Sunrise over the Straits of Messina at 6.55 am At 5 am this morning, Captain Mario started the engine. We wanted to get to the Straits of Messina before the wind picked up. Today's plan was to visit Scilla Castle on the Calabrian side, then anchor for lunch at Capo Pelore, Sicily's most eastern point and to sail after lunch to Messina at 3 pm, right on time for our walk through town. We made good progress. By 9 am we reached the Straits, announced our position to traffic cont

The Cittadella in Victoria, Gozo's Capital, was modernized from 1599 - 1620 With less than 10% of Malta's population, Gozo, the northern island, was seldom at the heart of Malta's history. Its bays are narrow, the good harbours few, the sandy beaches in the north small. The island is better known for its high cliffs and hills. Though the limestone and sandy soil is not ideal for agriculture. In 1551, the island was raided by Turkish Corsairs who enslaved the entire population

Castello Aragonese d'Ischia was first built by Hieron, the Ruler of Syracuse, in 474 BC When sailing around the Golf of Naples, you may notice the many Aragon (it merged in 1479 with Castile and became Spanish) castles sitting prominently on rocky outcrops high above the waves. Why are they there and what was their purpose? We will have the chance to visit many of them during our third week of sailing this September. More surprisingly is that many of them were modernized duri

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

Methoni at Quarter to Eight - the Town's 17th Century Bastions in the Middle of the Photo The South of the Peloponnese is a fabulous...

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

Chania's Venetian Light House is still standing strong Turnover day today - again. As of 6 am, the deck hands started washing and...

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...

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...

The Flag of the Crete State can still be bought but as a Souvenir only There are flags, which were once important, but nobody recognizes...

The Kùcùk Hasan Mosque in the old Harbor of Chania is now used as a Museum 2023 was a centennial that many people did not want to...

A typical small, family owned Hotel Resort east of Heraklion probably built in the 1980s Don’t have GDP numbers for the time when Crete...

Mustafa Naili, Crete's Albanian Governor 1824 - 1851 You may wonder why I am asking the question. Crete is firmly Greek, fought in the...

The Valley of Patara by John Johnson, 1843 After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Empire slowly but steadily took over...

The largely intact Roman Theatre of Aspendos - Photo was taken in 2018 during our 1st visit A windless morning today. Yesterday’s cool...

The Northern Part of the Seljuk Fortress viewed from the Citadel - Alanya at the Back Second day in Alanya. We are waiting for the next...

Three big Forest Fires on 3 August 2021 seen from a NASA Satellite Yesterday afternoon, a loud boom caught my attention. Just overhead, a...