Am re-stocking the villa here with soap, shampoos and bodywash and marvel about Savon de Marseille’s and L’Occitane’s marketing skills....

Spent most of my last few blogs on Greece but will now return to the western leg of our sailing this year – to the Republic of Malta....

When transferring my blogs to this site I came across a piece I wrote on Croatian culture in 2019 (C - 4). To solidify their rule over...

Three years ago, my friend Ryan, with whom I closely worked on Wallstreet for almost ten years, told me that his ancestors were from...

Today is handover day in Dubrovnik. Captain Mustafa and his team prepare the Dragonfly for next week, scrubbing every inch of the boat...

Just before we enter the channel to Sibenik, the former Venetian town where the Ca Sagredo family came from, we cross the island of...

In almost every harbour we stop we will meet traditional folk groups dancing in the squares and narrow alleyways. Of course they do it...

After yesterday’s heavy reading, something lighter today, What do these three photos below have in common? View of Kotor in Montenegro...

One of the few certainties of our sailing this summer is the fact that we are going to run into big tourist crowds. There are more than...

If you were a Roman Emperor, what style would you use for your palace? Would it emulate Downing Street No 10? The Elysee? The White...

Over the last few days, several of you asked me about the origin of the Croatian people. Where did they come? How did they get to...

Can anyone guess how the following three pictures are related to each other? Mone Lisa from Leonardo da Vinci The town of Herceg Novi The...

Two decades ago, when I met for the first time Albanian people in their national costumes, I believed they must be closely related to...

This morning we left the Carpe Diem V behind in the new yacht port of Iskenderun (former Alexandria ad Issue) to drive in one of the...

We thought yesterday was hot... today the heat topped it with 42 C! So glad we can return every evening to the sea where the sweltering...

First excursion day. The Venetians won't have taken the trouble to visit these sites. By the time they sailed to the Levant, these two...

One day to go! It is so exciting that our sailing starts tomorrow. Once you are on the boat, have a look around and tell me whether you...

One thing we all are going to notice when sailing in Turkish waters is how many French words there are in the Turkish language. Of a...

On our journey along the Anatolian coast, we will not only see many old Byzantine churches. We are going to see many more mosques with...

The Phoenicians on the Levante coast did not only give us glass ware, purple dye, olive oil and cedar trees, their most important...