We arrived in Genoa from Istanbul, Turkiye several days ahead of the cargo ship carrying our boat. We decided to take a train north to Milan for a quick visit.
Milan
We spent a couple of busy days in Milan while waiting for our boat to arrive. We visited the city center, which was bustling with tourists. We saw the beautiful Milan Cathedral, the Sforzesco Castle, and the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology.
Siena
Our daughter and her husband had attended a wedding in Florence, and we met them for a quick visit in Siena. This city is ancient and beautiful, and has a fascinating history. In the center of the city is the Piazza del Campo, the site of a medieval horse race, which is still run twice each year. In the Palia de Siena, 17 jockeys (one from each district) ride bareback around the Piazza on a thick layer of dirt. We visited right after the first race, and each of the 17 districts of the city were flying their own banners throughout the streets.
We toured the gorgeous Siena Cathedral, which was built in the 1200's. The building is constructed of two-tone marble, and the floors, walls, and ceilings are completely covered with mosaics and other artwork. We spent several hours here - it was just magnificent!
Underneath the cathedral's choir is a narthex, which is part of the entrance to an earlier church. We were able to walk through this area, and the ancient frescos are breathtaking.
We had a great visit with the kids, and they headed to Milan for a visit before catching their plane back to the States, while we made our way back to Genoa.
Our boat arrived via cargo ship in Genoa, Italy, and was unloaded on July 9th at the Port of Genoa. (FYI - some locals say GENoa, some say GENova, but the emphasis is always on the GEN).
We boarded our boat, and motored to the Molo Vecchio Marina, just a short distance away in the Old Harbour area of Genoa. We had a reservation for a one-month stay. We quickly found out how different the marinas here are. There are no floating docks between each boat, and this particular marina was adjacent to the busy Aquarium of Genoa. There were crowds of locals and tourists walking within a few feet of our boat all day every day, and much of the night.
Boats are also secured differently here (they call it 'Med mooring'). In Thailand and Malaysia we had dock lines on 3 sides of the boat, tied off securely to cleats on each of the three floating docks surrounding our boat. Here you back your boat up to a concrete wall, and secure the aft of the boat to large cleats in the concrete. These keep the boat near the wall. Then you grab additional lines, (one for starboard, one for port, called 'lazy lines') which are attached to the concrete and run under the water and are pre-attached to the seabed, and secure these to the front of your boat. They keep the boat from floating backwards into the concrete wall. Each boat has a very narrow berth, and many bumpers are required on both sides to keep boats from damaging each other. This method of mooring allows marinas to cram many boats into a very small space. This will take us some getting used to. I think we were a little spoiled in SE Asia, with our very own docks on each side of our boat, in private secure marinas. We also notice the marina fees are close to 3 times what we paid in Pattaya, and 6 times what we paid in Langkawi. We're hoping to spend the majority of our time at anchor, instead of in marinas.
Before we set sail, we needed to replace our trampolines. This turned out to be quite a job. Randy ordered the materials (dyneema netting, dyneema line in 2 sizes, and sail slugs, used to slide into the existing tracks on 2 sides of the trampolines). We removed the old tramps, then measured and cut the new netting to fit. We then secured the netting on all sides. We had to replace the two large sections, and also the two small triangular sections at the front of the boat. The netting stretched a bit, so we had to tighten the lacing around the edges several times.
We ended up spending about two months at this marina, waiting for the trampoline parts. Although we were anxious to leave the marina and continue our journey, this gave us time to do some exploring in the area.
Genoa
The city is old and beautiful, combining mountains and the sea with historical sites galore. The people are friendly, the food is delicious, and public transportation is easy to maneuver. The streets are quite narrow, lined with cobblestones, bricks, or beautiful mosaics. We visited the reconstructed home of Christopher Columbus, where he lived as a child between 1455 and 1470. We took a 'funicolare', (like a cable car - see pic below), up to hike around a section of the Parco della Mura, or 'Park of the City Walls', which date back to around 1630.
Once you are elevated above the city, the views are magnificent! It was like a picture postcard, everywhere we looked.
We visited the Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno, which was opened in 1851. There are over 100,000 graves, and many have elaborate tombs and beautiful sculptures.
On September 1st we left the marina in Genoa and motor-sailed our way south along the coast. We anchored in a pretty little bay at Santa Margherita, and stayed several days. We were waiting for a package of boat parts from Australia, and the package had been held up for some reason in customs in Milan.
We enjoyed our time in this seaside town, and were not too mad about having to stay a few extra days!
On September 9th, we decided to move to a more protected area about 20 miles south, near La Spezia. We sailed for a bit, then motor-sailed into the bay near Porto Venere.
On September 13th, we moved to a nearby anchorage near Le Grazie, just a couple of miles away. The weather was calling for strong winds, and we felt we would be more protected. We had to ride out a very windy storm, resetting our anchor a few times. Le Grazie is a nice small seaside town, and we enjoyed our time there. Thankfully our boat parts finally made it to Genoa, so we took the train back to meet our agent to pick up the package.
After a few more days back at the Porto Venere anchorage, we were ready to make our way further south. We left on September 18, for the short sail south to the Viareggio Marina.
We passed by the Scola Tower, then the majestic Apuane Alps. The light color on the mountains is actually marble, not snow!
The Viareggio Marina is very nice, we are actually moored at a dock, which is much more comfortable. We are waiting for an engine part to be repaired, so not sure how long we will be here. Like Santa Margherita, not a bad place to be 'stuck'!!
Until our next update - Cheers!!
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