We are on the Amalfi coast, so we decided it was prudent to visit the actual town of Amalfi. Atrani is a hop, skip, and a jump from Amalfi, so we visited both of them.

We decided to leave the dinghy on Seahike, so we did the thing where I took Michael ashore in the dinghy, took the dinghy back to Seahike, then swam ashore. I then washed my hair and rinsed the saltwater off under the freshwater showers. (In case you are wondering, I chose shorts that would dry quickly and my swimsuit top.) I put a shirt over my swimsuit top when we got to the ferry, which meant that my shirt got wet. Oh well, it would dry eventually.

The ferry from Salerno to Amalfi takes about 45 minutes, so one has time to admire the coastline. We did.

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It took two overnight sails to get from Corfu to Italy. More accurately, to get to Reggio Calabria, where we intended to check in. Before we get into that story, here is a picture of the sun peeking through the clouds on my 2:00-8:00 a.m. watch:

We’d already hoisted the Italian flag next to the Women Who Sail the Med pennant:

And now, back to our story.

We hailed the Reggio Calabria port authority numerous times before they finally answered. After talking for some time, it was clear that we needed to go to a marina to check into the country. So, we moved a bit farther down the coast and called (on the phone) the marina, as advised. They answered and told us they didn’t speak English and we should WhatsApp them. So we did. Then we waited. Then they told us that they didn’t have room for us and suggested another marina. So we called them. They answered and told us they didn’t speak English and we should WhatsApp them. So we did. Then we waited. An hour had passed by this time and we decided to head out and check in at Salerno instead. It was our next stop, anyway, and a Port of Entry. So we did.

After we’d been underway for about 10-15 minutes, the initial marina contacted us to tell us that they now had a space for us. But we were done with Reggio Calabria by that time. LOL!

The story doesn’t end there, though, my friends.

We got to Salerno and found a good anchorage right near the town. It’s open to the wind on most sides and there is rather large swell from time to time, but the anchor is seriously dug in in 10 feet of water, so we are okay. We are about 200 meters away from the dark sand beach, which also happens to have a beach bar right next to it. Nice. This is the view from Seahike, looking towards the beach and vice versa:

Back to checking in.

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Yep, we went back to Greece! You might recall that we were in a hurry to get to Albania the first time we went to Corfu. We stopped there just to check out of Greece. We expected to return to spend some time with friends who live in Corfu. And that’s just what we did.

We know people in Corfu because we served as crew on their catamaran when they sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. We got to know one another other pretty well during those 22 days and we were eager to see them again. Thankfully, they were home and happy to see us as well. <3 (That is supposed to be a heart.)

When we reached out to them about coming to see them, they asked us if we would like to stay at their villa. What? We didn’t even know they had a villa. We thought we would just be able to spend a day together. We aren’t crazy (?) so we graciously accepted their offer. Oh, and they offered to let us use their car while we were visiting as well. Seriously, these are the most generous, kind, and fun souls! We were so excited to see them!

We sailed overnight to Corfu and anchored in a small bay. We made it just before sunset. It was – I think – the fourth bay we tried because the others were full. We were just glad to find an anchorage before it got dark.

Our friends picked us up at the beach the next day. Michael and I didn’t bring all of our stuff with us right away. We can no longer remember why we did that, but we did.

We all went to Corfu Town so Michael and I could check back into Greece. Then we walked around a bit, had a big lunch, walked a bit more, and stopped for groceries. Yulia and I also visited the fortress in Corfu Town, which has wonderful views from the top. Here are a couple of pictures from “below” as well as the top.

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The winds started to pick up the evening before. We knew that they were predicted to pick up a bit, but did not expect what Mother Nature delivered! We got out of bed at one point and let out more anchor rode. It was a rocky night. We were safe but very much on watch and didn’t get as much sleep as a result.

We headed to a marina for the next day on the 4th. We planned to stay there for two days, as the winds were predicted to be strong that entire time. We headed into 40+ knot winds as we motored north in the Bay of Kotor. Thankfully, we didn’t have to go in that direction very far. Once we made a “left turn,” the winds were on our beam and we made great time!

The winds were blowing us away from the dock as we tried to tie up. It took a few tries to get close enough to toss the lines to the three guys on the dock, but we finally made it.

Once firmly tied to the dock, I gently reminded Michael that I’d told him the day before that we should have gone to the marina then. I am always so thoughtful by reminding him when I am right. I am certain that he appreciates it. 😉 😉

We decided to hang out on the boat that day. And we ended up hanging out the next day as well. The main reason is because we weren’t in a hurry. We’d realized that we needed to spend more time in Montenegro so the “Schengen clock” wouldn’t start until we wanted it to start. We were thrilled to spend more time in this beautiful country!

Here is a picture of the promenade by the marina and Seahike’s location at the end of the dock.

We considered staying a third night, but the marina was quite expensive and the winds were predicted to let up later in the day. We planned to anchor near Perast, but I wanted to put out a fair amount of rode in case the winds picked up, and we discovered that the small bay didn’t allow for that.

We ended up anchoring in the northern end of the Bay of Kotor at Risen (also spelled Risan). We had read various things and warnings about this anchorage, including not to anchor right near the bridge, and that winds could be very strong coming down off the mountain. We anchored in about 15 feet of water with good holding. There was very little wind the two days/nights we were there (the 6th and 7th).

A tiny bit of information about Risen: Risen traces its origins to the ancient settlement of Rhizon, the oldest settlement in the Bay of Kotor. Lying in the innermost portion of the bay, the settlement was protected from the interior by inaccessible limestone cliffs of the Orjen mountains which are the highest range of eastern Adriatic, and through several following narrow straits in the Bay of Kotor from the open sea.

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Shortly before we left Croatia, we noticed that the U.S. flag flying on Seahike had a very ragged edge. The flag was wide enough to allow the edge to flap against the lazy jacks when the wind blew. That eventually wore out the fabric. It had to be taken down.

I knew there was a proper way to dispose of a U.S. flag and I wanted to do it correctly. Since we can’t build a bonfire, I won’t be burning it. I will probably take it home with me in October and take it to one of the approved disposal locations. I did manage to fold it correctly after about five tries.

We left our cute little anchorage in Kolocep the morning of Sept. 2.

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We had a nice sail from Mljet to Korčula. . . after the rain stopped. We knew we would be motoring in the rain initially, and boy were we! It poured! Michael was a gentleman (or, was he thinking “happy wife, happy life?”) and took the helm during the entire rainstorm, except for the times he came inside to warm up a bit.

But once we left the rain behind us, we had a lovely sail, like with the sail up kind of a sail. We anchored on the south side of a small island near the main island. It started to pour five minutes after we anchored. That timing was lucky. It had taken about eight or nine hours to make the trip, so it was later in the day when we arrived. We stayed on the boat for the rest of the evening.

This is a good time to note our progress: We had traveled 6100 nautical miles at this point in our journey.

Here are some pictures of the rainclouds and the eventual calm.

And here is a picture of the lovely rainbow that shone after the rain stopped, and the sunset from our boat.

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Michael decided to stay on the boat today (the 28th) because he got quite overheated yesterday. I was originally thinking I would do the same, but – really – when will we be in Dubrovnik again?! So, I planned a little itinerary for myself. My plan was to ride the cable car, visit the War Museum, check out the Foundry Museum, then stop for groceries on the way back to Seahike.

I walked this time, rather than taking the bus. It was much quicker. I took a few pictures along the way. I love this one of the coastline.

As I passed one small section of chain link fence, I saw all of these padlocks on it. I had no idea what they were but took a picture. I am glad I did, because I looked it up later and it is a sweet thing. It is Dubrovnik’s Love Lock Wall.

The fence is awash with pledges of undying love from all over the world. Padlocks with the initials, messages, hearts and poems are snapped into place on the fence and the keys are then thrown in the sea. It is the modern day version of carving your names in a tree trunk, but one more environmentally friendly.

“Love U 4ever,” from a Swiss couple – “Be my Valentine” in French and “U complete me” from Juan in Mexico. The Dubrovnik love fence is as international as the guests that land every summer.

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We decided it was time to try out a new restaurant near the marina in Albania. We walked a short distance down the road to Naos Bar-Restaurant-Pizzeri. Naos is right on the beach, so the view is nice. The food is also good. We ended up eating there twice, once on our own, and one with a lovely couple we met in the marina, Jeremy and Joyce.

And now let’s talk about my hair. This is mandatory from time to time. My hair, at this point, is not in good shape (any more than my skin) due to the salt-filled air, sun (which I try to stay out of, but can’t), and strong breezes. I am not sure it was even growing longer at this point based on the status of the ends. Split to smithereens! I decided it was time to take action.

Michael has a hair clipping set that includes a pair of really good scissors. On August 23, I was wearing braids. I cut off the bottom of the left braid, then the right braid. Okay, the right braid was shorter now, so I cut some more off of the left braid. Better. When I took my hair out of the braids, I asked Michael to fix any ends that appeared to be quite out of place with the rest. He did. It looks good enough for me:

Now that we’ve talked about the bottom of my hair, let’s talk about the bottom of Seahike. After a month in the marina, she had a lot of growth on her bottom. We hired a diver to clean off the growth. He worked hard! Took him about 1.75 hours and we could hear him scraping. We gave him a nice tip.

Here are the before and after pictures of Seahike’s bottom:

We stayed one more day than our month-long contract while waiting for a weather window. Michael went to the office to pay for the extra day. After the two people working there chatted with each other for some time, they told Michael that we didn’t have to pay for the extra day. Then they jokingly each said it was their idea and they had to convince the other. But how nice of them to give us a free day!

So, on Friday, August 24, we had lunch with Jeremy and Joyce at Naos, then headed for Vlorë to check out of Albania. We said goodbye to the marina.

We anchored the same place we did when we checked into Albania and took the dinghy to shore. Speaking of the dinghy, actually the motor, you will recall that the shift handle is somewhere in the Ionian Sea near Corfu. You might also recall that we were unable to find a new shift handle so after visiting several hardware stores and chandleries we bought a door handle. You know, for an indoor door. We use the part of the handle that goes inside the door to go inside the motor.

So this was our first chance to use our make-shift handle. I always drive when we’re in the dinghy because we need Michael’s weight up front. I couldn’t get the handle in the little hole, so Michael had to do it. It worked just fine. He shifts, removes the handle (which has a string on it that is attached to the dinghy, I might add), I drive. When it is time to shift again, Michael steps up to the plate. It is a tad clunky, but it works!

It was a Friday night, and there were a lot of people out and about in Vlorë. This is the picture of the shore from Seahike:

And the other side of us was calm:

It was roughly 150 nm from Vlorë to Dubrovnik, where we would check in to Croatia. We left Vlorë at 7:00 a.m., expecting to arrive in Dubrovnik the next afternoon. It wasn’t too long before Michael decided we should arrive earlier to avoid winds that were now predicted to pick up quite a bit the next day. So we ran both engines to go 7+ knots. As a result, we arrived before the sun came up the next day. This picture of this bridge, which is very close to where we checked in, was taken at 4:08 a.m.

We docked and Michael went ashore to check us in. We’d read that Dubrovnik was a very good place to check in and out of Croatia due to their efficient and friendly nature, and that was true!

We waited until about 8:00 a.m. before contacting the marina – which was just across the water about five minutes away. We med moored and kicked back a bit before heading into Old Town to walk the Dubrovnik Walls.

We decided to take the bus to Pile Gate, one of the gates you can use to access Old Town. The walk to the bus station was about 2 km. It was already quite hot. We got to the bus station and waited for our bus. Nothing. Maybe it was late? We waited for the next bus. Nothing. Finally (only about 20 minutes had passed), I got smart and asked someone for help. Turned out that the bus stop for our bus was on the adjacent street. No prob. Our bus arrived a couple of minutes later. We got on, took off, then asked the people sitting next to us if we were on the right bus. I mean, the number was right, so we figured we were. Well, right bus, wrong direction. So we got off at the next stop and walked about 50 meters to the bus stop on the other side of the road. Bingo!

We were at Pile Gate in no time. We weren’t sure where to go up to walk the walls, so this time we were smart and asked someone right away. We were already at the right place. We just had to walk up a long flight of stairs.

The Dubrovnik walls run uninterrupted for 1940 meters (6365 feet) in length, encircling most of the City, and reach a maximum height of about 25 meters (83 feet). Okay, those are facts. But the really cool thing about them are the views you see from every possible angle! I took a LOT of pictures. I won’t bore you with all of them, but I am still going to share a lot.

Before I do, I should note that in doing my homework for this visit, I’d read that throughout most of the seasons of Game of Thrones, Dubrovnik had been the setting for Kings Landing. And that’s not all! Apparently other scenes were filmed in Dubrovnik. In fact, you can take a Game of Thrones tour to see all of the filming locations in Dubrovnik.

I have never watched one minute of Game of Thrones.

So, I didn’t care about that, but I wanted to include that in this post in case anyone reading this is a Game of Thrones fan. In fact, before we get to the walls, here are just a few of the pictures of store windows in Dubrovnik Old Town, proclaiming that they sell Game of Thrones paraphernalia. It almost made me wish I was into the Game of Thrones.

And now, let’s get to those walls! Let me just say that it is difficult to take a bad picture from the walls. Everything is interesting. You will discover that I like two main types of pictures: looking out at the sea, looking in at rooftops. Here we go!

I think I owe Game of Thrones fans this picture of Kings Landing:

If you walk the Dubrovnik Walls or go to Dubrovnik Old Town, don’t make the mistake we did: wear your swimsuit!! There are numerous marked off places where you can sit in a lounge chair then jump into the sea. Had we known, we would have dressed appropriately.

We were quite hot by this time and ready for lunch. Time to take the steps down to Old Town. We ate at Mea Culpa. As per usual, we supported a local brewery. We are so selfless. 😉

Old Town has wide streets and narrow streets. Apparently some scenes from Star Wars VIII were filmed on one of these wide streets. I cannot tell you which scene. Nothing looked familiar to me and I am a BIG Star Wars fan!!

And now it was time to hit the pool! Yep, the marina has a pool! And you can have an adult beverage while in or near the pool.

It might not surprise you that I ordered an adult beverage after swimming some laps. Then I sat on one of the stools in the corner and read my book while I sipped on my rum and Coke Zero. I was about halfway through my beverage when some kids playing in the pool threw someone that knocked over my drink. The bartender who served me just happened to be talking to someone a few meters away from me. I looked at him and he told me that he would replace it. That was kind of him. So I got 1.5 drinks for the price of one.

Back to Seahike for the night. I like the blue lights on the walkways in the marina.

We will share day two in Dubrovnik and our visit to Mljet in the next post.

Days 1-8: In previous posts
Day 9: Shkodër (this was supposed to have been Theth National Park) (overnight in Shkodër)
Days 10, 11: Valbonë a.k.a. Valbona (overnight on day 10). Return to Shkodër and drive to Golem (overnight in Golem)
Day 12: Return to Orikum by 8:00 a.m. to return rental car (we aren’t counting this day in our road trip)

Today’s post covers the last three days of our trip.

We awoke on day nine of our trip excited to drive to Theth National Park. Actually, we were especially excited for our last three days because we would be in the fantastic Albanian Alps with options for hiking.

So we hopped in our rental car, turned the key and . . . nothing. The fan, radio, and instruments came on, but the motor didn’t make a sound. The lights had not been left on, so we didn’t think we had drained the battery; plus, it would have at least tried to turn over.

I sent a message via WhatsApp to the rental car company. They were convinced it was the battery and told us to hang tight. So we did. . . for about three and a half hours. Long story short, a new car was delivered to us. The problem was that by the time we received it, it was too late to go to Theth. That was quite disheartening, I’m not gonna lie. I didn’t want to drive there just to take a peek and turn right around. I wanted to hike. And I didn’t want to drive the winding roads back to the hotel in the dark.

Luckily, we were at a lovely resort, so we decided to take the day off and relax. I swam, we sat by the pool and read, and we had a lovely dinner. Not Theth, but we managed to salvage the day.

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Days 1-7: In previous posts
Day 8: Kruje, Shkodër (overnight in Shkodër)
Day 9: Shkodër (this was supposed to have been Theth National Park) (overnight in Shkodër)
Days 10, 11: Valbonë a.k.a. Valbona (overnight on day 10). Return to Shkodër and drive to Golem (overnight in Golem)
Day 12: Return to Orikum by 8:00 a.m. to return rental car (we aren’t counting this day in our road trip)

Today’s post covers day eight.

I couldn’t stop myself from taking a picture (I didn’t even try) of this building that looks like it is from a fairy tale. It is built on the edge of a drop-off and half of it has no ground beneath it!

Now, a quick stop at the town of Krujë and its castle.

The Krujë Castle is a castle in the city of Krujë, Albania and the center of Skanderbeg’s rebellion against the Ottoman Empire. The castle was built in the 5th or 6th century, perched on Krujë hill.

I looked at a variety of sources to learn about Skanderbeg, and found that Wikipedia offered a good summary:

The Albanians’ resistance to the Ottomans in the 14th century and especially in the 15th century won them acclaim all over Europe. Gjon Kastrioti of Krujë was one of the Albanian nobles and clan leaders who submitted to Ottoman suzerainty in 1425. He was compelled to send his four sons to the Ottoman capital to be trained for military service. The youngest, George Kastrioti (1403–68), who would become the Albanians’ national hero, captured the sultan’s attention. Renamed Iskander when he converted to Islam, the young man participated in military expeditions to Asia Minor and Europe becoming one of the main Ottoman generals. When appointed to administer a Balkan district, Iskander became known as Skanderbeg. After Ottoman forces under Skanderbeg’s command suffered defeat in a battle near Niš (present-day Serbia) in 1443, Skanderbeg rushed to Krujë and tricked a Turkish pasha into surrendering the Albanian fortress. Skanderbeg then embraced Roman Catholicism and declared a holy war against the Ottoman Empire.

On 1 March 1444, Albanian chieftains gathered in the cathedral of Lezhë with the prince of Montenegro and delegates from Venice and proclaimed Skanderbeg commander of the Albanian resistance. All of Albania accepted his leadership against the Ottomans, but local leaders kept control of their own districts. Under a red flag bearing Skanderbeg’s heraldic emblem, an Albanian force of about 10,000-15.000 men held off Ottoman campaigns against their lands for 24 years when Skanderbeg was commander in chief, until 1478, 11 years after his death.

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