Taormina, Catania and Syracusa

5^th September – No sooner had we arrived safely in the bay of Guardiano Naxos & Taormina,  we were approached by a guy in a dinghy, as ever, trying to extract 50€ for the privilege of using one of his mooring buoys. Pointing out to him that he had at least 12 going begging, he still wasn’t going to do a deal, so,having learnt our lesson at Positano, we politely declined and dropped our anchor 200 hundred metres away for free.

We spent 2 reasonable nights on anchor and a day chilling, and then moved closer to the harbour in Naxos, rather than risk running out of fuel in the dinghy again!.

From there, we ventured into Naxos, a somewhat uninspiring tourist town

Naxos

but with an excellent bus service up to Taormina….which was lovely, a little touristy, but still full of windy cobbled streets and character. Having visited the amphitheatre, we stopped for lunch and then wound our way back to the bus stop and Naxos.

Taormina

Sadly too cloudy to see Mount Etna!

Sadly the swell picked up and it wasn’t the most restful night, but the evening had been entertaining with fireworks starting at one end of the bay, and finishing at the other, all in time to a walking candlelight procession and opera … spectacular from our privileged viewpoint, glass of wine in hand!

The following morning, 9^th September, we decided it was time to move on and had a fabulous sail to Catania…and grabbed a berth at what was called the Club Nautico, just off the commercial port. Extremely helpful chaps running it, but most Club Nautico’s would die before offering showers and offices in a single portacabin.

Still it was peaceful and gave us a great base to explore Catania. For a city flattened in 1669 by a mile-wide stream of lava, and in 1693, by an earthquake, we were really surprised by the architecture. Stunning 18^th century buildings, utilising what we think must have been the lava rock, because of the blackness of the paving slabs and a lot of the buildings. It is now a thriving city, full of locals, tourists, markets and industry, all with scant regard to the proximity to Mount Etna, which spouted its last lot of lava only a month ago, sadly a sight we missed. As we sailed past, it was calm, with just an ever present cloud, or perhaps steam at its summit.

The only sad sight was the little children, urchins, being used to beg, and if that failed, pick pocket, or as I, in my usual incapability of getting sayings correct, called it pocket lifting, much to David’s amusement!

Catania, Sicily

We spent one night there during which our neighbour was a 1049 foot Celebrity cruise liner, before departing for Siracusa, or as the Sicilians called it Syracuse.

We decided to stop on route, on anchor in a lovely bay just off  the Brucoli Rover. Peaceful evening, until the un-forecasted wind picked up, kicking up the seas, all to ensure the night was not so peaceful. We departed at 7am to continue on to Syracuse. Expecting to motor, as is the norm at that time of day, we were pleasantly surprised and had a Force4/5 to accompany us and a couple of other yachts, which I am pleased to say, we beat, not that they knew we were racing them. Clearly we are doing something right!

As we entered the bay on the 11^th September, where the Syracuse headland sits, the Force 4/5 soon became a 6, necessitating a reef, but which meant we flew past the fort at a good old rate of knots, to enter into a natural harbour. Just as well, as the marina, “Marina De Archimede, said in the book to be under construction with completion due in 2011, was nowhere to be seen!

We arrived around lunchtime and decided to chill for the afternoon and go into town in the morning. Just as well, as for an hour or so, the winds increased and increased, reaching a crescendo of  34 knots, the max we have had to trust our anchor with. Needless to say, we were up on deck, monitoring everything as were the occupants of the other 20 or so boats around us, but are pleased to say, we didn’t move an inch! After that the winds dropped to nothing and we had one of the most beautiful sunsets and peaceful nights on anchor all holiday.  We might be here for a few more nights on that basis!

Yesterday we ventured into the old town… “Ortiga”, a delightful warren of alleys and staircases between baroque limestone mansions.  Fantastic Duomo, and what will, we are sure, be a fantastic Fort, sadly they were clearly working on it as an extensive tourist attraction….so much was boarded up….

Ortiga (Old Town) of Syracuse

Today, we jumped in the dingy again, for an early start to see into what is said to be the extensive remains of the old Greek City, which we were hoping would be better than the temple of Apollo, in the Ortiga…..

The ruins of the old Greek city comprised of the Greek Theatre, the quarries where Dionyuius held the captured Athenians, a large part of the defensive wall built around the city, the Tomb of Archimedes and, from the Roman period, a well-preseved amphitheatre. Whilst still not as good as Paestum, still worth the hours walk.

Thereafter we went in search of a supermarket for some provisioning… another hour of walking and we finally found one….  Clearly the yacht marina doesn’t warrant having one close by!

We are now back on board, chilling and obviously writing the blog!