Month: February 2018

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!