A funeral procession at Pucisca, on the island of Brac
Shopping day, topping up provisions near Trogir
Our first tuna for the year - yummmm......
John managed to catch a tree!!!!!
John & Larraine in Bozova Harbour, Dugi Otok Island
We parked outside a sea tunnel on Dugi Otok
Exploring the inside of the 200m long
sea tunnel
We passed a few light houses on our way north to Rovinj
The Roman amphitheatre at Pula looked spectacular at sunset
Rovinj
Rovinj harbour is crowded with local fishing boats
The crew are ready to explore the town of Rovinj
Washing day in Rovinj
They make great pizas in Rovinj, the beer is pretty good too!!!!
VENICE
Our arrival in Venice, the tall tower is in St Marks Square
Its hard to capture the majic of Venice
A delivery boat
The Rialto Bridge, the centre is linned with shops
Anyone for a Gondola ride?
St Marks Square
St Marks Cathedral
You can pay 10 euro (NZD20) for a cappucino in St Marks Square, but you do get seranaded by a quartet (under the canopy)
The Grand Canal
A local rows out onto the busy canal (a bit like trying to cross the motorway)
The "Bridge of Sighs"
A local hearse
Locals practicing for the gondola races near Burano Island
The gondola races are exciting to watch
Pete explores the canals on Burano Island
This resturant on Torcello Island makes a lovely setting
The locals go boating for the weekend & park up in the wetland canals near Burano
We spent a few days in Split before Steve arrived on 28/5. Like all the other places we‘ve visited in Croatia, Split has no shortage of historical buildings. The old town is based around the Diocletian’s Palace which is still in reasonably good condition.
We picked up Steve from Trogir & headed back out to the islands for a week. We met up with Kiwis friends Morris & Trish in Hvar & had great fun sitting on their boat in the middle of the harbour, watching other boats trying to manouver around them to get into the dock & getting anchors stuck etc. We also stopped off at the island of Brac & saw a huge marble quarry, this is the island that supplied the stone to build the White House, in Washington DC. The temperature has finally started warming up & we’ve been for a few swims.
On 5/6 it was back to Togir to pick up Larraine & John & after a quick look around town it was time to head north. We passed some lovely islands on the way north & had a great meal at one of the island resturants, 100kn each (NZ$27) for a 4 course meal of fish or meat & included a small bottle of Rakia (a bit like grappa).
There were many interesting sights along the way, including a 200m long sea tunnel built into a cliff face on the island of Dugi Otok. This was possibly built in the 2nd World War by the Germans & would have been used to shelter submarines. We visited one of the best preserved Roman amphitheaters’ in the town of Pula, it was designed to host gladiatorial contests & could accommodate 20,000 spectators. A lot of the seating was removed in the middle ages & used for other buildings, however the amphitheatre is still used today for pop & classical concerts, as well as an annual film festival.
We explored several medieval towns along the way, but the star attraction in our view would have to be the town of Rovinj. The narrow cobbled lanes led to the Cathedral of St Euphemia which is perched on the top of a hill in the centre of town. Like so many other churches in Croatia this one was also full of beautiful figurines carved in marble & frescoes on the walls & ceilings. Although the town is a major tourist attraction it is one of the last true Mediterranean fishing ports & the harbour is absolutely full with small fishing boats, there were at least 150 & they were moored 5 or 6 deep around the town quay. They also make great pizzas in Rovinj….
We cleared out of Croatia at Rovinj on 12/6 & had an overnight sail to Venice. As usual there was plenty of other ship traffic to keep us alert & the occasional light rain shower, luckily the thunder & lightening stayed in the distance. We arrived in Venice at 9am & tied up to a channel marker near St Marks Square. Pete & Steve then set off to locate the Harbour Master & Port Police to clear us in to Italy. Meanwhile we waited in what can only be described as a “washing machine”, all the boat traffic was causing the water to churn up with boat wakes going in every direction. Pete also checked out a couple of marinas, the first one was going to charge us 250 euro per day (NZ$500), at the second one he managed to acquire a space, squeezed on the end of the pontoons, for 350 euro (NZ$700) for 5 days. The marina was a 10 minute walk to the ferries & 30 minute walk to St Marks Square, so very handy.
Our arrival on Friday 13th was not without incident however as we discovered we didn’t have Steves’ passport. A phone call back to Rovinj confirmed that it was being held by the authorities there as they had omitted to return it to us upon clearing out. Consequently Pete had a very rough ferry trip back to Rovinj on 14th. The return trip back on 15th was cancelled, so he had to take the scenic route back via Trieste by ferry & train to Venice. During Pete’s 24hour absence we took to the streets & viewed some of the sights including St Marks square, St Marks Catherdral & the Rialto Bridge. Of course Larraine & I had to check out the shops along the way!!! When Pete returned we visited the island of Murano, famous for Murano glass. They produce some magnificent works of art which are sold in the shops all around Venice. We also went to the Naval Museum which was well worth seeing, it had a large number of model ships from various eras as well as a lot of other interesting memorabilia. Although I have been to Venice before, I had forgotten just how amazing it is. People living a modern day life in an ancient setting with the only form of transport being by water. This not only includes the gondolas, water taxis & ferries, but also trades people from every imaginable industry ie builders, brick layers, delivery boats for the retailers & resturants, ambulances, postal boats, police boats etc etc……
Our visitors left us on 17th & 18th June, so we decided to find cheaper accommodation. We wandered our way around the canals to the island of Burano, famous for it’s lace making & brightly coloured houses. Here we anchored beside the channel & although it gets a little rolly from time to time with the passing boat traffic, at least it’s free!!! Pete & I are able to venture into town in our dinghy via the marked channels which takes 45 minutes & we’ve found a place to park the dinghy near a big supermarket which is very handy.
Venice must be the most visited city in the world with 20 million visitors per year, (55,000 visitors per day) consequently the narrow streets can become rather congested in the main parts of town. Despite this Venice is still well worth seeing & you can certainly understand why people want to come here & experience the charm of Venice. The city is built on 117 islands, with 150 canals & 400 bridges. The weekends are even more hectic with everyone taking to the water in boats of all shapes & sizes, it’s a bit like being on the motorway in NZ with everyone going for their Sunday drive. Another common past time here is Gondola Racing, similar to rowing but you stand up & row forward. We see lots of people out practicing & have also witnessed an actual race which was rather exciting.
The weather has been very changeable & we’ve experienced a few thunder storms with spectacular lightening shows, thankfully they are mainly at night. The past week however has been hot sunny days with the temperatures soaring up into the high 30’s & dropping to mid 20’s at night, plus it’s very humid.
There’s now 4 yachts anchored near Burano, one of them is a Dutch boat & the rest of us are Kiwis. Tony & Esmae, on Antaries, arrived on Sunday from Croatia (we previously met them in Hvar) & our friends Morris & Trish, on Cygnus II, arrived Monday morning, also from Croatia. Their arrival is very timely as Trish & Morris will keep an eye on Saliander for a few days while we visit our friends, Markus & Sibylle in Switzerland. So on Wednesday 25/6, we catch the train to Switzerland which is a 9 hour journey & apparently very scenic.
We picked up Steve from Trogir & headed back out to the islands for a week. We met up with Kiwis friends Morris & Trish in Hvar & had great fun sitting on their boat in the middle of the harbour, watching other boats trying to manouver around them to get into the dock & getting anchors stuck etc. We also stopped off at the island of Brac & saw a huge marble quarry, this is the island that supplied the stone to build the White House, in Washington DC. The temperature has finally started warming up & we’ve been for a few swims.
On 5/6 it was back to Togir to pick up Larraine & John & after a quick look around town it was time to head north. We passed some lovely islands on the way north & had a great meal at one of the island resturants, 100kn each (NZ$27) for a 4 course meal of fish or meat & included a small bottle of Rakia (a bit like grappa).
There were many interesting sights along the way, including a 200m long sea tunnel built into a cliff face on the island of Dugi Otok. This was possibly built in the 2nd World War by the Germans & would have been used to shelter submarines. We visited one of the best preserved Roman amphitheaters’ in the town of Pula, it was designed to host gladiatorial contests & could accommodate 20,000 spectators. A lot of the seating was removed in the middle ages & used for other buildings, however the amphitheatre is still used today for pop & classical concerts, as well as an annual film festival.
We explored several medieval towns along the way, but the star attraction in our view would have to be the town of Rovinj. The narrow cobbled lanes led to the Cathedral of St Euphemia which is perched on the top of a hill in the centre of town. Like so many other churches in Croatia this one was also full of beautiful figurines carved in marble & frescoes on the walls & ceilings. Although the town is a major tourist attraction it is one of the last true Mediterranean fishing ports & the harbour is absolutely full with small fishing boats, there were at least 150 & they were moored 5 or 6 deep around the town quay. They also make great pizzas in Rovinj….
We cleared out of Croatia at Rovinj on 12/6 & had an overnight sail to Venice. As usual there was plenty of other ship traffic to keep us alert & the occasional light rain shower, luckily the thunder & lightening stayed in the distance. We arrived in Venice at 9am & tied up to a channel marker near St Marks Square. Pete & Steve then set off to locate the Harbour Master & Port Police to clear us in to Italy. Meanwhile we waited in what can only be described as a “washing machine”, all the boat traffic was causing the water to churn up with boat wakes going in every direction. Pete also checked out a couple of marinas, the first one was going to charge us 250 euro per day (NZ$500), at the second one he managed to acquire a space, squeezed on the end of the pontoons, for 350 euro (NZ$700) for 5 days. The marina was a 10 minute walk to the ferries & 30 minute walk to St Marks Square, so very handy.
Our arrival on Friday 13th was not without incident however as we discovered we didn’t have Steves’ passport. A phone call back to Rovinj confirmed that it was being held by the authorities there as they had omitted to return it to us upon clearing out. Consequently Pete had a very rough ferry trip back to Rovinj on 14th. The return trip back on 15th was cancelled, so he had to take the scenic route back via Trieste by ferry & train to Venice. During Pete’s 24hour absence we took to the streets & viewed some of the sights including St Marks square, St Marks Catherdral & the Rialto Bridge. Of course Larraine & I had to check out the shops along the way!!! When Pete returned we visited the island of Murano, famous for Murano glass. They produce some magnificent works of art which are sold in the shops all around Venice. We also went to the Naval Museum which was well worth seeing, it had a large number of model ships from various eras as well as a lot of other interesting memorabilia. Although I have been to Venice before, I had forgotten just how amazing it is. People living a modern day life in an ancient setting with the only form of transport being by water. This not only includes the gondolas, water taxis & ferries, but also trades people from every imaginable industry ie builders, brick layers, delivery boats for the retailers & resturants, ambulances, postal boats, police boats etc etc……
Our visitors left us on 17th & 18th June, so we decided to find cheaper accommodation. We wandered our way around the canals to the island of Burano, famous for it’s lace making & brightly coloured houses. Here we anchored beside the channel & although it gets a little rolly from time to time with the passing boat traffic, at least it’s free!!! Pete & I are able to venture into town in our dinghy via the marked channels which takes 45 minutes & we’ve found a place to park the dinghy near a big supermarket which is very handy.
Venice must be the most visited city in the world with 20 million visitors per year, (55,000 visitors per day) consequently the narrow streets can become rather congested in the main parts of town. Despite this Venice is still well worth seeing & you can certainly understand why people want to come here & experience the charm of Venice. The city is built on 117 islands, with 150 canals & 400 bridges. The weekends are even more hectic with everyone taking to the water in boats of all shapes & sizes, it’s a bit like being on the motorway in NZ with everyone going for their Sunday drive. Another common past time here is Gondola Racing, similar to rowing but you stand up & row forward. We see lots of people out practicing & have also witnessed an actual race which was rather exciting.
The weather has been very changeable & we’ve experienced a few thunder storms with spectacular lightening shows, thankfully they are mainly at night. The past week however has been hot sunny days with the temperatures soaring up into the high 30’s & dropping to mid 20’s at night, plus it’s very humid.
There’s now 4 yachts anchored near Burano, one of them is a Dutch boat & the rest of us are Kiwis. Tony & Esmae, on Antaries, arrived on Sunday from Croatia (we previously met them in Hvar) & our friends Morris & Trish, on Cygnus II, arrived Monday morning, also from Croatia. Their arrival is very timely as Trish & Morris will keep an eye on Saliander for a few days while we visit our friends, Markus & Sibylle in Switzerland. So on Wednesday 25/6, we catch the train to Switzerland which is a 9 hour journey & apparently very scenic.
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