted to hospital, operated upon, discharged and, according to the consultant surgeon, cured, within a apace of 8 days!  Now that what I call service.  Any follow up treatments will now happen in Australia to where we will return in early January 2015.

Tomorrow we drive to Jane's sister's house in Bramley to have a relatively quiet Christmas there before finally packing up and returning to the UK, with Jane in particular leaving a little more of herself behind here than she may originally have anticipated.

Ian outside an historic pile.

Our time here has been spent in the lovely village of Blackawton, off the beaten tourist track but a just a few miles from Dartmouth and Totnes and an hour south of Exeter.  The weather here since we arrived has been pretty wet and windy, but interspersed with some glorious sunny days too when we have escaped into the Devon countryside and just enjoyed being here.  Great local pubs and restaurants to snuggle into when its too awful to go outside much.

We have visited all the local National Trust houses including Greenway, Agatha Christies seaside house, Saltram House and may other more historic piles.  Walks along deserted beaches and windswept cliff tops have rounded out the experience, between various trips to hospital.  A trip to London also took in the poppies at the Tower.

The poppies at the Tower of London

Jane is recovering brilliantly now and we look forward to seeing or hearing from you all again the New Year. Have a very merry Christmas and a really wonderful New Year .

We leave you with a selection of photos from our time here in Devon.

View from Darmouth over to Kingswear

Buckland Abbey, house of Sir Francis Drake.

Love and peace to you all

The rood screen in Blackawton Church, with Advent candles.  Beautiful.

Ian and Jane

Sailing in the Ionian Islands

Prologue: Its 30th November in real time and a few things have happened here in Devon since my last upload of the post about Prague on the 11th November, but we won’t dwell on them here, their time will come.  Suffice to say this Blog is a positive way of spending some time as Jane is recuperating very well. 

Corfu and Paxos

We flew out of Prague (flight #17 in the trip so far) for Corfu on the afternoon of Wednesday 24th September.  It’s a 3 hour flight.

For those that don’t know the place, it is a Greek island, one of the largest of the Ionian Islands, off the west coast of mainland Greece. Here is a map.

We landed late in the evening and took a taxi from the Airport to the hotel, about 20 minutes drive away.  Greek thing #1. Taxis don’t have meters anymore.  Very friendly taxi driver immediately launched into a Greek “woe is us” story about the very broken Greek economy and struggling tourism industry.  We discovered when we arrived that all taxi rides in Corfu cost 20 euro (for tourists), unless they are very short (15 euro) or very long (25 euro - Corfu is not a very big island).

We had booked a hotel room overnight on the inter web and we rolled up at 10.30pm hoping for a hot bath and a comfy bed.  Greek thing #2.  Bath plugs are not allowed in Greek hotels!  So we stuffed a plastic bag and flannel in the plughole, had a middling cool bath and dreamt about a weeks glorious sailing in the late summer Mediterranean sun.

Thumbs up in the rain in Corfu. It can only get better!

The next day it started out dull and moved to pouring rain by mid morning!  We were due to go to the marina at Gouvia and meet up with David and Barbara at 3pm, mercifully the rain stopped in time for the short (15 euro) trip down and there they were unwrapping the boat.  

Hello Barbara, Hello Remilla.

David and Barbara are old friends from the time when Jane and I first lived together in our little 2 up, 2 down house in West Ealing, London. They were newly married too and lived across the road. Happy, carefree pre-children, full-on house renovation days.  David retired a few years ago and pursued a lifetime’s dream to buy a cruising boat, and with Barbara as the willing mate, they have spent two years sailing to and around the Mediterranean, arriving in Corfu a month ago.  This was our chance to catch-up with them before the boat is laid up for the winter months.

Looks who is in charge, or "at the helm" in sea speak. Look at the sky!

And what a wonderful week we had.  The boat “Remilla", is a Bowman 40 ft, a great floating home with all mod cons for the live-in sailor, comfy berths, even heating if the weather turns chilly.  The only problem we had was that there was no freezer for the ice cubes in the G&Ts! We stowed all our sailing clothes, had our safety briefing, and then sat in dock for a day waiting for better weather!

Now look who is aft the helm.  David keeping lookout for things that need to be looked out for!

Then off we set, cruising the Ionian sea. We enjoyed a circular mini-cruise incorporating Mourtos on the Greek mainland, Lakka on Paxos, with its turquoise, clear water, Gaios, then back to Gouvia.

What a wonderful week it was.  Mostly slowly sailing around the islands, not enough wind for David and me really but the girls enjoyed the sunbathing and the easy work in the galley as there was no sudden tacking or gybing around.  Jane even had fun “driving” Remilla for many hours, as we took turns at the helm. 

Oh the decisions, lamb, or beef, or fish?

 The sea was clear, the sky was blue, the sun was autumnally hot, we saw dolphins and turtles, there was much eating of fresh seafood and yummy spit roast lamb in port side Tavernas.  Greek thing #3, no printed receipts.  The only retail outlets that provided us printed receipt and took credit cards whilst in Greece were the big supermarket and the Marina.  Everywhere else it was cash!   

We did love being tourists in Greece.  The people were friendly, the food was satisfying and relatively cheap, and being somewhat at the end of season, the restaurants, marinas and tourist places were not particularly busy. It was easy to find a suitable anchorage each evening, and the G&Ts tasted particularly fine with a beautiful harbour or ocean view to hand, after the late afternoon swim. 

Retirement suits us!

There were no particular visits to historical ancient Greek sites this time. The old walled town of Corfu itself is mostly Venetian, much like the old Croatian costal town, but here with a later mostly Napoleonic and then British overlay, including a cricket oval and sailing club!  The Greeks we met were as laid back as ever and all really pleased to have us as tourists in their country. The food was good Mediterranean fare, and the ouzo was as rugged as ever,  local wines were very enjoyable and the mangey cats and dogs that seemed to hang around everywhere in Greece were all still there. Loved the place!

Gaios harbourfront.

So the week breezed by and all too soon we were heading back to Gouvia marina for a last meal in Harry’s Taverna and then up early the next morning for a short (15 euro) taxi ride to the airport!  Thanks for a magnificent Ionian cruise David and Barbara, see you in Dorset sometime soon.

Harry's Taverna, thanks for the memories, D&B.

So, Greek thing #4, without any customs or immigration checks whatsoever, (but yes, with the usual security frisk-down) we boarded the flight to Gatwick Airport and waved goodbye to the Med.  The flight to the UK went over the Italian and Swiss Alps, quite one of the most beautiful flights of the trip so far; crystal clear views of the Matterhorn and the perched lakes and hills, then rolling down into the central European plains, at which point it all went under thick cloud as we approached Blighty, of course!  

Welcome back to the UK.  But that is another chapter in this story……….

Prague - a brief visit

Why Prague?

Well, you might ask.  Whilst we did originally harbour a plan to drive from Split to Budapest, then Krakow and on to Prague in the 10 days following the Croatia sailing week, sanity and a better grasp of the distances involved prevailed, and we only planned the itinerary ending in Dubrovnik.  That was quite enough driving around for me.  Our next date was to catch up with David and Barbara for another week sailing on their boat in the Mediterranian, so we needed to get to Corfu from Croatia.  

On a map that looks easy -  drive or bus or train. For goodness sakes, its only 500km if you are a crow.  But, not so fast!  Albania is bandit country.  Road network is terrible. Cannot use hire car.  No southern rail link. A ferry is possible - via Bari in Italy, and then back across to Greece mainland, but not direct to Corfu, - peak season is over. It would have taken days, and was pricey.

A quick consult of my favourite flights web search engine, Skyscanner, showed our quickest and cheapest choice was via either Prague or Barcelona! So we do get to go to Prague - another First! At last.

So in the blog timeline it is Sunday 21st September - we fly to Prague for 4 days!

Prague - City of Beer and Meat

Trivia Fact. Only two countries drink more beer per head of population than the Czech Republic, Germany and  ........ Australia. Not sure if that includes sheilas in the headcount in Australia, would not be surprised if it did mate! (for our Aussi readers).

Jane looking good, and my beer looking ready to drink!

 We had booked an AirBnB apartment in the heart of the Prague Old Town. As usual, an excellent choice by Jane had us in a well equipped flat on the 6th floor of a refurbished block, right in the heart of the city.  A easy express bus ride from the Airport, just 30 minutes, and within an hour of arrival we were out shopping in the neighbourhood for our dinner.  We found a great deli that did all sorts of salads and cold meats and had a fabulous meal before tumbling into bed.  Great start.  

The next day we woke up, opened the windows and - boy, was it cold - about 12C, after Croatia's hot and sunny days.  At 50 degrees N it's on the same latitude as London, but continentally cold in winter.  

We started with a "free walking tour" with a very dramatic guide who insisted in recreating moments in history for us.  He took us around the Old Town on a swift orientation of the sights on the right bank (far bank, in picture below) of the river Viltava.  After a pretty average goulash and good beer for lunch, Jane and I went to revisit the more interesting sights.

Prague, castle on left, Old Town across the river.

We set off to investigate the old Jewish Quarter, which includes the oldest functional synagogue in Europe, the Old New Synagogue.  Nearby is the old Jewish Cemetry, thought to hold over 100,000 burials, from the 1300 onwards when the Jews were arriving in Prague after being expelled from all over the Holy Roman Empire.

Jewish Cemetery with no room for more.

The whole quarter was fascinating and steeped in history.  The Jews were originally put on marshy land near the river that regularly flooded, and it was only in the 18C that the precinct was rebuilt and raised above flood level.  So now when you visit the older building you go DOWN eight or ten steps to the original floor level!

Baroque madness - Pulpit in St Nic's. Where is the way up?

Then we walked around the old town.  We saw all the favourite sights and buildings on this side of the river.  Wenseslas Square, where the Prague Spring uprising was started, and then crushed in 1968. The old Town Hall with its wonderful 1495 clock that does historically amazing things when it chimes each hour.  It also tells the time in Babylon as well as the phases of the moon and astrological signs.  The view from the top of the Town Hall tower was pretty good too, especially the Church of our Lady before Tyn opposite.  

Lady of Tyn church from the Town Square.

We looked into the church of St Nicholas, with a dull exterior that belies the fabulous Rococo Baroque interior.  

Someone famous - cannot remember who?

The hollow cloaked statue is outside the State Theatre where Mozart premiered one of his operas. 

Prague was the centre of European cultural life for 1000 years and there are few events in European history that did not involve it in some way, from the Protestant reformation to the Thirty Years War and the rise and fall of the Hapsburg Empire, although this was mostly focused on the other side of the river in the Castle precinct, which includes the Cathedral, which was our sightseeing on day two.

The Castle precinct is huge, set on a hill on the left bank, and is really a collection of medieval and more recent buildings inside a fortified perimeter.  Inside are the usual castle buildings and the huge St Vitus Cathedral, as well other churches and cranky old buildings and the current Presidential offices and Apartments.

Beautiful St Vitus Cathedral

To get there you have to walk over the famous 14C Charles Bridge, now just pedestrianised, which has lots of historical connections.  The wonder is that much of the city was not destroyed by the Germans during the war, but it seems that Hitler was particularly fond of Prague, and planned to move there when he retired.  In particular there is a collection of many ancient Jewish religious artefacts in the synagogue collections, which were gathered from the many synagogues that were closed down when the Jews were being deported to concentration camps. Apparently Hitler planned some sort of a “Museum of the Culture of the Degenerate Peoples” for when Germany had won the war?? Madness……

Clothing in the Decorative Arts museum.

The last day included a visit to the Decorative Arts museum.  This is like a mini V&A museum, for those that remember that fabulous London museum.  It holds textiles, glassware, china and a room full of old and not so old clocks and watches. 

Tom joined us for the last day too and we had a great Czech meal the last evening, with goose, duck and various potatoes, sauerkraut and red cabbage dishes, and lots of beer!

More dead animals and beer! Delicious.

By the time we left Jane and I were almost getting used to the chillier conditions, but the weather forecasts for Corfu were for lots of sun and good sailing winds.  

So once again we packed our bags, headed off to the airport and were on our way to Greece.  See you there in the next post.

Croatia - Part 3

Heading South

It's the morning of September 17th and Jane, Chris, Joy and I are heading off in the hire car from Split to Dubrovnik, another First, about 230km to the south.

We leave Split by the main A1 motorway that runs behind  the costal mountain range across the rather harsh limestone landscape behind the coast.  After an hour we decide to again divert back across the range, and get down on to the slower costal route.

View over the Adriatic from the road across the range

Turning a corner on this minor road, we suddenly see a whole vista of the Adriatic coast open up before us. Again, photos don't do justice; it was a magnificent view over the costal strip and the islands. The road was pretty precarious too, I was thankful for the barriers.

We followed the coast road the rest of the way to Dubrovnik.  Lots of holiday towns, still pretty busy with families on sunny beaches. The weather was still quite hot and water was warm. We did stop for a dip in one beach.  It was so pebbly that we had to get into and out of the sea on all fours, like crabs, sorry no photos of that!

Bridge into Dubrovnik on the far shore.

 Then round another bend, and there was the magnificent bridge that leads to Dubrovnik proper. This jewel of a town is squeezed in between a mountain and the shoreline, with the old walled port city nesting in at one end.

The old walled town of Dubrovnik seen high up from the top of the cable car.

What a place, and what a history. And not just ancient history; the UNESCO listed Venetian old town was the subject of a 6 month siege in 1992!  The Serbian and Bosnian army were on the surrounding heights, and they lobbed 3,000 shells and mortars on the town, where about 3,500 people, including women and children were sheltering. They were eventually evacuated by the Red Cross and finally the Croatian army came and broke the siege. I find it had to believe such events happened in modern, post WW2 Europe...... Talk about failure of diplomacy.

Chris and Joy in one of the typical side streets, near the second oldest Synagogue in Europe

The old city was badly damaged, as you can imagine, nearly every roof gone, and many buildings burnt.  But they have rebuilt everything in "original" style, leading to a place that is so polished it looks almost Disneyfied as a result.

And full of tourists.

We walked right around the old city walls, looking down on the masterfully restored buildings and streets. You would not know there had ever been a problem.  But the people who live there are not forgetting what happened anytime soon.  We did a guided tour led by a local girl who was 8 when the siege happened.  Many depressing stories of death, heroism and corrupt politics.

And now all the neighbouring countries, having achieved their independence, including Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro want to join, or have joined, the EU. To join you have to have "good relations" with your neighbours.  Through clenched teeth, the locals can just bring themselves to say "hello" to any visitors from those countries.

The old City Walls, as seen in Game of Thrones.

One strange anomaly of the outcomes negotiated to end the fighting, was that Bosnia was allowed to have access to a 20km strip of the coastline, in an otherwise landlocked country.  No port there or anything else much, just coastline.  So when driving to Dubrovnik you actually have to cross two borders where they check passports into, and then out of, Bosnia. Interestingly the Immigration Officers spent more time inspecting and recording our British passports than Chris and Joy's Australian ones!

All the time we spent in Dubrovnik the weather was really pretty good, 24C or more most days and walk enough for just a thin jumper at night, with the occasional shower just to keep the streets washed down.

The (mostly new) roofs of the old town from the city walls

We had a few days enjoying Dubrovnik, including watching the sunset from the top station of the cable car that goes up behind the town.

Sunset over Dubrovnik.

This was the hill top that the Serbian Army occupied to shell the old town, and there is a fortress up here that now tells the story of the siege, manned by veterans of the campaign. Down in the town itself there are detailed maps at may points that show where each individual shell fell and the damage done.  There is also a very moving memorial room in the Town Hall to commemorate those killed in the "Homeland War", as there are in most towns along the coast such as Trogir, and Split.  Croatians neither forget nor forgive!

We did not manage to get to Serbia on this trip, but I suspect the same could be said in Serbia.

One morning we set off to drive further south into Montenegro, another new country that fragmented from the old Yugoslavia.  We had a slow drive on cranky old roads, not the same wealth here as Croatia, to another of the old Venetian walled towns that are along the coast, this one called Kotor.

Kotor town centre.

Another gem, but not as polished as Dubrovnik.

Highlight of that day was a great seafood meal in in a restaurant managed by a local who had spent 10 years in the UK and USA in hospitality businesses.  Very interesting chats about life back in Montenegro, and the quality of the local olive oils, delicious!

There was also a city wall to walk along; we did the level bit across the harbour front, but you can just see in the background of the picture of the clock tower that the wall also goes 250m up into the mountain range behind, apparently via 1728 steps, (it says on Trip Advisor!).  Back to Dubrovnik that evening.

The Kotor clock, very famous - I'm told.

With all travelling we have done in the last few months I am now formulating an Toilet Paper Index that correlates the GDP of a country with the quality of the paper provided in toilets of cafes and restaurants.  Croatia was certainly up there, Montenegro was not. (Note: there are countries where any would be appreciated!)

Enough of these musings.  We still have Prague and Corfu to write about.  So goodbye beautiful  Dubrovnik, and the next morning we all catch flights, Chris and Joy to the UK, us to Prague.

Why Prague you ask?  I'll tell you all in the next post.

Croatia - on Land

Travels with Chris and Joy.

So it's now the 14th September.  It's a beautiful sunny day and Chris, Joy and Jane and I are put ashore in Split, we are the shore party being left behind as the main event moves on.

Put ashore in Split! Bye bye boat.

We step ashore in time to see some gorgeous lady and her retinue also alight nearby from a chauffeured speedboat, and we followed her to the nearby grand hotel, where we happened to be collecting our hire car.  Her luggage however was whisked off in a van, as we struggled up the hill with our cases! Such is life for us ordinary mortals.  We still do wonder who she was though?

So, we load our cases into the car and off to the hills we go.  It's about 300km northwest by road, the first 200 being on a new 6 lane, mostly empty motorway, that goes up the coast before turning inland behind Zadar and crossing a major mountain range by cuttings, then a tunnel.  Most impressive. We wonder who paid for it, probably EU money!  The land being crossed was still very barren limestone plateaus and ranges; even the pine trees that spread across the ranges were struggling.

The mountain ranges behind Zadar, from a motorway cafe! 

Then we emerged onto a central plain that became much more lush and forested, with farms and cattle starting to appear, until we approached more hills that now form the border with neighbouring Boznia-Hertsogovina.  Here the sun disappeared, the clouds gathered and it started to rain.  We found our way to our hotel just north of  the Plitivice National Park, unpacked and huddled next to the radiators which were on.  It was cold, perhaps 8C outside. But the food was good in the restaurant, we were in pig and cow country here, so lots of hearty stews and steaks all round.

Next day we go to see the famous waterfalls in the Plitvice National Park.  Fantastic views and lots of water.  They had actually had too much rain the the previous month! The river levels and flows were so high that the boat trips on the lakes linking the waterfalls were closed, and so were many of the boardwalks.

Boardwalks behind the top lip of the waterfalls.

 There were still lots of visitors, long queues, and the limited areas that were accessible were heavily trafficked. But we had a great day walking through the quite unreal waterfalls that form naturally by travertine deposits on the water plants. Some grow to 20m high! The following pictures again hardly do it justice.  A quite wonderful place.

There were lots of tracks and trails through the two or three miles of the river valley, and as you can see some of the board walks should really have been closed off, but this was Croatia, so there was less than an Australian view of health and safety.  Which was probably a good thing or they would have closed the whole park, I expect.

Can you see the boardwalk on the far side? No, it's under water!

At one point we had to go across a flooded section.  If you had fallen off you would have been 3 miles downstream in about 5 minutes!

Jane, Joy and Chris leading the way. Huge drop on left hand side!

And the weather even cleared up towards the late afternoon, so we had bright sun as we walked out of the gorge and back to the hotel for another hearty meal and warm beds.

Waterfalls from side streams across the valley, in late afternoon sun.

Up early the next day we make tracks back to Split, but this time off the main roads. We took back roads over the ranges, initially because of a diversion for road works, then because the Tom Tom got lost/confused. It was a serindipitious problem as it took us through many villages that were battlefields in what in Croatia is called "the Homeland War" between 1992 and 1996.  This was a pretty brutal separation of the regions and States that had previously made up Yugoslavia, with pitched battles between Croatian forces and the Serbian and Bosnian armies.

We passed a few roadside memorials of tanks, helmets and guns, and deserted battle-scared villages - as a reminder of the catholic / orthodox "ethnic cleansing".  The wounds are still pretty raw out here in the countryside, each village graveyard has a few graves of local young men and women killed in the conflict. More later in the Dubrovnik post.

Jane, slightly compressed, in Krka.

And so on to a National Park at Krka, just off the motorway back to Split.  We only had an hour or two here. It was again a series of lakes and waterfalls similar to Plitivice, but this set had had a series of water powered mills and latterly hydroelectric generators installed over the years.

Is that enough water yet?

In fact it is famous for being the site of the first hydroelectric generator outside USA in about 1895, designed by Nic Tesla, the Serbian/American electrical engineering genius.

Water driven flour mill. You could buy the flour in the shop.

Plaque commemorating the early hydroelectric plant.

Again there was flooding and the water going down past the mill spillways was deafening, but there was a working flour mill - and lots of tourists and souvenir stalls!

But no time to stay, back in the car, for the drive  back into Split.

This time we are here for 2 days as real tourists to see all the sights.  And what sights there are!  It was the birthplace and retirement home of the last Emperor of the Roman Empire in about 300AD, just before it all fell apart! His retirement home - the Diocletian Palace is still, mostly, there - amazing.  Admittedly the Venetians took over in the middle ages when they built a larger port and walled city, and large bits of it have been used by canny Splitians for years to build there own houses, but the main layout and many original building are still there.  In fact the Palace basements are so well preserved that the "Game of Thrones" unit was there filming dungeon scenes in them for the next series!

Dome roof of Diocletian's tomb, 1,700 years old, using granite columns from Egypt, 3,000 years old! Wonderous stuff.

There is a plethora of high quality local marble from the nearby island of Brac so all these old buildings and pavements are faced in that stone. My highlight was the tomb Diocletian had built for himself in 300AD, which by 700AD was an early Christian cathedral, his bones having been thrown out!

Typical street inside the Palace walls.

In other parts of the city the film crew were disguising modern features in the narrow streets to use them for shooting more scenes of Game of Thrones.

Interesting to watch what has to be hidden and how they do it.

Comms box under plastic ferns!

So much to see.  But we cannot stop more than a few days.  We have to move on, we still have to investigate the jewel of the Adriatic coast that is DUBROVNIK and on the new country of Montenegro.

But that is another 300km to the south, so farewell sunny, hot even, SPLIT, we are on our way!

Croatia - Another First

Prologue

I see that our "last post" was back in September as we were leaving Prague. That is almost 2 months ago now. Haven't we been slack!  

We are currently living in deepest Devon, rain and all.  Jane has gone up to London for a few days, so I finally have some unscheduled time to get us up to date. Here goes.  Will we make it back to the UK?

Croatia - by Sea. September 2014.

I've been thinking that this trip has had a number of "first" and this leg to Croatia is one of them.  Never been here before, never even though much about it as a place to visit.  Then, because that is a place some friends have sailed in before,  here we are.  I just love that.  Think about doing it. Then just do it.

Anyway, it is now September 5th and Jane and I have just flown in from Italy. We flew (on Vueling Airways - another first)  to Split, in central Croatia, where we were to meet lots of Aussi friends from Brisbane and London for a week in a sailing boat in the Adriatic.  

Sara supervising the loading.  Note the Mediterranean mooring, stern to quayside.

The weather was fine and hot as we met up with everyone in Split and provisioned the boat with supplies for the week.  We were 8 souls on the sturdy KNOT SO FAST, a 44ft long,  Beneteau sailing vessel. 

Chris, Sara, Captain Ralph, Tom, Ian, Ian L and Joy. Jane on camera

 Led by Captain Ralph and mate(fiancée) Sara, leading hands Chris B and Joy V (who happen to be the captain's Mum & Dad), deckhands Ian L and our Tom K (who, together with the Captain, are ex-sea scouts from my old Pamphlett Scout group).  An experienced sailing team.  Jane and I were just along for the ride!

Captain and crew, which way is north anyway?

With everything safely stowed on board we set off for a week of cruising amongst the many hundreds of islands that lie offshore for most of the length of the Croatian coast along the Adriatic.  Most are deserted or just a few fishermen and farmers scraping a living from a most unpromising raw limestone landscape, olives and goats mostly. But a few of the larger islands have villages and towns on their coast that nowadays benefit from the large fleets of charter sailing boats that are based in the many marinas along the mainland coast.

There are thousands of boats here now, but once you are a few miles out from the marinas there are so many islands that it does not feel at all "crowded" once it sea.  It can become a bit of a bunfight as the last few boats try to moor-up in the evening at any particular island quayside, reversing in to do a "Mediterranean mooring", stern to the quay.  This style of mooring works thanks to there being minimal tides in the Medeterranian, so no worries about mooring lines adjustments and tidal currents when alongside.

Octopus.  Best I ever eaten, not chewy but tender. We got 3 legs each! there was

We set off vaguely northwest for the first few days, dropping anchor in a sheltered bay most evenings, before going ashore to some taverna for a local feast, if someone didn't cook a meal on board.  

The sailing was mostly in force 2 to 3s, which hardly took the creases out of the mainsail.  But one day we did get good 20 knot winds and managed to get the boat up to 8 knots with a heel that was not appreciated by the cooks below, especially as we went about!  Much crashing and sliding about, and holding on!  Sadly the wind didn't last long.  

One night was particularly windy and we had to find a mooring buoy to tie up to as we were not sure the anchor would hold.   But even that resolved to a beautiful clear night by midnight and sunny following morning.

A stormy day in the Med!

Each day we would sail until lunchtime, find a bay to stop for lunch in, eat, drink, swim and then set off for to find the evenings anchorage.  It was a tough life, but someone has to do it. 

We went north as far as Tribunj, nearly to Zadar, if you know Croatia, before turning round and heading south again.  The weather was more mixed in the last few days, and oilskins were found for the crew.  I was excused the rigours of deck duties due to age and because I had come on board with a bit of a cold, but it did get better after a few days and I could taste food again quite well by the end of the trip. 

Evening drinks on the quayside.

Non-sailing highlights of the week were when we could sail up to an old town quay and go and look at the local building and old historical sites.  

Much of the coastline of Croatia is particularly barren and rocky, but it did allow the construction, in the middle ages, of a string of walled city ports that were the Medditerranian ends of various trading routes from the inland Middle East and Asia.  Largely under Venetian control and protection until they were overrun by the Ottoman Empire in the mid 1700's, they still contain a large number of original Venetian style palaces and churches.  And often they were sited on relatively narrow flat areas surrounded by hills (of which Dubrovnik is the prime example, see the next post), giving great views from the top. 

The panorama from above Tribunj below gives you some idea of what I mean.

View from above Tribunj

Well, all good things have to come to an end, and so on Saturday the Old Folks on the boat, Chris, Joy, Jane and me, were put ashore again in Split as the younger members went off to pick up a second, younger crew for their next week on the boat, which then officially became a party boat!  Best of luck to them all.

In Trogir, yet another sunny day.  

As for us, we hired a car and drove north to Plitivice in central Croatia.  

But that is the next post. 

See you there soon.