APRIL 9 TO 11 PASSAGE TO ITALY AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS
APRIL 9 TO 11 PASSAGE TO ITALY AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS.
We started early on Easter Monday with gentle wind that as time went by strengthened to force 5. In the middle of the Adriatic sea no telephone contact, only the snow covered mountain in Albania was visible and the waves became too big for the automatic pilot so we took turns with Paris on the bar. He found the exercise more demanding than gym. The passage was short with so much wind and we arrived before sunset in the port of Otranto. A small group of 4 people greated us and helped us dock. The least reassuring one of them asked for 40 EUR for the night and he promised to come back with the receipt which he never did. Welcome to Puglia!!! Otranto proved a great surprise of a nice town with big fortifications and a sizable old city. After visiting the cathedral and some shopping (delicious bakery products) we left at mid day for San Foca. There the port, much newer and nicely organised, costs only 12 EUR according to the price list. By taxi, the only available means, we made it to Lecce that I believe is the small Florence of the south. Wonderful monuments, palaces, cathedral, ancient theatres under the downtown piazzas, it is not to miss in Puglia. Paris left by train and plane back to work in the London rain and I continued from San Foca up the coast until I felt sleepy and anchored under the stars in shallow waters.
We started early on Easter Monday with gentle wind that as time went by strengthened to force 5. In the middle of the Adriatic sea no telephone contact, only the snow covered mountain in Albania was visible and the waves became too big for the automatic pilot so we took turns with Paris on the bar. He found the exercise more demanding than gym. The passage was short with so much wind and we arrived before sunset in the port of Otranto. A small group of 4 people greated us and helped us dock. The least reassuring one of them asked for 40 EUR for the night and he promised to come back with the receipt which he never did. Welcome to Puglia!!! Otranto proved a great surprise of a nice town with big fortifications and a sizable old city. After visiting the cathedral and some shopping (delicious bakery products) we left at mid day for San Foca. There the port, much newer and nicely organised, costs only 12 EUR according to the price list. By taxi, the only available means, we made it to Lecce that I believe is the small Florence of the south. Wonderful monuments, palaces, cathedral, ancient theatres under the downtown piazzas, it is not to miss in Puglia. Paris left by train and plane back to work in the London rain and I continued from San Foca up the coast until I felt sleepy and anchored under the stars in shallow waters.