ITALY ………. or shall we say

We certainly have seen some wonderful places since we started the ‘Med Tour’, but Italy still is something special. I will let the pictures do the talking in this post as we had some very talented and active photographers on board – hence many great pictures to choose from.

On board for this leg were the left-over crew of Maria, Hans and Christian joined by Nina, Georgia and Alexandre – the fearsome three in their various disguises.  

This week was a complete family affair on PasoDoble’s port side berths and Christian could relax a bit on his own on starboard. We started from Portoferreio to cross to mainland Italy sailing north on a sunny day with little wind, but the weather forecast predicted some fresh winds – and they did arrive. By the time we dodged ferries and freighters outside the busy harbour of Livorno we had winds force 4 gusting to 25 knot and the new crew members could work on their steering skills. Alexandre logging the SOG [speed over ground] record so far with 9.3 knots. Our destination for the night to get shelter from the swell was the mouth of the river Arno, just down from Pisa. Once we crossed the bar and cruised up the river delta we somehow felt as if we were in Asia with drop nets stations lining one side of the river, but as we turned our heads to the other embankment we were greeted by Italians gathered to share guess what ??? …… food of course        

We crossed a much more docile bar the next morning to head north towards a place no one of us was familiar with called Portovenere. It is an absolute gem and was a real surprise. It definitely joins the ranks of the 5 best Mediterranean ports – best to keep it a secret. Pictures say more than words in this case …….

Portovenere is the gateway to the Cinque Terre and ‘the girls’ decided to explore by foot the five once isolated communities making up this heritage area while ‘the boys’ followed them on the water. Both parties enjoyed a wonderful and sunny day experiencing the same spectacular scenerie from a different angle.

The Cinque Terre was a hard act to follow – but Portofino ‘just’ lived up to it. An Italian icon on the Ligurian coast, it has a unique setting and it is a sheer delight to see the beautiful palazzi lining the rocky coast as you approach the narrow harbour, filled to the brim with local fishing boats and mega yachts. All this was interspersed with funky art in a way only the Italian can do it. 

Next port of call of a totally different caliber was historic Genova. Over centuries a buzzing port city - and it remained exactly that. To this day Genova is still one of the biggest working harbours in the Mediterranean. To our surprise we managed to get a mooring right in the centre of town at the Porto Antico. For the first time in weeks we were back in a real city. We set off next morning to explore the narrow streets of the old centre of town. If ever you thought you had a good sense of orientation – test it out here. I guarantee you will get lost.

Before we left Genova for the French Cote d’Azur we were joined by Daniella and Tanja.

Unfortunately the wind disappeared completely for most of the following week and while gently motoring we had to entertain ourselves with other activities like …… after all, we decided we were on a holiday. 

We called into the classic and famous Mediterranean ‘play grounds’ like San Remo and Monaco and they even put on a fire works just for us. I zoomed in one shot so you can see us parked in Monaco – see if you can pick us.   

Luckily on the last day we had some wind and could hoist the sails yet again; a respite from boring motoring and heat and we sailed into Antibes, the final destination for this leg. I finish off with some more typical Med Riviera shots and hope that the pictures really have been able to do the talking  ………..