GENOA

We all felt fairly privileged to sail into Genoa. the idea that we were sailing into the same port as Christopher Columbus did hundreds of years ago was quite awe inspiring. The port is now huge and very much a working harbour. Even though there are hundreds of yachts moored in the port, they shrink in importance to the massive industrial tankers and cargo boats that fill the harbour.

Our mooring was exceptional, modern and close to facilities, which by the way were a bit over the top (automatic fragrance dispensed as you walked into the bathrooms). As chance would have it we met some delightful exAussies in the boat next to us. We're indebted to Michael and his partner for their generous loan of an internet dongle and their good company while we were there. Without it we would have found keeping in touch with home really difficult.

The two days were spent exploring the city with Martin and Merrilee, eating the most amazing local dishes and generally having a great time.

the gorgeous waitress at the farinata cafe

An incredible restoration

David and I spent a few hours keeping our cultural side alive by visiting  the Doges palaces and art galleries. The wealthy Genoese noblemen had no problems displaying their grandiose wealth.

It was quite sad to see so many beautiful palaces in the old city had been destroyed by the allies during the 2nd WW although the city has rebuilt most of the bombed areas and is conserving those that can be saved.



Many beautiful buildings now have the top halves restored while the bottom levels are original. Where cornices and carved sculptures cannot be replaced 'trompe L'oeil' has been used quite successfully.

the courtyard of a city palazzo

The views from the top of one building were breathtaking.












Sadly, Martin and Merrilee left the boat during our last morning in Genoa as they are travelling on to other places. We will certainly miss them.

SAVONE

 

On the way to Savone

Merrilee enjoying the incredibly pleasant weather

What a pleasant surprise to arrive in such a picturesque fishing harbour. The town of Savano is one of those that you dream about – a small fishing port surrounded by ancient and new buildings with very little evidence of being spoilt by the tourist trade.

Coming into the port we passed by old shacks and dozens of fishing boats and were quite surprised to find less than 150 yachts in the port. (we 're usually confronted by thousands!)

When we arrived we were greeted by a friendly ‘capitaine’ who arranged to have the bridge opened for us to enter the port and who made every effort to make us welcome. We felt completely at home and spent the next day sampling the coffee, exploring the port and shopping for tea. 

The city gives you an immediate feeling of comfort and, being so close to the activity makes it easy to wander on and off the boat for shopping and services. The fish and  market opened early next morning and so we were able to stock up on fresh sardines and fish for the next night's tea.

Martin, Merrilee and David choosing fish

The city itself is very quaint. Old, ancient structures can still be found relatively intact, while relatively recent sculptures seem quite common in the streets and on the port wharf.

The bronze mermaid lying next to the boats

A 'blue' dog on the footpath - no idea why!

Heading for the bridge

Coming out of the harbour the next day day was a little daunting as after we passed under the bridge the huge size of the 'Costa Atlantic' made us feel like we were in Lilliput land.

We left the port with some feelings of regret as I'm sure we all felt we'd love to live there, but we had to move on......................

LOANO

On the way to Loano

Such a beautiful, unknown (to us) city. The marina was exceptional with a welcoming party waiting for us at the dock ready to help us tie up and for once, placed us right next to the facilities.

We have loved being here. Even though the fees were steep, we really appreciated the quality of pontoons, bathrooms (bidets for the first time!) and just the impeccable state of everything.

The view from the top floor of the yacht club

Our boat (blue shade) in the marina

Some stunning buildings on the waterfront

The new club structure that houses the immaculate bathrooms

 We found a great little cafe on the seafront and spent some hours enjoying the local mussels,sardines and pasta at reasonable prices.

The seafront is packed with private beaches, each one beautifully set up to provide a 'perfect' beach experience. 

White sand is brought in and laid over the grey rocks - some even have paths laid down to the water edge.
Behind the esplanade is a string of shops catering for every need. We wandered through the alleys and visited some spectacular churches.

It was surprising to see so many buildings decorated with ornate patterns and Trompe L'Oeil'. It seemed as though there had been a concerted effort to improve the appearance of the town.

Decorated eaves on a huge 3 story house.

After a very pleasant, restful stay we moved on next morning to Porto Savone.

IMPERIA

Coming into Imperia

We passed some beautiful villages as we sailed into Imperia.  It was quite delightful to see the yachts in the harbour, including a line of small yachts being towed back home across the glassy sea.

After a beautiful gentle sail  we arrived at the marina, only to find the town was an hours walk away.

orange trees lining the street

looking through to the marina

Surprisingly, the streets are very clean, free of graffiti and quite beautiful. It felt strange to see orange trees full of fruit lining the streets. 

 Marty enjoying the beautiful Med

The one disappointment with Imperia was the distance of the marina from the town and the rather sterile environment we paid a lot for.

SAN REMO

We woke next morning excited to see Martin and Merrilee join us on our boat. Once on board, the four of us set off for San Remo, a very large port north of Nice.The day began with calm warm breezes and we sailed with a light wind until mid afternoon when the weather turned somewhat cool and damp.

on the way to San Remo

We explored San Remo in the afternoon and were pleasantly surprised by the quaint back streets and alleyways that ran through the old quarter. It felt like you were stepping back in time.
Next morning we set off again for the next Italian marina along the coast 'Porto Imperia', reputed to be the place the Romans stayed at.

the marina

CANNES

On our sail to Cannes, we managed to set the gennaker and had a very nice but short sail in light winds.
Cannes is remarkable.  It is the height of the film festival and so there are thousands of business  types and hangers on milling around.  Most of them have their mandatory lanyard with photo ID which allows them entree into the marketing areas and also the food and drinks that are laid on for them

party dressed wannabes waiting for the stars to arrive

The shopping seems endless and the prices are sky high. It seems incredible that pair of men’s shoes could cost $2500.  We spent the days wandering around looking at the shops, looking at the red carpet where the stars walk up and down, walking up to the old tower on the hill, doing the washing, waiting for Kym Kardashian (whose giant motor yacht was opposite), to come out onto the deck and generally looking in awe at some of the largest pleasure ships we had ever seen. 

looking across the Cannes marina

The display of conspicuous consumption really does beg the question “What global financial crisis?”.  At night, the big ships glowed with mood lighting and some thumped on partying to the next day.

NICE

We left Cannes and motored all of the way to Nice in perfectly calm seas.  The huge motor yachts moored in the bays outside of Juan les Pins and Antibes were an extension of the incredible displays of affluence in Cannes.  

The Port of Nice is quite small, but still had a few big boats including Mirabella III (she is a  mere 136 feet long).

We had seen the extensive housing development along the bay but the Nice port was compact, underdeveloped and rustic.  It was only when we caught the bus and went into the Centre Ville that we realised just how large and majestic this city is.

The city is centred on the Plaza Massena which is surrounded by kilometres of shopping streets.  The main street, Avenue Jean Medecin is wide, and in one area, covered with a porticoed verandah. 

sculptures in Nice

It was not hard to imagine the bedecked socialites of the 19th century strolling the boulevard with a parasol on their wrist and a thorough gentleman beside them.





Later we caught a bus to the Musee Marc Chagall and was enthralled by his history and the religious and rustic themes of his art works.  Another bus brought us back right to the yacht where we found a gift;  a copy of the 'Old man and the sea' resting on our door-  Martin and Merrilee had arrived.


Next morning M & M came to the boat and we set off together for San Remo.

SANTA LUCIA

After a foul last night in St Tropez, we left the marina and headed for Santa Lucia hoping to outrun the rain and wind. We managed to sail 3 miles at 4 – 5 knots on a close reach though whenever we tacked we seemed to be heading further out.

leaving port

We finally gave in to the fickle wind and motored into Santa Lucia. The rain began again in earnest once we moored.  After a quick visit to the local coffee shop we loaded up with a baguette, vegies and beer and once again retreated to the boat.

ST TROPEZ

Approaching St Tropez

Eventually we rounded the Cap De St Tropez, and, after some confusion at the Marina acceuil we moored up and went for the usual exploration around town.  St Tropez, although past its belle epoque, is still a huge tourist mecca.  Thousands of people were wandering along the quai and up and down the little side streets.


We stumbled into a gallery that had a retrospective exhibition of Charles Dufresne, an early 20th C naive painter.  We thought we would look upstairs at the small permanent collection. Wow! There were Vuillards, Bonnards, Matisses, Signacs and Seurats to name a few. There were some simply beautiful works. 

It appears that all of the artists stayed in St Tropez at some time during their careers.


 
As we prepared another lovely tea, more and more sailboats and 100’ long power yachts motored in to stay for the night.  St Tropez is still a bit of a watering hole for the conspicuously affluent.

We are once more sitting in the port waiting for for Easterly gales to abate.  Right now, it;s off to the local market on the quai.

LE LAVANDOU

Sail boats near Ile de Porquerolles

Out of Toulon the wind was nearly on our nose as we motorsailed across the bay. We were consistently  getting 7 knots and the sea was lumpy but fair. The swell was running about  a metre on our starboard bow. When we got to Iles de Porquerolles, we turned off the motor and sailed across the bay still at 7 knots.  It was a public holiday (Ascension)  and there was a race going on in the bay with over 50 sailboats milling around. David played  ‘bowman’ for a while, keeping an eye on crossing traffic and relaying information to the helm as the genoa is large and blocks out a very large area of the forward view.
Our last tack was towards Iles de Hyeres, a renowned nudist colony.  David suggested we should tack when we could see the light shining off bare bottoms, but we ignored that.  Finally we motored into Le Lavandou.

This is a very beautiful tourist town.  It appears that the local council is very proud of it's appearance with very little rubbish visible and virtually no dog poo on the streets. The esplanade is decorated with colourful gardens with many Australian native plants in flower.









The beach, which seemed to stretch for miles and miles, was golden and covered in sunbathers.

The other side of the esplanade was wall to wall shopping, dining and people watching.  Dozens of people, young and old played petanque in the beautiful manicured  strip between the main shopping strip and the marina.



























The side streets were filled with even more restaurants and shops.  The housing in the hillside behind was a pleasant variety of modernish houses and bushland.  We went out for tea and ate well. We had a three course meal for $20 which included things like soup from a tureen, fish, rice provencale and a creme caramel for dessert!

 

Side street cafes

Yachts lined up, ready to sail.

The approach to the city.

We had to leave the next day as there was some rough weather brewing.  Even so, we were forced to motor all the way into some fairly solid seas.  For a good part of the journey we had crags and cliffs on our lee and so were not feeling very comfortable.  This was not helped by constant drizzle that made us quite uncomfortable.

Finally we turned the corner towards St Tropez. The seas were still solid but more to the aft .

One of the vagueries of the sea it seems is that the wind is too strong at some times and too weak at others.

TOULON

The next day was a bit of a challenge.  We set out for Toulon early because the forecast was for strong winds later in the day.  By the time we got half way across the bay the winds started lifting.  We furled the genoa and, after another hour, we furled the mainsail to half size.  The wind was coming at 150 or so degrees and so it was a rapid downwind sail.  The swell was coming across the boat on the starboard and so we were getting tossed around a bit.  Some swells touched 2 metres and the wind topped out at 35 knots(yes knots).  Mostly the wind was around 15-20.  Anne was at the helm and did a magnificent job.  On one particularly big wave which caught us broadside, the drinking glasses flew out of their racks and crashed to the floor.  Two broken wine glasses and other s. Damn, it’s back to drinking beer (I still can’t believe that I can buy 2.5 litres of full strength beer for AU$3).

A regatta near the Ile de Porquerolles

During the 4 1/2 hour journey, the boat behaved calmly and without any feeling that it was overloaded.  We now feel a lot more assured that she will look after us in difficult times.   We reduce sail when we are getting over 7 knots of speed over ground and, although it makes for a longer journey, it reduces the forces on sails etc and the twitchiness of helming downwind.

Nevertheless, we still touched 8 knots and across one of the bays which was sheltered from the swell, enjoyed the force of the wind, and sat on 6.5 to 7 knots on the mainsail alone.

After taking the long motor journey across the Baie du Lazaret, we finally moored in Toulon at Darse Vieille.  It took us all of 5 minutes to find the mega shopping centre and do the usual Carrefour/food/Macdo/internet routine,  It seemed that every car in Toulon was travelling down the road one back from the quai, but the pedestrian crossings were good.  Toulon is an unusual place.  Much of it was flattened during WW2 and so the buildings feel fairly 20th C.  It is still the naval base for half of the French fleet and so there are a lot of very large grey ships everywhere.











The port de plaisance is next door to the Corsica/Sardinia ferry terminal and so we were entertained by hundreds of cars streaming on board and then the gigantic ferry boats steaming out.  There were 3 or four arrivals/departures during the day.

We have holed up for Wednesday because the Mistral is blowing even stronger than it did last night.  Here is the forecast for Toulon for Wednesday:

Wed 16 May

CEST WindAvg. Gust

02:00 NW27 kt to 40 kt

05:00 NW 27 kt to 39 kt

08:00 NW 26 kt to 37 kt

11:00 NW 28 kt to 35 kt

14:00 NW 30 kt to 37 kt

17:00 NW 31 kt to 38 kt

20:00 NW 26 kt to 36 kt

23:00 NNW 16 kt to 20 kt

39 knots of wind is  70 kilometres an hour; it’s fairly hard to stand up straight in that sort of wind.  Out on the open sea, you might expect it to blow 10%- 20% more.

Fairly scary to say the least.