{"id":6943,"date":"2016-12-22T18:50:35","date_gmt":"2016-12-22T18:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sabbatical3.net\/blog\/?p=6943"},"modified":"2025-10-01T16:32:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T16:32:13","slug":"end-of-the-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sabbatical3.net\/blog\/?p=6943","title":{"rendered":"End of the season in Carloforte"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fishing boat returns to port (Carloforte). Sardinia is in the background.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In all past years, the end of season blog contains a photo of Sabbatical III in the slings of a “Travellift” as she is being placed on a hardstand ashore for her winter rest. \u00a0Not this year. \u00a0Sabbatical III will spend the winter season in the water as there is no boat storage ashore in Carloforte. \u00a0It is a first for us.<\/p>\n

We spent the last days of October and early November doing boat maintenance and getting her prepared for storage afloat. \u00a0Since easterly storms can bring sizable swells into the Marine Sifredi, we added large stainless steel springs to the two aft lines that hold the boat to the breakwater. \u00a0On one end, these springs are connected to lengths of chain that go around large bollards ashore. \u00a0On the other end, we have new lines with steel eye thimbles that connect to the springs with large shackles. \u00a0In case a spring should break, a length of chain is shackled from the eye thimble to the chain around the bollard. \u00a0This way the boat floats somewhat freely and does take the full impact of shock loads from rough seas that would otherwise occur if she were tied tightly to shore.<\/p>\n

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Laura poses with David of the Napitia gelato shop on the last day of the season<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After November 1, the ferry schedule to Carloforte was drastically reduced as were the the number of daytripper tourists to Carloforte. \u00a0Most restaurants closed down and by early November not a single gelato shop was in operation. \u00a0The last to close was our favorite place Napitia, just across the street from the marina.<\/p>\n

In early November the whole island came out for a free concert by\u00a0Gianni Morandi who has been a famous pop singer, actor, and TV personality in Italy for fifty years. \u00a0A film crew spent some weeks in Carloforte making a movie staring\u00a0Gianni Morandi and using townfolk as extras, and the concert was Morandi’s way of saying thank you. \u00a0He performed on a stage set up on the waterfront and the crowd loved it.<\/p>\n

In the first week of November, we took a respite from our labors and hopped a super cheap flight from Cagliari to Barcelona where we stayed in a comfortable hostel. \u00a0We loved the city. \u00a0We walked miles through its beautiful streets taking in the sites, people watching, and tasting Catalan cuisine.<\/p>\n

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Inside Sagrada Fam\u00c3\u00adlia (Barcelona)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Outside Sagrada Fam\u00c3\u00adlia (Barcelona). The face is that of Gaudi the architect.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sagrada Fam\u00c3\u00adlia (Barcelona)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sagrada Fam\u00c3\u00adlia (Barcelona)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Large numbers of Chinese tourists visit Barcelona and Sagrada Fam\u00c3\u00adlia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We were particularly taken with Gaudi’s yet unfinished masterpiece, the Sagrada Fam\u00c3\u00adlia cathedral (above) and the Casa Batll\u00c3\u00b3.<\/p>\n

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Casa Batll\u00c3\u00b3, modernist house designed by Gaudi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Casa Batll\u00c3\u00b3, modernist house designed by Gaudi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Churros with hot chocolate and cream (Barcelona)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On a rainy day, we took the train to Girona where a thriving Jewish community distinguished by its Kabbalah scholars existed prior to the Inquisition.<\/p>\n

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Memorial to Ramban (Rabbi Moses ben Nahman) in Girona, Spain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Laura poses in the old Jewish Ghetto of Girona<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The cathedral in Girona is directly adjacent to the old Jewish Ghetto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On our way back to the US, we spent two and one-half days in the lake country north of Milan. \u00a0We stayed at a small hotel on the\u00a0Sacred Mountain of Varese overlooking Lake Varese in the\u00a0Campo dei Fiori National Park. \u00a0It was on an impossibly steep and narrow road but well worth the effort. \u00a0From there we drove to the Malpensa Airport for a flight to Miami.<\/p>\n

While home, we will organize our best photos and video for our web site. \u00a0We will post when that task in complete.<\/p>\n

M.<\/p>\n

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View from near our hotel on the Sacred Mountain of Varese, Italy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
View towards the Sacred Mountain of Varese, Italy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In all past years, the end of season blog contains a photo of Sabbatical III in the slings of a “Travellift” as she is being placed on a hardstand ashore for her winter rest. \u00a0Not this year. \u00a0Sabbatical III will spend the winter season in the water as there is no boat storage ashore in … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “End of the season in Carloforte”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[81],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-italy-2016"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sabbatical3.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sabbatical3.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sabbatical3.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sabbatical3.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sabbatical3.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sabbatical3.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6943\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sabbatical3.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sabbatical3.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sabbatical3.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}