We spent another couple of weeks loitering around Albania before deciding to head across to Sicily. We checked out of Vlores and were planning on getting to Crotone on the heel of Italy, and anchoring for the night before heading to Syracuse on Sicily. We made better time than we expected so arrived at Crotone at about 10.30 in the morning. So rather than hanging around there we decided to keep going and after 290 nm and 45 hours we arrived in Syracuse. After a sleep we took ourselves ashore for a well deserved beer, unfortunately the weather gods weren’t on our side and it poured with rain, but we weren’t deterred.
With the cruising community you know you’ll often come across people you’ve met previously. We bumped into Paul and Jackie who we met six years before when we wintered in Cartagena. We had a great catch up over lunch and more liquid refreshments, well you get thirsty with all that talking.
We were getting low on Schengen days. We are only allowed 90 days in 180 in the Schengen area, which is getting larger every year. So we only stayed a few days and headed off to Malta. We were able to pick up a mooring ball off Manoel Island in Sliema. Sliema has lots of bars and restaurants with every type of cuisine you can think of which is a rare treat. You don’t appreciate how much choice there is in the UK until you travel.
Sliema was once a small fishing village. By the second half of the 19th century Sliema was used as a summer residence for the more wealthier residents of Valletta. There is a strong British influence on the architecture in the area as Malta was a British Colony from 1814 until 1964.
It was an overnight crossing to Cuffysark’s winter home in Monastir. Ian’s mate Dave joined us for the trip across. Why anyone wants to travel overnight I’ll never know but hey it means the watches are shorter which is good in my book. We left Sliema and headed over to a lovely anchorage, Dwejra Bay, on Gozo, which cut a few miles off our journey across to Tunisia. There were some big jelly fish here though.
We set off at 5am just as the sun was coming up. Four hours after we left Gozo we managed to get some fishing net caught around the prop. So, nothing for it, Ian’s going in the water to untangle it. He retrieved a whole bag. When you arrive anywhere it’s always better to arrive in day light. We were going great guns and so much to Ian’s reluctance but being sensible, I know not his normal stance, we had to drop the mainsail to slow us down. We arrived at 8.30am after 28 hours and 165nm.
Monastir is very different to anywhere we’d been before. It was how I’d imagined Turkey to be before we arrived there back in 2019 and discovered it wasn’t like that at all. There is a Ribat (fort) overlooking the harbour which was built in 796, making it the oldest ribat build by Arab conquerors and is well preserved but has been added to over the years. It is also famous for being the venue where most of the Monty Python film “The Life of Brian” was filmed.
We did climb to the top of the tower and the views were stunning.
Habib Bourguiba, was the first president of Tunisia. He led the country to its independence in 1956. His mausoleum is in Monastir, his birth place. Bourguiba died on April 6, 2000 however, the mausoleum was built in 1963. In addition to Bourguiba, his wife, parents, siblings and various other members of his family, in two other halls, are here.
After that climb and walking around in the heat, yes you’ve guessed it, time for a refreshing beer at a bar on the marina which served extra large beers!
October 2023