E + 29 : Epilogue

How quickly a month goes bye! Seems our journey only started and food shopping in La Valetta feels like something we did yesterday. But it happened a month ago and 1’200 nautical miles to the West of Athens.

This beautiful photo was taken from the International Space Station and shows our itinerary from Malta to Corinth in full

The trip was perfect despite a few rainy days and full of new experiences. A few of them we did not expect despite the months-long preparation.

The Italian Water Pilot (book to the right) was indispensable for the preparation of this trip

1. The beauty of Calabria and Apulia were probably the biggest surprise. Both regions are full of hidden jewels off the beaten track. The endless beaches in Calabria where one can be all by oneself. The fertile Calabrian mountains with lush orchards of almonds, bergamot, figs and olives in every corner. The barber shop in a remote village which still advertises in Griko, the ancient Greek language. The towns of Crotone, Matera, Gallipoli, Castro, Otranto and Lecce with their distinct Spanish Baroque style. Many of us thought we knew Italy well – now we know that we missed a significant part. It is an area to return to.

Beaches for miles & miles where people leave their beach stuff unguarded - it is their beach

2. The second surprise was the size and wealth of Magna Graecia. By 500 BC, Greece and Greek Anatolia had a population of estimated 2.5 millions. Adding the inhabitants of the many ancient towns we discovered in Calabria and Apulia gets quickly to a higher number. The simple fact that Syracuse and Taranto were each considerably larger than Athens speaks for itself. Wealth, power and influence in the Ancient Greek world was not concentrated in Athens and Sparta. Calabria’s fertile rolling hills – ideally suited for large scale agriculture – have no equivalent in Greece. Nor does the Apulian plateau. Magna Graecia was rich beyond imagination. Centuries of wars and misguided government policies ruined the region. Magna Graecia is no more - despite the wealth of its resources.

The Valleys in Calabria are almost a Garden of Eden

3. We had our third epiphany in the Archeological Museum of Lipari, the main of the Aeolian Islands. Trading in the Mediterranean has a much longer tradition than we believed. From our history textbooks we remember that the Phoenicians ventured by 1'000 BC into the Mediterranean and Greek colonies date to 700 BC. Greek and Phoenicians followed well established tracks though. Trading in Obsidian stones goes back to 5’000 BC and the metal tin from Spain found its way to Anatolia around 3’000 BC. Most of the trading happened ad-hoc without a permanent infrastructure. There was no need for permanence given the small trading volumes. With the onset of the Iron Age and the Sea People throwing the Mediterranean into chaos, things changed. Trading places were fortified, settlements became permanent. People who had the military skills to protect trading places became the rulers. As one of our guides said in Sicily, “the Greek did not only bring culture, they also brought war”.

These Obsidian Stones were traded 7'000 years ago

4. Last but not least, none of us had ever seen so many “white elephants”. Everybody knows about the transfer payments Italy makes to the Mezzogiorno or the EU Funds that flow into this “structurally weak region”. If they only were properly used. Last year we noticed in Cagliari that the expensively restored San Remy Gate was already falling apart. The space reserved for shops was empty, the windows broken, the elevators did not work and a large area of the terrace was off limit for “safety reason”. This year we saw more of the same - far more. A 19th century steam locomotive at 850 meters above sea level with nowhere to go, luxury marinas with few sail boats and no yachts, recently built but already decaying dock-yards for sailboat repairs, underground tracks and a modern railway station for a provincial train that is barely used, splendid museums with plenty of staff and no visitors. There is almost no end to this list.

The famous Steam Locomotive in Bova - 850 meters above Sea Level ...

What is missing are thriving small businesses that create jobs. It is probably easier to write checks than to reform rigid labor laws, crushing social charges and the punitive tax system. For 160 years now the Italian Elite tries to develop Italy’s south by transfer payments. The EU duplicates the effort. On many of these “white elephants” memorial plates celebrate the cooperation of EU, Italy and the Local Government. But there is little to celebrate. The GDP of Calabria is just 1/3 of Milan’s. It is time to rethink development priorities and focus on the people.

Having a small Drone available was another positive Surprise - we fell in love with it

The beauty of travelling by sail is that the journey is slow. We had time to let sink in what we saw and to reflect on what it meant. The Mezzogiorno is definitely a region to return to for another boat trip. It feels we now know what there is to discover.

Thanks to the EU's new Waste Water Standards, Maritime

Life has remarkable recovered - we saw so many Dolphins

Next year's journey though will lead us from Athens to Istanbul. Due to the strong Meltemi blowing north to south during the summer months we had to reverse course. On the advice of Capitain Nikos, we will sail from Istanbul to Athens instead and move the trip from July into August - September. He is a fishermen and knows best. Traveling against strong head wind and rough seas is no fun.

Sailing with perfect Wind Conditions - Crossing from

Otranto to Corfu was a wonderful experience

The blog will now go into "hibernation" for a few months until we have signed up a new boat and prepared a more detailed itinerary. It always takes a few months. Boat Agents start focussing on next year sometimes in September/October. Doing all the research for the 2022 trip takes two to three months You will hear from me sometime in December 2021 again. Below is a teaser chart for next year's adventure. We are going to visit Troy!