Savona
The next day we set off for our next stop, Savona, 23NM’s away. Knowing it was pretty windy that day we were sensible to set off with a reef in our sails, and were immediately pleased we had as it was blowing a healthy 17/18 knots across our bow, although not so close that we had to tack! Within 20 minutes the winds bizarrely dropped to around 8 knots, but we were happy to potter still with the reef in our sails as we knew there was more to come, thankful we were, as twice, we were whipped around by gusts of over 30 knots coming off the hills. We are used to katabatics from Greece, but normally there you can see their effects on the water, but not here, the sea was calm as anything, no wind waves whatsoever… but no harm done as we let off the mainsheet (allowing the mainsail to spill the wind) and we were back under control.
We also soon spotted Jakob and his family in the distance, they had stopped at the port along from us, under engine. I don’t blame them with 2 tiny tots on board, not worth scaring them this early on on in their journey, but under sail, even reefed sails, we made better progress and caught them up just as we approached the commercial port of Savona. We both had a berth at this tiny family run marina at the end of the channel through a swing bridge. We had half an hour to wait for it to open, so we poodled around the channel, taking in the ramshackle shacks along the banks that looked more like they should be alongside the Mekong River in Vietnam, than in Italy!
These soon gave way to the posher properties of the town..
Safely ensconced on our little harbour we first washed what were now our very salty decks, and then went walkabout into the town, sadly under heavy grey clouds which fortunately didn’t produce rain!
Savona even has its own Sistine Chapel but it was closed, sadly undergoing renovation.
One write up explained that in the Piazza Mameli there is a monument honouring the 21 men of the town who died in WWI, and every day at 6PM the bells ring 21 times and everyone stops,traffic and pedestrians. Well in such a bustling city as this, we had to see it to believe it, so we wandered across to the monument which is in the centre of a very busy roundabout, grabbed a bench and waited. Sure enough at 6 pm everyone and everything stopped, aided by the local polizia with their whistles. it was very impressive, not sure if it was just around the monument or everywhere in the city, as funnily enough we were at the monument!
In the same write up, written by a local, we read about eating the freshest fish from the back of a fishing boat in the harbour. The fishing boat was called Alalunga so on our way back to the boat we went in search for it, to find a small restaurant right opposite the boat, under the same name, assuming they were connected we booked a table for later that evening. We were then joined on board for a few drinks by Jakob and his family, and had a giggle with his girls. They also gave us a photo of us sailing the day before, which was fab as obviously it is not a photo we can take ourselves!
8:30pm came and we rushed over to grab our table, ordered some water and wine, and once that was served, went to order off the chalk boat by the boat, to be told that we couldn’t and they were different entities. We should have just paid for our wine, taken the bottle and left to order our fresh fish from the guys on the boat and take it back to Seaclusion.. we being typically English and too polite we stayed put! We also have to add that over the next few days we never saw the fishing boat leave once, so not sure just how fresh the fish would have been anyway!
In the evening, our little port came to life.
The next day, the sun decided to shine so we ventured off to visit the old fort, Fortezza del Priamar, built in 1542. It was more stunning from outside than inside though, but it did give us some wonderful views over the port and City.
Fortezza del Priamar
We then stopped for a coffee and a healthy breakfast, well not for David, before wandering off to see more of the city, passing a couple of “interesting” sights.
yep, a restaurant, dinner one night perhaps!
Having returned to Seaclusion, we looked at the forecast with nothing but easterly winds, which meant no shelter, so we decided that we would see if we could get a hire car and do a road trip to Genoa and Portofino….which is a nightmare for any yacht even if the owner has an unlimited budget. We were in luck, so car organised, berth extended, we chilled out for the afternoon trying to catch up on the blog and do other bits and pieces in readiness for our trip over land for a change, like collecting our little car!
Not that your can see it from the photos, it was absolutely filthy, inside and out, not a good recommendation for Hertz, but still the aircon worked and it had a usb socket, what more could we ask for!
4th July 2024
