Montenegro and Croatia

Montenegro was an unexpected surprise. We arrived at 3am., dropped anchor in the first bay we found and had a few hours sleep.  We awoke to a magnificent view of high mountains dropping down into a beautiful fjord. We sailed down the long gulf of Kotor, the longest fjord in southern Europe. The fjord is very deep, with sheer mountains dropping into the sea.

Bay f Kotor, Montenegro

  There is a very narrow road lining the shore and all along the edge are little houses on one side of the road, with little stone jetties jutting into the water on the other. Tiny harbours, fitting two or three rowing boats, banana lounges, beach umbrellas and waterside restaurants were in abundance.  Montenegro is  named “Black Mountain”, however all the mountains we saw were of white rock, probably travertine marble, the stone most houses, walls and roads are built of in this part of the world.   Perhaps it was named for the dense green forests on the slopes.  The highlight of our three day visit was white water rafting in the mountains. We travelled by bus for three hours, enjoying the beautiful scenery, then by 4-wheel drive, through the border with Boznia-Herzegovena. We returned to Montenegro via raft, enjoying a 2 ½ hour journey down the River Tara.

White water rafting Tara River, Montenegro

The superyacht marina at Tivat where we left our boat was the best marina I have seen. The facilities are all 5-star, there are shops, restaurants and bars along the tree-lined waterfront, the staff were most helpful both with facilitating the clearance formalities and with day to day necessities and the marina was not in a noisy area, as are many places we had been in the Mediterranean.

From Montenegro we day-sailed to Croatia, reaching Dubrovnik at around 6pm.  We had never seen Dubrovnik from the sea before, but still it was easily recognizable, with its defensive walls, forts and high mountain with its cable-car.  We had to go into Gruz to clear customs and then  stopped in the ACI Dubrovnik marina where we picked up friends.   We had a lovely dinner that evening, sitting on the waters’ edge at an old restaurant built of stone, where we found a friendly swan who enjoyed eating our bread.

The next day it was off to Mljet, the island Odysseus was waylaid on (for 7 years) by Calypso. There are beautiful girls in Croatia and if Calypso was as pretty as they are,  it is understandable that he was not in a hurry to go home to Ithaca.   Mljet is a most enchanting island.  It is mostly wooded and has a number of lakes.  The part we stopped on is designated National Park.  We walked from the village of Polace to Lake Jezero and then caught the little ferry boat across to the little islet of Veliko Jezero to see the little monastery, established in 1151. Unfortunately the monastery is no longer functioning but the church is still intact and in use.  We had a swim in the beautifully clear, warm lake and after our walk back to Polace, explored the ruined Roman palace. We left this beautiful quiet anchorage, bound for the island of Lastovo.

Monastery on Islet of Veliko Jezero, Miljet

Town of Lastovo, on Lastovo Island

Lastovo used to be out of bounds for tourists. It was a military base and the island that Tito spent his holidays on.  Nowadays, although it is open to tourists, it is a little out of the way from the usual tourist beat and is much quieter than the islands near the mainland.  Lastovo is also very wooded. It has high mountains with few villages. The town of Lastovo is a 20 minute bus ride from the bay where we anchored and it is on the top of high hills.  As a result it has a cool breeze, which was very welcome on a hot August day.  It is famous for its unusual chimneys which were designed to direct all smoke out of the homes.

Chimney in Lastovo

 We tied up along the quay in Luka Velji Lago, a very deep, sheltered inlet, flanked by holiday villas and one hotel.  The water here was as clear as crystal, with little fish swimming about around the boat.

Old town, Korcula

Korcula was our next stop.  The old walled town here is on a promontory, and shows the influence of  the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods.  It was a planned town, with most roads running N-S to catch the summer breeze.  Marco Polo was said to be born here and the tourist shops here all take advantage of that fact.  We anchored in the bay just south of the town where we were a bit further from the disco music. We had brunch at  a beachside café just near our boat and then took a stroll through the new part of town to cross the promontory to the old town.

Oleanders abound throughout Southern Europe

Leaving Korcula

From Korcula, we went to Hvar, which at this time of the year is bouncing and pounding to disco music.  Young tourists arrive and depart by ferry in droves and the local beach was full of people, varying in colour from white through to brown to very red. 

Hvar

We anchored a bit away from Hvar, on the Pakleni islands on the opposite side of the Pakleni Kanal, but even here we did not sleep due to the loud music, both from across the channel in Hvar and from the party boats going up and down the channel all night.   We decided to move to a quieter place the following night and moved on to the northern side of Hvar which is mostly wild, green and uninhabited.  There are several small villages on this side of the island and the only town of note is Stari Grad.  We anchored in the small bay of Uvala Vira, with a  stony beach and a campsite at it’s head. We dragged our anchor here and had to re-anchor several times so we decided to move to a bay with better holding.  We spent the night in an uninhabited bay and then moved on to the island of Brac.  As we had dragged our anchor and the forecast was for wind turning in the night, we decided to go into the marina at the little  town of Milna which survives entirely on boat tourism. 

..and for the Aussies reading my blog...

Impressions of Greece

We were in Greece for just one short week, far too short for this beautiful country.  We arrived in Kefallonia early one morning and stood off in a glassy sea until daybreak before entering the picturesque gulf of Argostoli.  

Now, instead of seeing Genoese forts as we saw all over Sardinia and Sicily and Corsica, we saw little churches on the headlands, perhaps a better use of the land.  The lighthouse at the head of the bay is built as an ancient Greek temple, a thalos.  We knew that we were in Greece.

 For the first time during our travels we needed to drop anchor and reverse back onto the quay to tie up, not an easy feat with our Island Packet that does NOT like to reverse!  Now however, we are becoming much more skilled at this manoeuvre. We tied up in Argostoli, on the town quay and found everything we needed close at hand – yacht chandler, supermarket etc. 

The Greeks are so friendly.  Everyone has been so helpful and kind, at the restaurant when the waiters serve you food they wish you “good appetite”, when they serve alcohol they wish you “good health” and whenever you say “Thank you” they wish you  “Remain well”.   The Ionian islands where we sailed are still unspoilt.  They are surprisingly green, and have high hills with little villas dotted about the slopes, built among cypress and olive trees.  The villages are small, with very few modern buildings, have winding narrow roads and often an old Roman ruin nearby to walk to. 

At Agia Efimia on Kefallonia, we went for a walk out of the village. We met a lady moving rocks about outside her property on the outskirts of town and stopped to ask directions. We were invited into her home and had a lovely cup of Greek coffee and a chat with her and her sister.  The financial crisis has hit Greece very hard. Greece’s major source of income is tourism but we saw few tourists, especially on the more remote islands.  There was also always plenty of space for us to tie up on the quays, which means that the charter boat industry must also be suffering.  On Ithaca, Odysseus’ island, the ferry from the mainland has stopped running and this has made the problem even worse for them.  They have tried to keep  their capital, Vathi,  unspoilt.  I saw some photos from the 1920’s and it still looks exactly the same! 

There are lots of beautiful little bays and fjords in these isles, with lovely, peaceful (and still) anchorages.  

Each has a little village or, if nothing else, a restaurant at the head of the bay, so there is always somewhere to stock up and get a meal of delicious “home cooked’ food.  Most of these restaurants are family run and “Mamma” is usually the cook in the kitchen.

Kerkyra (Corfu) is Unesco Heritage listed.  The old town is very beautiful, with marble cobbles.  It is on a peninsula, with an Old Fort at one end and a New Fort at the other. The older one is still being used by the navy.  We wandered the little streets and the many parks surrounding the old town.  It also has a working moat, now used to harbour little fishing boats.   Here we did see many tourists.  The town is bustling and the restaurants are full.  Dinner time here is around 10pm. and goes on till late – just about till dawn!  Even with all the tourists, the friendliness we have found was not lacking here either. We checked out of Greece early in the morning (after a chat with the customs officer)  and as we left Kerkyra, knowing that we would certainly be back,  the large Customs launch came speeding past.  They saw me on the front deck and gave me a farewell toot and handwave.