Return to Talaria

 

Purple sunset

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our flight for Turkey is booked for January 1st, 2021.  We will arrive in Antalya and spend one night there to catch up on sleep.  The next day we will take a shuttle from Antalya to Kas where we have rented an apartment for one month.  Our fervent hope is that the weather will be nice and we can get the bottom painted in January.  

Rend Lake sunset

 Our list of repair and maintenance tasks to complete keeps growing... unfortunately.  It will be a busy winter but we will manage to make time for exploring Turkey.  We have some friends that will be arriving in February so we are excited about seeing the sites with them.  A trip to Cappadocia is planned!

October sunset

 In the meantime, we have been enjoying some spectacular sunsets from our campsite at Rend Lake.  It has become a bit of an obsession each night.  Just beautiful!

Pelicans in flight

 And it was an added and unexpected treat to be at the lake when the migrating pelicans arrived.  There are well over a hundred pelicans at the lake right now as they make their way south.  Majestic creatures.

At present Greece is not allowing any travel from Turkey to Greece.  This is largely due to the refugee crisis which in turn is due to the humanitarian crisis which is due to the war in Syria (Turkeys neighbor).  That could present a problem as our plan is to get boat work completed over the winter and then sail to Greece in April -ahead of the crowds and the harsh meltemi winds.  I have written to the Greek consulate in Chicago and am waiting for some response.  Always something.  What was it Ben Franklin said "change is the only constant in life...".  So things change and we adapt to the change... life goes on :).
 

Arrival - Kaş, Turkey

Checking in - Kaş, Turkey

 Its been a long, long spring and summer.  Just amazing how quickly and completely Covid-19 disrupted everyone's life.  But I am happy to report that after 1600 nm Captain Andrea and his lovely daughter have arrived in Turkey with Talaria.  Sadly, they were held "hostage" for a bit in Greece as the harbor master in Rhodes was feeling particularly cantankerous.  So even though they were only checking in and immediately out he would not give them the necessary departure papers.  They were 70 short miles from Kaş but unable to check out of the EU due to insurance technicalities. So frustrating!  I literally had to have the insurance company write up a certificate stating that all coverage was in accordance with Greek law.  So... another 52 dollars and that was done.  Bureaucratic nightmares are not exclusive to the US it seems!

Captain Andrea and his lovely daughter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 All is well that ends well.  We are exceptionally happy that we were able to locate such a competent Captain to sail Talaria out of the EU for us so that we did not overstay our welcome there.  Captain Andrea reports that the marina is very nice so that was great news.  In addition, fortunately for us we have a friend of a friend there that will be watching the over Talaria until we arrive - another plus!

Talaria in Kaş,Turkey

So the next morning after arrival Talaria was lifted from the water and is now in "dry dock".  It is much safer for her to be out of the water until we arrive as there is no chance of sinking!  It is likely that she will be on the hard for a bit longer even after we arrive as we have a considerable amount of maintenance work to do.  This is the longest we have ever been off of Talaria.  It has been an entire year!!!  At most we have been off of her for a few months but never, ever this long.  Maintenance on a boat is a constant thing so she is in need of some love.  Currently our plan is to fly to Turkey the 1st of January.  But... if the virus gets bad here and they close the OR again then we will just leave sooner.  We are ready to leave today - but I need to honor commitments.  More later.
 

The Corinth Canal

It is easy to see how from ancient times to more recent times the idea of a canal through this small isthmus was something to be desired.  Of course, the thought and the reality of actually digging a canal were two different things!  Eventually the canal was finished and is now used by mostly pleasure craft. The body of water to the left is the Gulf of Corinth. The Gulf of Corinth is reached directly via the Ionian Sea.  On the other side of the Isthmus (which the Canal cuts through) is the Saronic Gulf which leads directly to the Aegean Sea.  

 Quite a feat to cut that canal especially when you consider that they started digging by hand!!!  You can see how narrow the canal is which means the boats go through single file.  All boats have to wait until they are told they can go through and which boat they are to follow.  After the traffic goes one way they will close that direction and then allow the boats on the other side to file through.  

 You can also see that there are a few bridges but they are high so sailboats with tall masts go under without any problem.  

 It looks pretty peaceful motoring through there but there is actually a significant tidal current in the canal.  And as you can imagine, the wind will funnel through that narrow passage.  That being said Andrea's 16 year old daughter drove the boat through there without any difficulty!  So now they are on the other side of the canal and in the Aegean on the way to the Cyclades.  Now that they are in the Aegean they have good steady wind which is perfect for sailing.  A few more days and they should reach Turkey.

Welcome to Greece

On the Greek Island of Kefalonia

Officially in Greece!  Captain Andrea and crew arrived with Talaria in Greece on Friday night.  By this morning they were tied up and getting on the list to go through the Corinth Canal.  The canal is only 4 miles long and 70 feet wide.  Not large enough for commercial traffic but fine for smaller boats.  The canal both separates the Peloponnese from the Greek mainland and connects the Ionian and Aegean Seas.  Emperor Nero was the first to start building the canal although it was thought of way before his time. Of course, Nero did not complete the construction, it was not finished until the late 1800s.  Private boats must pay a fee to transit the canal but it is worth it as it shaves many miles off the trip.  

 The Ionian Sea is so clear.  Talaria looks as though she is suspended above the water rather than floating in the sea.  I told Andrea that we were so jealous right now!  It is so odd to see pictures of your boat sailing or at anchor and you are not on her.  This is a new experience for us and one we hope to never repeat.  Although, we feel completely confident in Andrea's abilities we would prefer to sail her ourselves.  It is beginning to sound cliche to say these are extraordinary times but they are.  Just waiting semi-patiently for a vaccine so life can continue.  As is everyone else in the world :).
Once they get into the Aegean Sea the wind blows consistently.  The north wind (Meltemi) is a seasonal prevailing wind that can be quite fierce in the summer but will help them move along and cool things off a bit.  They are expecting to arrive in Turkey by the 31st of August possibly sooner.  More later...

Italy...Nearing the halfway mark

Flying the Italian Flag

Captain Andrea and crew arrived in Italian waters the other day.  There has been little wind and it is stifling hot there as Europe is in the middle of a heat wave.  Temperatures have been as high as 104 degrees!  Without the wind it is fairly miserable.  And it has been very hot and humid at night as well which, of course, makes it hard to sleep.  After a couple of days in Sardinia they departed for Sicily.  Sicily is now requiring everyone entering to have a Covid-19 test.  Initially, they were going to go to Milazzo which is very close to the Straits of Messina.  But they found out that they would have to go to a hospital for the test.  The decision was made to head for the Aeolian Islands instead in hopes that they would be less stringent.  Europe is in the midst of a "second wave" of Covid and as a result many countries are re-instituting restrictions that had been lifted. 

Arrival in Italy

It is now about midnight as I sit here writing and it looks as though they have just arrived to the Aeolian Islands so now they will just have to see what the requirements are.  In addition, to all the Covid stuff another wrinkle was recently added.  Apparently, tension is rising between Greece and Turkey over drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean.  Trouble has been brewing for awhile over this issue but recently bubbled over when Turkey sent a guarded survey ship out to investigate drilling very near to a Greek Island.  

 

 That island is Kastellorizo and you can see that it is just a few miles from Kas.  So the conflict is directly at Kas' front door.  And of course, Kas, Turkey is our destination.  If things heat up too much they could halt all ship traffic in the area.  That would not be a good thing for us.  At present Turkey, Greece and France all have a military presence in the area.  France joined in to defend Greece - an EU member country.  This is a boat delivery Andrea will not soon forget!  So now for the weekend we just wait to see what goes on with the Covid testing.  I am sure everyone is negative - they have been at sea for a week now.  But still they will have to wait around for test results.  At least, they can go to a marina and fire up the air conditioning for a bit.  That will help everyone to get rested up before continuing on.  With any luck they should arrive in Turkey in another 10 days or so.  Fingers and toes crossed.

Sailing again...

Talaria is pleased to feel the wind in her sails again!  It is so odd to see your boat sailing and you are not the ones sailing her.  Captain Andrea departed Cartagena, Spain on Friday - August 7th.  His original plan was to depart on Thursday but there was a delay getting the food they had ordered and they were worn out after all the prep work for such a long trip.  In the end, they needed one day to just rest up before departing.  On Friday, the tracker wasn't picking up but we got that straightened out and it is now working fine.  By Saturday, they had made it to Formentera in the Balearic Islands.  After a stop for lunch and a weather check they set sail for Sardinia.  We don't expect them to make landfall until Monday afternoon.  They will then head to a marina and rest up a bit before starting off again.  We are in no rush as we cannot fly to Turkey until January.  Really, really hoping there is a vaccine by then.

 A friend of a friend sent this video of Kas, Turkey.  Kas will be Talaria's home for awhile.  We plan to fly out the 2nd of January and spend the winter there.  Hopefully, by spring we will be able to sail to Greece.  That is the plan anyway.  Fingers crossed!

NO GO!

Sunset over Rend Lake

Well our plan did not work.  We arrived at the airport for our flight to Madrid by way of Dallas only to be told by American Airlines that we would not be allowed on the plane.  Our best efforts were made to plead force mejuer but no matter what we said they told us we could not fly to Spain.  Of course, they also will not refund the money that we spent for tickets not once but twice - but that is another story.  Ultimately, we were told that in order to be allowed on the plane we had to present a letter from the Spanish Government specifically giving us permission to enter the country.  So, we started to work on obtaining permission from the Spanish Consulate in Chicago.  We started with the Honorary Consulate for Spain in St. Louis, he then pleaded our case to the Consulate General for Spain in Chicago.  But... the answer was still NO.    

Babies

So... now we have a problem.  Folks from non-European countries are allowed to "temporarily import" their boat for personal use into the EU without paying the VAT (value added tax) tax that Europeans pay on their boats.  But there is a time limit of 18 months on the temporary import (TI).  In light of the pandemic, the EU commission has put forth that non-European boats would be allowed an extension of the TI but they must apply to the local customs office (where their boat is berthed) before their time is up.  Well here is the Catch-22:  you must apply for the "solicitude" or appeal for the extension online however in order to do that you must have a "digital certificate" AND you can only get a digital certificate if you are Spanish!!  So you must apply online but you cannot apply online!  Round Two.

Another spectacular Rend Lake Sunset

So here we go again with appeals for assistance to the Spanish Consulate.  To anyone finding themselves in a position where they have to deal with the Spanish Authorities my advice would be - don't bother.  Just give up or don't even start because you will get nowhere - they will not help you in any way.  Not just difficult - beyond difficult!  In the end all we came away with was much frustration and a dandy headache.  I think we are now up to Plan G!!

Rend Lake

We have no way to appeal to the local customs officials for an extension on the TI.  This is actually a very big deal as the tax is 20 to 30% of whatever they arbitrarily determine the value of your boat to be.  We are talking 30 to 40 thousand.  Not a small sum of money.  So we must move Talaria out of the EU however we are not allowed to go there and move her ourselves.  We have hired an Italian captain that our Canadian friends found on a facebook page called "Women who Sail".  We are not on facebook so I have never seen that page but many women sailors I know rely on it often.  After checking his references we decided to let him take her on a 1600 nm journey to Kas, Turkey.  It will be Andrea, his friend who is also a professional sailor and Andrea's 16 year old daughter who is trying to build up sea miles for her licensing.  We told him we are in no hurry - mind the weather and do a slow, safe passage.  I will have him turn our tracker on when he arrives so we can watch her progress.  We anticipate about a three week passage depending on the weather.  Upon arrival in Kas she will be lifted and put on the hard until we arrive in January.  I plan to go ahead and work the rest of the year.  In January, we will fly to Turkey and enjoy a nice warm winter.  Then hopefully when the sailing season starts we will be able to sail again.  If everything is okay pandemic wise, we will head to Greece in the Spring.  Again, I appeal to everyone to send good thoughts our way as the number of cases are not just going up in the US but in the EU as well.  Andrea says he is hearing rumors that they may shut the border between France (where Andrea is living) and Spain yet again.  He is unable to leave France before the 29th of July so we are hoping that he makes it to Spain before more restrictions are put in place.  Then he just needs to get out of there are quickly as possible.  Fingers crossed!

Pandemic Blues

New, Old Camper

I have been remiss with writing.  Like everyone we have been dealing with the sudden upending of our lives by the novel coronavirus.  Our return flight to Spain was intially March 31st. But the pandemic took hold and we had to change our flight.  We set it back a month naively thinking that would be enough time for countries to get control.  Boy, were we wrong!  Since, our return from Europe we had been in a hotel and I had returned to work for the winter.  By February, we were so tired of cooking on a hot plate and eating out that we decided to buy a little camper for when we are in the US.  We wanted our own little space complete with refrigerator, stove and oven.  After spending some time looking we found one that would work and bought it.  Michael spent some time putting new flooring in and then we moved out to the lake.  It was beautiful... nice spring weather, lots of deer, campfire...  and then the virus started wreaking havoc on the state.  All in all we had one week at the campground before the governor closed all the state parks.  Damn the luck.  As it turns out though it was very fortuitous that we bought the camper when we did as the same week the governor closed the parks he also closed all restaurants... except for carry out orders.  Worries about eating out and being in a hotel became non-worries! But there were other worries. My job is to administer anesthesia.  At our hospital we quickly developed an intubation team.  Our task was to intubate (put a tube in the trachea) all Covid-19 patients in the ICU and on our new Covid floor.  So now Michael and I had new worries... big worries.  We developed a system for cleaning everything brought into our space.  When returning from work I would strip off in the doorway and bag my clothes separate from the rest of the laundry.  I would then use bleach wipes on anything I touched before heading straight to the shower.  Suddenly, just everyday life became much more difficult. 

And then finally in June it was announced that the Spanish Prime Minister would allow folks from non-EU countries back into Spain starting July 1st.  Great!  We quickly got our return flight for Spain reserved.  We are supposed to fly out on Wednesday - July 1st.  But over the weekend it was announced that the EU commission has decided to ban US citizens from the EU due to the US infection rate for Covid-19.  Their criteria is that a country must have either a lower infection rate than the EU or only slightly higher.  Yesterday, the EU rate was 16 per 100,000 and the US rate was 122 per 100,000.  Those rates are not even close.  The US does not have a handle on this and we certainly understand their concern.  But... unless they cancel the flight we will be on it.  We have a letter from the marina verifying that our boat is berthed there. Our hope is that the letter will be our ticket.  We do not know what will happen when we arrive but we are going to take our chances.  Any good thoughts directed our way will be appreciated.  

Rend Lake - Southern Illinois - USA

 Even though we are willing to fly in order to return to our boat we are not throwing caution to the wind.  Yes, we must be near other people but we will wear N95 masks the entire flight.  We will wipe everything we touch with bleach wipes and keep our hands clean.  No eating and no drinking on the flight.  We are hoping that the international flight will not be as full as domestic flights and that we can spread out some.  But if not, our backup plan is to just sleep and wake up in Madrid!  We can rehydrate when we land.  Its pure craziness for sure...but these are extraordinary times.  

 We are anticipating a mandatory two week quarantine when we arrive but that is okay.  We have arranged private transport directly from airport to marina and will quarantine on the boat.  There is easily two weeks of work to do on boat so its no problem.  With any luck our next post will be from Spain!!  Fingers crossed.

Crathes and Doune Castles

Crathes Castle

16th century Crathes castle was a gift to the Burnett of Leys family by Robert the Bruce.  Are you noticing a pattern here?  Seems that Robert the Bruce made it a habit of gifting castles and hundreds of acres of surrounding land to folks.  Crathes castle sits on 530 beautiful acres with nearly 4 acres of walled gardens.  This castle stands out for its amazing topiary and gardens.

Egg and Egg Cup Topiary

In particular, the "Egg and Egg Cup" topiarys that date to the 18th century.  We found these interesting - mostly because an egg and cup would have never come to our minds when thinking of topiary.  Whoever designed that must have really been fond of eggs!

Croquet Court and Walled Gardens

Crathes castle also boasts a croquet court and plants that are centuries old.  Like many Scottish castles, Crathes castle, was donated to the National Trust of Scotland.  The Trust works hard to maintain the fine gardens here.
 

Crathes Castle and Garden

Inside Crathes Castle visitors will find Scottish renaissance ceilings.  Hand painted and usually themed these ceilings date back centuries.  Many were covered up only to be discovered by workmen years later.

Ceilings at Crathes

 Crathes castle is purportedly also haunted.  Legend has it that a "green lady" haunts the castle and that even Queen Victoria has seen her.  While she has been seen throughout the castle there is one room in particular that she haunts.  Certainly, our guide believes the haunting to be true as do others in Scotland.  Fortunately, we did not encounter the green lady but I don't think I would want to stay there at night.

Doune Castle

 And then there is Doune castle, the castle we all know from Monty Python.  In the lobby, you can purchase coconut shells so you can clomp like a horse throughout the castle, like in Monty Python!!  We had a ton of fun here as we are both huge Monty Python fans.  They gave us headsets and as we walked through the castle there was narration regarding the movie and TV shows that are filmed here as well.  Namely, Outlander and Game of Thrones.

Doune Castle

 Hearing how they set up to film here was fun.  The grounds are not huge so its amazing that they are able to set up all their outside props in such a small space.  Particularly, for the TV shows.

Doune Kitchen

 Above is the enormous fireplace for cooking in the castle (the kitchen).  

Doune Great Hall

 I think they take bits and pieces of different castles for the shows - filming a little here and a little there.  They definitely use more than one.  Turns out many movies are filmed in Scotland and particularly in the Hebrides.  The landscape is featured in Disney films and Star Wars films among others.  It does have that remote, wild feel.  One last castle and then we are moving on. 

Castles Fraser and Fyvie

Castle Fraser

There have been over two thousand castles in Scotland!  And by far the most per hectare are in Aberdeenshire.  So that is where we positioned ourselves to do our castle touring - Aberdeen.  Our friend, Moray, a fellow sailor is from Aberdeen.  He tried to talk us out of visiting there but we were having none of it - that was our planned staging ground.  For several days we would leave Aberdeen in the morning and head one direction or another with our list of castles to see for the day.  Usually two a day - that is about all you can do or its just no fun.

Castle Fraser

 Castle Fraser apparently is a superb example of a Z-plan castle.  That doesn't mean much to me but it would to castle afficionados.  It is a very impressive castle nonetheless.  

Fyvie Castle

Fyvie Castle was hosting a wedding the day we visited.  Complete with a Scottish bagpiper and antique cars.  Fyvie Castle is said to be haunted and according to our guide all the stories are true!  I must confess we did not encounter any ghosts but do not dispute their 
existence.  Visitors beware!
 

Bagpiper awaiting the wedding party

Armor at Fyvie Castle

 Fyvie Castle is impressive both inside and out.  Inside the castle is an amazing collection of armor and outside an amazing collection of gardens.

 In addition, to the armor this castle is well known for its collection of Raeburn portraits.  A Scottish painter of fame.

 

 You could easily while away the entire day just meandering through the magnificent gardens.  Which we were doing when the rain came!  It rained every day that we were in Scotland.  

More castles to come... I hope you are enjoying.

Craigievar Castle and Tolquhon Castle

Craigievar Castle

Craigievar Castle and Tolquhon Castle were both once owned by the Forbes family.  Forbes was and maybe still is a big name in Scotland.  Craigievar Castle's claim to fame is that it was reportedly the inspiration for the Walt Disney motif.  It is a charming pink seven story castle set way up on a hill.  And although the Walt Disney story is the one most well known the one we remember is the one told to us by our castle guide.  According to the guide the clan that lived in Craigievar Castle and a neighboring clan were feuding.  Think Capulet and Montagues.  The Craigievar Castle clan had a daughter who apparently was smitten with the son of the "enemy" clan.  The two young people had gone around their folks and were having a clandestine "meeting" in the bed of the Craigievar Castle's laird.  Sadly, they were discovered and the young man was given an option.  Be run through with the lairds sword or "learn to fly".  He opted for the latter and jumped out the window (on the top floor).  Needless, to say the landing was not soft.  That window was then covered up and remains so today.  Gruesome story but one that sticks in your memory.

Craigievar Castl

Native stone of the region gives Craigievar its unique pink hue.  In the above photo you can see all the spikes in the castle wall which are actually drains.  They keep the water from draining right down the side of the castle.  We tend to think of castles as defensive structures but for the most part they were just homes with some defensive capability.  Most of the Scotland castles were never actually attacked.

View from the top of Craigievar Castle

 The castles are usually in beautiful, remote settings with the grounds being as stunning as the castles. 

Craigievar Castle

 Craigievar and Tolquhon were two of my favorite castles.  Tolquhon is in partial ruin but I love it as it allows your imagination to run wild.

Tolquhon Castle

 Craigievar is more of a "princess castle" and Tolquhon is more of a defensive castle.  Complete with slits for arrows and a surrounding wall.  It looks like a very defensive castle.  However, all that was apparently just for "decoration".  Tolquhon was never attacked.  But again... you can still use your imagination!

Tolquhon Castle

Tolquhon Castle is often overlooked which is a shame as it fits my image of a castle better than some others we have seen.  Maybe its the courtyard and outer wall that do it for me.
I can imagine the enemy trying to scale the outer wall only to be shot with arrows as they were forced to cross the completely exposed grassy area to actually reach the castle. And then right by the door there were slits for arrows so the folks in the castle could shoot at you as you were trying to get through the door.  So disappointing to learn that what we took for strategic planning was actually all just for show.  Even folks in medieval times were trying to keep up with the "Jones" it seems. 

So glad the decision was made to preserve this partial ruin, although it is now a haven for birds, it still gives you a glimpse into medieval life.  In many ways we found it more intriguing not having a guide to give us the castle story which allowed us to make up our own.  Michael and I spent our time analyzing the various defensive structures we saw and ruminating over how clever it all was.  My advice would be to not write off the partial ruin castles as they are just as interesting to visit as the complete castles and in some ways even more interesting!  A few more castles to come...