Summertime Voyage

Otranto is famous for a few other things. It was a major stepping off point for generations of crusaders off to do God's work. It was therefore always a centre of cultural conflict and was fought over many times. Statue commemorating the martyrs Dem bones Dem bones An attempt by the Ottoman Turks under Ahmed Pasha to take mainland Italy was partially thwarted by the resistance of the Otrantans in 1480. While many escaped from the besieged city a small group continued to fight. When they were finally overwhelmed, the story goes that some 800 or so refused to convert to Islam and were executed. They have been deemed martyrs and canonised. Their bones are held in the reliquary of the Cathedral alongside the medieval mosaic. This massacre resulted in the Pope ordering a crusade on Otranto and a combined force from Naples, Hungary and Portugal were sent to the city the following year, although the Portuguese  were too late to fight. This was the last attempt by the Otto...

I am not one of those people who spend hours studying a place and deciding what to do before I get there. Perhaps I should.... but although it would be a sensible thing to do, I have found that the best bits of travelling are the unexpected and unplanned hapenchances. I like surprises. We decided to come to Otranto because of its convenient step off position on the way to Corfu. What I didn't expect was the fantastic medieval city that unfolded. One step into its 11th century cathedral left me completely speechless. The floor is an enormous mosaic, depicting a glorious mix of biblical fantasy facts and fable. It centres around the "tree of life" with Adam and Eve, Noah and the Ark, King Harold, Tower of Babel, The Inferno along with dragons and monsters.. Oh and also a unicorn,chess boards and surreal imagary akin to Heironymous Bosch. Bizarre and wonderful.  It's apparently the best and largest medieval mosaic in the world, laid in 1123. It was s...

Yesterday was to be a quiet day sailing from Brindisi to Otranto. Otranto is the furthest South Port of Entry and the best stepping off point for Greece. Add caption  I can recommend the harbour wall in Brindisi for berthing. There has been a bit of wash from passing vessels on the wall but it is free, you have ready access to the city and restaurants and the ambiance. For a short visit it is fine. The Lega Navale berths are on the opposite side of the harbour meaning a long walk round to the town itself. Add caption Leaving our berth on the harbour wall was a bit tricky as a superyacht had blocked our forwards exit but safe departure was achieved. We then went to the town fuel berth. They had stacked up several boats queueing for fuel. We  berthed up to find out there was no fuel, "perhaps an hour" - shrug. We waited half an hour but there was no sign of the fuel truck so we departed to the Marina di Brindisi. They had plenty of fuel and were efficient and helpfu...

Apparently late night blogging is a bit like late night ebaying for motorbikes. Anyway there are a few updates required. The navigation light failure was due to poor contacts in the port light requring a bit of pliaring and the stern light bulb being put in the wrong way round. Of more interest is the fan belt. When I picked up the boat the service seemed to have not involved tensioning the fan belt, which was very loose and impacting on the engine casing. This had caused rubber dust to be distributed on the front of the engine. I re-tensioned it but on the passage from Bar to Brindisi it had clearly thrown out more rubber. On inspection something strange was happening in that a section of 6 inches of the belt had the teeth worn away almost completely and other parts were relatively intact. I went to replace the belt with the spare to find it was the wrong size being 2.5 cms longer! It could just about be made to work temporarily but I needed a new belt. The chandler in Brindisi h...

On the way over from  Bar to Brindisi, Colin became increasingly concerned by shedding from the fan belt. Not helped by the discovery that none of the many spares seemed to be suitable. Sourcing one would be no problem in the day of Google I hear you think.., but alas not so... Lots of information on where to get a chihuahua but no fan belts. We pursued many blind alleys before finding a chandler's in a nearby backstreet. The rather bored looking salesman shrugged and let out a torrent of incomprehensible Italian. Way beyond the scope of our wee phrase book. However a kind customer came to our rescue..' None here... Go to the Via Appia.' So we wandered the backstreets and eventually found the aforementioned car parts shop. Just the job. Fitted after a lot of huffing and puffing.. Not to mention the odd expletive. We also managed successful interaction with the police. A young man standing in shorts and a casual tee shirt smoking a cigar stood outside the police...

The little shack that was the office of the pontoon we were berthed on was inhabited by a bunch of swarthy older chaps. It is hard to tell age out here as everyone has weathered a bit but of interest they had a big poster of Josip Broz Tito in his best Hollywood pose, finger to lip Dr No style. We had a pleasant stay in Bar. The people were all very friendly, especially the Harbour master, Police and Customs were efficient and helpful. It is a commercial port but obviously does a fair bit of trade for locals on holiday. There is a Riva with some stylish cafes and restaurants. There was a nice relaxed atmosphere with a lot of promenading going on, however less about stuff strutting and more of young couples with their kids, being taught how to promenade properly. Jings The only architectural feature we found was the most humongous brand new Orthodox church/cathedral with brand new frescos, indeed not yet complete. I thought the days of churches spending vast amounts of cas...

We awoke to a sun filled morning and calm seas so set off  again for Bar. We had a gentle 15kn wind on our stern all the way and had a pretty relaxing day with untroubled entry into Bar. Next stage of customs and harbour master shenanigans commence before our exit tonight we aim to leave in the wee small hours in order to arrive in Brindisi in daylight. We've had a day pootling in Bar. It's a commercial town mainly rebuilt after the earthquake in 1979. Not the most beautiful town but we found this amazing orthodox church Apparently it was just completed last year and we could not find a lot about it. The frescoes are still incomplete.. Rather overwhelming The only  bit of interest was on our arrival. I said to M how about phoning in to book a berth. I handed her my phone and somehow she managed to contact the last dialled number. This was of course Will in Mercia Marine Insurance. Will, bless him, answered second ring and a strange conversation ensued which ended with ...

We had a peaceful night at anchor. earlier in the evening. Shortly before sunset, I commented to Margaret that there was a halo around the sun. I remembered this was a weather feature that was a harbinger of something but I could not remember what exactly. My feeling was it was something bad, but the evening was totally still though there was a murkiness to the Northern sky. In the morning all was well, a light dry wind blew across the anchorage and it was warm. The forecast on the Navtex and from  Dubrovnik radio was SE 8-18knts, possibility of local rain and thunderstorms. To put this in context thunderstorms are forecast every day as a default. And indeed they do occur everywhere without warning. They are usually sort lived and can be ridden out or avoided. We raised the anchor and headed out of the fjord towards the open sea. Coming round the various headlands en route showed the expected wind changes in strength and direction. As we sailed out into the main Adriatic the...

We awake to a cooler morning...and the miraculously silent arrival of a gigantic cruise ship behind us during the night. The venetian fortifications of Kotor extend high into the mountains behind the city, with the church of Our lady of Remedy twinkling above us in the sunshine. Visiting it, and the remains of the Fort high above it, is the thing to do when here....even though you have to pay £8 for the anguish. Someone had to do it. I was voted the one, with my recently earned thigh muscles after walking in Scotland. It was a very steep and bumpy climb on narrow steps hugging the city wall....but at least I had decent shoes on, unlike many others looking exceedingly unwell, puffing as they sweated upwards with big handbags and flip flops. The view was fantastic and the pilgrimage to the church ensured protection from the plague.. So it was definitely worth it. Kotor is wonderful. It is Venetian in flavour with tiny alleys and wonderful churches in every viewpoint. Bells chime ...