Here in the marina, we have a Cruisers Lounge that is used to host the many group activities that have been organised over the winter. Monday has been Art Day where Sally guided beginners and more advanced alike, to bring their creativity skills together. For our part, Aleid and I did a small jewellery making demonstration aboard Nimrod whilst the guys were on another boat watching the rugby. Sue and Erika got the bug and immediately ordered tools and bits and pieces off Amazon and Sue started taking apart her stash of old jewellery so that she could remodel it all.
The culmination of all of this was an Art Exhibition in the Cruisers Lounge to show our fellow cruisers and locals what we have been up to. There were some beautiful and skilful paintings on display, as well as jewellery, an on-going quilt project that represented a circumnavigation and a guitar that Tracy has been making. What a creative lot we've had here this year!
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One of the highlights for me this winter has been the opportunity to play guitar with fellow cruisers. What - you didn't know that I played the guitar! Well, I am a really a beginner having been taught a few chords by my brother when we visited him in the USA. I bought Chris a guitar years ago but he never really took to it (said his fingers were too big!) and so I decided that I was going to build upon what David, my brother, had taught me and, together with David on Skype and www.justinguitar.com on the internet, I practised every day and eventually felt confident enough to join the musicians who have been here this winter. There has been Keith, Richard, Tracy, Justin and Steve on guitar, Hugh on banjo, Mike on harmonica and the 'frog', Doug with his squeezebox and Shana on ukulele and recorder. I've played regularly on a Monday night when the local bakery is our venue for a good singalong. It has been great fun and I am really grateful for the encouragement from my fellow musicians. It is also amazing that you can play so many songs knowing just 3 chords as Keith E, C, G will testify!
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It has been a while since our last blog update; the reason being that we've been very busy with some major projects to help us with our future sailing needs.
Firstly, we decided to update several items of our electronic navigation equipment and what started off as a small project grew when we found out that our existing kit would not talk to the new kit because the technology had moved on since it was originally installed. Pietro & Guiseppe, owners of Non Solo Nautica chandlers here in Marina di Ragusa, did a great job of installing the new kit and were able to give us the same special offer prices that we saw at the London Boat Show back in January. Now all we need to do is learn how to use it!
We decided a while ago that we needed more solar panels to meet our energy needs and so back in November, we had some panels shipped over from the UK and had to find a way to install them. Our first idea was to have a hard-top bimini made onto which we could attached the solar panels but the cost and inexperience of manufacturing this for a monohull prohibited this. So, we decided to have a stainless steel arch built over the back of the boat instead. A local company, La Rosa Metalli, came down to the marina and talked through our ideas with us. We walked them around to see examples of what we liked and didn't like about other arches. We agreed a price and design and then Angelo and Alessandro turned up at the back of the boat with tubes of stainless steel, lots of powerful tools and a welding kit to start! With us on hand to help and talk things through, they made the arch, drilled holes through the deck and then tacked welded it in the cockpit before taking the semi-assembled arch back to the workshop for the proper welding and polishing. It all looked a bit scary as they were doing this but it all worked out just fine. Chris and I then had the fun job of passing the cables through the arch and boat which involved either being squished up in lockers trying to pass wires to one another or hanging off the frame with one hand and trying to drill with the other. There was a great sense of satisfaction when it was all finished and we connected the solar panel wiring to see them pumping in energy to keep the batteries fully charged.
Now that those items are complete, we can get on with the rest of our jobs............
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When taking the ferry from Genoa to Sicily, a journey of 21 hours, we were unsure as to whether to book a cabin or a Pullman seat, as a cabin hikes the price up considerably. In the end, we opted for a cabin and we are soooooooo glad that we did!
We were able to buy some provisions for the journey at the well-stocked supermarket right in the port. However, after the many short journeys we made across the English Channel, where we had had wonderful meals, we didn't think we would need to buy too much - wrong! The restaurant food was cold, expensive and a huge disappointment. However, our cabin made up for that with its own bathroom, comfy beds and plenty of space. In the main deck area, the Pullman seats section was noisy with Italians on their mobile phones, children running around and the TV on full blast all of the time. I think we made the right choice!
The ferry was not very big and our cars were parked outside on the deck, open to the elements but luckily, it was a smooth crossing. We left at 11pm and arrived in Palermo at 7pm the following evening. It happened to be our Wedding Anniversary the day of the crossing and we felt it was apt that we actually spent it at sea!
We had booked a hotel in Palermo, right by the port, for the night of our arrival. It sounded lovely having just been renovated and we pictured ourselves celebrating our special day in the bar overlooking the port. Imagine our SHOCK to find that the hotel was still in the middle of its renovations! In fact, it looked so much like a building site that we didn't even consider it to be the right address when we got there. Once our initial panic subsided, we telephoned the reservation number and were greeted by one of the staff who apologised for the delay in the works but assured us that a reservation had been made for us at another hotel in town. As it turned out, the substitute hotel was excellent (though their coffee machine made the most disgusting coffee in the world). The next surprise was when we had to hand over our car keys to a young Sicilian lad, who was going to take the car to their garage a few streets away. We were a bit hesitant but I made him promise to look after the car and told him that we had driven all the way from the UK without a problem and that we didn't want one now. He promised and we looked at one another for reassurance as we handed the keys over. Not long after, we had settled into our room and decided to go and find a nice place for dinner. We stopped to cross the road as a car was coming around the corner - our car with the young guy and one of the hotel staff sat next to him! We watched as they pulled up outside the hotel, one guy jumped out with a bag in his hand (probably their McDonald dinner) and the car then continued, hopefully to the garage. We picked up the car the following morning (no damage done) and took our lives in our hands as we negotiated our way out of Palermo and across the island back home.
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Just 1km from Menton and you arrive at a ravine which is the border into Italy. From there our destination was Genoa where we were going to take the overnight ferry to Sicily.
The journey along the coast road is known as the 'Riviera of Flowers' because 70% of the horticulture along the coast is devoted to flower growing. In February, there wasn't much evidence of flowers but the journey was just gorgeous with towns and villages set in the hills to our left and the Mediterranean sea to our right. The road crossed deep gorges and tunnels pierced the hills to take us straight into Genoa.
After booking our cabin and tickets on the ferry, we spent the rest of the day exploring this famous mariners port. Genoa was to the west of Italy what Venice was to the east and became one of the most powerful cities in Europe. They made some of the finest sea charts in the world, as well as introducing marine insurance and founded large banks. It was the war of Chioggia (1378-81) during which Venice defeated Genoa and ended their maritime power. Prior to this though, aristocratic families had amassed huge fortunes and built elegant palaces in Genoa and the Ligurian coast.
Christopher Columbus was a native of Genoa and after discovering the Americas in 1492, the Genoese reaped the rewards of their local hero indirectly as much of the wealth returning from the New World was processed through Genoese banks.
Today, the port has been rejuvenated and the marina would make a great place to spend some time to explore this interesting city.
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The last French town before the Italian border, Menton is a beautiful mixture of the two countries in every way. We sat eating dinner listening to other diners jabbering away, jumping between the two languages with ease. We can only do that when we forget which one we are supposed to be speaking in and get it wrong! From our balcony overlooking the marina, we watched the sun set over the town and reflected on what a wonderful trip through France we had had.
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The next part of our journey took us through Cannes, Antibes, Nice and into Monaco. There was plenty of snow on the hills behind Nice, very different to the last time we were here in the heat of the summer.
No trip in these parts can be complete without a trip into Monaco, especially in a little sports car! Right in front of the Casino seemed like a perfect photo opportunity before we did a tour of the F1 Grand Prix circuit and then headed over to the TipTop Bar, a favourite of Chris's dad when he was here as a journalist covering the Grand Prix, for a pit stop.
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Having sailed along the south coast of France, it was good to see familiar places again but also great to discover new ones like St. Raphael.
We'd had a lovely drive from Montpellier across the salt flats of the camargue area where we saw exotic flamingos sunning themselves but as we arrived in St. Raphael, the skies turned steel grey and the heavens deposited hailstones upon us in biblical proportions! We had to sit in the car, outside the hotel, for quite a while until we braved the dash to the door. The noise and feel of the hailstone hitting the roof of the car was quite something. The rain continued but luckily, Asie Delices, a Chinese/Thai fast food restaurant, was right across the road and that's where we got our Asian food fix.
The next morning the sun was out again and we strolled round to the marina to see what was happening there and join the locals for a cup of coffee. We sat and listened to a group of men next to us talking about the merits, or not, of buying a Lotus car. We didn't have time to linger and join them though, we hadn't found anywhere to stay yet!
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Easily visited on foot, the historical medieval centre of Montpellier transported us back to Paris - right down to their very own Arc de Triomphe, located at the site of one of the old entrances in the ramparts of the city! This is no surprise when you find out that the city was remodelled at the end of the 19th century incorporating lots of the ideas that Baron Hausmann had also used in Paris.
We spent a wonderful afternoon exploring the city on foot, although the tramway would have done just as good, passing the conservatory where the musicians inside played beautifully, and then stumbling upon many artisan shops where clothes and textile designers displayed their wares. We certainly got the feeling that at its heart, it is a creative city.
In the centre of the Peyrou Royal Promenade, a grand statue of Louis XIV seated upon his horse takes pride of place as he oversees his city and its aqueduct. Head to Place de la Comedie, a pedestrianised square, to see the Opera Comedie theatre built in 1888. The square is a great meeting place, surrounded by restaurants and shops.
Montpellier is definitely worth a visit and is a perfect spot from which to explore the camargue region of the south coast.
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The warmth of the sun on our skin and the smell of the sea were both welcomed as we arrived at Palavas Les Flots, 20 minutes south of Montpellier. Right on the beach, Hotel Brasilia was our base for two nights as we explored the area visiting both Sete and Montpellier. February was a great time to visit as the locals got on with their daily lives, enjoying the rest until the summer tourists arrive en masse. A local fishing boat named 'Frogs Legs' made us smile as we wandered along the canal that runs through the town, whilst trying to decide which restaurant we would try that evening. We were spoilt for choice but it turned out that the best menu seemed to be right next door to our hotel!
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