Castello di Fiuzzi with the Isola di Dino on the Tyrrhenian Shores of Calabria Calabria is known for many things. The beautiful beaches. The pictoresque villages. The steep mountains. The high frequency of earthquakes (see later blog). Its upcoming and promising wines (also covered in a later blog). And the Ndrangheta, its Mafia. View from the Castello Longobardo Normanno di Malvito towards Calabria's Mountains According to Wikipedia, the Ndrangheta is today a highly sophist

Borgo Vecchio in Amantea - the Wall to the Left was built by the Muslim Rulers Tourists visiting Spain learn during their holidays that the country was once ruled by Muslims. The cathedrals in Cordoba and Seville and the Alhambra Palace in Grenada are living testimony. The Muslim rulers stayed long enough – for centuries actually – to influence the country’s architecture. Few visitors to Calabria though know that Muslims ruled here for a few decades as well. There were three

1678 was not a good year for Messina. The town where the Christian Fleet assembled in 1571 to defeat the Ottomans at Lepanto and famous Spanish writer Miguel Cervantes ("Don Quichotte") recovered from his wounds, was sacked by Spanish troops. Four years before, Messina had revolted against the Spanish King and allied itself with Louis XIV, only to find out that his support went up in the air once the Peace of Nijmegen was signed. The conflict had started when the Spanish Cro

The Straits of Messina with Messina Town in the Foreground and Calabria at the Back The United Kingdom consists of five parts: England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland ... and Sicily. Sounds weird but almost happened in 1812. Several members of the British government argued that the same Normans who conquered England in 1066 (Battle of Hasting) also conquered Sicily (1061 - 1091). It is easy to dismiss this idea as crazy today. In 1812 however, Napoleon controlled Europe except Port

The US 6th Fleet during a Visit in Istanbul in March 1950. Visible is an Iowa Class Battleship, the Aircraft Carrier USS Midway and several Destroyers As an active officer during the Cold War, I always knew that NATO's Southern Command was located in Naples. Though I never visited and never bothered to ask why it was situated there. The threat by the Red Fleet was understood after 1973's Yom Kippur War between Israel on the one side and Egypt and Syria on the other. As office

Horatio Nelson (1758 - 1805) portraited in 1799 As someone with a keen interest in military history, I know quite a bit about Horatio Nelson. The British Admiral defeated Napoleon’s joint French - Spanish Fleet at Trafalgar in 1805 which prevented the invasion of England. One of London’s largest squares is named after his triumph. His column stands tall in the middle of Trafalgar Square. An uncounted number of English pubs carry Nelson's name. His victory paved the way for a

View over Salerno towards the 32 km long Beach to the South of the town A good 50 km southeast of Naples lies the town of Salerno, once the Norman capital for their lands in Southern Italy (11 th century). The town is known for the world’s first medical school established in the 9 th century and the landings of British and American forces on 9 th of September 1943 during Operation Avalanche. The day before, the Italian Government had announced its capitulation and declared

Villa Jovis behind Capri as seen from Monte Solaro, the Island's highest Elevation High above the Tyrrhenian Sea, on the island of Capri, stand the ruins of the Imperial Villa Jovis. For ten years (27 – 37 AD), the second Roman Emperor lived and ruled from here. Tiberius’ old palace towers 334 m or 1066 feet above sea level. It was placed on Capri’s second highest mountain. To our ears, Villa Jovis does not sound like anything special – just "Jupiter House". For the Romans th

Etruscan Buccheri (simple pottery) exported to Sardinia, now in the National Archeology Museum in Calgari At times, I stumble on fascinating facts which stare into my face for years without me noticing. Happened again last week when I wrote about Campi Flegrei , the large cauldron west of Naples. As I was searching for craters, I came across the Greek colony of Cumae, a settlement with acropolis, port and long town walls. In 474 BC, 6 years after the Athenians destroyed the P

Staying in the Bay of Navarino last night was a good choice. The sea was calm. We were well protected from the westerlies. This morning,...

Sunrise over the location of the Navarino Battle today What a rocky start this morning. Swell from the west hit us hard after leaving...

Turkish Sailors surrender to the Greek Privateer Katsionis - Painting from his Crimean Villa Greek folklore is full of tales of heroic...

The Venetian Harbor of Chania with the Workshops to maintain the Fleet on the Left Sailing from Rethymnon to Chania was fun - albeit a...

Rethymnon in the Morning Light at 7 am - the Venetian Port is behind the Light Tower Rather heavy sailing today from Heraklion to...

We arrived at 09.30 am at the Palace of Knossos which is indeed a complex Labyrinth Knossos excursion today. Planned it luckily last week...

Riding out 2-Meter-Waves today was actually quite enjoyable We are lucky having sailed to Crete yesterday. Now on the way to Agios...

The tiny old Harbor of Kasos accommodates a few Fishing and Leisure Boats Last evening, we could not find a well-protected by on Kasos so...

The barren Island of Kasos has thousands of Terraces but little Vegetation and no Water Today, winds finally died down. We woke up to a...

After 9 months of planning and booking, the day has arrived. We are boarding the MYRA this afternoon. The adventure begins. The weather...

Francesco Morosini, Venetian Military Leader and Doge. He blew up the Parthenon As sad as it is, most people disappear in the grey ghoul...