Menorca - France - Spain

MENORCA


Mahon harbour is land locked & very protected


Mahon old town


The lovely village at Es Castell


The boys decide to make their own Stone Henge by this ancient ritual site


The Police cars on Menorca are very colourful


The harbour at Ciutadella



FRANCE


Ville Franche


A lovely park in Montecarlo, the casino is in the back ground


Monarco Marina, looking from Montecarlo across to Monarco on top of the hill



Monarco Palace


Monarco Marina, the big all white boat is 109 meters long & has a crew of 60. Montecarlo is across the other side of the marina


Pete's eyeing up his new car!!! You can drive around the Monarco Grand Prix circuit in a Ferrari for 85 euro


We didn't make our fortunes at Montecarlo Casino


The montain village of Eze, famous fro it's perfumeries


View from the village of Eze, the peninsular is St Jean Cap Ferrat, St Jean is on the near side & Ville Franche is on the far side


The old town of Menton on Italian border in France


A visit to the Cannes Boat Show was compulsory


A chateau along the Cote d'Azure


One of the Rothchild mansions at St Jean Cap Ferrat


Spice shop in the old town of Nice


The famous flower market at Nice


Nice


The team enjoying the sights at Nice


I had visions of having a coffee at one of the lovely side walk cafes, however as they were charging 4.50 euro (NZ$9) per cup we had to settle for a vending machine coffee in the under ground car park!!!!


Pyrimid shaped appartment buildings suround the marina at Marina Baie de Anges


Cygnus II anchoring outside the old town at Antibes


An Italina folk dancing show at Antibes


One of the many mansions at Juans Les Pins on the French Riviera


Some local traditional sailing boats at St Tropez


The artists display their paintings along the waterfront at St Tropez


Petanque in the park at St Tropez


Terraced houses in the water ways at Port Grimaudi


The beautiful theatre at Toulon


Pete makes a new friend - this little bird decided to take a rest on Pete's shoulder when we were crossing the Gulfe du Lion, he was very reluctant to leave


BARCELONA


Barcelona City, the famous Sagrada Familiar (designed by Antoni Gaudi) stands out above the rest of the buildings


Sagrada Familia


Sagrada Familia


The marina at Barcelona is in the heat of the city & there is plenty happening all around with cafes, markets & funparks


La Pedrera (The Quarry) another of Antoni Gaudi's amazing creations


Church on top of Mt Tibidabo, Barcelona, right next door is a funpark


We saw a fantastic flamenco show in Barcelona


Some of the Green Peace & scientific reseach boats taking part in the floatilla a Barcelona. Peter Blake's old boat is the grey on in front of the white boat.


Most mega yachts have helicopters, but this one in Barcelona has a sea plane on board.




We had a good 2 day trip from Bonifacio to the Spanish island of Menorca. We had to do a bit of motoring along the way & Pete caught a couple of nice 8kg tuna. We arrived in Port Mahon, which is a huge landlocked harbour, Cygnus II were already there as they left Bonifacio the day before us. Most of the Mediterranean towns have a medieval town & Mahon was no exception. We spent a day exploring the narrow cobbled streets (not to mention the shops!!!) & also hired a car for a day to explore the island with Trish & Morris. One of the best 3 euro we’ve spent was going to visit Fort Marlborough at the mouth of Mahon Harbour. It was built by the British in 1710. Because of it’s good safe harbour & location at the head of the western Mediterranean it was a strategic position for the British Navy to winter over & take on supplies. The island was wrestled away from the British & occupied by the French in 1756 for a 7 year period & then by the Spanish for a brief time in 1781, however these days it’s under Spanish rule. Menorca is now a popular holiday destination for the English so consequently there are a few holiday resorts around the island, they are quite nicely done I might add. There are also a large number of English living permanently in Mahon who have built some lovely big houses around the Mahon harbour.
Trish & Morris were itching to go to the French Riviera & after 4 days at Menorca they convinced us to go with them. We had a 2 day trip to Ville Franche, arriving 5/9 & if you check the map you’ll see we actually did quite a bit of back tracking, however we decided it was well worth while. Ville Franche is a lovely old town & very popular port of call for the cruise boats as it’s central to a lot of the French Riviera attractions. We spent 9 days based at Ville Franche, although we did have to hightail it around to the other side of Cap Ferrat peninsular to St Jean for a couple of days during that time, as the swell was rolling right into Ville Franche & became quite untenable. Cygnus II almost ended up on the beach on in Ville Franche as the anchor dragged while we were all out sight seeing one day.
There is a great bus service along the coast & 1 euro can take you a long way. We had a day in Monaco which is the oldest monarchy in Europe, however the principality is now just under one square mile in area as a lot of land was sold by the ruling Grimaldi family to clear debts run up by one of the family in the 18th century. They still have their own police force who enforce their laws of no bathing suits to be worn, no bare chests (even men) & no bare feet – except of course at the beach. Monaco is still “the place to be seen” for the rich & famous, although we didn’t see any one famous there are plenty of rich people around. The Monacans still enjoy a tax free existence thanks to the famous Montecarlo Casino. Speaking of which we were hoping to make our fortune at the casino, but instead lost the total sum of 30euro!!!! Monaco is a lovely place with some beautiful old buildings & we’ve fallen in love with the old French architecture ie the wrought iron balconies & wooden shutters etc. There are lots of beautiful mansions with lovely gardens on the St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat peninsular, including th Rothchild Estate which is open to the public. We didn’t get a chance to visit the estate, but could see the mansion from the water.
There aren’t many other cruisers around here, although we did meet an Aussie couple at St Jean who invited us for drinks on their boat one night.
We went to the ancient hill top village of Eze which is one of the areas where they grow the flowers for the French perfumes (apparently most of the flowers are now grown in Turkey), there were several perfumeries at the village. It was a lovely town with old stone houses & narrow cobbled streets, the views were spectacular out over the Riviera. Most of the houses are now boutique shops with exquisite wares, there is also a hotel which charges 1100 euro per night (that doesn’t include breakfast).We had an afternoon in Menton which is on the French/ Italian border & the Italian influence is very much in evidence as the old town had a definite Italian look about it.
Nice was also on the agenda. Pete & Morris found an Irish Pub which just happened to be showing the All Blacks V’s Aussie, so while they were busy being entertained Trish & I took advantage of checking out the shops – a great day was had by all!!! Oh & we also got to see some of the sights in the old town such as the famous flower market which is often seen on French posters & prints. The French Riviera attracts a lot of wealthy people, so as you can imagine everything is rather expensive here. However we did find a great butcher shop, I think half the population of Nice must shop there as there were at least 30 people lined up waiting to be served at any one time. I guess that’s no surprise as the meat was very cheap ie a cooked chicken cost 2.95 euro (NZ$6), it was also very good quality. We’ve seen a few NZ products in the supermarkets in Europe, mainly mussels & lamb.
A visit to the Cannes Boat Show was a must, so we caught the train from Ville Franche & were there in time for opening. It was mainly big “Super Yachts” & some sail boats, we were hoping to find some chandlers but unfortunately we were disappointed that there wasn’t much in this department. Never the less we enjoyed looking at the large number of boats on display & got our moneys worth as we came away laden with free boating magazines (should keep Pete happy for a few months). Cannes is definitely not a cheap place to visit, they charge 4.50 euro (NZ$9) for a cup of coffee.
On 14/9 it was time to shake out the sails & get on our way to our next port of call Antibes. Pete was in his element here because there were chandleries galore. He spent several days picking up bits & pieces for the boat. We also managed to get our boom vang repaired, we blew a seal on the hydraulics several weeks ago & this was the first place we had come to that had facilities to repair it. Antibes seems to be a lot more cosmopolitan than any where else we’ve been, with lots of ethic food resturants. We enjoyed a nice cheap Asian restaurant for lunch one day to satisfy our cravings for a while. We also made the most of an Asian supermarket & stocked up on some of our favourite products. We got to see some Italian folk dancers performing outside the old town one evening, they were great. We had another mad dash around from Antibes to Juan Le Pins, on the other side of the peninsular, one afternoon as the sea had built up suddenly with 4 meter swells tossing us around on anchor. We’ve started getting a few rain showers lately & it’s got colder with snow on the hills behind Nice. They don’t seem to have an autum in this part of the world, one day it’s summer & the next day it’s winter.
On 20/9 we realized it was time to get on our way, we’d already spent a lot longer than anticipated in this part of the Med. Our next port of call was St Tropez where we spent 3 days exploring the old city & watching the petanque games in the central park which is surrounded by cafes, with lots of trees. In the early 1900’s St Tropez became a popular place for artists & writer to hang out, this is still the case today & the artists display their paintings for sale around the water front. We also went for a trip in the dinghy up to the head of Gulf de St Tropez to Port Grimauld where we explored the huge waterways. They have built 3 story terraced houses all around the waterways, it’s very well done with all the apartments being different colours & designs. Each apartment has their own garden courtyard which leads to their dock. There are a number of extra pontoons full of different sized boats, I can’t tell you how many boats would be there in the waterways but there were an awful lot. Before we left St Tropez I got to try out my new sewing machine on the head sail repairing a small tear, it passed with flying colours & did a great job. The machine has come in really handy as Chris helped me re-sew the squab covers when we were in Bonifacio.
On 22/9 we headed for Toulon, with an overnight stop on the way at Baie de Cavalaire. On arrival at Toulon we managed to find a great sheltered anchorage in St Mandrier, it’s the first really protected anchorage we’ve had since Menorca. Most nights we have had to put up with being rocked around by the in coming swells, so it was a real luxury to have a nice calm nights sleep. We didn’t stay too long at Toulon so consequently didn’t get to see too much of the town, but what we saw was very nice. The old town was destroyed in WW2 so the new town was rebuilt after the war. Toulon is now the home of some of our ex All Blacks, such as Justin Marshall, Tana Umunga, Anton Oliver & Jerry Collins. We didn’t get to see any of them, but Trish & Morris got a poster of them from a rugby shop they found in town & apparently Jerry Collins was on the front page of the local news paper that day.
We left for Barcelona on 25/9, it was a 2 day trip & we had to cross the notorious Gulfe du Lion. We’ve heard several stories from friends who have been caught in gale force winds in the Gulf, luckily for us the winds only reached 28knots max & although there was a horrible swell coming out of the Gulfe we had quite a good trip with not too much motoring (that’s always a bonus). Unfortunately we had forgotten to latch down the front hatch & the waves breaking over the bow meant that unbeknown to us, water was pouring into the front cabin– ooops!!!! We arrived in Barcelona late afternoon & wouldn’t you know it started to rain. There is no shelter for anchoring in Barcelona so we headed for a marina in the center of town & handy to everything. We spent 3 days sight seeing, what an amazing city. In the 1920’s the town was basically rebuilt to incorporate all the little districts. The designers must have had great foresight as the city has been able to grow with the times to accommodate the increasing population & traffic flow. There a big wide tree lined avenues, lots of bike lanes & lots of lovely green parks built over the top of underground carparks. The city also had a big facelift for the 1992 Olympic Games. They have done a great job of incorporating the old with the new & every where you look there is magnificent architecture & sculptures. We visited the famous Sagrada Familia Church (Temple of the Family) which was started in 1882 & still under construction. The designer Antoni Gaudi died in 1923 & unfortunately all his models & plans for the church were destroyed by a fire during the Spanish Civil War. They managed to reconstruct some of the models & the build has continued. Gaudi also had a major impact on the city of Barcelona with many other outstanding & distinctive designs that can be seen all over the city in buildings & sculptures. We went for an evening stroll up the famous La Ramblas which is full of cafes & restaurants, not to mention people. We enjoyed watching the various street entertainers such as acrobatic tumblers, clowns & musicians etc. The whole city is alive with people day & night with lots going on. Down on the waterfront a number of scientific exploration & Green Peace boats are congregating to take part in a parade this Sunday from the city centre to the Forum at the other end of town to mark the opening of an international conference on world ecology. Pete Blake’s old boat, now called “Tara” is also with them, we have seen her in a number of French ports & hopefully will get the opportunity to have a look through her this weekend as she will be open to the public. Next week the boats taking part in the single handed Vela Oceanica Single Handed Race will be arriving in port.

We have been on the go a lot this year with not much time for boat maintenance. There are a lot of boat chandlers here so we decided this might be a good place to get some necessary work done on Saliander before heading out to the Atlantic. Sali must have also decided this would be a good place to stop as her alternator decided to pack up as we arrived. 3 days later we were sitting having drinks whith Trish & Maurice when Pete thought he could hear a diver under the boat. When we looked over the side there were defiantely bubbles coming up the side of the hull, unfortunately it turned out to be a leak, a skin fitting pipe that drains the water from the cockpit & goes out under he waterline decided to let go. We discovered it at midnight & Pete had to go for a swim to plug up the hole & stop the flow of water that was quickly filling the bilge (thank goodness for bilge pumps). The next day we had to be lifted out of the water, Pete managed to get a reasonable price for an over night haul out at Port Olympic which is about 4nm from Port Vella where we were staying. On the way around Pete had to replace the plug as it had fallen out, luckily we realized before we took too much water on board. We spent the night suspended in the travel lift sling & as usual the repair job took longer than anticipated as Pete ended up fixing another suspect skin fitting so he was up most of the night working. He managed to get everything done by 9 am the next morning when we had to go back in the water. We spent most of the day tied up beside the haul out which is where we had our next drama. The electrics decided to play up so that meant we couldn’t start the motor. After a few frustrating hours Pete discovered a blown fuse & got things going again, however he still has some work to do as we realized we’ve got problems with our earth wires which is causing electrolysis – never a dull moment. If you think this cruising lifestyle is relaxing then forget it, we’re always busy either sight seeing, finding provisions or working on the boat. I can’t remember the last time we had a day to relax & read a book, oh well maybe when we get to the Caribbean!!!
Despite all our problems at the moment we are really enjoying Barcelona, it’s such a magnificent city. The people are also very friendly & helpful, but like any big city you have to be vigilant of pick pockets & bag snatchers. After 2 months without use Pete managed to get our trusty/rusty bikes working, with a bit of gentle persuasion with a sledge hammer, so they are now getting a good workout & so are we. We went to a flamenco show which was fantastic, the dancers & musicians really put everything into it. We’re also enjoying warmer temperatures which are up in the high 20’s & unlike the French Riviera there is very little humidity.