Mike and Kathy's Cruising Adventure

The bus ride through Tuscany was beautiful, a scenic alternative to the train.  We took winding roads up to Montepulciano and then hopped right onto a city (town?) bus that dropped us off a few feet from our hotel, La Terrazza.

The proprietor, Roberto, may be the most gregarious person we’ve ever met, and we’re friends with Reg Cable.  Roberto and his wife run the hotel along with their two little dogs.  He gave us a tour and then we settled into our large, retro room.  A quick freshen up and we set out to explore.

The main square was just a hop, skip and jump from the hotel. Apparently they filmed some of Twilight here.

I just found this post in the draft folder almost five years after the fact. I’m just going to publish as-is…

Another short train ride and we landed in Siena.  I wisely chose the Hotel Italia for accommodations as it is at the top of the gazillion escalators we had to take to get out of the train station and very close to the gates of the old city.  It also has lovely rooms and a killer continental breakfast.  They even have a pancake machine!

We dropped our bags in the room and then headed to the old town.

It was the final day of the Christmas market in the square and the joint was jumping!

We did some general reconnaissance and then ended up at a small wine bar, Vineria Tirabuscio.   They had fantastic local wines and beers in a small, funky setting.  We were, as always, starting unfashionably early, but that gave us a chance to chat with the proprietors.

We headed back to the hotel and scouted dinner spots.  I prevailed with a pizza selection–La Pizzeria Tia Loca.  So good!  Again, we were a tad on the early side–first customers of the night–but by the time we paid our bill the joint was jumping.

The next morning, off to the Duomo–see, I knew we’d find another one!

I love the blue ceilings painted with stars.  Note to self for when Mike and I build a shack in the woods–vaulted, custom- painted ceilings. I must have a star stencil somewhere…

The church was supposed to be expanded in 1339–this wall (Facciatone) at the back of the next photo was intended as one of the new walls meant to surround the existing church with more church.  Ridiculous. Anyway, the Plague put an end to that idea.

We paid for the full Siena historical experience, and that included going up into the rafters of the Duomo for the Gate of Heaven tour.  Here is an angel on high.

Next was the Piccolomini Library, also part of the Cathedral.  There aren’t a lot of books there, but the frescoes are insane. Probably not the most reverent word to use, but hey, I’m long since doomed to the eternal fire.

Mike took a moment between tours to relax and get a little vitamin D.  That’s my purple purse, not his.

All rested up, we continued by ascending the staircase inside the Facciatone for a stellar view of the town and  countryside.  It was so impressive we decided to indulge in a selfie.

On the way down we hit the Museo dell’Opera.  It has works of art and architectural fragments that come from the Duomo.  There are some, uh, interesting artifacts.

Back over to the main building, we visited the Crypt, home to medieval frescoes that were just revealed to the public in 2003.

And finally down to the Baptistery.

Next stop–lunch!  We walked back to the Piazza del Campo and decided to skip the tripAdvisor search and take a risk on a restaurant right on the square (er, round?).  We ended up with a nice panini and bruschetta, no regrets.

The Piazza del Campo is actually shaped like a shell, and is home to the Palio di Siena, a truly mad horserace that takes place twice in the summer.

The Fonte Gaia was constructed in 1342 and had water delivered via underground pipes from a source 25km away.  The original decrepit marble panels were replaced during a restoration in 1858.

Our final museum of the day was Santa Maria della Scala, just across the plaza from the Duomo. It was one of the first hospitals in Europe and is now home to lots of art and relics, including the original marble pieces from the Fonte Gaia, and one of the nails from the Cross. Reading about it just now I see that they also have part of the Virgin Mary’s girdle, but sadly we didn’t see that.

After our big museum day we couldn’t resist returning to Vineria Tirabuscio for drinks again.  This time Mike did the whiskey flight paired with chocolate.  Or was it a rum flight?  Whatever, he was happy.

When we got back to the hotel Mike was content to eat nibblies he had stashed in the hotel and enjoy the cable TV, so I ventured out solo and had potstickers at Ravioli Wang.

The next morning we said ciao to Siena and set out on the bus to Montepulciano.

A long time ago, Kathy went to Italy with her cousin Paddy.  They were “chaperoned” by a priest who shall remain nameless and, as it turned out, the priest’s girlfriend.  Needless to say, it was a bizarre trip–lots of alcohol-fueled revelations and drama.  I’ll spare you the whole sad tale, but Florence was one of our stops. Though we attempted to see David, there was a huge line outside the museum, and when a large group of German tourists shoved their way in front of us, we got discouraged and abandoned the effort. It always nagged at me (I had read The Agony and the Ecstasy as part of my trip prep), so when Mike and I found ourselves wandering through Tuscany, I lobbied for a stop in Florence.  Mike was easily convinced.

After a short trip from Venice, we got off the train and tromped through the underground mall in search of an exit.  I spied a pair of motorcycle boots I liked–too expensive, bien sur.  Hmm, file those away for future reference…

Once we were outside and oriented, we walked to our hotel, the budget-friendly Hotel Savonarola. Nothing fancy, but clean, central, free WiFi and breakfast–it ticked all the boxes. It was still quite early in the day, so we dumped our bags and hit the streets.

We stopped at a little sandwich joint for lunch and the owner made nice with Mike–friendly folks around these parts!

After lunch we continued on toward the Galleria dell’Accademia.

And before I knew it, there he was…

So happy I finally got to see him!

The rest of the museum was okay, but David is clearly the star.  The painting below made us both laugh because the write-up discusses the legendary beauty of this woman.  It must be an inside joke because her eyes and nipples are equally askew. Or maybe it’s the strange symmetry that makes her beautiful?

The Duomo was crazy busy, so we contented ourselves with admiring the outside.  No shortage of Duomos around here, we’ll catch the next one.

The Christmas decorations were impressive, and the streets were packed! No off-season in Florence.

We walked across the river and had a drink.  Mike was keen to stay at the bar for dinner–they were offering apericena, a cheap buffet–but I held out for real food.  I did not regret my stubborness. We skipped TripAdvisor and just searched the streets for a place that looked tasty.  Osteria del Cinghiale Bianco (The White Boar) kindly squeezed us in, and man, it was good! I had the strozzapreti a burro (spinach and ricotta dumplings in a delicate butter sauce).  Very simple, but sooo tasty.  I’m going to have to work on my Italian cooking skills when I get back to life with a proper kitchen.

The next day we started our tourist activities with a visit to the Mosaic Museum.  This was an unexpected treat.  I’ve seen mosaic tables and stuff, but this was a whole other level.  The paintings that were done as a template for the mosaics were almost indistinguishable from the mosaics themselves.  Crazy stuff.

After that we walked across the river

and climbed the stairs

to the Piazzale Michelangelo, one of the best views in Florence.

There is a copy of David there, bien sur, er, certo.

On the way back down we spied multiple graffiti examples of the artist Blub, Italy’s Banksy, I gather.  He recreates classics with the addition of snorkel masks.

We continued on and grabbed a drink while we planned our evening.

We were both interested in trying a movie, anything to erase Justice League from our minds.

Our research uncovered a lovely repertory theatre, the Odeon Firenze.  They play movies in their original language, and that night’s offering was The Mountain Between Us.  Well. Given our stated objective of replacing Justice League in our recent movie memory, it succeeded in spades, because… this is by far one of the worst movies I have ever seen.  It is a Hallmark movie with A-listers.  It is the most unbelievable piece of merda to hit the big screen.  Now, you might think that the amazing acting of Kate Winslet and Idris Elba would elevate this dreck.  You would be wrong.  So very wrong.  Where did they lose me?  Let me count the ways:  maybe it was in the very beginning when they charter a plane together because the HAVE to get back to New York: she is getting married the next day and he has brain surgery to perform.  Or maybe it was was when Beau Bridges had a stroke during the flight causing them to crash in the Rockies.  Beau doesn’t make it, but Kate, Idris, and Beau’s adorable golden retriever all survive handily.  Maybe it was when Kate bullied Idris into going to look for help in the middle of the freaking mountains during which he almost slid off a precipice and she almost got eaten by a mountain lion back at the plane.  Maybe it was when she bullied him again into abandoning the plane, only to fall into a frozen lake, get dragged out and into a conveniently located cabin, fall into a coma, and then once recovered have sex!!! Now that I’ve spent half of this blog post railing about this movie, you can probably tell that Mike and I hated this movie so much that we are happy we saw it, because we got hours and hours of entertainment dissecting how ludicrous it was!

After the movie we spied this adorable single person SMART car,

and I tried to recreate a photo that Paddy took of me in front of the Duomo, except that I am 27 years older and the weather is much much colder.

We wrapped up the evening with some tasty Asian food at FirenZEN Noodle Bar.  There was lots more discussion of how STUPID that freaking movie was!!!!!

Next stop, Siena. Oh, and I went back and bought those motorcycle boots!  Happy wife, happy life, eh?

My video of loading Coral onto the cargo ship will have to wait due to various tedious computer issues, but here are a few stills to get you in the mood.

We got the call shortly after lunch to motor over and pull up alongside Danzigergracht.  I caught the lines they threw down while Mike kept us steady.  The loadmaster, a friendly Brit, introduced himself, we donned our new hardhats and safety vests and the operation got underway.

We detached the backstay so that two slings could be positioned under Coral with the help of a frogman.

They started to lift her with us on it, and once we got level with the deck the crane paused so we could climb off.  Then she continued through the air to her resting spot for the journey across the Atlantic Ocean.

The crew positioned the supports and immediately welded them in place.

We climbed up a ladder to get onboard again, reconnected the backstay, and that was pretty much it, she was good to go.   The Russian fellow who would be in charge of things in transit asked us for the combination to get into the boat if necessary once the freighter reached the US.  Apparently the American customs agents have no patience and will not think twice about bashing in a window to take a peek in the cabin.  We happily obliged with the padlock combination.

By the time the operation was complete it was dusk.  We headed over to the shipping company’s office to pay the bill and call a cab.

Now I know what you all are wondering–now that we’re off the boat, what is the final European tally for the backgammon tournament?  That would be Kathy 177 to Mike 173.  Looks like he’s _almost_ as smart as I am.  Oh, also, I can’t believe I forgot to mention this before, but I finally backgammoned him at the end of August. In front of his mother.

It felt very strange to be kicked out of our home for the last eight months, but we dutifully headed back to the marina, picked up our bags and checked into Hotel Excelsior.  The hotel was fine, utilitarian, but it turned out to be the most expensive one we stayed in over the next two and a half weeks, we think because Monfalcone is a shipbuilding port, so most of the customers are on business, not cheap tourists.  It was clean and central, so no complaints.

We selected a local joint for dinner, Lo Spuntino, #2 on TripAdvisor. We were by far the earliest diners, even though it was after 7pm, but the waitress accommodated us and kindly explained the Italian menu.

We started with some polenta and sausage and then I had fish ravioli while Mike had gnocchi with a blue cheese sauce. Delish!

The next morning we set off for Venice!  I had never been there before, so I was kind of expecting to find that it was overrated.  Nope!  If you haven’t been to Venice, you should go.  Even though the weather was cool and rainy, it was spectacular.

After a short train ride we hoofed it over to our hotel, Hotel Ca’ Dogaressa in the Canareggio district. It was a great spot–the hotel is right on a canal, but it’s not a super touristy area, so the rate was good (less than €50), and it’s a short gorgeous walk to wherever you want to go.

We checked in and were shown to our little room–clean, cute, new bathroom, alley view, fine and dandy.  We went out for a walk, and when we returned there was a distinct sewage-y odor in the room.  I groaned internally because I knew Mike was going to go downstairs and complain, and I am so ridiculously Canadian that I was willing to endure the smell for a cheap room.  Well.  Mike did indeed go down, and the night clerk moved us across the street to a GIANT room with huge windows looking onto the canal, a table, sitting area, and gigantic bathroom with whirlpool tub and glass shower with rainhead, wall jets, aromatherapy, and adjustable funky lighting.  What?!?!?  I fully expected to be moved out the next day when someone else came on duty, but nope, we stayed in that room for three nights at our cheap hotels.com rate.  What can I say, Mike is a genius.

We spent three glorious days wandering the streets and alleyways, visiting churches great and small, eating, and even shopping (very unlike me, but I had a bee in my bonnet about finding some biker boots for some reason).  Mike visited the Peggy Guggenheim museum, while I just made it to the gift shop.  Mike spent a day riding the vaporetto, during which he went to the Murano glass factory.  I, oddly enough, did not step foot on a boat in Venice. I think we both enjoyed a little alone time–boat life is tight.

Check out the funky furniture in this store we strolled by numerous times.

And check out this dog, she’s high-end shoe shopping!

We saw lots of posters advertising the Loris Marazzi gallery.  He sculpts clothing out of wood, and it is quite something.  While we were at the gallery I spied a crate ready for shipment to Alan Alda.  I tried to memorize his address, but of course forgot it before I got around to writing it down.  Sigh, a good stalking opportunity wasted.  It was somewhere on Fifth Avenue in New York.  No shit.

 

We did the tour of St. Mark’s Basilica, of course .  It’s free to get into the church itself, but there are a number of little side tours you can pay to take.  We visited the main church, reliquaries and the upper galleries.  The reliquaries  were just as creepy as you might imagine, but well worth the stop.  To the uninitiated, a relic is a part of the body of a saint, usually a bone fragment, that is on display in the windowed area of a fancy chalice or something.  The upper galleries were accessed on the St. Mark’s Museum tour. Also worth the extra Euros, we got to go out onto the balcony with the horses, see models of restoration work, along with a bunch of art, ancient bibles, priests’ robes, tapestries, carpets, etc.

St. Mark’s Square has hustlers trying to convince you to give them money to lure pigeons to land on you for a photo.  Words fail me on that one.  Short story, we told them to piss off.

The food was excellent.  The first night we ate across the canal from our hotel at a local place, Ai Tre Archi.  We had a very Italian waiter (you don’t say!) with a very dry sense of humour, which we both loved. Food was great, wine was reasonable, a win.  The next night we went in search of Mexican food and found it at Iguanna. When we walked in the hostess looked confused “This isn’t an Italian restaurant”, but we assured we were there looking for Mexican food. I gather they don’t get many tourists.  We weren’t disappointed: food was tasty, and most important the margarita was top notch.  Our final night I gave in to Mike’s dim sum craving and we ate at Dragone d’Oriente, a hop skip and jump from St. Mark’s Square.  It wasn’t exactly a sacrifice for me–potstickers make me very happy.

We made a few pitstops for drinks as well, including a visit to the iconic Harry’s Bar.  It was very expensive, but with an oddly simplistic 50’s retro decor. Also, they keep the unwashed masses like us in a separate area from the moneyed patrons, not that I blame them.  I did not have the signature drink, the bellini, I had a prosecco, which Mike assured me was much cooler than ordering the expected.  Eh, whatever, we ticked that box.

I’d have stayed here happily for three months wandering the streets in the rain, but we have to make our way back to Athens in two weeks for our flight home.  Next stop, Florence!

 

 

An hour and half after leaving Slovenia we were at the dock in Muggia hoping to check into Italy.  Nope, not possible there, so we continued on.  A little anticlimactic, but by 12:15 we were side-on at the Marina San Giusto in Trieste.  We intended to check in and then go to whatever berth they directed us to, but lucky us, they said we could stay exactly where we were.  We paid for two nights and Mike went off in search of customs and immigration, having not obtained a customs and immigration form for Coral in Slovenia.  Oops.  They made him run around in circles for an hour or so, but he eventually got the situation straightened out.

We went for a walk to check out Trieste, and oh my, it is a beautiful city.  The Piazza Unita d’Italia is apparently Europe’s largest square located next to the sea.  Three sides of the square have buildings that make you feel more like you’re in Austria than Italy (I’m imagining, I’ve never been to Austria, though Mike visited almost thirty years ago).  They were decorating for Christmas, but sadly we didn’t get to see the final result.

These photos are all well and good, but this panoramic shot by someone else gives you a better idea of the glory of the square.

We reckoned we deserved to treat ourselves to dinner in a nice restaurant to celebrate our arrival in Italy, and we liked the look of Puro, so we decided to give it a shot. Oh. My. God.  I have never had pasta like that.  You always hear so much about how it’s supposed to be al dente, but this melted in your mouth.  Mike had tagliatelle with a gorgonzola cream sauce and I had fusilli carbonara.  Mine was great, but Mike’s was insanely out of this world.  We still talk about it all the time, for real.  Sadly I don’t have a photo of Mike’s meal, but here is mine.

Other activities during our time in Trieste included visiting the Roman theatre,

and attending our first opera at Teatro Verdi!  Evgenij Onegin is a Russian opera written by Tchaikovsky, based on Alexander Pushkin’s novel in verse.  Though I did look up the plot synopsis before the show, I enjoyed it a bit more when I realized there were subtitles above the stage.  Our seats were at a level where we couldn’t see them unless we hunched down a bit, so for the first act I was a bit adrift.  Impressions:  gorgeous venue, impressive singing (for the most part), a shocking number of people onstage, and it was loooong.  We hung in there–I am a completist, if nothing else.

High on culture and pasta, we left the next morning to continue our assault on Italy.  As soon as we left the marina we spied this weird building on a hill.  Looks like it came right out of Logan’s Run.

A Google search of “weird building northwest of Trieste” yielded the answer that it is the Sanctuary Montegrisa, a Roman Catholic church built in the 1960s in celebration of the fact that the Nazis didn’t completely annihilate Trieste during WWII.  It’s supposed to look like the letter M, as a symbol of the Holy Mary.  Who knew?

Another mile up the coast we pulled into the harbour of Grigano.  We were assured that the ferry was no longer in operation at this time of year, so we sidled up to the pier and hopped off for a couple hours to visit the nearby Castello di Miramare. It was built for an Austrian Archduke and his wife, and it is pretty special.  The story is that he was a naval officer, the younger brother of the Emperor, and during a storm took refuge in Grignano and vowed to return and build his home there.  This he did, but he only got to enjoy it for a couple of years before he was appointed Emperor of Mexico and sailed off to the new world to assume his post.  Spoiler alert: it did not end well for him.

Windvane on the ceiling, because as I can attest, sea captains are obsessed with the wind

By 2pm we were ready to head out again and just over an hour later we were anchored in the harbour at Sistiana.

We didn’t venture ashore, just enjoyed the peace and quiet.  In the morning we took down the jib and were entertained by the ducks.

Then we headed out for our final leg to Monfalcone.  Quite far out from shore, Mike spied a couple of swans.  Weird.

As we passed the shipyard we got an eyeful of Danzigergracht, the cargo ship Coral was destined to be loaded on in a few days.

A few minutes later we were at the dock in Hannibal Marina, our home for the next four nights until loading day.  Our movie experience in Slovenia was successful enough that we decided to walk the couple of miles into town to catch another movie.

Well.  We saw Justice League in Italian and it was painful.  I’d like to blame the fact that we couldn’t understand the dialogue, but frankly that probably helped the situation.  After the show we walked to a weird local burger joint that was reviewed a little too optimistically on the internet.

We spent the next few days hoofing back and forth to town and getting Coral ready for transport.

There was a cat sanctuary along our walk, so we stopped to talk to the kitties each time, bien sur.

Our other source of entertainment was the cruise ship getting ready to head out.  Sounds emanating ranged from pounding metal to the band’s drum tuning.

And with that, loading day arrived–November 27, 2017.  Stay tuned for my loading day video!  Note that there is no unloading video from West Palm Beach, Florida–the Americans are not nearly as laid back about layman Canadians taking video in their port.

Man, I’m getting weepy all over again thinking about leaving Coral in Italy… bye Mediterranean sailing adventure.

Okay, I do know that Pierre Lynch was in Slovenia quite recently, but anyone other than him?

Anyway, goodbye Croatia, hello Slovenia!

Two and half hours after leaving Croatia we were at the customs dock in Piran.    Ten minutes after that we were checked back into the EU!  We picked up a mooring line in the municipal harbour and hopped off Coral to do some sightseeing.

Croatia was a pretty sleepy experience this time of year (November), but Piran was HOPPING!  Tourists everywhere and cafes full to bursting, the energy was infectious.

The main square, Tartini Square, is huge.  It used to be an inner harbour, but when it became polluted with sewage in the late 19th century, the town decided to fill it in and make the square.

After passing through the square, we walked up the hill and climbed the town walls.  I was exhausted, but there were adorable Asian tourists doing the same thing in four-inch heels, so I sucked it up.  The view was totally worth it, and most internet searches will turn up this exact same photo looking down on the town.

After that hike we had earned a drink, so we found a seaside cafe and enjoyed the sunny afternoon and spectacular view along with throngs of other people.

After the sun went down I headed off in search of a grocery store and a Slovenian courtesy flag for the boat.  We never did find a courtesy flag, but groceries were cheap and plentiful.

The next morning we saw something we haven’t seen in our entire time in the Mediterranean–the tide had come in!  The tides in the Med are generally pretty negligible, but the northern Adriatic sea level changed by well over a foot.

We left Piran and headed north, spying something else we hadn’t seen our whole trip–fall colours.  Not nearly as colourful as Canada, but the trees had a distinctly fall look to them.  An  hour and a half  later we were on a mooring ball in Koper, our second and final Slovenian port.

Mike went out for a walk to explore while I enjoyed some rare alone time. Seriously, before this trip, between painting in empty houses and wasting time in my office, I spent about sixteen hours a day alone–this has been an adjustment.  Good thing Mike is so pretty to look at.

When Mike returned, he announced that  he had stumbled upon a multiplex showing English movies, so we decided to have date night!  The walk there was interesting: the port is in the old town, but less than a kilometre away the city gets very modern with new, wide roads and large, sleek buildings.   The movie theatre was in a giant shopping mall, another relic from our past.  We decided to see Murder on the Orient Express, which was fun-ish.  I enjoyed it more than Mike since I seem to be the only person on the planet who was not familiar with the conceit of the story.  He didn’t realize until after that I hadn’t known the ending, so I am very lucky he didn’t inadvertently spoil it for me. (When I told Thelma, Mike’s mother, that I was reading Anna Karenina, she immediately commented on, thus revealing, the ending.  Yes, the book is a cultural icon, but I didn’t know, dammit!)

We wandered through the old town on our way back to the boat but got thwarted a couple of times by a fashion photo shoot that was happening, so we went back to the main drag and stopped for a nightcap.  Outdoor seating with heaters under every table–delightful!

In the morning we visited customs and immigration, but they said they didn’t need to see us as we were already in the EU.  Excellent.  Italy, here we come!

 

 

 

Leaving the Split area meant we were about halfway up the coast of  Dalmatia.  There are so many islands in Croatia that you could spend years exploring everything, but Mike was concerned about some heavy wind being forecast over the next couple of weeks, so we made some tracks to help ensure we made our deadline to deliver Coral to the cargo ship in Italy.  We motored north along the mainland for about 5 1/2 hours, settling in the bay on the north side of Primošten for two nights.

The town is lovely, built out on a peninsula, as so many Croatian towns are.  Actually the old town used to be an island with a drawbridge to the mainland, but the channel was filled in and now there is a nice wide causeway with a beach.

Our exploring day was grey and rainy, but we endured the drizzle to walk around the old town.  The town covers a hill, and there is a church and graveyard up at the very top.  Mass was being said as we strolled by, so we didn’t pop our heads in.  The old town has the usual narrow streets, dense with houses, but lots of the buildings have stone roofs, something I don’t think we saw anywhere else.

We enjoyed pizza for dinner, as usual when I have a say in the matter.

The morning we left was a gorgeous, sunny day, but with heavy wind forecast we headed out in search of a protected anchorage to ride it out.

After only an hour or so on the water, we checked out Luka Grebaštica and couldn’t resist staying there as it is a 3 mile long inlet, so lots of protection from the crazy wind, or rather from what the crazy wind does to the sea.  We hunkered down for three nights while Mother Nature poured and howled around us, not even venturing onto shore.  It got cold enough that we tried out Coral’s heater for the first time–definitely took the edge off before bed.  Nights were starting to feel more and more like winter camping.

When the rain let up we continued our journey north, motoring with the jib through Kornati National Park. The karst-limstone islands have a different look to them than the rest of Croatia.  Apparently there are lots of sea fossils to be found, but we didn’t go ashore there either. Schedule!

We stopped for the night in Uvala Lučina/Zaglav and left very early the next morning.  There was a dolphin sighting just after 10am, and by 13:30 we were approaching Mali Lošinj.   There are a number of marinas as you approach the town, but we decided to head right to the heart of things.  Once we got close it was apparent that the marina was virtually empty and maybe not even open.  As we were debating what to do, a man cycling along the water waved for our attention, indicating that we should go side-on along the pedestrian walkway–he turned out to be the guy in charge of the port.  We were welcome to stay right where we were, and there was water available a few feet away.  He pulled out his little electronic thingy, charged us 40 Euro, and bing bang boom, we were settled.

After an overdue shower and refilling the water tanks, we ventured out for a short walk and a late lunch/early dinner.  Pizza, bien sur.  It was very good!

Bellies full, we continued on to the local Lidl to get some groceries.  I have to say, I know it’s got a discount vibe, but we got some canned tuna in brine that was hands down the tastiest tuna I have had in my life.  Salt is a magical thing, I guess.

In other news, Mike was quite taken with this photographer who does some amazing underwater photography.

We returned to the boat and Mike ventured out again for a nighttime walk while I enjoyed some very (very!) rare alone time.

In the morning we got a 7:30am start and motored off under grey skies and the threat of thunder and lightning.  Well, we got more than that–at 10am we spied a waterspout in the distance!  Thankfully it was several miles away and dissipated while we watched it.  That is a sight I’m happy to view from afar.  Here is some shaky video!

Drama over, we continued on to Pula.  Pula is on the mainland, so this marked the end of our Croatian island hopping, in fact the end of all of our Mediterranean island hopping.  Sigh. On the bright side, Pula is a lovely spot with the best preserved Roman ruins outside of Italy.

The entrance to the bay on which the city sits is pretty industrial, but once we got past the giant cranes we settled into a nice spot on the far side of the bay, removed from the shipyards and ferry traffic.

The Roman amphitheatre dominates the waterfront, but Mike had a couple of chandleries to visit before we started our tour.

Business done, we headed over to Pula Arena.  I took a kajillion photos, but of course they look exactly like all the other photos you will find online.  Here are a couple.

 

There was an interesting exhibit under the arena on the production of wine and olive oil in the region, and they had hundreds of amphorae (two-handled jugs) on display in remarkably good shape.

After spending at least an hour wandering around the arena, we continued on through the city where we saw the Arch of the Sergii, a Roman triumphal arch and city gate that was constructed in 29-27 BC.  Crazy.

There was a huge open air market, another smaller amphitheatre, a fort on a hill overlooking the harbour, and finally the Temple of Augustus.  Lots to see in Pula!

With more windy, rainy weather forecast, we bid Pula adieu after two nights and continued north to Rovinj, another peninsula town, where we picked up a mooring ball for the next three nights to ride out the storm. We managed to find a couple of non-rainy hours to hit the town and have some pizza.

We departed Rovinj and made a pitstop at the fuel dock in Poreč.  We debated staying there, but the marina was pretty full and it looked like a promising sailing afternoon, so we continued on to Novigrad,  where we splurged on a berth at the Marina Nautica.  Ah, sweet sweet AC power with which to run the heater at night, luxury.  The marina was pretty quiet, with a blues bar, of all things.  Dozens of guitars decorated the walls, and the two times we went in to watch some sports and have a drink we were the only patrons.  I trust they make their money in the summer months, it’s listed on TripAdvisor as #6 of 16 things to do in Novigrad, rofl.

Being at the dock gave us a little flexibility, so Mike entertained himself two mornings in a row by stealing an unlocked bike and going for a long ride.  For real!  What a badass.  In his travels he met this hardworking fisherkitty.

Novigrad has a series of pools built on the edge of the sea right downtown.  Oddly, I couldn’t find any description of this feature online, but Mike took this neat photo of one.

We left Novigrad after three decadent nights at the marina and two visits to the giant grocery store.  The next stop was our final Croatian destination:  Umag, where we would check out of the country the next morning.

We picked up a mooring ball and had a quiet last night in Croatia.  In the morning we headed for the customs dock, and that experience was less than quiet.  It was very windy and we had some problems going side-on to the dock.  We got close, I hopped off to tie lines, but the wind pushed the bow away from the dock and we had to abort.  This left me on the dock and Mike out puttering around to try another pass.  We eventually managed to get Coral tied up along the end of the pier, Mike hit the customs house, and with that, our time in Croatia was over.

Next stop, the birthplace of Melania Trump–Slovenia!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We left Otok Sipan and headed west to the south coast of Otok Mljet, a bay called Uvala Saplunara.  As we were deciding which mooring ball to pick up, a guy in a speedboat wearing a pristine apron zoomed up and said that if we came to  his restaurant for dinner we could have a mooring ball for free.  It’s debatable whether the mooring balls were theirs to rent to begin with, but never ones to scoff at a nice meal out, we said “Sure!”.  With our evening plans set, we were free to go for what turned out to be my last dip in the Mediterranean (not Mike’s).  This was October 25th (yes, I’m that far behind in the blog), not bad!  It was brisk getting in, but I warmed up surprisingly fast.  I communed with the pipefish and took a salt water bath.  Good times.

At 19:30 we dinghied to shore and headed to the MS Restaurant.  Mike feared the meal was going to be a pricey one, and he was not wrong, but I reminded him that we were saving tens of dollars on that mooring ball.

Mike started with mussels and they were worth the price just to see him in the adorable tuxedo bib they provided. I had some of their in-house cheese with delicious homemade bread and sea salt that they collect themselves off the rocks in the bay.  The house red wine was exceptional and reasonably priced, a very nice surprise.

We followed that up with the catch of the day, dorade, which was on a platter for two surrounded by sides.

We made short work of it, as you can see.

The next morning we headed to the north end of the island and encountered a completely empty municipal dock in Pomena.  It was pretty special having so much space for the boat in Croatia, apparently it is crazy busy all summer. There was so much room that we went side-on, the ultimate luxury in the Mediterranean!  We regretted it at dusk when a fishing boat came in and we discovered we were blocking their mooring line, but they were good natured about it, and we jostled ourselves ahead so they could find an alternate mooring line.

The whole northwest part of Mljet is a beautiful national park.  It has two salt water lakes and the big lake has a small island with a 12th century monastery.  We rented bikes in Pomena and went on a 12km trek around the lakes, stopping on the east side to catch the ferry to the monastery and back.

The next morning we got an early start and by 10am we were anchored outside Korčula, supposedly the birthplace of Marco Polo.  I say supposedly because when I googled Marco Polo to jog my memory on the town name, I discovered that the people of Venice are not having it!  Regardless, Korčula has innumerable shops and restaurants named after the man.  And of course I could not get this delightful Jane Siberry tune out of my head all day.  Actually, I’m still humming it almost three months later. Sadly, I can’t find an audio version to share.

We dinghied into town, did a little exploring of our own (eat your heart out Marco), had some delicious pizza for lunch, bought me a Croatian pendant necklace (that looks like it should be filled with incense, but that would require some modification), did groceries and topped up our Croatian cell phone data.  All in all, a very productive morning.

We saw this photo in a store window and had a good laugh at the poor fella in the middle.  Not quite the athletic specimen his cohorts are.

The old town has this neat swimming area, though it was a bit brisk for us that late October day.

Korčula also has some darn goodloooking alleys!

 

By 3pm we were on our way again, and by 4:30 we were anchored in Uvala Luka, Lovište on the Pelješac Peninsula.

We spent two windy nights there (also saw our first sea slug population on the floor of the bay) and then headed to the dock in Hvar.  We started out on a mooring line at the municipal dock, but the wind forecast wasn’t favourable, so we moved across the small bay onto a mooring ball.

Early the next morning we went for a hike up to the fortress that towers over the town.

There are trees on the walk that have little stones stacked on them.  No idea what that was about, but looks funky.

Back in town we wandered through the flower market and scouted out the laundry, which Mike returned to with our delicates.  I do love a Renaissance man.

Leaving Hvar we didn’t go very far, a 45 minute motor to a mooring field in Uvala Vinogradišće, Otok Sveti Klement.  Thankfully there were only a couple other boats hanging out, but the dozens and dozens of mooring balls gave us the picture of what a freaking zoo it must be in the summer months.

The next day we dropped the ball and made a pitstop in Milna, Otok Brač, for fuel, and then continued on to Split, our second Game of Thrones shooting location!

Remember how excited I was to see The Love Boat’s sister ship in Kotor, Montenegro?  Well as we approached Split, there was the original in all her glory–the Pacific Princess!  She looked so tiny compared to the gigantic cruise ships we’ve encountered, kind of quaint, really.

We initially tried to go side-on right downtown: the dock was empty, and the cruising guide says you can stay there, but some guy came along and said no, we had to go to the yacht club across the bay.  I suspect he probably worked FOR the yacht club, and I don’t HAVE to do anything, so we left the bay and went around the corner to drop anchor on the SE shore of Kaštelanski Zaljev.  This was Halloween, our 19th wedding anniversary, so we dinghied into town in search of Mexican food to celebrate.  What can I say? I search for carnitas in every city I visit, with varying degrees of success.

First, however, we visited the basement of Diocletian’s Palace, aka Daenerys’s throne room on GoT.  It was a nice evening walk through the city.  Split feels like a real city, not just a tourist destination.

No dragons to be found sadly, but it was a pretty cool spot.  The top floor is really just regular old town living accomodations.

Tourist box ticked, we scoured the streets in search of  To Je Tako, our dinner destination.  Of course, after a half an hour of wandering around staring at the GPS, we found it in an alley about a hundred feet from where we had exited the palace.  As always, I ordered a margarita to start.  The waitress said they had no mixed drinks.  Huh?  I scratched my head and ordered a glass of wine.  Our app was a tasty bean dip cooked in a clay pot, followed by some great tacos.  Halfway through the meal I saw the bartender serving a tray of margaritas to another table!  I called him over to get the scoop–it turns out they had no ice, which I believe as we had a devil of a time finding ice after we left Greece. So, I got my margarita–it was good, but predictably warm.  All in all a yummy meal, so I’ll shut up about the marg now.

As we walked back through the city to the dinghy we passed this little gem of a spot, Froggyland.  Click on the link, you have to see it to believe it.

The next morning Mike went back to shore by himself for our first visit to Lidl, a German discount grocery store we had heard about.  Actually, we may be the only people on the planet that Lidl was new to–they have over 10,000 locations.  Some of our cruising friends were telling us that there are big and small Lidls, but they all have the exact same inventory, the only difference is how much of each item is on the shelves.  I have to say that Mike came back with the best dental floss I’ve ever used.

With that, we bid farewell to Split, heading across to the north side of the bay in search of propane.  We were greeted by hundreds of moon jellyfish.

The timing was good as Mike ran out of propane while making his coffee the next morning.  After he returned with our full tanks, luxury, we went for a walk in town.

The next morning we started our push north.  Doviđenja, Khaleesi!

Three and a half hours after checking out of Montenegro we pulled up to the dock in Cavtat, Croatia to check into our next country.  There was already a boat in the spot you’re supposed to use while checking in, so we parked a bit behind it.  Mike disembarked to find the necessary officials and promptly walked off in the wrong direction–the sign with the arrow was right beside the boat so he didn’t see it.  I wasn’t too concerned, but then a guy in a uniform showed up to tell me that we were parked in the wrong spot for checking in (the aforementioned boat had left, of course).  I apologized and said that there was a boat in the spot when we pulled up, and that my husband had gone to check in but I thought he had gone the wrong way, yadda yadda.  I was prepared to be taken into custody, but then the official just wandered away.  Whew, thanks Croatia, I think we will get along just fine.

After checking into the country we popped around the corner and dropped the anchor in a bed of weeds.  Took a couple tries but we got there–I’m getting pretty good at hitting a tiny target of sand.  Mike says I missed my calling and should have been a bombardier.  (Fun fact: I told David Baird that I thought I’d have done well in the military and he responded that that showed a shocking lack of self-awareness!  He may have a point.)

That evening we dinghied back into Cavtat for dinner to celebrate our Croatian arrival.  The next morning we moved across the bay to a mooring ball in Srebrena so that we were positioned better to take a day trip to Dubrovnik, or as I prefer to call it–King’s Landing from Game of Thrones!!!!  The rest of the day was lazy–a seabath, a trip to the grocery store for supplies, and a new SIM card.  Get this–for 11 Euro we got a SIM card and one week of UNLIMITED data, renewable every week.  Have I mentioned that the Canadian cell phone providers are the devil incarnate?

The next morning Mike went for a walk to check out some abandoned resorts Chris and Sue told us about, casualties of the war in Yugoslavia

After Mike got back to the boat we set out on our pilgrimage to Dubrovnik/Kings Landing!  We decided to catch the local bus into the city, and after an hour waiting in the scorching sun it arrived.  We then missed our stop in Dubrovnik, but we hopped off a mile or so down the road near the marina, which of course Mike was pleased to check out.  No chance of taking Coral in there–very expensive!  We were quite happy with our free mooring ball in the suburbs.

We wandered along the waterfront/Blackwater Bay until we hit the old town.

We had lunch at the first restaurant that accosted us, and then we used our new data package to find GoT filming sites to visit.  Here is me on the steps of the Sept of Baelor where Cersei started her walk of shame.

After we finished our exploring we headed to find the bus stop that would take us back to Srebrena.  We walked up and up and up and up.  Here I am not even at the top of where we walked to.

Of course we got all the way up and waited a half hour for a bus only to be told that we were in the wrong spot and needed to go down.  As we approached the correct stop our bus pulled out, and since there wasn’t another one for over an hour we walked all the way back down the hill and caught a cab back to Coral.  Please note, I am NOT complaining.  These don’t even rate as problems, I know, but this blog is as much to remind me of my experience as it is to let y’all read about it.  (Seriously, who is reading this besides David Baird, Kevin Clark, Susan Ecclestone, Eric Schmidt, Cyril and Mimi?  No one else comments!)

The next morning we headed north, motoring by Dubrovnik as we headed out.

We stopped for the next two nights in Sudurad on Otok Sipan.  It’s a cute little town that gets lots of daytrippers from Dubrovnik.

The following day we decided to walk across the island to Sipanska Luka, the other town on Otok Sipan.  It was a bit of a hike, but hey, gotta get those steps in.  A shame I forgot the dongle for my FitBit in Canada.

We wandered around Sipanska Luka, checked out the choppy harbour, had a drink, and caught the bus back to Sudurad–luxury.

The next morning Mike went for a walk without me and captured these pretty posies.

I better post this while I’m still conscious.  I’m over a month behind and need to get my act together!  I’d say that I’m going to forget all my Croatian before I get the posts done, but we never got past Hvala, which means Thank You.  Seriously, that is all we know.  Spoiler alert–these days we’re using Grazie and Ciao a lot!

Like you, I’ve always had a pretty good grip on where to find Greece on the map, and, like you, I was always fairly baffled by what lay north of Greece. The Balkans? The word oozes choatic geography. Now, fear not, I’m content to leave you in happy ignorance. The map of Croatia alone is a circus act.

HOWEVER. While staring at a map of Europe trying to get it all straight (now that I’m drinking their beer), I noticed a little unlabelled rectangle on the Baltic coast just above Poland. Kaliningrad? Is it just me, or is this news? A Russian exclave isolated from the motherland after Poland and Lithuania joined the EU and NATO? The Alaska of Russia! (Well, that’s if the interloping turfs were both an idealogical and political counterpoint. Er, yup, close enough.)

So, Europe, what else have you been keeping from me? Sure, everyone knows about your little clown countries Lichtenstein and Luxembourg. Sure, Popeville (the trick-question enclave). Monaco? Malta? Gibraltar? If only there was a map to your secrets….

(Next up: figure out where all the Somethingstans are.)