backwards glance Italy

Sorry this post is out of sync because Luddite Stack was trying to work out how to attach the photos across....have got it I think!




We left Venice to travel up to Italy’s largest lake, Lake Garda and the drive took us towards the Italian Alps, where snow rests on the caps and the switchbacks are amazing - real James Bond driving territory.

We stayed at Reva del Garda, the furthermost point of the lake, known for its windsurfing, all types of sailing, mountain bike riding and stunning scenery. It felt great to be in such a grand scale of natural beauty. The town is perched in the prong of a valley with a wide arc running parallel to the sea, a stunning clear deep blue green. On either side the mountains rise, a severe grey stone with the occasional castle or church remnant tucked into a precipitous 140 degree angle which would in all probability have caused numerous deaths, split hernias and a dutiful local populace.


We hired bikes for the day and covered 27km (on Fin’s calculations), stopping for lunch in Arco, a medieval town hewn from the local stone and very charming. The place was abuzz with cycling tour teams of all ages, all in designer clad cycling outfits and predominately Austrian + German so it all felt very European and we felt very Australian in our mish mash non cycling outfits and our monolingual ability.
We climbed up Arco Castle built in the 10th century which really illustrated the point of height and difficulty as an advantage in defense. The history of the castle with its clashes and feuds, invasions and decimations over the centuries made for an active game of archers defending their keep against the invading hordes from the North. That was really a lot of fun and must have had something to do with the altitude.
Milan was our next stop and apart from the Duomo (an over the top Gothic Cathedral and the worlds largest taking 600 odd years to build starting in 1386) + the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle 2 (gorgeous and a voluminous feeling of space) the place is a grimy, polluted and no need to recall zone.

Firenze, or Florence as the Anglo goes, was a delight and we would go again in a heart beat. We all loved it and visited most of the essential tourist destinations. To see works of art, buildings and settings that have been printed or described in books, films + tv series and then to be amongst it all bought me a sense of the authenticity and connection to the Renaissance and its achievements. Everything is in walking distance which to my mind is one of the great triumphs of urban planning so notable in Europe, so lacking in Australia. Most streets open to Piazzas, a square of varied sizes that has places to rest, linger, gossip, eat, shop etc and or feature significant galleries, churches, palazzios etc. Like Venice this was a truly lively engaging place.

The small Uccello in the Uffizi was my favourite painting. The figure, composition and colour is so different from all the works of that time I’m at a loss to see why its not more widely celebrated:no postcards of it either. We spent almost 3 hours there which was a minor miracle for the boys and hopefully some tidbits of information have been imprinted on their memory cells apart from the overwhelming impression that most Baby Jesus’ look like deformed cherubs or way too gangly to be suckling on the breast. Botticelli’s Birth Of Venus and Spring also stood out from the overwhelming sentiment of this period to paint excessively the Madonna / Baby.

The boys had been amazed to see a young girl meticulously sketching in pen one of the paintings in the Uffizi. So Steve bought them some Moleskin pocketbooks which they took to sketch Michelangelo’s David – a really sweet sight. It is a powerful work especially in scale and the luminous whiteness of the marble and of course the nudity yet we all had the same immediate observation: the head and hands are oversized and too big for the body. Mon Dieu – sacrilege.

AWAY AT LAST

After weeks of preparation we are finally away on the high seas. Admittedly this time included our Italian road trip but it is fantastic to feel we are finally commencing the big voyage. Biograd had become a bit like being at home, with our favourite haunts and people in the neighbourhood, so leaving means we are now completely rootless wanderers.

The first day's sailing was the 22nd and we headed south with the last of a moderate bora (all of the winds have names, the bora is a westerly wind from the mountains and can be very stong in the winter). We reached down the coast in the 15-20 kt breeze, negotiating the beautiful but confusing Kornati Islands. It became immediately obvious as to why this region is one of the most popular sailing destinations in Europe, and after almost sailing up a deep bay by mistake it was also apparent that installing the new radar/chartplotter at the helm was more than just a good idea. Familia sailed very nicely and coped with the bigger gusts in a well-mannered fashion, keeping the stress to a minimum.

We downed sails and motored into Sibenik down a narrow dramatic channel, the entrance guarded by an old medieval fortress, past the more recent submarine caves, and then into the large harbour in front of the town. We motored up and down, trying to work out just where we were supposed to berth, before pulling into the town quay in front of the old town. A perfect first docking under our belts (albeit it later transpired we had sucked the mooring line into the bow thruster, necessitating a chilly foray into the water with the leatherman) and we were enjoying beers and milkshakes in the bar across the road. From there we treated ourselves to a celebratory meal in Restaurant Pillegro, dining al fresco on a narrow elevated cobblestone walkway, overlooking the old town square and the main church and sampling some local fine wine. Yes, we are underway!



The next morning we decided to explore the town. Sibenik has a beautiful old town, with narrow lanes, cathedrals, and the mandatory old fort on the hill with views commanding the harbour and aproaches. Reminiscent of Venice but without the hordes of tourists and the in-your-face retail shops.

A passerby in Biograd had recognised our accents and insisted we visit the Krka National Park on our journey south. Using a map he drew on an envelope (OK, and one we got from the tourist office), we headed up the river to see the waterfalls. Sort of like if you could motor up the Hawkesbury to get to the Snowy River in under two hours.



The "bushwalk"was a bit underwhelming compered to the Australian benchmark (picture overweight Germans tottering along in high heels) but the interactive historical displays of weaving, blacksmithing and milling were superb, as was the natural beauty of the waterfalls.



We stayed in the Marina at the little town of Skradin, surrounded by the Pines and the rocky surrounds. So far today we have enjoyed a couple of swims in the icy fresh water, a coffee in the bar at the end of the dock, and a ploughmans lunch prepared by my lovely wife Catherine, the best shag on three continents (and counting). As I write this the sun is beaming down, the boys are doing homework, and I am sitting in the cockpit on our Ikea cushions wondering whether 3.30 pm is too early to have a beer or whether I should be respectable and do some excercise.

Au revoir!

Italy

Well thankfully we have moved on and processed our various cognitive dissonances to greater or lesser degrees. Happily Charlie (of Tea-Nautes in Biograd) has pulled a rabbit from his hat and our boat upgrades should be finished by Sunday. 260w of solar panels, wind generator, radar, gps. Charlie claims to be of Croatian stock but he is the very picture of the Scandinavian seafarer. A legacy of some distant viking raid perhaps?

In the meantime we have set off to Italy.

Trieste was a tad grotty, still with lots of history but with far less of the civic pride of Zurich: crumbling facades seem to be the order of the day.

The Ikea store was (as aways) a kind of religious experience. The cavernous warehouse space imparts a humility to the beholder that even the finest rennaissance churches struggle to achieve. Even better, without having self flagellated or kissed a papal ring we now have a full set of cutlery, linen, and the little things that will hopefully make a home on our yacht.

Venice...the romance, the gondoliers, the canals, the pizza, the pizza, the endless pizza, the Senegalese touts, etc, etc. Even the dodgy bits cant detract from the reality of being in one of the world's most immediately identifiable icon cities. Somehow the Trieste-style grottiness is imbued with amazing heritage value when located above a viable canal.

The main European revelations so far:

1. Amazing hot chocolate
2. Churches
3. Pizza (usually amazing, despite the ubiquity)
4. It's problematic lampooning national accents because it's really how they speak (especially Italians.) However, being gross juveniles it hasnt stopped us boys for a second.

Back to Biograd Mon or Tues to finally begin the sailing part!

Croatia and finally seeing our Ship

We have arrived in sunny Biograd on the Dalmatian Coast. Thankfully Familia does in fact exist although we are all dealing with a bit of post cognitive dissonance after such a long build up. We are doing a spring clean and inventory and trying to organise some upgrades so we can then take a week or so to head off to Italy in the car while the work gets done.

Ah YES THAT IS THE EUMPHAMISTIC OPTIMIST Watson at work as the reality is that we have flown all this way to spend 4 to 5 hours straight up daily in CLEANING the boat because the previous owner left everything on board bar his undies. Our daily schedule so far is supervising the kids in Boring Homework, arguing, waiting about for stuff to happen and having me use a corrosive glove stripping substance to strip the gunk off the ceiling which would be ok if it didn’t involve lying on your back in cramped half metre spaces with limited ventilation only to have do it all again with water and then a teatowel SO Yes Boigrad is sunny and lovely but 5 days into it and we still haven’t left the dock.

What is striking and ubiquitous amongst the locals is the epidemic addiction to smoking: a meal replacement but especially for breakfast as we discovered at our brief stay at a B+ B where we met Marieka , the real life equivalent of Marge’s chainsmoking sisters from the Simpsons. the place was a bit odd with fox pelts on the floors, cruxifixes on the wall and a key for every door but the 30 sec boiled egg for breakfast that oozed all over the plate when cut really threw us. In a stomach turning way. Not to worry though as the hostess scooped them up and returned 15 minutes later with some thoroughly boiled egg. The boys hung on determinedly with a vision of hot chocolate which never appeared, though Steve + I did get our instant coffee to enjoy whilst Marieke sipped the real deal, chain smoked and hunkered down in a brooding horror flick sort of way.....actually the mashed in dog poo on the carpet next to the table really made the boys eyes pop. I take it as a personal credit that their upbringing has turned this experience into a side cracking yarn.

Hmmmmm.

Steve's Post note: 500ml beers are AUD$1. Whoohoo!

Through the ash cloud

We were up at 4 AM to fly out but at that time the connecting flight was still cancelled: what to do?

With no fixed abode we decided that we may as well be stranded in Hong Kong as Sydney so we jumped in the car (late) and headed to the aiport. Thanks to Pep for meeting us there and sorting out the bag and car headaches.

We arrived in Hong Kong still without an ongoing flight, but trusting in fate we enjoyed dinner in town. Unlike thousands of other travellers the gods smiled on us and despite having to lug the absurdly heavy "carry on" (read "drag on") bags through 4 airports we arrived in Zurich as per schedule: but then how else is one expected to carry 12 months worth of supplies and maintain the 22kg limit?:

Zurich is a beautiful, gracious, and well mannered city: a study in how a (partly) medieval town can appear historical, clean, minimal and efficient all at once. We have a hotel in the old part of town, the grey cobblestone streets weave through this area with many shops that are artisan focussed ranging from stationery, delicatessens with counters weighted down with dried fruits, chocolates, preserves, teas +coffees and specialty clothes stores, hole in the wall bars and restaurants. Coffee, chocolate (hot), and a new Omega watch for Steve all featured prominently.

The Churches are the revelation being minimum 500 years old and stunning. Who could imagine even Finbar quietening down long enough to be interested?

2 weeks to go

Well it's only two and a bit weeks to go before April 22nd when we jump on a plane to Zurich to start the big adventure. So many details still to resolve but most of the big ones have fallen (or been muscled, coaxed or cajoled) into place. Finishing the home renovations (go Cathe - war may be hell but the reno comes a close second), renting the house, handing over to the new guard at work, buying the boat, etc etc.

At this time the plan is to drive from Zurich to Biograd, Croatia and finally see our new home. We bought "Familia", a 2003 Beneteau 423, sight unseen (hopefully she actually exists...) The idea then is to cruise the Mediterranean from east to west and then chase the sun across the "pond"with the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) once the summer has done it's dash. From there we plan to spin out the rest of our 12 months in the Caribbean, maybe Central America, who knows: our plans are loose apart from having to be back April 2011.

All of us living in such close proximity will be "interesting"; as will digging into the giant box of school material and playing at schoolteachers.

The goodwill from friends and colleagues has been fantastic, everyone has been seemingly as excited as we are. Special thanks to GG and all the good folk at SWP, whose good will in permitting the leave of absence has made the trip possible.

Finbar (10) and Sholto (6) are cautiously excited as the reality sinks in. A year is a bit long to really wrap your head around at their age.

As Cathe says "you have one life that you know about" so lets get on with the first day of the rest of it!

Steve, Cathe, Finbar and Sholto.