Back on Knotty Girl for Italian adventures !
Knotty Girl
Tanya/Roberto
Mon 8 May 2023 09:17
43:51N 13:01E Like a princess, I arrived in Trieste airport on Saturday 29th April to be welcomed by my prince, Roberto and driven to Monfalcone marina on our boat which was already in the water (thanks to Roberto) and excited to sail again after having spent some time on the hard for a few repairs (not many for once!) and to do the antifouling. After one last check on our freezer the next day by a competent guy, yet very talkative one... we were finally able to leave Monfalcone Marina around 4 pm to motor (no wind) to our first anchorage in front of Portoroz in Slovenia... There were only 2 sailing boats at the anchorage and guess what ? The other boat decided it was “fiesta” time, hence music till…. - Roberto slept well but of course I did NOT even if I put our ventilators to cover the music I could still hear it… The next morning we had an early departure as we had a long day ahead - we crossed to the island of Albarella. Half the crossing we had about 12 knots from behind and decided to put the genoa and main sail in “scissors” which worked perfectly and then the wind dropped and we had to motor (sic) for the remaining of the crossing. In Albarella, as in most marinas on the Italian coast of the Adriatic, we had to moor in between pylons. Luckily we had help as just the two of us not easy especially the first time round - but I guess we will have to practice… Albarella is a green Island, between the Po Delta lagoon and the Adriatic Sea. It is a private island - hence as a tourist, unless you have a reservation, you cannot enter the island. We have to have a special permit from the marina to visit the island. We were very much looking forward to visiting the island, except that the next day, it was POURING rain and very windy - hence whilst we had decided to stay on the island that day, the conditions were not exceptional to visit the island. Nevertheless we did walk 1h30 with our wet / storm gears and did not meet a lot of people… :) However the next morning the weather was fine so we did use the bikes we were offered at the marina to go round the island (10 km) and see the nice houses, hotels, Po delta lagoon. Nevertheless we thought that closer to the season it might be more vibrant as 99% of the houses were still closed. We left around 11:30 am to go to Ravenna. We had about 40 miles to go and the conditions were good to sail, so we did, yet at some point Knotty Girl was called on the radio and we were kindly asked to do a detour as there were some military exercises ongoing… - so we lost about an hour and ended doing 55 miles - hence arrived around 8 pm quite exhausted in Marinara Marina in Ravenna. We were happy to be in May and not in December as to arrive in Marinara Marina, we had to zig zag through many gaz extraction platforms in front on the harbour which looked like giant ants on the water. Given those many platforms we heard many helicopters passing above us to bring workers onto those gas extraction platforms! Indeed I read that Ravenna is considered the Capital of the Mediterranean Energy zone for its technological industrial energy district and for the many important projects focusing on renewable energies which are currently being developed in the region and that today 2.8 billion cubic meters of gas are produced in Italy, 50% of which come from the Adriatic offshore Ravenna, hence those gas extraction platforms ! We spent the day visiting some of Ravenna unique collection of early Christian mosaics and monuments (UNESCO’s world heritage sites). In particular the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, the Neonian Baptistery, the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, the Church of San Vitale which were constructed in the 5th and 6th centuries. They do show great artistic skill, including a wonderful blend of Graeco-Roman tradition, Christian iconography and oriental and Western styles. Absolutely breath taking those mosaics ! We also visited the Basilica of San Francesco - in which was hosted the Poet Dante’s funerals on September 13th, 1321. The remains of Dante were temporarily buried in this church, inside a beautiful 5th-century sarcophagus located in the chapel along the left-hand nave. We spent a very nice evening dining with the couple who owns the apartment next to ours in St. Légier (and who now rent it) and who now came back to Ravenna (both of them are Italian) in a fish restaurant of their choosing called “Riesling”. The next day, we motored (argggh again) to Rimini were we visited a lot of what was worth visiting, namely: the pont de Tibère - by far the most impressive thing as it is one of the oldest bridge in the whole of Italy built in 14 and 21 after J.C under the Auguste emperor and finished under the Tibère empire; le Château de Sismondo - we learnt the next morning that the surrounding of this castle was recently redone for the better (was a huge parking lot before); the Borgo San Giuliano - ex fisherman authentic bourg, which looked nice, yet dead mid-day; and the Arc d’Auguste and the Temple Malatesta. We had a nice aperitif in Plaza Cavour in the old town in front of their beautiful theatre and city hall. The next morning before we left I started cleaning the steel (long overdue) and opposite to were we were moored 2 guys were going out with their sailing boat to I helped them with their moorings as they went out and in again (after getting some fuel). To thank me they offered Roberto and I a glass of Prosecco (at 11 am…) and a piece of delicious homemade cake. As we sat down with them they told us how nice Rimini was a couple of years back… A nice stop, yet enough time spent there… Ahhh I forgot - we visited the apple store situated in a shopping mall 15 min in taxi from the city center because Roberto’s mobile phone decided to die… luckily he has back up of everything on his i-pad, yet quite annoying as he will have to rent a car to go back there to pick up a new phone… ahhh what can I say - all of us are now becoming sooooo dependant on technology... We motored (again grrrr) to our next destination, namely Fano - in the Marina di Cesari. Roberto and I had a bit of an argument going in as again we had to go through these famous 2 pillons and even if we got some help apparently I kept the mooring line too tight meaning he could not go back as he wanted… well I am learning and hopefully next time I will be better ! We then visited the charming city - which is best known for its beach resort made of small stones instead of sand. It was around 7 pm which is the time Italians go out and wander through the streets so a very animated time and in particular as they were preparing a number of stands for the marathon and half marathon which was to take place the next day (Sunday 7th May). Roberto then treated me with a very nice seafood restaurant outing (Al Mare) were we tested their local “Sauvignon blanc” which was quite particular but not bad at all !! |