June sailing - part 1

This June we spent two weeks on our boat. Bur before I begin with that, here are a few photos from our last visit with my mom in Prekmurje in teh beginning of June. We ate in restaurant Oaza Grill that is located on a pond with Water lilies (lokvanji)...

 

...and some pretty animals - there were plenty of dragonflies there, most were too fast to photograph, but this Blue Emperor (veliki spremljevalec or Anax imperator) was still, it looked like it was laying eggs.

And we also saw a Heron (siva čaplja or Ardea cinerea) near the water, there must have been some fish in the pond.

We drove to Skradin marina on Friday, 12th of June. We loaded the boat with lots of food and sailed out to sea straight away. We anchored on the NE side of the island Prvič. The weather was rather fresh and water as well,  but we managed a short dip in the sea. And I thought it will take days and lots of sunshine until the water is nearly warm enough for snorkelling. 

Next morning we checked the weather forecast and it looked like the South wind will continue for a couple more days, so we decided to sail North. I was hoping we would manage to get as far as to Olib and I was also hoping that sea would get warmer by then so I could do some snorkelling there.

There were many cute small islands along the way...

...and in the afternoon we anchored on NE side of island Gargano. We had a beautiful sunset in the evening.

A gentle South wind was blowing all night and produced some waves that came into the anchorage, so the night wasn't totally calm, but it wasn't too bad. And a beautiful view in the morning made up for it.

After the breakfast we continued towards North. There wind was light so our speed was not very high, but it was very nice and gentle sailing. We made it to the bay just N of Ždrelac, the point where the islands Pašman and Ugljan are connected with a bridge. Sea here was just a tiny bit warmer than previous days, so we were able to swim for a bit longer.

In the evening a flock of white egrets flew by...

...the light became soft...

...and we had another great sunset.

Next morning wind was almost gone, and we continued our journey North under engine. While we were sailing by on many fish farms between Ugljan and Dugi otok we saw several groups of dolphins, but they were too far for a good photo. 

But we got a good look at two of them that waited for us in the bay of Brgulje on island Molat. They swam between the anchored boats and then slowly swam out of the bay. I was sooooo happy!

The bay is very deep, some two miles, and very spacious, there were only several anchored boats there, and it didn't feel crowded at all.

In the evening we were observing the new moon and Venus, and also Mercury wasn't far away.

After a very calm night we had a lazy day. There was no wind, so we decided to stay here for another night. We went for a short swim a couple of time during the day, but it was still too cold for snorkelling. And unfortunately the dolphins didn't came back.

In the evening there were again only several boats anchored around us, all at a very good distance.

Next day we sailed off in the middle of the day towards Olib. Right on the West side of Molat we met couple of dolphins again. I was so happy, I haven't seen so many dolphins in just a couple of days for a long time.

We sailed through the strait between Molat and Ist...

... and partly sailed partly motored to Olib, where we anchored in early afternoon. We anchored in the bay on the West side, near the area where we usually anchor. We weren't completely alone, but the nearest boat was at least 300m away. The sun has managed to slightly warm up the sea in last few sunny days, and I immediately went snorkelling. It was a bit of a struggle to put my ears into the water, but it was all worth it.

I mostly met the usual suspects - under the rock I've found this prettu duo - the Red-spotted horseshoe (apnenčasti cevkar or Protula tubularia) on the left and Blood-red tubeworm (oranžni cevkar or Protula intestinum) on the right. And the red thing on the letf is a tunicate.

I've seen plenty of clusters of Murex snail eggs (jajca čokatega voleka or Hexaplex trunculus).

This is an European thorny oyster (morsko kopito or Spondylus gaederopus), a quite big and not too common mollusc. And it was alive.

I often photograph the Slime tube worm (peščeni cevkar or Myxicola infundibulum), but this one has its pouch also visible...

...and this is how it looks when the tube worm retracts into it.

In the evening we had a beautiful sunset...

...and after that a very calm night.

Next day I went snorkelling already before noon. Almost right under the boat I found this Black Sea-Squirt (črni kozolnjak or Phallusia fumigata).

This is its cousin, the White Sea-Squirts (bradavičasti kozolnjak or Phallusia mamillata) in company of Star ascidian (zvezdasti zdrizavec or Botryllus schlosseri). First I thought it might be some kind of sponge, but after a little bit of research I'm pretty sure it is a tunicate as well.

This is a Bald scallop (mala pokrovača or Protopecten glaber), I don't find them very often. Those blue dots around its rim are its eyes, two of them are really sparkling.

This pretty thing is one of the Moon snails, their Slovene name is Marogasta popika (Natica hebraea).

The Purple sea urchins (vijoličasti morski ježek or Paracentrotus lividus) can be of different colours, not all are purple.

I'm not sure which mollusc this is, I'm stil searching...

This year there were really plenty of these guys - it is a Black goby (črni glavač or Gobius niger), and it is a main food of European shags (vranjekov or Gulosus aristotelis). And we saw also plenty of those every day as well.

This is a Red encrusting bryozoan (mahovnjak rdeči skorjevec or Schizobrachiella sanguinea), the fuzzy layer around it are its tentacles.

Here are some more tunicates, these are the Social seasquirts (zadružni plaščarji).

And I had to make a few above water photos of this gorgeous place.

 

Tuscany - days 5 and 6

There was one must see place left we didn't visit yet - San Gimignano. So on Tuesday we drove there. This is again a very touristy spot, so this was the third time we had to pay for parking, after Monteriggioni and Florence. But we parked right by the walls that surround the old town.

Old town is very charming and there are many cute stores there. The wild bores are a big thing in whole of Tuscany and one sees many stuffed ones around. In similar store I bought some guanciale, cured pork cheeks. When we tried it later back home I was sorry I only bought one piece.

A bit up the street there is another gate to the inner part of town and where all the towers are.

This is part of the famous triangular Piazza della Cisterna. Can it be still called square if it's triangular? In the middle of it there is a well that provided the town with water in the old days.

San Gimignano is known for its many towers, I think now there are 14 left, but in the haydays there have been some 72 of them. They were a result of two rich families competing in building yet another one that was higher than all of what other family had.

But beside the towers there are so many pretty medieval buildings there...

...with bells and frescos.

This is the tallest tower in town, at one point the city council decided to stop the tower rivalry and forbid building towers higher than this one.

I can't even imagine, how the town must have looked with 72 towers.

But also the other buildings are pretty awesome.

And here is another awesome thing San Gimignano is known for - the ice cream. There are several ice cream parlours there, one even got a title for world's best ice cream in 2024. The awarded ice cream was the saffron one with pine nuts on the left, but I liked a basil one with tomatoes on the right even more.

This is me sitting on the stairs of the well in the square...

...while Tomaz went to get the second ice cream.

After the short ice cream break we continued to explore the town.

Again we could see many alterations on the buildings that happened through the centuries - new windows were put in, the arches were lowered, some doors and windows closed...

We found some arched stone and brick passages...

...that led to the town walls and of course to the great views.

This facade and the doorway were quite different from the rest of the buildings...

...and right next to it I found this pretty ornament. Unfortunately I don't know the meaning of it or what kind of building this was.

After couple of hours we went back to our car...

... and drove back towards our hotel. After all the pretty places we visited in last few days we were so full of impressions, we decided we need some "dolce far niente", or "sweetness in doing nothing" or "blissful idleness".

On our way back we had to drive through Panzano and we realised that it wasn't 3 o'clock yet and that Ceccinni food truck was still open. So we made a stop and ate really delicious burgers there. We forgot to make a photo of our food, but made a photo of friendly staff that worked there.

Here is some more of very Tuscan scenery from our drive back.

In the afternoon we spent some time in the garden of our hotel.

There was also a pool there, but it was quite chilly even to sit in sun on a lounge chair yet alone for swimming. So we were full of admiration of a young woman who took a short plunge in the pool.

I had to make some more photos of the hotel buildings...

...and some ornaments on them.

Next morning we packed our things and went for a breakfast. And I got a lovely surprise - it was my birthday and staff brought me a delicious cake, a light brioche topped with vanilla custard with truffles. It was sooooo good! And yes, there was a glass of champagne with it as well.

After the breakfast we started a journey home. It was again a five hours drive, we only stopped once shortly on a gas station to have s drink. Back in Slovenia the highway was congested as always in the afternoons, so we took the local road through Kal and Godovič and we saw these pretty flowers along the road - the Blue-eyed-Mary (spomladanska torilnica or popčki or Omphalodes verna).

What a lovely trip this was! We had so much luck with the weather, it was quite chilly, but sunny and perfect for long walks that we like to make. And hotel was perfect too, so much history, great restaurant and what a great wine! Needless to say we took couple of bottles home with us. While wine was quite pricey, the hotel was very reasonably priced. And I think we chose really nice places to explore, and also found such delicious food on the way. I am seriously considering of doing another such trip again next year, maybe we'll look for a hotel a bit more in the South, around Siena, and explore that part of Tuscany.