Well, our sailing plan for the season has has hit the bin. We got as far as Monopoli on Italy’s east coast and were ‘winded-in’ for 8 days with a number of other yachts, many heading back from Croatia with lots of stories and advice for us. We had a great time in Monopoli which is a B&B getaway place for Italians. The Old Town was filled with restaurants and cafes with food ‘to die for’. We gave up on Croatia for a couple of reasons. The sailing is some of the best in the world, but.... every Italian who owns a boat heads for Croatia in July & August. It is also the charter capital of the world and so the country has worked out a way to tap into the yachting dollar. They have introduced a number of taxes based on yacht size and number of people on board: ‘Sailing Permit’ $A 220; ‘Lighthouse fee’ $A110; ‘Sojourn Tax’ $A140 and administrative fees; plus the killer ‘Anchoring fees’ - around $A70 a day for the majority of the bays we planned to visit (or about $A140 per night in a marina ). We would have spent all our time searching for ‘free’ anchorages which no doubt would have involved giving the best sights a miss. Then there were the stories about the huge charter yachts chock-a-block full of young bonding, boozing Italian men that dominate the bays. Oh, we were sorry to miss Croatia, but figured we would lose the wonder in the stress of it all. Better to charter there we think.
So in weather windows we worked our way back down the Italian coast and arrived in Syracuse, Sicily after a 50 hour sail from Otranto - two days and two nights - my least favourite thing to do. We arrived at 9:00am after a pretty exciting last night’s sail through fishing nets, freighters, cruise ships and some yucky winds & seas. Then we slept for about 15 hours (obviously we’re not as young as we used to be). The reward has been Syracuse. Without doubt the most enchanting town wehave visited yet. We went to the markets this morning and it was delicious - literally. We had no idea there were so many varieties of tomato and the fish markets were beyond anything we’ve seen before. Swordfish is a specialty of Siracusa and they cut massive chunks of red flesh from the fish on the street in front of you. There is no fishy smell in the markets and it’s easy to wander for hours discussing what the different fruit and veggies might be. The cheese shop just feeds everyone without cost and we were so full by the time we left that we couldn’t eat for hours. My favourite was warm Ricotta cheese. Oh yum. We’re going back tomorrow........