Italy and 1100 nautical miles!

Our final days in Greece and subsequent month in Italy involved a lot of miles and several long passages. In between, we enjoyed some epic stops, which were a nice mix of famous spots and hidden gems.

The first leg of this chapter was a 70-mile passage from Milos Island to mainland Greece. We’d gotten a tip from a fellow sailor to visit Monemvasia, a medieval walled city, so we made that our destination. The village is built on a rocky peninsula and is full of narrow cobblestone streets, 13th century buildings, and castles. Of all the places we’ve been, it was here that I could truly visualize myself in medieval times. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay long as we needed to be out of Greece by the end of June to avoid visa issues. The next day, we started the 97-mile overnight journey to Kalamata on the south coast. This would be our final stop and official “check-out” point in Greece. We sailed through the night, arriving there in the morning. It was nice to be in a bigger city for a few days. We made good use of the large grocery stores and stocked up on Greek specialties including, of course, a lot of Kalamata olives.  

Soon it was time to start the long passage to Italy. Our destination was to be Syracuse (pronounced Syr-a-coo-za), a Sicilian city I’ve been wanting to see since I first began researching the Mediterranean. The 350-mile passage took us three days, and we were exhausted when we arrived, but Syracuse not disappoint. The city has a massive and well-sheltered harbor where we anchored the boat, allowing us to relax and enjoy the city’s historic sites and beautiful squares. Syracuse is known for its archaeological park, which would have been impressive on its own, but was made even more cool by a temporary display of very large pieces of modern art throughout the ruins. It was striking! Another cool discovery in Syracuse was bioluminescence. The dinghy and its motor created a massive electric blue wake that took us by surprise. 

In Syracuse we also saw two large migrant rescue ships run by Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) called SOS Humanity and SS Solidaire so we studied up on the deeply meaningful humanitarian work of NGO European groups such as Mediterranea (mediterranearescue.org) who fund these and many others. It was not lost on us that these ships were around the same size as some of the ostentatious mega yachts we frequently cross paths with. It’s hard to see in the photo, but printed across Solidaire’s hull were the words: “Europeans were illegal immigrants in Africa for centuries. They plundered, they trafficked humans, they massacred. This is the consequence.”

After a few days of recovery and exploration, we left Syracuse and headed up the Sicilian coast to the town of Taormina. This is the town where season two of White Lotus was filmed and it was beautiful! We did some swimming and exploring, and managed to avoid Bezos who was there honeymooning at the White Lotus (Four Seasons) hotel. 

Soon it was time for us to continue heading north, so we crossed the Strait of Messina and began working our way up the west coast of Italy. We did this in hops of about 30 miles each, and discovered interesting spots along the way. One of the towns we visited was a charming little Italian coastal town called Pioppi, that turned out to be the place where the term “Mediterranean Diet” was coined by a couple of American doctors that stayed there extensively to research the region’s healthy lifestyle. On cue, one of the first things we saw when walking around town was a produce truck, overflowing with fruits and vegetables, and a queue of locals picking up ingredients for dinner. We ate out that night and had one of the best (and healthiest) meals of fish and vegetables of the trip, so we felt like we paid good homage to the town.

Our next stop was very different. We left the sweet little Pioppi, and headed to the melee of the Amalfi coast. It was every bit as beautiful as promised, but quite intense. We purchased two nights on a mooring-ball because it’s too crowded and crazy to anchor.  There were tourists and super yachts everywhere!  But it was fun to be fancy for a few days. We put our clean clothes on, took water taxis from our boat to shore, and explored the towns of Positano, Amalfi and Ravollo. 

Our next stop was Pompeii. It wasn’t originally on itinerary, but Neil discovered a place where we could safely anchor nearby and so we spontaneously spent a day exploring Pompeii. The size of the city and degree of preservation far exceeded our expectations. The Vesuvius eruption buried the town in ash in 79 AD, and many of the buildings we entered were more than 2000 years old, as were the paintings, sculptures, and human casts. The city was large (15,000 residents) and 160 acres have been excavated so it is truly an immersive experience.

We sailed from Pompeii to the island of Ischia (shout out to fellow lovers of the My Brilliant Friend books/series) and on to the Pontine Islands, where we spent four glorious days bobbing around in the turquoise waters and swimming amongst the rock formations. It was nice to slow down for a few days and vibe with Italians on holiday.  

We continued northward up the Italian coast and, following a quick visit to Rome, were joined by Ben and his roommate, Nick. Side note: Ben had quite an adventurous summer as he’d just completed some law school classes and brief internship in Cape Town, South Africa. Our first destination with the boys was the Island of Elba. Good times were had listening to music at beach bars and chilling out on the boat. We also sailed to a sunken shipwreck site and enjoyed snorkeling around it.

Next, we had a long overnight sail from Elba up to the Cinque Terra. We knew rough weather was on the way, and hoped to stay ahead of it, but didn’t quite pull that off. The last few hours of the 85-mile trip were wet, windy, and scary. We are typically quite cautious, especially when guests are aboard, so it was not what anyone wanted. Fortunately we made it to the north and enjoyed several sunny days hiking and sailing the famous Cinque Terra villages and nearby Gulf of La Spezia. This was followed by a couple days of westward travel along the beautiful Italian Riviera coast and towns. By the end of July, we reached our planned destination of Loano, Italy. This town’s marina is where Arcadia will rest for the month of August while we spend time in the United States with family and friends. We had planned the break, knowing that the fall would entail a couple more months of Mediterranean sailing and then our big Atlantic crossing!