Sunday 26 October 2014

Santa Maria de Leuca and on to Porto Paolo (Terry)


Leaving Brindisi
 
 
We went to Santa Maria de Leuca after Brindisi and stayed for a few days in the marina there.  Not very nice:-  it rolls all the visiting boats terribly and it was hard to sleep.  Was hard to get on and off, too, and that was when there was very little swell outside!  For the first time ever, I was pitched getting off the passareille and ended up on the pontoon.  No damage, I rolled to my shoulder on the way down but it was a shock nonetheless.  The problem is that the visiting boats are all lined up along the entrance way, which gets the first of the swell that comes in.  It seems a little better further in and to the side away from the floating pontoons.
 
 
 



It is a Municipal Marina, owned by the town/city.  Very pleasant staff.  We arrived around 6:00am on the Monday morning and motored around outside a bit until I could see where to go.  At 6:45, we called the Ormeggiotore and he came out and helped us in.  In a first, and pleasant surprise, once the manager worked out we were staying longer than overnight, he got the Ormeggiotore to go out to the car and bring back a gift box of local wines (red and white), artisan pasta and artisan spaghetti sauce and also a very large jar of local olive paste.  All boxed up and laid out with cellophane etc.





We were going to stay until Saturday, as it's a nice town to be in, even if half-closed as all the tourists have gone home.  The town is famous for its many mansions, as the holiday makers in this part of the world were not dissimilar to the inhabitants of the Hamptons etc.  They competed for the best architects and the best designs.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This one's on the beachfront


With its own Cabana (there are a couple more with these as well, plus many not on the beach with their own guardhouses)




The link is worth a look.

It is also famous for its lighthouse, and almost on the same block, a Basilica.  From these heights runs a water cascade that is turned on only a couple of times a year but is quite a sight when it is.  Work is under way to install LED lighting, probably to give the illusion of a cascade while saving water.

 The walk to the Basilica and the Cascade

It really is a very nice place to be, except for the rolling in the marina.

We say what was forecast as a good weather window beginning Friday, with north wind on Saturday and Sunday, so we decided not to stay on and left on Friday morning.

Forecast was bullshit as usual.  Friday night turned into the voyage from hell.  Instead of 4-8 knot winds drifting lazily from all parts of the compass, we had 28-40 knot Westerly winds for hour after hour, side on.  The seas built and we got hammered and hammered.  Carol was still sick for two days from it.   That’s what you get for producing weather forecasts with computers and sidelining the people who used to do it.


The next day was better, but we got invaded by thousands upon thousands of some kind of fly.  Not normal ones.  Didn't respond to fly spray or surface spray, so I connected up the hose that washes the anchor to another hose and we washed them off.  They were on everything.  I think they got blown offshore in a swarm and just happened to find a boat to land on.  Luckily, they weren't bitey ones.

Things quietened down a little after that and we motorsailed lazily along recovering from the beating of the night before.

Then, early a.m. Sunday, just when I wanted to get some sleep around 1am, we ran into the annual Rolex Middle Sea Race off Syracusa.  Some of the contestants had called in to Leuca on their way to Valetta, Malta,  for the start.  We didn't know then that was where they were going, but there they were, coming back towards us.  One called "Oz" actually came down from Brindisi with us.  They were really moving and unfortunately they were moving straight towards us, about 30 or 40 of them.  With all the masts, their AIS wasn’t transmitting correctly – one minute you’d see a boat on the screen, next minute it was gone, then back again!  There was only a sliver of a moon and it was near impossible to see them unless they were skylighted agains the lights of Syracusa.  Those to seaward of us we couldn’t see until they were broadside to us. Took almost two hours of threading my way through them in the dark (they had right-of-way because they were under sail and we had the engine on).  No real danger in it, because as well as we could see them on our screen, they could see us.  AIS must be a race directive as we didn't pass any unaccounted for boats. 

 There may be no wind, there may be too much wind, but there is rarely nothing going on out here.


Finally we were clear of them and I tried to sleep.  No luck, as the radio piped up with "Common Sense, Common Sense, Common Sense, this is Italian Warship “Mars something”.   Perhaps it was the Maestrale?.  Not big enough for a Destroyer, too big for a PB, too dark to get a good look. 


Something registered that they were talking to me and I answered on the second call.  All they wanted to do was set up a passing routine and we agreed on "Green to Green", which means both our starboard sides, instead of the more usual port-to-port.  They were a mile away so I suspect they were just going through a radio training routine for newbie bridge officers, and also practising their English.  No problem, except that Navies here take a very dim view of people not responding to Channel 16 calls.  They think that perhaps you are maybe sleeping a little bit and not paying attention J

Maestrale Class Frigate

Finally we arrived in Porto Paolo, where we anchored last year (Porto Paolo with a Koala Bar!)  As usual, the Admiral’s straight over the side for a swim and I was straight into the bunk for a catch up on sleep. 
After a good rest and a hot dinner, we left at around 21:30 for the last 13-hour trip on up to Licata and a full stop to 2014's cruising.
 

Tuesday 14 October 2014

Carol and Kim's Excellente Adventure - Ostuni and Lecce


Terry spent the day in that time-honoured cruising pastime of ‘waiting for a bloke with a new part’, this time for our temperamental bow-thruster, so Kim and I set off for a day out in Lecce, the capital of the Puglia region. After purchasing our tickets in flawless Italian, we downed a wake-up cappuccino then hopped trustingly aboard the 10.17 leaving from Platform 3 for Lecce. Or so we thought. About 20 minutes into a pleasant journey through aged olive groves, the conductor arrived to inspect our tickets. “No Lecce,” he informed us with a theatrical look of dismay, “This tren to Bari!” Well we didn’t want to go to Bari, having just gone to all the trouble of sailing from there to Brindisi, so we hopped off at Ostuni, the next town, to make our way back. Small problem, the station-mistress told us with a tragic look not unlike the conductor’s, “Next tren 14.00” – about two and a half hours! She consoled us with a suggestion: “Look Ostuni (expressive gesture) Very nice!” So we decided to look Ostuni. We became aware of another small problem as we left the station and spied the sparkling white town of Ostuni atop a distant hill. The station was in a fairly deserted industrial area a long way from the town, but we happily encountered a friendly African trolley guy outside a supermarket who told us where to wait for a bus. Then he called the bus, which arrived minutes later “special for you!” The bus driver was another delightful friendly Italian who was very concerned for our welfare and gave us repeated, increasingly loud instructions on how to get around town and to catch the return bus.
Ostuni in the distance

Ostuni was a delightful surprise. It is a very old town with some fine buildings and a beautiful sunlit piazza. We naturally gravitated to “Kim’s Ristorante” where we enjoyed an excellent lunch of pasta, prosciutto and the awesome local cheese, “burrata” which is like “mozzarella on the outside, stracchiatelli on the inside”. A magnificent building of the type where you imagine Mussolini waving from the balcony towered over the square, and well-dressed folk with bundles of important papers kept arriving and leaving – clearly a place of civic authority. We had a bit of a wander but decided eventually to call a taxi back to the station. Antonio arrived in his black Mercedes and we enjoyed the scenic views back down the hill – troubled by the niggling thought that our bus driver was probably cruising the streets of Ostuni looking for us still…




So, back on the tren to Brinsisi, then on to Lecce. Kim had a bit of a kip while I chatted to a Pakistani-Italian jeweller called Mario/Muhammed, who suggested a few places of interest in Lecce (including, of course, his shop). The old town of Lecce was quite attractive, though it was the depths of siesta-time and not a lot was happening anywhere. We eventually found our way to the famous Baroque cathedrale, taking directions from several people, including a tribe of kids who took great delight in escorting us personally to the site. The cathedrale is the very definition of Baroque, with all sorts of bizarre creatures cavorting alongside solemn popes, saints and archbishops around its facade. Grimaldi described it as a “lunatic stonemason having a nightmare” – harsh, but you can see what he means! A quick prayer, a look around the creepy crypt and we were back on the street seeking directions to the stazione. “Dritto, dritto, dritto to arco, then poco, poco destra to semaphora, sinistra to stazione” accompanied by flamboyant gestures and mimes. Yep, we’ve got it, grazie!


Playing statues in the courtyard

Weird mummy figures appeal to the Madonna in the crypt...

Amazingly, the railway station eventually appeared in front of us and after several double checks, we boarded the tren back to Brindisi. When the conductor appeared, we looked smugly sympathetic as one poor guy discovered that he was on the wrong tren – he wanted to go to Bari! A rather tedious wait at the grotty bus station for the Number 5 to the Marina, a hair-raising ride back and we were ‘home’ in time for Aperols and a great meal at the marina restaurant.
Dritto, dritto...

Sometimes the best days happen quite by accident! Thanks, Kim, for being such wonderful company and remember that your Common Sense T shirt entitles you to come aboard any time, anywhere.

Monday 13 October 2014

A small slice of the Adriatico (guest blogger Kim)



I was excited and a little anxious as I left to meet Carol and Terry on board Common Sense. I had had an amazing stopover in Dubai staying with lovely Lisa and her boys – what a fantastic city! A night in Rome was noisy and a good introduction to life in Italy.


Carol and Terry met me at the station in Bari and we took the bus (first of many!) back to the marina. After settling into my cabin, we went off exploring in this interesting port city. In the first few days I must say “Eataly” with its astonishing array of Italian products, the old guys playing poker at improvised tables all along the waterfront and my first swim in the Adriatic would be highlights. I was immediately reminded that the Italian people are friendly, warm, laid back and very expressive. 




A "small" selection of Eataly's Formaggio

They don’t mind squalor, cigarettes and dog-poo infested environs as long as they can eat good food and laugh a lot! Carol and I took a trip to Polignano where we enjoyed a superb four course meal, then spent a couple of days recovering from it. 



Domenico Modugo - born and lived in Polignano, writer and singer of "Volare"

We also took a tour to see the fascinating ‘cave city’ of Matera, once the ‘shame of Italy’ for its terrible poverty and mortality rates, now a site for tourism and movie sets. Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ was filmed there, and a Ninja movie was in progress while we visited. 



The oldest, continually inhabited town in Europe

Next up was Alberobello, with its cute conical stone houses known as tulli. Apparently these were constructed so as to be easily dismantled when the taxman came to visit. “House? What house? This is just a field of rocks!”


Gianluca and Kim in Alberobello


Trulli

We motored to Monopoli (wind on the nose - what Terry calls a #$%# Noserly) a walled town of many churches and a central cathedral. In the cafĂ© in the piazza I was introduced to my new favourite drink – Aperol Spritz – and enjoyed one or two each evening from then on. We got lost in the narrow, winding streets, finding all sorts of interesting things but not the cathedral we were looking for! We swam in a lovely little bay and watched a local guy clean his daily catch of about two dozen octopus. More good food – seafood, pasta, gelato, cornettos, cheese, bread …

The inside harbour of Monopoli


The back streets of Monopoli

We headed off to Brindisi, unfortunately in rain and quite a heavy swell – still no real sailing. There is a good sheltered marina here where I enjoyed my Aperol each evening and a swim every morning. We dinghied into town for a wander and some shopping, and Carol and I took the train to the regional capital of Lecce – with and accidental side trip to Otuni [see the next blog for this story].

The evening's aperitif - Aperol Spritz

All in all, an amazing holiday. I feel very relaxed and would certainly join you again aboard the good ship Common Sense. Fantastico! Arrivederci Italia and grazie Carol and Terry!


 Polignano dessert