Sailing with the Treleavens

Always leave the best to last. We are now in Dubrovnik, Croatia and get the feeling we won't be disappointed. Arriving after a night sail from Brindisi in Italy, the sight from the water is fantastic. Surrounded by pine trees and rocky waterfront, the mix of the old walled town and new but uniformed stone houses with orange roofs is magical. This place was at war only10 years ago and was badly damaged, but now with International aid they have restored it to its original glory.

A week ago we returned to Corfu with Ian and Karina after a few days of going troppo around Paxos and Antipaxos. This place will always be a favourite and I can still taste the orange honey marmalade and olive oil too good to be true, at $10 a bottle.

Corfu has great nautical shops, the cheapest yet, and a very good place to winter your boat. The local market was also very cheap and convenient to the boat.

Ian has a train to catch in Brindisi, Italy so we are on the move and motor all the way in glass like seas. A night stop on the island of Erikousa 30 miles to the north of Corfu and an early start, in fact its pitch black ,but we have 80 miles to go in no wind. Calling into Brindisi on the way to Croatia is only 30 miles out of our way, so makes a good stopping Port.

Although mainly a transit ferry town for the Adriatic we are pleasantlysurprised and enjoy being back in Italy. Brindisi is on the east coast on the heel of the boot. The Pilot book says to lock everything to the deck which we do, but have no problems. In fact we enjoy our free stay on the wall very much.

We have a Sunday to explore the Province of Puglia which is flat, very fertile and famous for its produce, wine and cooking. Hiring a car, clearly Ian has missed driving, its 130 kms an hour down the highway to Lecce, known as the Florence of the south. The numerous Churches and Cathedrals are elaborate, looking like wedding cakes but its Sunday and deserted. I would very much like to spend more time here and explore the narrow marble streets, eat at the local restaurants offering local cuisine and shop at all
the designer shops that are now closed, well planned by Ian. What is open is the famous café Alvino and its granita di caffe, mushy frozen espresso coffee with lashings of cream on top, it's simply delightful.

Ian is keen to get behind the wheel again and off we go through country lanes surrounded by vineyards and olive groves. Our next destination Oria with its elaborate painted dome Cathedral and Castle is a very old pretty town. Lunch is a highlight of our day here at Fuori Porta at the stone arched entrance to the town. It's very local and our order of antipasto comes on 10 plates, all very fresh, delicious and very Italian. Thinking that was it, along came the mussels, scampi and cherry tomato fresh pasta, with a local rose wine which they are famous for, it's a gastronomical experience.

Driving onto Ostuni, locally called the bright white town, sitting on a hill over looking the flat green fields to the blue Adriatic Sea. A very picturesque old town with a steep climb to the top. Around this area are the unique Trulli buildings best described as an up side down ice cream cone. Constructed of stones and painted white it's a mystery as to when they were built and for what purpose. They are now used for houses, every room has a cone.

The one thing that impressed me from the tourist brochures was the caves in the area that contain the religious paintings. I have never seen anything like this before, and they are 1000 years old (secXI ) so we go in search of them, literally. Even though the brochures tell us they are here, it is a navigational nightmare trying to find them? On a back road in the middle of no where we finally find Cripta di Biagio. In the side of a small hill is a cave and it is truly amazing. Small communities lived here in the caves and only the church was painted elabratory telling the story of the Bible.

An exhausting day, but well worth it and of course the car is full of wine. Finishing off with a pizza in the Windsurf Pizza Bar opposite the boat, they sure do know how to make a pizza here. Translation into English creates a few laughs, Gorgonzola Pizza became  Gynecologist Pizza.

The southern part of Italy is always known as the poor part and we did find this on the west coast but here on the east coast it certainly isn't and we will be back, where only local tourists visit.

Ian and Karina get the train to Venice and we sail out to Croatia in head winds, a 130 mile crossing. Formalities are strict but we have no problems and are soon tied to the main port marina. A permit costs E 235 for twelve months with no restrictions on leaving Croatia and returning. The main port has limited berths but is much handier to the town than the ACI Marina. It still continues to amaze us but the super yachts seem to get bigger, in fact one beside us even had the local pilot on board to dock her, (100 metres long). 
The old port is now closed to Yachts.

Today we walked the medieval fortress wall which totally encloses Dubrovnik; looking down on this living historic old town, with no traffic other than pedestrians.

Liz and Heinz from France join us today for 10 days and we plan to sail our way to Split passing through the islands.
 

The popular Ionian Islands are obviously a favourite from the super yachts to small sail craft, mega power boats to day cruisers. The Cyprus, olive trees and pine forests cover the islands and with clear water we have perfect night's anchoring in bays. It's August and high season, school holidays, hot and no wind, so we motor from island to island which are not very far apart.

Friskardo on Cephalonia is the St Tropez of Greece (so they say), and it certainly was fabulous. We've never seen so many boats all in one bay by this tiny quaint village.
Most of the villages around have lost their character due to the extreme seismic activity, and this is the only village that hasn't been affected by the numerous earthquakes.

Passing through the Stenon Meganision passage between Levkas and Meganisi, it's as picture perfect as the 'Pilot' states. Meganisi Island is like a hand with five fingers, lots of inlets, deep turquoise water, fringed by pebbled beaches and only visited by yachties. Anchoring stern to, the only problem is that it's no longer a secret, there are boats every where.

Now for the best bit: Scorpio's, the privately owned island of Aristotle Onassis and a favourite of Jackie Kennedy (whom he married). For those who aren't old enough, this was a paparazzi hot spot, a mega rich holiday island. Wow, it sure is something. Still beautifully maintained, where you can anchor off the private port or beaches but you cannot step foot on the island. I'm coming back as a cicada; they were the only sound on this naturally perfectly planted island. 200 staff work on the island, now to be only visited one week a year by his granddaughter.

In Lefkas, once part of the mainland and now an island, we pass through the Roman built canal to the main port and then pass through the bridge (actually a barge they pull to one side on the hour). Lefkas town is great to re-stock and a cheap place to winter a yacht out of the water, a thought we had until we heard about the frequent earthquakes and yachts falling off cradles.

Approaching the tiny island of Antipaxos, with a bay called Emerald Bay we can see a mass of boats with their hulls glowing blue from reflection. Here we have discovered the 'Maldives of the Med'. Pure white sand underneath, it's like sitting in a glass of water. Ian and Colin want front row position, its glamour all round floating on clear plastic brightly coloured lilos with the skimpiest of bikinis.

When the wind changes and boats get a little close, there's a little tension in the air and the happy Treleaven's Travels have a moment (of course it's my fault). We up anchor and head for the main town Gaios on Paxos, and find a very pretty inlet and once again wall to wall boats both sides, but very sheltered (not that we need it). Paxos is also famous for its olive oil with Harrods of London only buying their stocks from here. Colin, a Chef, has been great to have on board and we have together reinvented the Greek cuisine.
Paxos, one of the smallest islands in the Ionians is becoming a holiday retreat for the rich and famous, having their July holiday house here and their August holiday house at Porto Cervo, Sardinia.

Corfu and its many occupying influences made this a very fascinating town, built on a promontory between two fortresses. French and Italian architecture, an English cricket ground and all within walking distance from our boat in the Marina NOAK.                         Last night we went to an open air opera concert in the old Venetian fort. It featured contempory but traditional Greek music sung by a famous Opera singer with the Corfu orchestra.
The Olympics are in full flight and all the bars have big screens and we watched the Opening Ceremony in style, though not understanding a word.
Saturday night is amazing with crowds everywhere late into the night, the bar by the marina is still in full flight at 5 in the morning.

Colin and Tammy leave us here and we have a day for maintenance on the boat before our son Ian and his friend Karina join us for a week.

As we were so impressed with Paxos and Antipaxos, we have sailed back to spend several days with Ian. Yet another fabulous day at Emerald Bay just swimming, diving and enjoying the very clear water. Paxos and Antipaxos are certainly our favourite islands in Greece.
 

Leaving Athens late in the day on the afternoon breeze, we head for Salamis Island to ready ourselves to pass through the Corinth Canal the next morning. Having a great sail for the first time in ages, we see in the distant, bobbing up and down, a small craft waving frantically at us. A fishing boat and numerous ferries have ignored them, but we feel obliged to investigate. Rolling up the headsail and the main crashing everywhere, we find it's a young couple in an inflatable, run out of petrol. Fortunately we had enough in our dinghy and hopefully they made it the 5 miles to Athens.
Being very cagy about who they where, we guessed he was an Olympian too embarrassed to tell us.

The Corinth Canal is a man made canal 3.5 miles long, 20 metres wide, 250 metres high and 8 metres deep. It's a short cut to the Ionian Islands between Peloponnisos and mainland Greece. The lime stone it is cut through is beautiful and the water a teal blue. We have the perfect day to go through as the wind can funnel through here and make it very difficult building up a strong current. For its length, it is renowned as the most expensive pass in the world, but to us the awe inspiring experience and saving in extra miles; the E 190 was well worth it.

The Gulf of Corinth can also be very windy but we have to motor, no wind and very hot. Its 30 miles to Galaxidhi, a very small port near the Delphi ruins. We are almost ruined out, but this is a must see.

As we tie to the wall, suddenly the music started playing, horns blowing and police car sirens going off. A startled look around and down the road came the Olympic torch. We haven't got away from all the excitement yet. Great to see the whole town out, flying flags and dressed for the occasion and of course the day before the flame was in Delphi. Here the Pythrian Games in honour of Apollo where held every 4 years, thousands of years ago in the stadium that is still standing.

The marina at Itea is closer to Delphi, so we head there the next day, and bus up the mountain 30 miles. The valley is green with olive trees and high up in the mountain terraced into the rock face is Delphi, the geographical centre of the world for the ancient Greeks. The Temple of Apollo is being restored and the Theatre and of course the Stadium are quite magnificent, with quite a climb up over polished marble steeps to see.

I am also fascinated by the concrete aqueduct of water that flows beside the road. Its 10 feet wide and the water flows from the top of the mountain down to the valleys below to service their needs.

Looking forward to Navpaktos where you enter the Venetian castle walls and inside is a very small harbour, we are not disappointed. With barely enough room to drop anchor and go stern too, we find a very pretty sight and stay the night even though it's loud music all night from the numerous bars around the castle walls.

Generally we have not been impressed by the Greek food, restaurants offering the same old food everywhere. It's a real treat when you do find a good one and Navpaktos, with its trendy restaurants and bars, is the home of Maria Loi who specialises in ancient Greek cooking. She has a TV show and has written a book on recipes for The Olympics and is now the 5th best seller in Greece. We enjoy ourselves and have both lunch and dinner at her establishment, Koyzina.

From here we can see the impressive new Rio-Antirrio suspension bridge which crosses the narrow 1 mile strait at the western end of the Gulf of Corinth. The opening is tonight ahead of time for the Olympics and they boast the fire works will be bigger than the Olympics. Traffic control under the bridge is monitored with contact and directions mandatory from 7miles out for every vessel.

It's amazing seeing all the super yachts and powerboats obviously heading for Athens and the Olympics. As we left Navpaktos we heard Spada calling up bridge control. Spada is owned by Peter Cornes, a New Zealander and he told us he was on his way to Athens.

Calling into Patras, the 3rd largest city of Greece, to meet up with Colin and Tammy Selwood from Sydney, we find the marina disgusting. It's so smelly it burns my nose, with the charges higher than Athens, we are very quick to get out and cross to Cephalonia 50miles away and clean water. How can they let it get so bad? Before we left we took the opportunity to top up our diesel, from the diesel truck that all ports use. Ian thinks they have dodgy gauges because our usage suddenly went from 3.5 litres an hour to 5.6.The engine is certainly getting a work out and the Med is living up to its reputation of 60 % motoring.

The crossing to the Ionians is more motoring, and with night drawing close we stop at Andrea Bay (of course we had to stop here) at the southern end of Ithaca, the home of Homers Odysseus. Oh what joy to be back in beautiful clear green water.