An invitation you can not refuse in Crotone
39° 4′ 44.4684” N 17° 8′ 16.278” E
May 11th
“Do you know that in Calabria it is an insult to say no, when a man invites you to his home? You can get away with that in Sicily. But not in Calabria.” The man behind these words seems quite compelling. His name is Pino, he is 70 years old, a big man, that speaks loud and deep and is remarkably good in English – and then he is from Calabria, born in the city of Crotone, to which city we have arrived with our good ship Ronja.
Pino has just invited us to his home, and this is of course wonderful, if it had not been because we had earlier said yes to an invitation to enjoy a drink with our British friends Claire and Derek as well as Elisabeth and Ken on board the boat “Pala”.
“Just bring them all,” Pino insists. “I have a small apartment but a big terrace. There can be a lot of guests on that terrace.”
“Do you also have a bus to drive us in?” I ask skeptically. “Yes, I have,” replies Pino, pointing to a minibus with nine passenger seats, that is parked at the quayside. He also has a Porche, a Ferrari, a motorcycle and a lot of other cars but hurries to add, that we should not think of him as a rich man. Because he is not.
With a blend of my Northern European factuality and Pinos more emotional arguing (“I am insulted, if you say no!”), we quickly convince Claire, Derek, Elisabeth and Ken to drop the planned drinks and instead go a long with Pino and his Danish-born wife, Helen, to their home in Crotone.
And of course, it turns out to be a wonderful experience. On a rooftop terrace on the 7th floor with a magnificent view over Crotone’s commercial port and the ionic sea, we enjoy Pinos and Helens boundless hospitality. We taste local specialties like brandy brewed on cactus flowers and brandy brewed on oranges. In addition bread, cheese and grilled peppers, and yes, some beer and wine to rinse after with. Helen enjoys speaking Danish with Kirsten and I, while Pino serves and talks about classic cars in English with our British friends.
Pino and Helen met in the 70’s, when they both worked in the EU. They still have a residence in Luxembourg, but spend more and more time in their apartment in Pinos childhood city, Crotone, where a daughter and a grandchild also live. And how did we meet Pino and Helen? Well, through the kind of coincidences, that fortunately the sailing life is so rich of. We were in Palermo with a Danish couple, Sten and Rie, for 14 days, and they told us, that if we came to Crotone in Calabria one day, we should contact their friends, Pino and Helen, and if we had some Danish books we had finished ourselves, we should give them to Helen, because she loves to read Danish books but rarely has the opportunity to do that.
Derek, Kirsten and Claire in the charming and lively market of Crotone
Crotone is a wonderful city. From the outside, the eye first meets a number of gas extraction platforms and a large commercial port. But the city has history, culture, beaches, a big fortress with an old city within its walls, as well as a very lively market. Very charming. It is a city we definitely will return to. And by that time not just for two days.
British saylors, Ken and Elisabeth, following the same route to Greece as we are. Here at Pino and Helens 7th floor terrace
Varazze – expensive but boring
44° 21′ 14.5584” N 8° 34′ 6.5028” E
September 28, 2016
We are in Varazze. An exclusive port. The price is € 67 for one night. The harbour is surrounded by modern buildings with restaurants, shipbrokers, fashion boutiques and shops with expensive toys for saillors.
The city resembles Loano with a long beach divided into private pieces each renting sunbeds and then a very long shopping street in the next rank parallel to the beach.
The city seems worn. The port’s wifi does not work, and as a whole Varazze can not match Loano invigorating charm and immediacy. We sail on the next morning.
Varazze seen from the seaside. Beautiful. But you should rather go to Loano instead
Love at first sight in Sanremo
43° 49′ 6.1788” N 7° 47′ 16.2168” E
September 22, 2016
The big topic of conversation among sailors arriving from France to italian Sanremo, is the exorbitant high port rates. “Horrible! It is twice as expensive to be in a port in Italy as in France! We did not expect this,” says Derek Williams in his boat, Red Rooster, from England. He and his wife, Claire, searches for alternatives and finds an unauthorized berth without water and electricity in Sanremos old municipal port. Here they moor for free in two days.
It’s a bit of a surprise to move from France and into Italy. Over the months we have been accustomed to a French price level, which essentially is 31-35 € for a night in all the old harbours of the major cities, when we arrive with an 11 meters long and 3.5 meters wide sailing-yacht. Only a few times the price has been higher like in St. Tropez and Porquerolles.
It does seem odd, that the price of in first italian city, we run into, is 66 € for a berth, that in many respects is inferior to many french harbours – much longer distance to the bathrooms. Noise on the quay in the evening. Quite a distance to the shops in the city. And a totally useless wifi.
€ 66! For what?
Nevertheless we stay another two days in Sanremo’s new port, Porto Sole, and we discovers that Sanremo is a truly fascinating, a really delightfull city.
The city mixes ancient grandeur and richness with modern shops, and yet we get the feeling, that here time stood still for a several decades. You buy milk and cheese in shops like dairy stores of the 1960’ties in Denmark, and there are so many more small specialty shops, than we are used to in our part of Europe.
A disused railway along the coast have been converted to 24 kilometers of beautiful bike path. We work the pedals of our sailing boat-bikes, and we have a wonderful trip out and a wonderful trip back.
After the bike ride, we find ourselves a large café in Sanremo, where we make observations about the differences between italian people and french people. It seems as if the italians are more happy, more unpretentious and more open than the french. Could this be prejudices? Perhaps. But it is like a great party to sit at the coffee shop in Sanremo. There are shouting and laughter and clashes on the shoulders and on the outermost rows of the café sits the old people of the town, watching the fun with a cup of coffee, that has to last half a day.
It may well be, that port dues are higher in Italy, but our impression is, that the prices for food and beverage in a supermarket or in a restaurant are quite a lot cheaper than in France. Our estimate is, that high harbour fees, are reasonable balanced by cheaper prices for food and beverages.
For us, Italy is love at the first sight.
Sanremo deserves more than the two days, we were able to spend in the city