70 - Sailing through the Mountains

So, we checked out of Italy and sailed 140 miles (took us about 24 hours) to Porto Montenegro in the city of Tivat.   We arrived late in the day on Saturday (thankfully as almost everything including customs is closed on Sunday).  It took a little over an hour and 6 stops to get checked into the country but Pedro navigated the steps and we were finally legal to visit.  Rather than take a spot in the marina, we found a great anchorage nearby and just took the dinghy ashore.  Our first task was to procure a new sim card.  As we were no longer in the European Union, our EU sim cards no longer worked (don't even get me started on Google FI dropping our international data on us).  As the phone stores were all closed (it's now Sunday), we wandered around until the very kind man at the marina sent us to a tobacco shop where they're sold.  Well, long story short, it took 3 trips from the boat and 2 tobacco shops - they don't post hours because they close whenever they feel like it and we forgot that we'd need passports in order to get a sim card.  Alas, we finally got it done and we were in business.   We wondered around Tivat but not much was open and the marina area, while very pretty and exceptionally clean, wasn't very exciting.   So, we headed back to the boat and made it an early evening.

The next morning, we headed out early and motored into the Bay of Kotor  to the historic city of Kotor.  After leaving Porto Montenegro, we felt like we'd just traveled back in time. If not for the huge cruise chips that we had to dodge (I'm kidding, they weren't bad), we could have sworn that we were in ancient times. As you enter the bay, you are surrounded on both sides by adorable little towns and gorgeous mountains. Montenegro gets its name from the Venetian words for Black Mountain (yes, Venice ruled the country for about 4 centuries and you can see the influence everywhere).  While we didn't see the exact mountain (it's further north and inland), we did feel like we were sailing through the mountains going back in the bay. The bay itself is very narrow in certain spots and the scenery was just amazing.  It's impossible to describe but, I think this is definitely one of our favorite picturesque waterways - so far anyway!

Not to be outdone by the beautiful bay, the actual city of Kotor was gorgeous too.  Once again, we anchored out and took the dinghy ashore - It's amazing to me how hospitable most European cities are with both anchorages and dinghy tie-offs.  Located at the farthest end of the Bay of Kotor, the fortified city (a double UNESCO world heritage site for both historical significance and natural beauty) is a sight to behold.  Described as one the best-preserved medieval towns in the Adriatic, both the old town and the market area has done an amazing job of maintaining the old-world charm.   Another aspect of Kotor that we also fell in love with are their cats.  Almost everywhere you look, there are cats who for the most part seem to be well attended.  The city also embraces its cats with its numerous souvenirs of whimsical statues to shirts and everything in between.

Both the city and bay are completely surrounded by natural limestone cliffs. The best way to explore the cliffs is via the Ladder of Kotor which was the only way to access the town until 1879.  The entire walk from old town to the Fortress is 1350 steps with the entire route to the next city covering about 4 miles. Since we'd not planned our footwear well when we left the boat, we turned around near the top when the steps got even steeper.  Nevertheless, the views were worth the hike!

The next morning, we took off and headed back out of the Bay of Kotor.  Since we were on the north side of the bay on our way out (and not dodging any cruise ships), we were able to get a few pictures of the famous island named Our Lady of the Rocks.  Legend holds that this artificial island was built upon a sight where local fishermen found an icon of the Madonna and Child. For years afterwards, following each successful voyage, the local fishermen would lay another rock in the bay.  An island was eventually constructed by the sinking of old and seized ships loaded with rocks.  Today the island holds only a church and attached museum.  We weren't allowed to land on the island so we just took our pictures and sailed on.

Our next stop was the town of Budva.  We found a great anchorage just off a nearby beachside resort and spent a couple of days enjoying the wonderful warm water and walking the beach boardwalk.  We also took the dinghy ashore to explore the old town of Budva.  While not a big as Kotor, this walled city was equally charming.  We meandered around the sidewalk sized streets for a couple of hours enjoying the old city and the views of the water. 

After a couple of days enjoying Budva and the hospitality of her people thanks in part to friends of a friend, we continued sailing south to the town of Bar.  This port city was somewhat more industrial but had a very comfortable marina and a wonderful market where we got the best melons we'd had since leaving Portugal!  We planned to stay in Bar just a couple of days but decided to stay a few days more.  Montenegro is a relatively small country and we'd covered most of the coastline so we decided to rent a car and visit inland.    

Our first stop - technically still coastline - was the city of Ulcinj.  This city is believed to be one of the oldest cities on the Adriatic. The majority of its inhabitants are Albanian (most having flocked to Ulcinj during the Kosovo War in 1998 and 1999).  The first thing we noticed were the mosques - last count was 26 in the town and surrounding countryside - with their calls to prayer over loud speakers which we both found fascinating.  The highlight of the town is the 2500-year-old Ulcinji Castle. The castle surrounds what is now referred to as old town and sits atop the surrounding hills and is completely open to visitors. 

Back in the car, our next stop was Stari Bar (or Old Bar as the locals call it).  Located about 2 miles inland from Bar, this was the town of Bar until 1979 when a devastating earthquake destroyed the aqueduct that delivered water to the community.  Following the earthquake, the town of Bar (technically Novi Bar meaning New Bar) was erected around the existing port where it stands today.  While it's really hard to imagine, we learned from our dockmaster that the old town was actually the coastline in ancient times.  The small town that remains is quite cute but the true draw to Stari Bar is the ruins of the old town which contains the ruins of over 240 buildings.  The old town was massive and while we spent a couple of hours wandering the ruins and enjoying the view, I'm sure we didn't scratch the surface.  Another nearby attraction that we didn't find is one of the world's oldest olive trees that's reportedly some 2000 years old.  I guess, we'll have to go back!

For our last excursion, we left the city and drove about an hour to see Lake Skadar.  Bordering both Montenegro and Albania and covering over 200 square miles, this lake is touted the largest lake in Southern Europe.  We drove across the lake and then decided to visit the charming little town of Virpazar on the west side of the lake and grab a bite.  The lake is home to 50 species of fish - 18 of which are found nowhere else in the world - so as you can imagine, we had an amazing dinner of fresh caught lake perch. We even got to share our food with a neighborhood cat.  It was the purrfect (sorry, I had to do it) way to end a great day!

Back on the boat, we spent a couple more days waiting on an addendum to our insurance about a new requirement for sailing in Greece that we didn't know about.   We took almost daily trips to the amazing local market for fresh produce and were fascinated by the grilled corn on the cob sold by the street vendors along the beach.  We also found a vendor attached to the market who roasted pork so bought enough to last throughout our 2-day sail to Greece.  Yup, we made it to Greece but I'll fill you in on that next time.

Here's the link to all of my pictures:         Montenegro Pictures

Until next post!

69 – Italia Sailing!

One of the best things about sailing with you buddies (besides the sailing with your buddies), is getting great pictures of your boats under sail.  We love our boats and take copious amounts of pictures of them at anchor and in harbors, but under sail is the best and it's impossible to do by yourself.  On our sail from Corsica to Italy's Aeolian Islands, Alison got some great pictures of our boat (in fact, she's taken every great picture of our boat)!  Thank you, Alison!

We had a 3 day sail from Bonifacio, Corsica over to the volcanic island of Stromboli where we'd hoped to drop anchor in a harbor with a view of the live volcano.  Sailing in was amazing.  We could see the lava streaming down the side of the mountain and the smoke coming out of the top, However, the winds picked up as we approached making our proposed anchorage too exposed. So, we headed a few miles south to Panarea Island and found a wonderful protected harbor.  

While we didn't get to see the volcano at night, the wonderful harbor and the beautiful island, more than made up for it.  Alison and I paddleboarded (well, I was on the paddleboard so that counts right?) over the island and walked into town while the boys stayed behind.  The town itself was adorable with several small shops including a produce market, a very decently stocked grocery store and a wonderful bakery.  The only road, while heavy with golf cart traffic, was fun to walk on with views of the sea, whitewashed houses and lots of flowers.  It was great to stretch our legs after the passage and we had a great time walking around.

A little later, the boys decided to go ashore too so we walked the other direction away from town.  This would take us towards the more secluded cliffs, ancient ruins and a working farm we were told had 3 donkeys.  It didn't take us long to find the farm.  The owner welcomed us in and showed us all around.  While very rustic, the house and area around the farm was also paradise.  The views were stunning and the privacy it afforded looked perfect.  While we did see a few chickens,  we never could find the donkeys (we even brought them carrots)!  

 

The next morning, we took advantage of our good weather window and made the crossing over to the Messina Straight.  This narrow - its only 2 miles wide - strip of water separates mainland Italy and Sicily and also connects the Tyrrhenian Sea with the Ionian Sea.  We motored through the swift currents of the narrowest part but were able to resume sailing until we found a great spot to anchor for the night.   In the interest of time, we decided to continue on rather than explore Sicily - I know we'll have to come back one day.

Again, in the interest of time and because we were supposed to have the wind direction we wanted, we decided to take the next 2 days and sail the 142 miles across the large bay that separates the sole of the Italian boot with the heel.  Our sail was mostly good albeit a but tiring but we made it and dropped anchor for the night near the lighthouse of Santa Maria de Leuca.  

The next morning, Dan and Alison decided to slow the pace down a bit so we were once again sailing solo.  We had a pretty great sail north up to the wonderful protected harbor of Capo D'otranto.  Arriving just after sunset, we dropped anchor within sight of the lighthouse and enjoyed the songs of the cicadas who apparently live in the surrounding woods.  Add to that the fact that we had the entire bay to ourselves and we were very happy sailors.  However, the seclusion was short lived.  We'd already decided to stay an extra day to both relax and get a boat chore done so we were still there mid-morning when the day boats from nearby Otranto started arriving in droves. Very soon, our quiet anchorage was transformed into party central.  We finished our boat chore and decided to join in on the fun.   We had a blissful afternoon of swimming and paddleboarding.   As is so typical of Italians, the people we met were wonderful.  Two guys swam out from shore (Pedro said it was only about 600 feet or so but looked further to me) to tell us that they were admiring our boat from ashore and wanted to say hello.  Not long afterwards, another man paddleboarded up to us enthralled with the fact that we'd sailed from Florida. We spoke for quite a long time before he had to return back to his boat.  He returned just a few minutes later (still on the paddleboard) with a bag filled with Taralli (local baked treats something like a savory biscotti) that he said his grandmother had made.  They were absolutely delicious and we're still eating on them.  Italian hospitality certainly seems unending.  

Party time was over so the next day we continued north.  We took 2 more days to sail the next 100 miles up to the town of Bari so we could check out of Italy before setting sail for Montenegro.  Our sail to Bari was a typical mixed bag of good and not so good sailing.  The predominant winds for the Adratic Sea are from the north so if you are sailing that way, you can expect to have a lot of tacking back and forth and we certainly did. The beautiful coastline we were traversing however made the trip enjoyable.  We were excited to see from sea the cities of Monopoli and Pugliano a Mare that we'd visited last March.  While I couldn't really get a great picture, trust me that they are just as beautiful!

We arrived the next day in Bari and were able to get a marina slip for a few days so we could get caught up on some additional boat maintenance and explore Bari. For some reason, we'd skipped over Bari on our previous trip mistakenly believing that is was just an industrial city.  We couldn't have been more wrong.  While our marina was in an industrial port area, we were just a couple of miles away from the adorable old town. It's very difficult to explain but the city is quite different from most others we'd experienced.  First of all, it's very much a local's city rather than a tourist one.  The tiny streets weave all throughout the old town where it's residents all sit out in front of their houses socializing.  Another very popular thing to do is pack up diner or buy something from the street vendors, grab a card game and congregate on the Lungomare.  This boardwalk runs all along the harbor front for a mile or so and is the absolute hub of activity every night for the locals.  It doesn't take long to feel like one of them.  Another thing Bari is very famous for is it's Strada delle Orecchiette.  This is a street (actually there are a few but this gets the publicity) where the local ladies sit outside of their houses and make the local pasta called Orecchiette (it means little ears and that's kind of what it looks like).  It's become so popular that they sell it to the tourists who happen by.  

The marina we found was also great.  We'd planned to only stay for 2 days bur liked it so much that we decided to stay for 4.  We again, got some necessary boat chores (yes, it's unending) completed and made some great friends.  We enjoyed the friendly people who all wanted to talk about our sail from Florida and especially the 2 marina dogs we'd befriended as soon as their humans gave us permission to share treats.  Our stay in Bari couldn't have been better.

Here are all of my pictures:  Italia

As I type this, we are sailing along the coast of Montenegro.  But I'll fill you in on that next time.

Until next post!