July 22, 2023

After eight delightfully gruelling weeks of travelling for music, we returned to Exotica in Lefkas Marina on July 10^th.

We managed to negotiate flights on Thai, Swiss Air, Ryanair, BA and Easyjet without loosing any luggage (maybe thanks to our Apple luggage trackers) and only one change of flight time. We hired three different cars in UK, only the first, Hertz, was a shocker and seem to have counted our Schengen allowance successfully, with three days to spare.

Terry’s sister generously hosted us off and on for eights weeks, it was special to spend time with her and her family after the long Covid break. We stayed with friends in Wales, Surrey, Sussex, Bedfordshire, London and York.   Add to that a couple of Airbnb’s and two trips to Leipzig, we have slept in 20 different beds, not counting the airlines.

 

The music began in Leipzig for the Mahler Festival, all ten of his symphonies performed by the great orchestras of Europe. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then took a train to the fascinating city of Strasbourg before eight of us toured the Champagne area of northern France for four days. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed in and near Eperany with it’s spectacular Avenue de Champagne, where we had a fascinating, and tasty, Vintage tour of Moet and Chandon (yes, you pronounce the ‘t’ as the Moet’s came from Holland). All other Houses we toured were small family owned.  One was eighth generation who used many of the traditional methods. We all developed a huge respect for the highly controlled liquid gold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We returned to England via a night in Paris, before the riots, but there was an atmosphere of unrest even in the Marais district.  

 

 

 

 

 

Five days back to UK for Longborough Opera’s Gotterdammerung conducted by Anthony Negus with Brad Daley from Queenland’s Gold Coast singing Siegfried as he did in Melbourne Opera’s Bendigo Ring Cycle in April.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to Leipzig for the Bach Festival plus an excellent production of Giulio Cesare.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then a feast of operas, L’elisir d’amore and The Dialogue of the Carmelites at Glyndebourne, Tristan and Isolde at Grange Park, Don Carlos at Covent Garden and Ariadne auf Naxos at Garsington.

 

 

Now, a dearth of culture while we have our Mediterranean swansong. Exotica had been looked after well in Lefkas Marina and so on the 15^th July we set sail, for what we thought would be a sea trial.  However the weather is so settled, albeit very hot, so we have stayed at sea, the coolest place. We have, however, had only one great sail, our first day, between Lefkas and Ithaca, an unexpected southerly turning to sou’west 12-19 knots gave us a sleigh ride with full sails to our favourite Ithacan anchorage, where we spent two nights.

 

We have always wanted to visit Zakinthos, the most southerly of the Ionian islands, so a 36nm passage motoring in mostly variable breezes took us to the north of the island, Port Nikolaos. There Costas meets you in the harbour, shows you to one of his moorings, ties you up then lays 35 metres of your anchor to secure you for the night, or two in our case. He generously shouted us a drink at his bar on the second night before we, again, dined at his family taverna, where Terry had the best fish soup ever. This is the condition for your free mooring.   The water was beautifully clear and clean, no music from bars, just a parade of small tourist boats taking bus loads of people to see the blue caves in the north.

A 29nm motor to the south-eastern tip of Zakinthos where we anchored in a very small area allowed to boats in the enormous, shallow, crystal clear Lagana Bay, a National Marine Park.  This is ‘a landmark in the history of environmental protection in Greece’. Mainly for the protection of Loggerhead Sea Turtles, of which there are many, who lay their eggs in the protected beaches. Doof, doof music from the beach bars and hotels nearly turned us away but the second night was quiet.  One was just aware of young people’s chat from the beach at 0600, presumably the revellers who stayed up all night to watch the sunrise before falling into bed avoiding the heat of the day.

 

 

The need for shore power has us in Zakynthos Town, a busy port with frequent ferries arriving from the Peloponnese.  It is only 28nm away and many come here to work. Again, bus loads of tourists take boat tours and there is even a cruise ship anchored offshore today.  Our air conditioner was successfully fixed so being in the harbour is bearable.