Let the sailing adventure begin.
Our first sail was to the west side of Ischia another island I had never heard of but did not disappoint. We arrived mid day and did our first Mediterranean mooring in Forio on the west side of the island, a video of this will come at a later time. The Mediterranean mooring was nothing I had ever done before but the Captain prepared all of us (his crew) with many YouTube videos of what to expect, and what we all needed to do. As it turned out we looked like we had done this many times.
Ischia is a volcanic island, which both Ischia and Procida are made of. It lies just northern end of the Gulf of Naples and is 19 miles from the city of Naples, by water. Ischia is much larger than Procida, being approximately 6 miles by 21 miles, and has 17 miles of coast.
The night in Ischia was a special one, we went to "Taverna Verde Resturant" for a local meal with local wine. The restaurant sits atop of a mountain and the owners are a family that grows everything on the property that we ate, and more. We started with bruschetta & assorted meats & cheeses, pasta, salad (Italians eat pasta at every meal and salad is before the main course to help digest the previous courses), and for dinner we had rabbit stewed in tomato and olive oil, It was very different. I will say we were all happy we had the chance to try it. For dessert they served us a plate of local fruit of apples, apricots and oranges.
Appetizer, Stewed Rabbit, Fresh Fruit grown at the Resturant
Every time we get off the boat we tend to look for cafes and provisions. You see everyday we would find a unique spot between the ports to stop, drop anchor, and have lunch on the boat. We found that many of the grocery stores have everything in them from dry goods to meats and fruits. The morning we were in Ischia we found a lovely grocery store to purchase meats, cheeses, bread, olives, they had everything but fruits and vegetables. We then came upon this very sweet old Italian lady who barely spoke English selling some of the most beautiful produce. We picked up some tomatoes and apples. Turns out she had a "minimo venti euro per acquisti con carta di credito" (20 euro minimum for credit card purchases). But I think she liked me and ran my credit card anyway. One of the crew was looking for basil, but in Italy they call it "basilico" and after a bit of going back & forth she completely understood us. In the end she stuffed it in my grocery bag and sent us on our way with a little gift from her.
The stand outside the fruit & veggie market
Forio, outside the Cafe Mare and the fruit & veggie market is to the left
I mentioned we stop at a cafe whenever we get off the boat. Usually we find a cafe for a morning cup of cuppachino and a Cornetti (a croissant filled with apricot jam). The cappachinno is the most delicious I have ever drank and the cornetti are super light and a tad sweet and every day I looked forward to cafe time. I really miss the cornetti since we have been home. Maybe Cafe Sicilia has the same croissants, I will have to find out, and relive Italy with each bite.
Typical breakfast table
Some other pics from Forio