We left Sardinia on a mission. We had three and a half weeks and around 700 nautical miles(!) to cover before we were due to collect our next guests in Barcelona. This trek would see us traversing the coastline of the Italian and French Rivieras and crossing the wild Gulf of Leon. We chose to accept the mission. Of course we did. Spoiler Alert: We thankfully and successfully completed our mission. (With one day to spare. 😉 ) The last three and a half weeks have looked like this:
Our aggressive mission (or “Great Trek” as Conor likes to call it) has kept us pretty much on the move, only a couple of times staying somewhere for two nights instead of just one. Ok, once we had to stay three nights in a French marina in the Gulf of Leon to wait out a Mistral. It’s been great to see all of this beautiful coastline and get a taste for a few more towns. We obviously didn’t experience any locale too deeply, and there were so many, so I just want to record the highlights / main memories… What an amazing trek!
corsica
We returned to Corsica and spent four nights at different anchorages on the east coast, where we hadn’t been before. Lovely spots with some beautiful water, but the flies were back. Not sure why Corsica has so many flies. Our exploration here was a visit to the lovely town of Bastia. It has a really nice little Old Port lined with restaurants and bars, where we enjoyed some delicious ice cream on a hot day. The Church of St. Jean-Baptiste was impressive and there were plenty of pedestrian streets with nice shops and plenty of French tourists. Worth the visit!
italy
We expected the main highlight of our return to Italy to be the famous area of the Cinque Terra. However, as a protected marine area, the most we could do was to cruise by in one quick afternoon. I think the five little villages are likely best explored by land as you can literally hike from one to the other. We were able to see them all from the sea in one view, so you can get an idea of how small the area actually is. We experienced wonderful anchorages just south then north of the Cinque Terre, outside Portovenere and Santa Margherita Ligure, respectively. Portovenere is a small medieval town with wonderful views that can serve as a great, less expensive base from which to explore the Cinque Terra. Santa Margherita Ligure was a lovely surprise and we really enjoyed exploring this laid-back resort town that neighbors the more famous Portofino. Again, Santa Margherita Ligure would be more our style. (We appreciate nice but not fancy.) 😉
Capraia
I’d be remiss if I didn’t remember… In between Corsica and mainland Italy, we stopped off for another night at the beautiful island of Capraia.
Portovenere
Cinque Terra
Santa Margherita Ligure
PORTOFINO (DRIVE BY)
Finally, we visited Genoa (or Génova, the true Italian name). We were not expecting much, but found it a great surprise. Genoa is the sixth largest city in Italy, and historically has been one of the most important ports in the Mediterranean. As the capital of one of the most powerful maritime republics in history (during the 11th-18th centuries), its story is very interesting. The Strade Nuove (New Streets) and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli (Palaces of the Lists) stand today and demonstrate the historical wealth of the area. In the 20th century, Genoa was considered only a large industrial and commercial city, but about thirty years ago the city started refurbishing and focusing more on tourism. The Old Port has been redone and now includes things like an aquarium, a greenhouse, and naval museum. Really neat area. Genoa reminded us slightly of Catania in Sicily as a large city, not without the areas you’d want to bypass, but with so much more to offer. We only had one night here, but would definitely go back!
Genoa
Arrivederci, Italia!
It actually felt sad leaving Italy after we had come to know her so well.
France
Along the French Riviera, we once again cruised past all the big cities you’d think of – Nice, Cannes, Saint-Tropez, as well as Monaco. (Did you know it’s against the law for locals in Monaco to gamble?!) Conor and I had both actually been to most of these places in prior lives, so we were ok admiring them from sea. The most notable stop in France was our visit to Marseilles, another large city with a poor reputation preceding it that really surprised us. We learned that Marseille is the oldest and second largest city in all of France, having been founded by the Greeks around 600 BCE. It has an amazingly long, well-protected natural harbor, so it’s understandable how it became such an important port and trading center. The city won the title of European Capital of Culture back in 2013, and ever since then, a lot of investment has gone into the city to clean it up, develop it, and bring back tourists. It struck us as similar to Genoa, and we can definitely recommend a visit. So much to see and do here! At least 30 museums and so much history and culture. Sadly, I don’t feel my photos begin to do it justice.
Cap Taillat
Another note I can’t leave out… before Marseille and just past Saint-Tropez at a crystal clear anchorage, we literally landed next to some Licata friends of ours, Elayne and Eric of Inna Peace. What a fun surprise! We were able to have a quick catchup and compare notes are we are traversing similar routes this season.
Marseilles
* A side note about Marseille soap. If you visit and want to purchase the most authentic souvenir, this would be it. Soap has been made in Marseille for the past 700 years. To find the most authentic, it will be at least 72% olive oil, green in color and without any fragrance. Also, in a square. Super natural and great for your skin. 😉
Our final days in France saw us in the very nice refurbished marina in Séte. For the first time ever, we had our own individual fingered dock. (That is more typical in the US.) Upon arrival we were also given a little goodie bag with small items (keychains, pens, cleaning clothes, etc) and the option to have a breakfast of coffee and croissants delivered to our boat in the morning. Who does that?!?! Sadly, the office was so far away, we never got around to dropping off the order form to give breakfast a try! Side note: I have to mention that this whole month of August has been quite hot, so our land explorations here in Séte as well as everywhere along this journey have been somewhat limited by day. But, it was a very pleasant marina in which to wait out the latest Mistral.
Séte
Au revoir, France!
Spain
We took a tight weather window – we’re talking one day – to make the long haul straight through the Bay of Leon from Séte all the way to Roses, Spain. For the first half of the day, we had strong, cold downwind sailing with a very confused beam swell. Ugh. I opted to stay inside, work, and hold on. Fortunately, the sea calmed down a bit and we once again switched the flag we were flying to respect our current country.
Roses was a nice beach resort town with plenty of Spanish and French tourists. A huge treat, however, was our night spent at the yacht club marina of Arenys de Mar. Very inexpensive and we nearly had a dock all to ourselves. The convenient facilities were quite nice, the most special of which was a seawater swimming pool on our doorstep. With all the jellyfish we had seen along the coast, this was a welcome treat! The town has one long, main street lined with plenty of restaurants, many of which were low-key grills. Just what the stomach and wallet were looking for. (After being used to Italian prices, we found France quite expensive!) We had a delicious meal followed by a very fun, long chat (all in our pigeon-Spanish!) with a lovely Spanish couple sitting next to us who were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. We love how friendly Spanish people generally are!
We completed our mission by arriving in the town of Tarragona the day before our next guests arrive. Whew! You might wonder why we didn’t stop in Barcelona if our guests are arriving there. Well, marinas there are currently exorbitantly and prohibitively expensive. It might have something to do with the fact that the 2024 America’s Cup sailing race event is currently taking place in Barcelona! It was quite the marvel to sail past the scene. The speed of the racers was incredible. And, I don’t think we’ve ever seen so much going on in one place – racing boats, super yachts, coast and civil guards, tankers and cargo ships (awaiting their turn in port), cruise ships, helicopters (likely filming the event?), airplanes (heading into the busy airport), leisure boats stopping to watch the event, and even huge fishing jumping around to get in on the action.
We are now looking forward to our next *three* rounds of guests and exploring more of the Spanish coast as well as the much anticipated Balearic Islands!
¡Hola, España! 😀
Shout Out: I have to give huge kudos to Skippy who has been doing excellent planning and navigation this challenging and awesome season!!!
Sailing Sabática 