So now we have had a taste of Liguria. It’s different here from the Cote d’Azur. Less houses on the slopes and we’re looking at the Appenin, rather than the southern extension of the Alpes. No less spectacular scenery, though. The other thing is that we’re now away from the Mistral - it just doesn’t get here. So less swells, less wind all around. We were lucky, though, in that we got to sail a fair bit, albeit upwind all the way. It seems that the wind drops to a couple of knots in the late afternoon and stays that way until the morning. Ideal to throw the hook which we did overnight off Isola Gallinara, a private island owned by the family of an Italian steel magnate.

Genoa is first of all BIG. It also has a few nice sights although many of them are in need of restauration. Dario, who lived here for years, was our expert guide once again. Our berth here in Porto Antico is in the middle of the old harbor redevelopment, with the world’s biggest aquarium just across the street and a lot of people on the docks day and night. It’s also hot, so the AC is deployed at night for the first time since August in Spain last year. Hopefully, the heat wave will end as forecast.

When I was taking the opportunity to splash around some water on the decks and myself I noticed that our anchor connector, a so-called Wasi Powerball, was bent at the “neck.” I had not noticed this before and can only assume that this is damage from the episode in Mallorca where we got the anchor stuck under a rock. Needless to say, no way to get a replacement here in Genoa …..