Corfu & Igoumenitsa

Venetian Fortress Corfu

The Venetians held Corfu until Venice itself was conquered by Napoleon. Along with their other fortresses along the east coast of the Adriatic it allowed them to protect their shipping routes. The fortresses are dramatically situated and appear as impregnable as they usually were.

The Winged Lion of Venice in Corfu

Corfu

Igoumenitsa Sunset

Budva, Durrës, and Sarandë

Travel between countries in the Balkans isn’t as straightforward as in Western Europe. There are a lot of different groups – ethnic, religious, political – that don’t really like each other very much, so not many people want to go from country to country. There are almost no railways. Ferry services are limited, especially in winter. The roads are often in poor condition and/or under construction. When counties are governed by organized crime things are often under construction and falling apart at the same time.

There is one bus a day from Dubrovnik, Croatia to Budva, Montenegro. It is a minivan and there is just one other passenger besides me. The Adriatic coast is beautiful and you would expect it to be wall to wall villas and beach homes, but outside the cities it’s mostly uninhabited. No one wants a beach house in what could be a war zone tomorrow.

Albania was closed to the outside world until 40 years ago. Almost immediately after the fall of communism much of the population lost money in pyramid schemes promoted by the government. That led to civil unrest and anarchy. The place is a mess, but somehow it keeps going on.

Christmas Tree in front of Great Mosque, Durrës
Durres

Hillary Clinton Statue, Sarande.

Bunker. There were 173,000 of these in Albania.

Bunker Protecting Albania from Tourists on Corfu

Sarande Sunset

Split & Dubrovnik

The Dalmatian coast is gorgeous with steep cliffs down to the clear blue water and many islands just offshore. It is sparsely populated, a few small cities with occasional fishing villages in between, the rest is uninhabited.

Split has a well preserved old town with the palace of the Roman emperor Diocletian within the walls of the Venetian fortress.

Split

Split Port

Diocletian Palace

Subterranean Entrance to the City

Dubrovnik has the fortress of the city state of Ragusa which looks impregnable even today. Dubrovnik last withstood bombardment only 30 years ago when Croatia was under attack by Montenegro and Serbia.

Fortress

More Walls

Water Gate

Really High Walks

Coastline

Rijeka and Zadar

The bus ride from Trieste to Rijeka takes less than two hours, through the forest and a few villages in Slovenia, into Croatia and back down to the Adriatic. It was a cold and windy day in Rijeka, the streets were ripped up, and the communist era architecture wasn’t appealing, so after lunch I caught a bus to Zadar. It was a wild ride, the wind howling, the road narrow and twisty with a shear drop down to the raging sea.

Zadar has a wonderful walled old town on a peninsula, full of Roman ruins and medieval churches. It played a part in my favorite crusade, the fourth. The crusaders contracted with the Venetians to build a fleet of ships and take them to the Holy Land so they could drive the infidels from Jerusalem and reclaim it for Christianity. However the crusaders weren’t able to come up with all of the money to pay for the ships, so the Doge of Venice, Enrico Dandolo, proposed a deal: if the crusaders would join the Venetians in attacking the (christian) city of Zadar, with whom the Venetians were having problems, the remainder owed on the ships would be forgiven. The crusaders agreed. So Dandolo, who was in his nineties and blind, personally led the crusaders in the sack Zadar. The Pope excommunicated everyone involved. Then he changed his mind and only excommunicated the Venetians. And this is only the beginning of the story of the fourth crusade.

Foro Romano and St. Donatus

Molo and Islands

Roman Ruins in the Foundation of St. Donatus

Roman Column with Winged Lion

Christmas Tree and Lights

Adriatica

The days are cold, Sophia is busy with school, so I hopped on a train in Feltre and left the mountains. Trieste is my first stop on a trip to explore the shores of the Adriatic.

Piazza Unita d’Italia at Night

Teatro Romano di Trieste

Foro Romano di Trieste

Leone

Veneto and Venezia

We are near the end of our trip, having visited more of the Veneto region and now a few days in Venezia before we fly home. It is fascinating to watch the boats in Venezia. There are boats for every need – vegetable boats, ambulance boats, garbage boats, FedEx boats. All of the boats have evolved to operate on the Venetian lagoon and canals, and are adapted for their particular task.

The boatsmen spend every working day on their boats and are amongst the most skilled boatsmen in the world, effortlessly maneuvering through the traffic on the canals. It is always amazing to watch those who are masters at their trade as their individual performance blends with the performances of others equally skillful to create a work of art every minute of every day. Our world is such an incredible experience.

Ponte degli Alpini, Bassano del Grappa
Bicycle in Vicenza
Villa Rotonda, Vicenza
Citroen 2CV, Verona
Vespa, Vicenza
Tre Amici, Vicenza
Prato della valle, Padova
Canal, Venezia
Pigeon Bathing, Venezia

Italy – Hiking the Dolomites, Belluno to Cortina d’Ampezzo

After a few days of acclimation and relaxation in Padova and Feltre we started walking the Alta Via 1 near Belluno. The first day we walked up through a forest to our first Rifugio, Bianchet, with only glimpses of the mountain peaks surrounding us.

The First Day

 

A Glimpse of the Mountains

 

Rifugio Pramperet

 

On our second day we walked about four miles in eight hours to Rifugio Pramperet, ascending almost 5000 feet and descending about 3000 feet.

Day 2
The Route Up

 

And Up
Rifugio Pramperet

 

The next two days we continued ascending and descending, sometimes through forests, but mostly over scree and rocks. The views of the rocky peaks slowly changing, but always astonishingly beautiful.

View of Mountains
Mountains Through Clouds
More Mountains
A Mushroom to Add Variety

On the fourth day we arrived at Rifugio Vizzoler in T-shirts and shorts, wet with sweat. In the morning we left in long wool underwear and jackets.

On the Way to Rifugio Vizzoler
Leaving Vizzoler
Deeper Snow
The Trail Is Lost

We walked about a mile until we lost the trail in the snow. We turned around and walked seven miles down to the nearest town and caught a bus to our next stop, Rifugio Passo Staulanza, which thankfully was near the road.

The next day we had a wonderful walk through the snowy mountains to Croda da Lago and down to Cortina D’Ampezzo.

Rifugio Passo Staulanza

 

Path to Croda da Lago
Snowy Mountains

 

Cortina D’Ampezzo

 

Vuelvo a San Blas

Technicolor Sunset
Technicolor Sunset

I returned to the boat in Mazatlán not knowing if I would sail north, west, south, or leave it at El Cid. The circumstances of the wind and other elements made clear over the next days that I would go south to Bahía Chacala, one of my favorite spots in Mexico, a place I always seem to get pushed out of before I’m ready to leave.

I motored out of Marina El Cid on Saturday morning, turned left once clear of Isla Venado, hoisted the sails and shut off the motor. It was a beautiful day, pleasantly warm, just enough breeze to push me south at a comfortable speed. Just before sunset dolphins appeared and played around the boat. The sun set behind low clouds on the horizon and wasn’t visible. The show after sunset was spectacular, a technicolor panorama constantly changing, yellow, red, orange, violet. As the sky darkened Jupiter and Venus became visible just above the horizon to the west, shining more and more brightly as the darkness intensified.

Late at night with no moon the stars lit up the sky as they blazed, seeming close enough to reach up and touch. As I watched the water flow past the boat I noticed it light up with phosphorescence, a green glow in the boat’s wake. Then the dolphins were back, swimming alongside and ahead of the boat, and as they broke through the surface of the sea the phosphorescence would flow off of their backs, and it was as if I was sailing through the heavens, guided by dolphins with stars streaming off their backs as they led me to nirvana.

Dolphin on the Right
Dolphin on the Right

Sunday evening I was off San Blas and decided, since I was tired and it was still several hours sail to Chacala, to stop at the marina for the night. I’ve been in and out of San Blas several times and am familiar enough with the route up the river to be comfortable doing it in the dark. I docked at the marina late in the evening, there were several messages on my phone, I knew I would not be sailing farther south and would leave the boat in San Blas once again.

San Blas is perhaps the most miserable village I’ve been to during the past year in Mexico, and yet there is this beauty to it. It sits in the middle of World Heritage mangrove swamps that are teaming with life, and much of that life consists of things that want to eat you – crocodiles, mosquitoes, jejenes. The streets are either bone jarringly rough cobblestone or car swallowing mud pits. Half of the buildings are abandoned decaying relics. The best hotel in town sits next to a gutted shell of a hotel with trees growing through the roof. It’s so hot and humid in the summer that after the slightest exertion you have to jump in the pool to cool off.

Yet in a country known for friendly and helpful people, San Blas stands out for its hospitality. For some reason despite the terrible streets more people ride bikes than anywhere else I’ve been in North America. There is beauty in the dilapidation, the crumbling church with the leaning bell tower, the magnificent trees growing through the buildings and lifting the sidewalks, the constant growth and renewal. In Mexico practically every building has rebar sticking out the top because there is this optimism that someday another floor will be added. That optimism epitomizes the beauty of San Blas.

Optimism
Optimism

Wednesday morning I went to breakfast at Wala Wala. Pedro, the owner, who was sitting with an older gentleman, got up to take my order and then went into the kitchen. The gentleman he’d been sitting with came over and introduced himself as the local doctor and said, “Estoy triste, quiero tocar y cantar.” He picked up a guitar and started playing and singing, Besame Mucho and similar songs, and it was amazing, like something out of Buena Vista Social Club. He played and sang for about 30 minutes, and as he left I told him “La musica era mas hermosa, muchas gracias” and he replied “De nada, estoy feliz.” That is San Blas.