Brindisi

Marina di Brindisi For a change we have decided to winter in Brindisi, Italy at the relatively new Marina di Brindisi which is approximately 6km out of town and is situated in the middle harbour behind the 15th century Forte a Mare peninsular with it’s Aragonese Castle.

Officially it's been the coldest wettest winter here for 50 years and we are the only live-aboards so we have become almost reclusive, not by choice but by circumstance. We can take solace from the fact that it isn't just Brindisi that's suffering the severe weather , it's global, however, Brindisi may qualify for the windiest city this side of Chicago, we've had almost not-stop bitter gales for the first three months, Tan said straight off the Steppes. Fortunately, we've managed to keep cosy with unlimited free electricity but the battle against mould and mildew has reached new heights due to the dampness.

Gales In the Italian Waters Pilot, Rod Heikell describes the Italians as “They believe they have a monopoly on scenic beauty, yet while telling you this, can be throwing garbage into the sea or out of a car window. They will point out a beautiful stretch of coastline and in the same breath praise a new development that will ruin it with reinforced concrete and glass monstrosities. They will scream and shout and argue and then turn and sotto voce murmur an apology. They have an exaggerated regard for their ancient monuments and the arts but know little about them. The men are vain and flashy. The children are spoilt rotten. The women are temperamental but beautiful.”, all of which my own observations can confirm indeed at times it was living in an opera.

We spent some time at Brindisi town quay in the summer and Tan took to the town which is clean and has a wide variety of shops but not quite on the scale of Passeig de Gracia, Barcelona! There is a good town market for local fruit and veg. and several supermarkets which provide good provisioning. There are also two out-of-town shopping complexes in case Tan starts to get retail withdrawal symptoms but alas no M&S.

Brindisi also has the best Tourist Information office we have ever found, they found us a sail-maker and somebody to clone the hard disk drive on my laptop. Tan also had a private conducted tour of the city with one of their most knowledgeable members of staff which, how does she do it!

Compared to Port Vell, Barcelona the marina is quite small with 638 berths although over half are for boats less than 9m. There is free water and electricity on the pontoons and two large toilet and shower blocks. The marina is a pleasantly designed complex with nice landscaping and has a bar/café/restaurant which stays open all year-round. The marina, it's secure, very pretty and a nice size and they are helpful if you point out any problems, but it's in a wind-tunnel. I've discovered that it's located in a place called "locally" because if the forecast says force 5 to 6 locally 7, guess what we get, 7 or 8, and when it says local thunderstorms, they mean Marina di Brindisi!

An hourly bus service runs from the marina entrance to Brindisi town and it’s an easy bike-ride to the local bakery and to the district of Casale which has adequate provisions. From Casale it is also possible to take the bike to Brindisi centre on the small ferry. The other option on nice days is to take the boat into the inner basin and tie up to the town quay for the day, at least that was the idea but the weather precluded it.

Marina Complex Cycling is a good way to get to know an area, several times a week I cycle to Casale for provisions. Along the roadside there are beautiful wild flowers vying with litter for position and colour, our general observation of many of the Mediterranean countries we have visited is that they have very little pride in their environment and this has been confirmed by some of the younger people we have met.

Unfortunately Tan has been constrained by an injury to her ankle which she sustained in summer and appeared to get better but she knocked it again so we worked our way through the bureaucracy and finally decided to go to the emergency department at the hospital. They x-rayed it, declared no fracture, and strapped it, so it’s been especially difficult for her this winter.

The airport is only 7km from the marina and has a number of direct flights to major European cities but the only direct flights to the UK through the winter are to Stanstead although there are several other carries out of here but all involve a change somewhere and usually long waits between flights so it’s 8 to 14 hours to get there.

We’ve had almost constant rain and thunderstorms since we arrived but we managed to take the boat to the town quay to stock up with heavy goods, cava etc, on the one sunny day and watched a remembrance ceremony for the navy and marines which they hold on the 12th November, quite a spectacle in the gardens of the memorial monument. Remembrance day here is 4th Nov for the whole country.

All this may sound very negative but the town of Brindisi is very nice and has a "nice feel", unfortunately the cost of living here is at least 30% higher (disregarding the terrible exchange rate) than Barcelona, some of this is offset by the lower marina costs but I doubt we will break-even and Barcelona has a lot more going for it.

In March we met our neighbours, a young family with two lovely children who live in Bari, and come for the occasional long weekend. They speak almost no English and our Italian is rudimentary but we get along very well and they delight in showing us some of the Italian foods. She fell on the boat and hurt her ankle and went through the same process as tan but came back in a wheelchair.