According to legend we have been following many portions of Homer’s epic, The Odyssey, as we sail through this area of the world.   The Ionian Islands are frequently mentioned in The Odyssey.  Ithaca is generally accepted as the homeland of Odysseus, to which he was returning after the Trojan War.  Other areas sited in the epic are The Straits of Messina, Sicily, and The Aeolian Islands where we currently are. Unfortunately my memory of The Odyssey is limited and I am only now piecing together parts of the stories as we sail through these legendary waters.  Still, it has been quite exciting to follow as closely as we have some of the voyage and see some of the sites described in the epic.  The following are verses from The Odyssey which resonate specifically within me.

Always keep Ithaca in mind
Arriving there is your destiny.
not expecting Ithaca to make you wealthy.
But do not hurry the journey in any way.
Better that it lasts for years,
so you are old when you reach the island,
enriched by all you have gained along the way,

Unfortunately we are here in July-August, the busiest months of the year, with all of the Greeks, Italians and other Europeans who take the entire month of Aug off for holiday. In general we found the Ionian Islands less compelling than the Greek Islands in the Adriatic.  I wonder if part of this impression is drawn from the crowds and that sailing, or motoring as the case often seems to be here in the Med., through its waters likens a Sunday afternoon boat ride on Lake Geneva.  In a different month I might have parted with a different opinion.  We are experiencing the same congestion in the waters and islands around Sicily where we are right now but are finding them to be stunning and inspiring despite the crowds.

The Aeolian Island chain, just north of Sicily, is an archipelago of imposingly rugged black volcanic islands jetting skyward in irregular and severe patterns.  The black-sand beaches surrounded by shiny black obsidian rock makes them very unique.  Two of the islands still have active volcanoes; one island, Stromboli, gives nightly light shows resembling fireworks as the fiery lava spurts high into the black night sky.  Last night we anchored right beneath the firestorm and were blown away by the deep and powerful “whoosh” which sounded, almost even felt, just before she blew.  The other truly amazing thing about these islands is discovering just how long they have been inhabited.  The most ancient human settlements of the islands date back to 5000 BC, mind boggling don’t you think?  The obsidian volcanic glass was greatly sought after and exported all over the western Mediterranean, before the age of metals, in order to make light cutting instruments.  Evidence of the earliest settlers has been unearthed by archeologists within the natural fortress of Castle Rock on the island of Lipari, another Aeolian Island which has been continuously inhabited for 6000 years.

Departing Greece and Turkey means leaving the most delicious yogurt behind.  Our culinary experiences are both important and memorable aspects of our journey.  In Tunisia we ate roots, lots and lots of roots: beets, carrots, potatoes, fennel which was new to both of us, turnips and rutabaga.  In addition we had months and months of sweet mandarins, dates, lamb and couscous.  I developed a true love of olives while in Morocco, especially their ‘not too salty’ mauve olives.  Greece brought heavenly yogurt, Greek salads with vine ripened tomatoes, Kalamata olives and cucumbers, all topped with a slice of goat cheese sprinkled with oregano, stuffed grapevine leaves and cheese and spinach pies.  For Michael there was an abundance of octopus and squid/calamari.  Fish is not plentiful in the Mediterranean and is therefore expensive.  While in Turkey we ate mazes of eggplant, tomato, zucchini, onions and red peppers and potatoes.  Michael would choose roasted goat whenever possible.  We don’t really eat out much because of the cost and the fact that I find cooking both creative and relaxing as well as fact that what I make on board is usually better than what we can find in most restaurants.  However, my options of meals are completely dependent on what is coming out o the garden at the current time.  It is quite unlike being able to go to one of the beautiful Whole Foods stores and choosing whatever vegetable I feel like eating that evening.  Now that we are back in Italy the goat cheeses are replaced by hard pecorino type cheese and soft balls of mozzarella and pasta in every imaginable color type and flavor is available.  Alcohol also changes its flavors from country to county.  Turkey has Raki, Greece has Ouzo and Italy has Grappa, all giving the same quality of headache.

Our current schedule includes southern Sardinia next, followed by the Spanish Balearic Islands and then Portugal where Brisa came from.  We decided that since we have the time we want to return to her birth place so she can spend some time with her family and we can learn some of the training activities specific to Portuguese Water Dogs, like diving below water level to retrieve things.  She is an incredibly strong swimmer, extending her distances whenever given the chance but has not shown any natural instinct to plunge her head under water.   We are thinking about breeding her when we return to the States so we are going to be investigating that too.  We are awaiting her first period of ‘heat’ right now and will have to reserve that decision until after we discover just how challenging it will be to have a dog in heat on a boat. She is displaying some very challenging changes of behavior which are not at all endearing and I am beginning to wondering if dogs experience PMS.  Any knowledge on this subject???

We arrived 8/17/2008 in southern Sardinia yesterday after a hellacious passage.  It was supposed to be a quick and easy 250 nautical miles, or a day and a half.  Instead we had one of those ugly passages requiring an additional 100 nautical miles of tacking back and forth, where everything got tossed to the floor, we got beat up, ate little and slept less, well, especially Michael because the conditions were so icky that I had to call him to take over one of my shifts.  Both Brisa and I got sick and no one had fun.  But, alas, we are here and the boat is back in order.

We enjoyed a day sail to Pantelleria and a free berth along side the wall. We were close to everything and stocked up on vegetables and foods that just were not available in Tunisia. Our first meal included pork chops and Italian pasteries for desert. Brisa seemed to grow about an inch a day and is now nearly full-grown. Here we purchased a Wind usb modem which gives us internet on the boat and accepts sim chips from most countries in the EU. We stayed 3 days waiting for favorable winds before sailing overnight to Syracuse Sicily.

Syracuse was once the most powerfull city-state of Greece rivaling even Athens in power. It was founded in 737 BCE. Several ruins including the temple of Appolo are interspersed with beautiful baroque limestone mansions that characterize the old town of Ortiga. A 7th century baroque-style cathedral was built on top of the temple of Athena incorporating most of the temple’s original columns. Every morning there is a lively market with an amazing assortment of vegetables, fish and deli items. The picturesque harbor is home to a fleet of small, colorful fishing vessels where well-muscled and quite handsome fishermen can be seen mending their nets.

We decided that we will postpone visiting Taormina and Mt. Etna until our return from Greece, Turkey and Croatia. Instead we will take advantage of favorable winds and sail to Kalamata Greece which is 380 nm away. We are meeting up with Angelo and Donna in Santorini on May 13th.

We have been in Sicily for 3-4 weeks now and have only seen about half of the country. We have been dealing with winter weather patterns which are more immobilizing than we expected. Near the end of Oct. we started having a few days of terrific blows followed by 2 weeks of calm which allowed us to get off the boat as well as to make headway sailing south. But, since Nov 1st we have had almost constant blows with a day or two of calm intermingled, limiting both our land exploration as well as our sailing distance. Our original plan was to circumnavigate the island, or at least most of the island, before departing for Tunisia where we have a berth reserved for 2 months. But in actuality, we have only covered a couple hundred miles in total, and have spent most of our time keeping ourselves and Aphrodite safe amidst gales. We have dragged anchor more in the past month than in the past 4 years. A few nights ago we had 60 kts winds (hurricanes start at 64 kts) in a moderately protected anchorage which caused us to drag. Over the years we have developed quite a bit of experience dealing with ‘when the **it hits the fan’ circumstances, but this time we did not move fast enough to prevent dragging into an area where the local fisherman moor their small fiberglass boats. It was a disaster, we ended up snagging and disrupting several of their mooring lines, trapping ourselves between two fishing boats, one of the boats in between the hulls and under our boat, our anchor chain caught on other anchor lines snagging us and limiting our ability to move out of the mooring field. All we could do was watch and listen as Aphrodite rubbed and banged up against the hull of the other boat. The only good thing was that since we were snagged, we were not going to drift into shore. At about 7 am, one of the local fishermen rowed out to investigate the situation; his was one of the boats we were entangled with. Imagine trying to communicate with an Italian fisherman while trying to figure out how we were going to get ourselves out of the predicament. It was a mess, and in the end, the fisherman cut the mooring line to the small boat which we had capsized, setting it adrift, which let us finally dislodge ourselves from the tangle. Unfortunately, that was not the end of it though, because our anchor had become so entangled that we were unable to raise it. In the end Michael had to cut it loose, leaving it and all of our chain and rode behind. He attached a buoy to the bitter end with the plan to retrieve all of it later after the storm passed. We then proceeded to try to re-anchor, which required retrieving and attach another anchor, chain and rode. The story and difficulties go on, but I will leave it out for sake of brevity. We secured an additional anchor from a fellow cruiser and rode out the rest of the storm, finally getting some sleep. The next day Michael took the dinghy ashore, looking for the boat owner to make restitution and retrieved our anchor, chain and rode. We are still hear, in the same unprotected anchorage, unable to leave because the continual gales, force 8-9 and high seas 5-10 M. We are feeling somewhat stir-crazy and frustrated, unable to change location, make progress towards our goal or leave the boat to see the island. ‘Here we sit, broken hearted, ready to go, but can’t get started!’ Our plans have changed, no longer hoping to sail around the island, renting scooters to see the rest of the island and getting to know local folks. Now we are just looking for a weather window to turn around, head back to the jumping off point and sail directly to Tunisia where we can secure Aphrodite at a dock. As of today, Sat. 11/17/07, it looks like our weather window is tomorrow night through 11/20/07. We have met another cruising couple, Angela and John, who are just starting out in this life style who are joining us for the 2+ day journey to Tunisia. We are looking forward to their company and hopefully an uneventful crossing. What follows is a collection of pictures taken during our limited shore-side explorations. We are disappointed about leaving without getting a chance to follow some of the paths of ancient sea warriors, pirates and, of course, Odysseus through the Straits of Messina, climbing the slopes of still active Mt. Etna and participating in a Sicilian cooking class, but are looking forward to securing Aphrodite in a marina and preparing for our return trip to the States for the holidays.

The Amalfi Coast is one of  Italy’s jewels, a dramatic, rugged, craggy mountainous region with sheer wall cliffs plunging into the sea, similar to the area around Cinque Terra. The difference being that the entire area has developed into one of Italy’s most popular tourist destination. It includes Capri, Naples, Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii, the Peninsula of Sorrento, and the picturesque hilltop towns of Positano, Almafi and Salerno. I have been here twice before, but never viewing it strictly from the sea. Driving along the Amalfi Coast is undeniably thrilling, breath-taking, but cruising the coast and seeing everything from the water is simply amazing. The pastel colors of buildings are fading a bit the further south we go, a little more washed out but still characteristically colorful.

We left Rome Oct. 7th and sailed 108 miles to a tiny island off the Sorrento Peninsula called Procida. From there we went to the nearby and larger island of Ischia and anchored in a quiet little harbor for several days. While there we took a ferry to Naples for the day and during our return sat next to a woman, Carol, who had just arrived on an Italian cooking/sightseeing holiday. Ahh, just what I was looking for. Her sister, the group’s organizer squeezed me into the group giving me the chance to participate in two cooking lessons, one a demonstration, and one a hands-on session. In the hands-on class we created a delicious lunch including calzones filled with fresh mozzarella, fresh ricotta and parmesan cheese, gnocchi with a rich reduced tomato sauce, a main course of sea bass with capers and black olives and, finally, one of my all time favorites tiramisu. Upon completion, we sat down at a long table, toasted ourselves and ‘manga-ed’. I learned several interesting things:

1) That the cuisine of Italy is quite different north to south, such as in the north, Balsamic vinegar is a staple of the table, but in central and southern Italy, it isn’t used it at all; 2) The further south you go the more “al dente” the pasta becomes; 3) From Naples south you start seeing ‘pasta ali’ arrabbiate’ on the menu which translates as ‘angry’ tomato sauce, highlighted with lots of red hot peppers and garlic.  The street lined produce markets are adorned with hanging strands of tiny dried red peppers which are fire engine hot. They are beautiful to look at and wonderful to add to sauces, soups or whatever; 4) The buffalo mozzarella, the small round mounds of tender mild white cheese made for centuries only in this area is actually made from the milk of water buffalo which were imported from India around AD 600; 5) One chef recommended starting with a cold pan instead of a hot oiled pan when introducing onions, garlic and which ever vegetables are being sautéed in preparation of the dish. She claims that by using a cold pan, piling everything in at once and then pouring just a little bit of olive oil on top, less oil will be used. I have tried this method and am very happy with it, especially for eggplant which seems to soak up excessive amounts of olive oil while sautéing; 6) Once the pasta is al dente, drain the water, but don’t worry about getting all of the water out of the pan because a small amount is useful to the sauce in that the remaining starch helps the pasta to capture the sauce rather than letting it slide off on to the plate. Also, round tube pasta is always better to use because the sauce can get into and all around the outside, bathing the pasta in the luscious sauce. 

I am hoping to find a Sicilian cooking class during my month in Sicily. I know that this may sound sacrilege to some Italian cuisine lovers, but I am actually getting a little overwhelmed with all of the flour in pasta and gnocchi.  I am looking forward to cooking something different, hopefully fresh swordfish and local tuna.  We continue eating plump, luscious figs, sweet round tomatoes, very tender slender type eggplant, and cannoli, loved by all Italians and referred to as ‘the gift from the gods’. 

We have been in a terrific storm for the past 3 days.  We saw it coming via the internet weather program we use and started looking for a secure marina where we could moor Aphrodite.  I am so grateful we did because the wind was crazy for 3 solid days, gusting to 40 kts inside the protected marina seawall.  We were blown around, the lines whined against the strain of the pull, the halyards clanked and banged against masts and the wind howled loudly through the rigging..  We both woke up several times a night with that awful eerie feeling of “is the boat OK?”  As I got up one night to check on things I saw a bunch of white things bobbing on the surface of the water just in front of the boat.  It took my eyes a few minutes and my mind to register the sight.  It was a flock of seagulls waiting out the storm.  Even they were hiding from the wind! Yesterday the winds were so bitter cold we stayed inside all day with the heater on.  Once I saw the clouds part long enough to see a dusting of snow on the caps of nearby mountains. I hope this is just a weather pattern and not representative of the normal late autumn early winter weather. Tomorrow we are off to Sicily In preparation we watched all three “The Godfather” movies!. 

We have just completed a 2-day whirlwind trip of Rome, a treat which I did not expect or plan for since the city of  Rome is about 30 miles inland and there aren’t any safe anchorages in which to leave Aphrodite during the day.  At the last minute we decided to go into a marina so we did not miss the amazing city and we are so glad that we did.  The weather prediction called for rain, with possible thunderstorms, but we were able to eek out a day and three quarters of beautiful weather, giving us a most rewarding visit.  Our excursion started at the Coliseum, Rome’s most imposing monument.  It was built by the Emperor Vespasian in AD 72 and finished by his son Titus in AD 80.  During its heyday is was a glorious place, multi-colored marble covering nearly all of its surfaces, sophisticated toilet facilities, boxed seats for the “haves”, refreshment stands and a giant retractable sail to act as a roof.  Today, it takes a bit of imagination to see it as it was because once the Roman Empire fell, during the 4th century AD, following the rule of Constantine, the entire area went into disuse and the Catholic Church began to pillage the valuable materials to create their churches and basilicas. 

During the Roman rule, the Coliseum was used for the Gladiator Games, glorified by Russell Crow in the movie, “The Gladiator”.  It is true that the Gladiators were considered some of the most desirable men in Roma, especially by the women of wealth, but as Hollywood would have it, the movie was not a totally accurate depiction of the culture or the events which took place there.  The Gladiator Games were used as both entertainment and as a public demonstration of the consequences of unlawful acts upon the society.  In short, they were public executions designed to remind the general populous of what happens to people who break the law. The stadium held 50,000 spectators.  The criminals were held in the underground tunnels which were covered by a wood floor.  There were trap doors in the floor which opened to release the criminals onto the main floor to meet their death.  Not all criminals were killed.  Their survival depended on their ability to battle against the Gladiators.  Freedom was the reward for those criminals who survived, so you can imagine the gusto with which the battles/games were played.  Most of the ancient ruins of Rome are within close proximity.  From the Coliseum we walked to the other very important area of antiquity, the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, where according to the legend, Romulus founded the city of Roma in 753 BC after killing his twin brother Remus over a dispute of where to place the city and then crowned himself the first king.  Throughout the era of the kings, the Republic and the Empire, the Forum was the political, religious and social center of the Roman world, (yes, this was where Julius Caesar was stabbed to death, but not on the steps of the Senate as indicated by Shakespeare).  The small area which remains and is available to explore represents a very small percentage of the actual area known as The Forum during the peak of the Roman rule.  After the fall of the Empire the area fell into disuse, used as fortress, a pasture land, then a garbage dump and finally the plundered source of precious marble and metals used in the construction of churches.  Many pagan temples were converted to Christian churches.  The area began systematic excavation in the 18th and 19th centuries, continuing even today. 

We spent the next day at the Vatican City, the most glorious testament to the religions, artistic and cultural significance of Rome.  Here, as in Florence, the wondrous talents of Michelangelo can be experienced. We joined a tour so that we did not have to stand in line to enter the Sistine Chapel and are so glad that we did.  Without the information provided by the tour guide we would have missed so much of the history and significance of different pieces found in the many rooms of the Vatican museum.  My favorite section of the Vatican is the Sistine Chapel, where a very young Michelangelo made his transition from an accomplished sculptor to artist in the medium of fresco.  He transformed the flat, rigid two dimensional paintings characteristic of the day into dynamic lifelike forms possessing expressions of passion and movement.  He began his work in the Sistine Chapel as an unknown and emerged as the most accomplished artist of his time.  He did the ceiling first, in his youth and returned as an old man to complete the end wall, representing the Last Judgment.  I absolutely love Michelangelo’s work. 

One of the fascinating historical accomplishments of the Roman Empire was the construction of the aqueducts.  Beginning with Appius Claudius there were 11 aqueducts designed and constructed from 312 BC to 226 AD which supplied citizens of Rome with water.  The water was sourced high in the mountains from springs and transported via above ground aqueducts until they reached the city limits, where they were converted into underground ducts, providing all of  Rome with a continual flow of clear fresh water.   Upon the completion of the project, clean, spring fed water was to be available to all Roman citizens, free of charge!  Bubbling fountains were built throughout the city.  That original aqua duct system is still in use today and the public fountains continue to provide a nonstop flow of clean, crystal clear wonderfully tasting water.  Why restaurants serve only bottled water is a mystery to me. 

The sinfully creamy rich yellow mini custard tarts of Portugal.  Long ago young women were sent to the Catholic convents to become nuns if they angered their father or refused an arranged marriage.  The young nuns were not pious or committed to God, but were often rebels and troublemakers.  So, in order to prevent too much idle time, the nuns were expected to spend their time making delicate little sweet morsels of confectionary sugar which were then shared with convent visitors or sold to local markets.  These delicacies were glazed in egg white, leaving tons of the rich yellow egg yolks unused.  Rather than waste the egg yolks, sweet custard was made and poured into light flaky pastry tarts.  

Gazpacho in Spain, a tangy cold soup of tomatoes and cucumbers, and the selection of hard cheeses, like Pecorino, my personal favorite. 

Italy, well, of course the list started as soon as we arrived, including focaccia bread, pizza al taglio, pizza by the slice, handmade pasta and gelato.  What we did not know is that different regions of the country have different specialties of preparation, like the focaccia bread that we found in the Portofino, Cinque Terre region was the best we would find anywhere in Italy.  If I had only known, I would have frozen as much as I could to save.  The focaccia was especially tender, soft, soaked with olive oil and lightly salted with large salt crystal similar to a soft pretzel. Yum.  Now that we are in southern Italy I am buying, cooking and ordering meals with the ever so delicate but robust porcini mushroom.  The grocery stores feature heaps of them, both dehydrated and fresh.  They are worth their weight in gold.  Luckily it only takes a few to render a rich savory flavor to a dish.Yesterday we took a ferry to Naples just to find a certain pizza!  I heard a saying, “Italy makes the best pizza in the world, Naples makes the best pizza in Italy and Da Michele, ‘Il Tempio della Pizza’, makes the best pizza in Naples”.  How could we be in Italy, so close to Naples, and not find Da Michele’s pizzeria?  So, we went, and found pizza unlike any other pizza we have ever had!   Da Michele is a small place, only two rooms, which necessitates waiting out on the raucous streets of Naples for a seat. There, we meet a 74 year old Neapolitan chef, who claims that without this place, Naples would not have pizza. He is alone, a regular, as most people are I would guess, and when Michael invites him to sit with us he looks at us as to say, why? I am here to eat pizza not to socialize.  There isn’t a menu, for they offer only two types of pizza, a classic margherita or marinara, made with pure extra virgin olive oil, a sweet tomato sauce, mozzarella di bufala and fresh whole leaves of basil which infuse the entire pizza with the authentic flavor of Italy. In the simplicity, it is crust which becomes the focal point.  Ahh, the crust, unlike anything I have eaten before and very difficult to eat without getting it all over you.  As we look around we see a slightly different version of one of the pizza and learn that it is a margherita blanca – without the tomato sauce.  Lots of people seem to have it so we order one of each.  They arrive, thin crust draping over the sides of the large round plates, bubbling with cheese and what looks like a small lake of yummy olive oil.  Picking a piece up and getting it into your mouth becomes a tangle of dripping cheese, tomato sauce and crust as the whole thing folds in on itself.  Eating it with a fork would be irreverent, missing the sensory experience of the moment.  As I return from the bathroom I pause long enough to just watch the men in action as they make and shovel these delicacies in and out of the wood fired ovens.  The dough is not rolled or thrown into the air, but rather pinched and patted into position.  An elderly man stands reigning over the proceedings and so I approach him and ask him if he is the proprietor.  He says yes and points to a picture on the wall of his father.  His family has been creating this pizza since 1870.

Anchored off the Cinque Terre area south of Portofino, gave us several days of calm seas and bright blue skies and we felt comfortable and confident anchored in the unprotected area.  About 2 am of our last night, the wind shifted and started to build.  By 7 am when we could see to move we were in steep chaotic seas.  We moved south about 20 miles to a large protected bay, La Spetzia, to find shelter.  We had trouble getting the hook to set and had to re-anchor about 3 times before setting.  The winds continued to build, along with driving rain so we set out GPS anchor marker so we could check during the night to make sure we were not dragging.  At 12:30am we were struck by another boat which had drug their anchor and apparently couldn’t get their engine to start.  We watched them for about half hour to see if they needed help, but in the driving rain we didn’t feeling like lowering the dink, unless they were in trouble.  We went to sleep planning on looking at the damage and talking to them in the morning.  Well, those blaggarts left without contacting us!  It took us several hours over 2 days just to patch the missing chunk of fiberglass.  The next night the wind continued to roar through the anchorage and we dragged our anchor again.  Luckily we were still awake and jumped to action in time to prevent us from drifting into a fish farm with lines, nets and traps!  Against driving rain, we upped anchor and made our way to another anchorage in the bay and spent the night checking our position.  The next day the winds and seas calmed, at least in the bay, so we took the dinghy into town for internet access.  While we were gone the winds came up again, gusting to 35 knots, and we had difficulty making our way back in the dinghy.  It was a long dinghy ride, and in the far distance we could see a boat sort of drifting out of the anchorage towards the open bay.  The closer we got the more it looked like Aphrodite, but we were pretty sure that it was not because there was a flag flapping in an area where we do not have a flag.  The boat was clearly drifting, but was being assisted by a boat which I first thought was the Italian navy since they are right here.  The closer we got the more she looked like Aphrodite.  Then we got close enough to see that the flapping flag was the fore sail which had started to come unwound and was flapping in the wind.

So, in fact, she did drag anchor again and started drifting towards the rocks along the shore.  Luckily there were two guys on a boat who noticed her dragging and they came to her rescue.  They tied her to a nearby mooring which kept her off the rocks and then called the Harbor Master for assistance.  The Harbor Master was in the process of towing her to their dock when we intercepted them.  Fortunately she did not hit another boat or the rocks and so did not sustain any serious damage.  Last night the wind continued to howl, gusting from different directions sending us sailing around, back and forth.  Needless to say, we did not sleep much last night either, but at least we did not drag or have to re-anchor.

Corsica

We departed Barcelona on 9/16/07 and sailed across the notorious Gulf of Leon to Corsica, which is a group of French islands about 100 miles off the French coast, tucked in closer to Italy than it is to France. The high jagged mountains are an impressive sight. Dorothy Carrington, author of Granite Island, describes her first view like this: ‘”The mountains surged into the sky, behind, beyond, above one another, ending in rows of cones and spikes and square-topped knobs like gigantic teeth. Their slopes, smothered in vegetation, looked uninhabited and impenetrable.’ The proximity of the mountains to the coast is impressive and daunting because in many places the mountains are the coast, dropping straight down, deep into the sea offering no safe anchorages”.  We only stayed a few days because the weather was favorable for continuing on to Italy, our primary destination.

Portofino Italy, the Italian Riviera

Aphrodite arrived in Italy 9/20/07, making landfall on the POSH town of Portofino, where all of the buildings are perfectly painted in varied hues of pastels, salmon, saffron, pink and cream, window trim painted with such precision and depth that I had to touch it to realize that it was just relief, not actually trimmed in wood. And the water, it is still just as clear and blue as I remember it being 25 years ago. We immediately went into town and started our love affair with Italian food. Our diet consists primarily of pasta, pizza by the slice, foccasia bread and gellato now.  This is the most expensive region of Italy to live in.

Cinque Terre

(Kacy and Chris, we found your next hiking ground! All you have to do is get yourselves to Italy!)  The area of Cinque Terre, translation: 5 lands, offers some of Italy’s most picturesque and dramatic coastline, second only to the Amalfi Coast south of Rome and Naples.The pastel colored homes and buildings continue as we make our way south, a bit less tidy here than in the high rent district of Portofino, but charming and quaint just the same. Historically these were 5 tiny remote villages which were connected and accessible only by boat or on foot via a steep, narrow, cliff hugging trail. The villages are built high on enormous rock cliffs, looking like they are going to topple right into the sea. The views are breathtaking, cliffs plunging straight into the sea. I think Cinque Terre must have been written up in the American travel guides as “this year’s place to travel to”, especially for the 20-30 something age group because most of the people here are American. We have not heard this much American English spoken since leaving FL.The nights are getting cooler and the sun is setting earlier, it must be autumn. Burrr… It is time for me to pack away my summer clothes and pull out my long sleeved shirts and pants. We will continue our way southward to Naples with a stop at one of the Tuscan Islands just off the mainland. We will be in Italy until the beginning of December when we will make our way to Tunisia, Africa.