To Slovenia.....

And on we go…

Photos -

Me asking Richard what he is doing when he is trying to capture the old couple holding hands!

Window boxes

The new us after we have cut our own hair

Richard on our balcony after yet another good feed

The market in centre of Ižola

Our 3.00 am parting from Herzliya Marina and Ibis II has a dreamlike quality about it as we pile our bags on to the taxi in the dark. A bit like Alice in Wonderland where we are closing one door and opening another and going into a completely different world. In this case the white rabbit is the boat which we have been negotiating on for a while in Isola, Slovenia, close to Trieste in Italy.

She is a 2003 Beneteau 411 Celebration model with performance rig and ticks all our boxes. She is a one owner private yacht – never chartered... sailed to Brazil and back by her owner so has radar, life raft and iridium phone on board and even a spinnaker! Apparently he has not used her at all for the past 18 months as has several other boats. We have not signed any contract but have agreed on a price at this stage. We have found that it is very difficult to find a boat in the Med within our budget which suits our requirements. Most sailing yachts have in-mast furling with a non battened main which does not allow the hull to perform to its true ability and we do love to sail – really sail. Most of these boats spend much of their lives being motored around and sailed a little bit depending on the skill of the person in charge. The 411 Celebration is a highly spec’d model with deeper keel and taller mast, fully battened slab reefing. However it also includes all the comforts of home for our friends and family who we are looking forward so much to having on board.

We arrive in Isola 17 hours later, via 4 hours in Munich and a rental car hire in Trieste. We take a wrong turnoff on the way and stop in an Italian Village for mouth watering Limon flavoured gelato ice creams and directions from the locals and suddenly we find our way and are on our path again. We are hot, dusty and unbelievably tired on arrival and check in at 8.00 pm, when Richard insists we go and look at the boat immediately! I stamp a dirty foot and insist on a shower first but he is not having one and will wait for later.

We almost wished we hadn’t….!

The marina is very close to our hotel (not by accident!) but we have to walk (drag ourselves) up and down several fingers before we find her – teak decks black with dirt, canvas and sails in disarray, ropes everywhere and topsides which are no longer dark blue, but a cloudy greasy dirty bruised bluish colour. The gel coat looks as though it has never seen a hose or polish … We stand …stunned for a while, pick ourselves up and head back to the hotel.

Sleep that night is an unconscious rendition of comatose for 12-14 hours. Next morning early we call the broker and suggest that the boat is not quite up to what he described and we will probably call off the survey thanks. He convinces us to take a look inside at 4pm that day and we still call off the surveyor but leave a proviso that we will call him if we decide to go ahead.

By the time we go on board the owner has sent two strong men to clean her up and the teak is looking much better, the topsides no different, but generally a tidier impression. Surprisingly she is reasonably well kept inside except for the scuffed floorboards and a couple of damaged fittings. She is clean and uncluttered and the cabinetry is very good. After spending 2-3 hours going over the boat we decide to go ahead with the survey the next morning.

There is little or no wind as we motor out and pull up the sails… another awful moment of loaded silence when we see them… black with mould patches and full of small holes from sun damage. The surveyor immediately values them at zero! If only they had been taken off and stored down below they would still have plenty of wear in them because they look as though they have been good sails. Still she glides through the water effortlessly.

The survey continues in this vein, but overall a sound hull, motor and electronics/electrics. Just heaps of maintenance work to do and a big account to pay for someone. We get a list of items from the surveyor and go away fairly dumbfounded that a boat could be so misrepresented by the broker and owner. There is no spinnaker in sight, amongst other things. However, the seller is making noises about us coming back to them with a lower offer. That is where we are at. We have done the research and put in an offer for Euro 25k less than than the original agreement and are waiting to see what comes of it. Silence so far.

We seriously think about revisiting our first love, G Whizzard in the UK, but after much soul searching, decide that the Beneteau 411 Celebration is the design of boat we want. There are not many on the market and the one enduring thing is that she really is the type of boat we want. With the maintenance and refit she would be a good boat. The main issue for us is that the trades people here are very busy with the high season upon them and we would have to slowly work through the items starting from the most urgent. Can we do it? Do we want to? These are the questions we must answer.

In the meantime we are getting to know this lovely old Slovenian town called Izola (Italian spelling Isola, meaning island). We spend our first three nights in a hotel and enjoy an internet connection for this time, then have to move on as it is high season and the town is booked out. We find ourselves probably the last small studio apartment with cooking facilities (ho hum..) and move on to this garden apartment right beside the marina. Even if we don’t come away with a boat, we are loving our experience here. The historic old town with its stony winding streets, brims with leafy green trees and gardens full of brightly coloured flowers, not to mention geranium filled window boxes and perhaps more ice cream shops than cafés. The olive oil, tomatoes, olives, coffee, fresh fruit, pancetta, bread and pasta are fresh and delicious, as are the local fish and produce sold at the market which is open every day in the town centre. However, I could kill for a good cup of tea and cannot find tea bags anywhere.

Everything is very compact, within walking distance. It is very hot with blue skies each day – we tend to go out in the morning for a few hours, come back for a lunch of fresh bread and freshly purchased produce, sleep for a while, then go out for a swim later and a stint at the internet cafe. We are regrouping ourselves after the rush of all the tours and night passages made during the Rally, and it is heaven.

There are tons of restaurants and they are not too expensive, but we are trying not to blow out our budget so eat at home mostly, which is a regular comedy show. The small kitchenette has no hot water, so we have to bring it from the shower. I have figured out how to get the double electric plates going, but cannot stop them once they are “lit” and have to get everything boiling then pull the plug out of the wall! The wine glasses are tiny which is our excuse for having more of the less than 3 Euro local plonk. The beer is excellent and our balcony has a comfortable table and chairs where we sit until well into the night or until the mosquitoes move us on. The palm tree in the garden in front of us has its own built in tube of LED lights wound around the trunk so we could even be in Hollywood! There was no cork screw supplied so we purchased our own from the 1 Euro shop, plus a can opener for our can of pears – 3 broken can openers later and still we can’t get at them – perhaps the gods of fresh fruit are working against us. As I write Richard opens the freezer to get out the ice cream and the door falls off!

Sunday morning and Richard has been fighting off an ear infection for a few days, with a visit to the local doctor and antibiotics, but it is worse this morning and visibly swollen on the left side of his face. We head back to the doctor at 8.00am who says it is just the external part of his ear canal, and packs a dressing into it with instructions to keep on with the antibiotics. We console ourselves with delicious cappuccino at the nearest café and promise ourselves we will come back for an ice cream dessert later in the day.

The marina here is probably the largest and best set up on this tiny stretch of coast-line between Italy and Croatia. We have visited Koper in the north and Porto Roz in the south which both have smaller marinas and that is about all there is space for. We are interested to spot a Russell Coutts RS44 up on the hard – like a mini America’s cup boat amongst lots of other serious looking racing craft. The seller of the boat we are interested in has one of his other boats called Bohemia Express – an ex Sydney racer which he has imported here to compete with, lined up with the others. There are quite a few racing regattas based here during the season.

To be continued….

Port Said, Egypt – Israel, Herzliya and Jerusalem and Goodbye....

16 June 2008

Highlights!
Great sailing
Flares sighted towards Gaza
We unexpectedly visit Jerusalem

Photos:

Goodbye Ibis II and friends we have made

David, Cath and Hasan - our Rally Leaders


We are the last yacht to leave the moorings at around 12.00 midday. We are very late and although supposed to get away around 9.00 am, it appears the authorities are on a go-slow in processing our passports. Richard and I are walking around making sure everyone gets their mooring lines away okay and assisting when Movimiento has its anchor fouled under three others laid at right angles. Already the local traffic is allowed into the area and there is a rising crescendo of traffic noise behind us, horns tooting, locals talking to us over the barrier etc. The heat and dust are building and it is a relief when the last boat moves away and we are free to go. Our skipper jumps on board and we throw off the mooring lines quickly as have everything ready to go. We motor out into the Suez Canal, accompanied by the Pilot boat and head the half mile back out into the Mediterranean. We can see the fleet some distance ahead in the brown water and it is some time and well clear of the entrance before we see a line of separation where the water changes colour from brown to ‘sort of’ blue. We have been promised a good sailing breeze and are not disappointed as the 18 knot SW breeze settles in and Ibis II is soon clipping along in good clear water and catching the stragglers in the 50 strong fleet of yachts. Our top speed for the day turns out to be 8.8 knots and we are close to this fairly quickly having amazing fun with the engine off for once and just the breeze and sound of the hull.

Hasan throws the Egyptian Pizza bread I have bought for lunch over the side, telling us that Egyptian Pizza made two of their sailors very sick one year and killed their parrot! We revert to our old favourite of tuna filled rolls. As the afternoon slips by we eat up the miles and soon we are preparing for our night watches. I try and make dinner but the boat is on an acute angle and the milk falls out of the fridge door and spills through the bilge. It is a bit of a marathon but we eventually feast on a white bean casserole with garlic, onions and tomatoes and fresh white aubergine and green beans.

I try and get some rest as am a little short on sleep, but there is a bit of drama unfolding just after dark and the chatter on the VHF keeps me listening. Flares have been sighted in the night sky off to starboard, spotted by Richard and also reported by several of our fleet. It may be a boat in trouble, so David on our lead boat Mashona pinpoints the approx location and calls on VHF and SSB to Haifa Radio. It is some time before he receives an acknowledgement and in the meantime puts out a Securite message to all shipping reporting the sighting. We are all very aware that we are approx 60 NM off Gaza and it may be military action, but we cannot ignore it. We have done all we can and sail on. We hear no more. The most probable scenario was diversionary flares for heat seeking missiles precluding military action/helicopters going in to Gaza.

An uneventful night follows – the wind dies out around 10 pm and the motor is on for the remainder of the passage until our arrival in Herzliya Marina around 12.00 midday in millpond calm seas.

Herzliya North of Tel Aviv is described in the Israel book as “haunt of the rich and beautiful” exclusive resort named after Theodore Herzl, founder of Zionism. Gorgeous beaches in opposite extremes nearby are – Shefayim Nudist Beach and Separate Beach which caters to the very religious. Alas we do not find the time in the 4 days we are here to check one of them out! The shopping mall on the marina is a mass of trendy designer stores with fabulous goods for sale and fabulous prices too, but we are more interested in the hot showers, washing machines and internet connection which all seem to work – touch wood.

It is hot – sooooo hot. We are all sweating profusely with rivulets running down our faces. We keep up the drinks, anything we can find goes down well. The local beer is a treat. There is a mad rush to get ready for the final gala dinner to be held outside on the marina. It turns out to be a great do and plenty of antics as we all let off steam! Yaaaaay! No more night passages, no more tours, no more pressure… but we are all secretely sad that so many goodbyes are coming up, that this wonderful experience is over and we are all moving on. Suddenly we all know each other and we party on into the night. Richard is not too good with a touch of Egyptian tummy but he is not the only one in this state.

Richard and I are due to travel to Slovenia tomorrow, to see a boat we have been discussing on the email for some time now. However we hear that the survey won’t be until next week so we change our flight bookings (a marathon to achieve in Israel) and plan an unscheduled overnight trip to Jerusalem instead.

Jerusalem!

We set off with a borrowed guide book the day after we have recovered from the final dinner, and spent some hours packing up ready to leave Israel. Our bags are taking up most of the saloon in Ibis II and Hasan is being incredibly tolerant.

It is an easy bus trip from Herzliya to Tel Aviv and then on to Jerusalem which is good because we are somewhat dazed by the extreme heat (must be 40 degrees plus each day) and a sense of unreality. We arrive around 2 pm and find wonderful lodgings at the Lutheran Guest House within the walls of the old city near to the Jaffa Gate. It has a large wooden arched door in a sandstone wall off an alley, but opens out into a cool green courtyard.

A quick freshen up and we immediately plunge into the narrow streets of the Christian Quarter and find our way to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Here in the courtyard the Roman Soldiers stripped Jesus and divided his clothes amongst themselves. Inside we walk around the XI to XIV Stations of the Cross where Jesus was crucified and died and was finally placed in his tomb. We find our way through several large chapels and down several flights of stairs to a tiny cavern probably 3 levels down underneath. This is where the 3 crosses were recovered around the time of 70 years AD. It is a serene and cool place and we quietly sit there and try to contemplate the antiquity and meaning of this incredibly holy site. The quietness is punctuated by several tourist guides bringing their groups through and we move on.

The Western Wall – Wailing Wall is our next stop and I make the mistake of walking towards it with Richard – but noooo – men only in this part and I have to go with the women to the segregated place for women only. When there is a space I walk up and touch the stone wall, saying my own private prayer but feeling like a bit of a fraud really, because I have no way of even imagining the depth of feeling being poured out all around me and the hands which have touched the same space. I am awed by it all.

The number of times this city has been built up and then razed to the ground through the ages is staggering. We read that this wall is the foundation of the original Temple Mount which was destroyed and this is all that remains.

The next morning we are up early to make the most of the day. It is our plan to see several sites but alas it is not to be as it is Saturday, the Sabath and everything stops. We walk through the Jewish quarter towards the Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount but it is closed – reserved for Muslim worshippers only. We pass under the Dung Gate through to the outside of the Old City Wall. As we walk the perimeter in the blistering heat past a huge excavation site, we look across at the Mount of Olives, Garden of Gethsemane, the Church of all Nations and St Mary Magdalene with their gold topped spires. We cannot make it over there. Already we are struggling in the heat and slip back in through the Lion’s Gate into the shaded alleyways, slowly exploring the I – VII Stations of the Cross towards the Tower of David.

We are hoping to get on to an advertised bus tour of the city for the afternoon, but find that does not run on Saturdays either.

Our walk through the Muslim Quarter is through rowdy narrow streets crammed with fascinating colourful market stalls and produce and goods for sale. It is a struggle to make it through the crowds and we are exhausted by the time we arrive back to the Jaffa Gate and head into the Museum of Jerusalem’s History set in the Citadel and Tower of David. Unfortunately we soon have to give in to the heat and exhaustion and find ourselves a quiet place to go for some rest. We are flying out of Tel Aviv the next morning at 6am so need to pace ourselves. We can highly recommend the Christian Information Centre and Christ Church Guest House near the Jaffa Gate as an absolute oasis. We enjoy the lovely cool garden to sit in for some food and drink, followed by a rest in the day room they kindly let us hire, then back to Herzliya by 8.30 pm. Details of the miles we walk to find a shared taxi for the return trip shall remain unexplored! Sorry no buses until after 9 pm!

Our farewells extend past midnight and we climb into our berth on Ibis II for the last time for a couple of hours sleep. By 3.15 am we have said our final goodbyes to Hasan who is now and will always be Whanau to us. He makes sure we have coffee and cheese and biscuits before we leave. Hasan you are a legend and we will miss you. We don’t say goodbye, just see you later!

We must look a sight with the four adults and all of our luggage, (the Big Easy’s from Alicante - Dorothy and Jesus pronounced “Hezeuss” share the taxi with us) including the two huge sail bags strapped on to the roof!

Egypt…. Land of Baksheesh, Antiquity and Heartbreaking Poverty

Port Said – population 2 million. Egypt – population 18 million.

It is after 3.00am and I am awake mainly due to the Port Said Mosquitoes which have given me a good workover. My brain is buzzing with the experience of the past 24 hours. I am sitting out in the cockpit of Hasan’s Ibis II bobbing gently in the cool breeze. Every so often the bobbing becomes a lot more violent, probably a ship going by in the Suez Canal a few hundred meters away. The city is quiet right now, but I know that soon it will be a cacophony of noise and we will be rushing around as we prepare for our 9.00 am departure for Herzliya Israel, predicted to be a good sail which is a relief as we are all heartily tired of the hours and hours we have motored lately.

A security guard wanders by and I have to say that the security we have been surrounded with since our arrival has been the most stringent anywhere we have gone. Our overnight trip to Cairo and the pyramids in a convoy of 3 large buses and a minibus is an example. Each bus has two armed guards in the front seats. In front and behind the convoy is a truck of probably 8-10 armed soldiers. We stay in tight convoy the whole way and no other vehicle is allowed in. In the city last night we are picked up again in buses and taken to our official Rally dinner with a police car and motorbike in front and back, sirens going and road blocks to let us through. At the dinner children from a local school dressed in costumes dance for us and entertain us, their beautiful faces as innocent and full of intelligence as children the world over. I struggle to comprehend the contrast between the terrible poverty and mountains of rubbish in some of the streets and waterways which we view from the windows of our buses and the sumptuousness with which we are being entertained. I am told that a huge proportion of the population do not get a proper education and wages are low. They live by baksheesh. We can’t help wondering how these people find joy or happiness in their lives? We feel sad and helpless. Wherever we go we are welcomed courteously by the local people but we are more than worlds apart.

Our visit here has been difficult in respect of the price we are charged for our entry visas (cost $29 but noted on them $15), boat fees, pilot fees, fuel, etc. There is a percentage in it for everyone involved and prices more than double what we have been quoted. It has been very hard on the Rally organisers who are promoting Egypt as a great destination for sailing people who are growing in numbers in the Med and looking for new and interesting places to visit.

The baksheesh starts from the moment 50 yachts gather at the entrance to the Suez Canal. We arrive at 4.30 am after a 24 hour sail and anchor for a short rest. At 6.30 am all 50 yachts form a line and motor half a mile in to our marina dressed in our brightly coloured buntings. We are boat No 1 and Pippy has the honour of calling up Port Said Control and letting them know we are ready to come in, then getting the okay to proceed. The pilot boat comes uncomfortably close with their huge bow wave, crew asking us for cigarettes and money. We are soon herded into a naval berthing area and lined up along the quay, surrounded with dusty decaying buildings. The water is a dirty brown but we hear it is much cleaner now than when the Rally first started coming here 9 years ago. Unfortunately one of our yachts fouls a rope and it winds its way right up the shaft and does quite a lot of damage. There is a lot of rubbish floating in the water – a lot.

We have lost a day in Ashkelon Israel due to weather, so our 4 days here are condensed to 3. We soon complete our formalities and Richard and I are off to see the city in the short time we have free. We are told it is a good idea to jump on a horse and cart for a quick overview but choose the wrong one who drives us around in circles and takes us to all his mates who try to sell us things we do not want. We want to see the bazaar but he has a guide waiting to take us through and they all want something from us so we cut this short and escape back behind the security fence, then creep out a little later and go walking which is a much better experience as we find fresh vegetables for dinner on Rumpus to share the tuna they have caught. I have learnt to hide my money when paying for something and have ready just what is needed.

Our trip to Cairo the next day begins with a 5 am start for the 3 hour drive – we take our pillows and sleep most of the way. We have learnt on this trip to grab sleep whenever possible! We are fortunate to visit Mohammed Ali Mosque, Cairo Museum (3 hours) and see the Tutankhamun galleries which are just stunning, then walk for 2-3 hours in the Khan Khalili bazaar – so many shops selling the same thing and too many designer t-shirts. The heat, dust and constant hassling don’t bother us too much as we enjoy the overall experience. We find a good leather man bag for Richard for a very good price and I buy a white muslin scarf to put over my head when visiting the pyramids to protect from the hot sun. We find out later we have been taken to the tourist bazaar. Some of our people find their way into the textile area and have an interesting time. Visiting Cairo Museum is the highlight of this day for us so far, but soon we are having fun sailing on the Nile in Feluccas and marvelling at the lightness and manouverability of the craft.

It is interesting to discover that navigation and sailing on the Nile River dates back to beyond 3,000 BC, by which time shipbuilding techniques were apparently already based on centuries of experience. Vessels moved south to north via the current and north to south via the wind. Fine linen sails were used to sail ships up to 50 meters long to the Med, laden with goods. By 2,300 BC the ancestor to the Suez Canal connected the Red Sea to the Med and huge fleets of brightly coloured Egyptian ships sailed to Lebanon, transporting massive loads of cedar back up the Nile.

We stay in a stay in a “5 star” (…. Well okay probably 3 star) hotel close to the pyramids and (joy of joy) enjoy a hot shower and wonderful white clean sheets. We have not had a shower since Ashkelon as cannot bring ourselves to even look inside the facilities on the marina. (Ibis II has a small head but no shower). (The boat is now jobbling violently as a large police boat goes by and the passarelle bangs against a huge steel bollard on the concrete wharf!).

The pyramids and Sphinx are an overwhelming experience. Everyone is touting for money here too, Soldiers in white uniforms with guns offer to take photos of us then the hands come out for their baksheesh – they are probably paid next to nothing, so need to supplement their income somehow, but it makes us very wary as we are constantly hassled. We miss an opportunity to go inside the pyramids as several times people are late back to the bus and our guide inexplicably herds us into the bus for an hour in the car park while the other two buses go see. There are some interesting antics from tired and irritable cruisers over this incident!

We also hear from Hasan who is very well read and knowledgeable about history in this region, that the Statue of Liberty was originally made in France with the intention it would be placed in Port Said at the start of the Suez Canal. However, for various reasons this did not eventuate and it was kept in France for some time until it was gifted to the USA by France on the occasion of their independence.

Our minds are now very much on our arrival in Herzliya and onwards from there our flight from Tel Aviv to Trieste on 19 June. We will not see Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Petra but hope to come back and spend more time doing these sites another time. We have a boat to see and possibly buy and need to get on with it. She is lying near to Portoroz in Slovenia and we will update the blog with more info once we have seen her and are happy. The roosters are crowing and soon my peace will be shattered so that’s it for now.

(It is 4.00am and the cacophony has started with the calls to prayer coming from all directions – the boat bobs violently – yet again.)

Lebanon - Bekaa Valley

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Tuesday 3 June


Today we are to visit the Bekaa Valley and Baalbeck.

This is the heart of Hezbollah country – their headquarters are apparently in the village close to the site of Baalbeck. We are told we will see a lot of tanks and soldiers but requested not to take pictures of the soldiers. We are going very close to the Syrian border. We are assured that we will not be in any danger. While we are visiting the site of Baalbeck, Richard and I take a quick walk around the nearby village. We are harassed by a little boy trying to sell Richard a pair of socks. He hangs on to us and becomes more and more agitated as Richard walks on and starts clinging to Richard's shirt. I get in between them and say a very firm "no" and turn away but as I do so he pinches me on the arm very hard so that it stings. We don't hang around but later hear from other fellow travellers that there were Hezbollah T-shirts being sold in the village. We would definitely have bought one if we had seen them.

The Israeli invasion of 2006 destroyed 10 years worth of infrastructure in this small country and we see plenty of evidence of it as we travel to and from the Bekaa Valley and snap photographs through the coach windows.

There are a lot of damaged and abandoned buildings and private homes, a particularly graphic bombed out bridge with the middle missing and a railway tunnel which has obviously been a target and much much more of this devastated landscape. 90% of bridges throughout Lebanon were destroyed.

What a tragic waste.

Lebanon - Baalbeck

3 June 2008

Baalbeck

Towering high above the Beqaa plain, 85 km north east of Beirut, its monumental proportions proclaimed the power and wealth of Imperial Rome. Gods worshipped here, in its Acropolis which was constructed between the 1st and 3rd centuries, the Triad of Jupiter, Venus and Bacchus (Mercury), were grafted onto the indigenous deities of Hadad, Atargatis and a young male god of fertility. (txt borrowed from the internet site Atlas Tours.Net)

It is said in our tour information that we are going to be visiting possibly the most outstanding example of Roman Ruins anywhere in the world – even more impressive than Athens or Rome.

Baalbeck, City of the Gods (sometimes known as the City of the Sun) is one of the most ancient cities of the world – built as a center for Pagan worship to the God of Sun, then the God Helios of the Greeks - when Baalbeck was renamed Heliopolis - and later the Roman God Jupiter. It took 10 generations to build and cost the lives of over 100,000 slaves.

On arrival, the grandiose nature of the site astounds us. There is an annual music festival held here which would be amazing to attend as the atmosphere of this site already overwhelms our senses. Its columns are the tallest ever erected, its stones the largest ever used.

The Propylaea and the Hexagonal Courtyard represent only a part of the site. See the photo of the information board which can be studied by clicking on it.

Note the sheer size of the buildings in the top photo where Pippy is the little dot standing in the middle in the front.

The third photo from the top shows the six remaining giant columns of the 54 which formed the sanctuary to the original Temple of Jupiter. On enlarging the photo the tiny dots of the people climbing over it can be seen.

Thanks to the work of German, French and Lebanese archaeologists over the past 100 years, the site can be viewed in close to its original form which adds to the very special nature of the Baalbeck site.

We wander around the site, barely able to absorb it all. We could visit here ten times and still find something new to see. However, too soon it is time to leave - our appetites are raging due to the early departure time and our next stop is for lunch.

We move on from Baalbeck through fertile plains of fruit trees, grapes and cedars to the Nabaar Anjar Restaurant for yet another feast of fresh local food, then on to the vineyards of Chateau Ksara where we explore the underground cellars before enjoying a wine tasting of the locally grown vintage. It is getting late when we arrive back at Jouneih Yacht Club and tonight is the night for our banquet which promises to be a very special event.

Lebanon - Beirut City, Jeita Grotto, Byblos and Harissa

Lebanon – Sunday 1 June 2008

It takes a while (several months actually) to feel able to complete our blog of our experiences in Lebanon. We hit the ground running in Beirut and do 2 straight days of sightseeing to the most amazing places, from early in the morning until well into the afternoon, party hard at night and then leave for our next overnight passage.

It is so difficult to understand why this ancient and lovely country is so shot up. From the bombed out railways and bridges, to the bullet ridden abandoned buildings everywhere, the empty premises in downtown Beirut and then the local people who welcome us with a level of warmth and pleasure we have not seen in many other places; it is immensely confusing and overwhelming.

Having recently read Gwynne Dyer’s book “The Mess They Made”, I have more of an overview and realise it is not just about Lebanon, but the Middle East as a whole but it is still very difficult to come to grips with the destruction and damage we see.

Beirut’s history dates back to 1500 BC as part of the Phoenician Empire. One of the results of the destruction of parts of the city is that new archeological sites have been discovered, and these are now being investigated.

We are all very keyed up when we sail into Jounieh just south of Beirut around 2.00pm on 1 June 2008. We are aware that the fighting has just stopped and that we have waited until the last minute before knowing for sure if we are able to go to Lebanon. Hasan has had a difficult night on the cell phone and has had to split the fleet and send some boats to downtown Beirut, due to a shortage of space at Jounieh Yacht Club. It has been a busy overnight passage where we have been under more than strict orders to stay outside the 12 mile zone all the way. We have seen gun boats.

On arrival I go with Hasan to the office to start the formalities. He is greeted like a long lost brother by the marina staff. We clear our documents through quite quickly and pay all the appropriate ‘fees’. It is a short time later back on the marina that I am accosted by a soldier dressed in battle fatigues who demands I “go with him now!...” It appears we still have $50 to pay and humour is not part of the scene until the cameras come out and I tell him it must be my lucky day! He cracks a small grin and off we go back across the water to the office.

Jounieh is a luxurious marina – described as one of the most exclusive marinas in the Eastern Med - with several swimming pools in the immediate vicinity and some trendy shops just down the road. Without exception all the EMYR people are soon up by the pool enjoying a cold beer and a long cool swim. However, soon the word goes out that there is a bus trip going into Beirut leaving around 7.00pm and we all race to get there so we don’t miss out. The atmosphere is one of disbelief that we are actually here. Going into Beirut this Sunday night is an experience nobody wants to miss. It is a bit spooky in places as we walk through some quiet, deserted, dark pockets of destruction and war damaged buildings from where the bus has dropped us. (We are not sure from which war as there has been fighting here until this past week, and prior to that in 2006 an attempted Israeli invasion and prior to that more conflict, civil war etc….since 1975.)

There are groups of soldiers on the streets, mostly at intersections. They welcome us to Lebanon as we walk by – everyone does. We obviously stand out as being tourists, not local citizens. It is easy to get lost in the almost deserted semi darkness and for a while we nervously think we might have taken a wrong turning but eventually find our destination, right in the very centre of the city, monitored by checkpoints where our bags are searched by friendly soldiers on the way in.

Like walking from night into day, we find ourselves in a wide boulevard of festive restaurants and malls running into a large roundabout with a statue in the middle. All the restaurants are open for business and crowded, with an air of complete normality that we would find in any city. It is a very sophisticated atmosphere with some fab looking shops, all closed, but is like a bright oasis in the middle of something else. We enjoy a good meal and then realise we have to run for our 1100 pm rendezvous with our bus as we have taken too long over it. We are surprised at our ability to sprint after weeks on the boat, as we make our way back to the bus stop through the dark deserted streets.

Monday 2 June

We are on the bus early for our day tour of Byblos, Jeita Grotto and Harissa. The bus takes us past steep terrain which is lush, green and beautiful. We have not seen anything like this so far in the Rally.

Jeita Grotto is first on the list, normally closed on a Monday, but open today especially for our group. We are lucky as we have the caves to ourselves, beginning with a short film showing the Jeita Grotto’s history when it was closed during the early civil war and used as an ammunition storage facility, more pictures of when it was almost totally bombed and levelled and now the present day tourist destination. We are incredibly impressed by the Grotto which is 6 kilometres of underground river and limestone deposits. We walk the upper level and then proceed down to the 650 meter deep lower level for a boat ride through the cathedral like caverns. Later on in our travels in other parts of Europe we are to visit caves, but are never as moved by them as we are on this day, by this unspoilt wonder. We are not allowed to take any photographs inside, so are limited to a photo of the tourist train which ferries up hill to the cave entrance.

Soon we are on the bus again and on our way to Byblos dating back to 5000 BC and before, it is a World Heritage Site – one of several we are to visit during the Rally. It is here that the early Phoenicians were the first to develop syllabic writing and where our alphabet and Arabic and Hebrew alphabets of today originate. We walk around the site, hardly able to take in the antiquity. We see where simple fishing folk have been living in one room cottages with crushed limestone floors dating back to 5,000 BC - the massive early bronze age city walls of 2800 BC, and the remains of temples to Rah the Egyptian God of Sun, Venus, Adonis, Shef, Isis, Zeuss, amongst intensely pink flourishing Oleander trees. There is a prehistoric quarter dating back to the 4th millennium BC – my notes from that day seem to say a “chalcolithic house”. There is a very small Roman Theatre from 3rd century AD. All this on a rocky outcrop of land with the blue Mediterranean Sea and sky as a backdrop.

We are catered for with delicious Lebanese food in the nearby village, and because there is some mixup in the time our coach is supposed to arrive and it is late, we have an unexpected bonus and time to explore the village.

From here we travel to Harissa and visit the Church at the top of the mountain overlooking Beirut. It is a stunning piece of architecture set high above the city. At the end of a fulfilling day we look down over Beirut and Jouneih Yacht Club and wonder at the beauty of this amazing place.