Istanbul and Rome for dinner

jeanneb
Oct 4
3 min read

We received our rigging that had been shipped from Olympia. We weren’t exactly sure how long it would take to arrive but we were in luck with it arriving during the week that we were back at Buenaventura Resort.

Our rigging arriving safely in a little truck still on it’s pallet, shipped from Olympia

The rigging only took 14 days to get to us. Dan was eager to get the work done. We wanted to make sure that we had measured correctly. Each day we installed, a few new wires and in a matter of a few days we had all the wires installed except for our forestay—which we decided to complete when we returned from Italy.

Dan up the mast replacing the backstay. One wire at a time. We were thankful it was overcast, we were able to work all day without getting too hot.

Meanwhile we quickly rolled back into life at Buenaventura. Groceries on Tuesday. Fresh vegetables pop-up truck on Tuesday & Friday. Girls night out for the 5 or 6 cruiser boats in the marina. Karoke on Saturday. It was a busy 10 days.

We had the usually rush to then get Okisollo ready to be ‘on her own’ again for a few weeks as we headed to Europe. We emptied the trash, wiped down the surfaces, emptied the dehumidifiers and gave away any remaining fresh goods. With our bags packed we headed on our way back to Panama City. This time we took the local bus for a reasonable $4 for a 2 hour drive (compared to $100 for private car). The ride didn’t take that much longer than private car and dropped us off at the mega-mall Allbrook. We had a leisurely lunch and headed to the airport.

A mere 13 hours later we were wheels down for a 24 hour layover in Istanbul. It was certainly a ‘teaser’ trip to Istanbul, we quickly assessed we will need to go back and spend more time. (Note: if you are interested in Istanbul, you can get extended layovers and hotel/tour deals through Turkish airline)

View from the rooftop breakfast at our hotel in Istanbul. The weather was spectacular.

Lingering through the spice market we could small the sweet frangrances in our hair all day!

Again on a plane, we made the short 2 hour trip to Rome, arriving in time for dinner. We stayed in Central Rome, close to the train station and were up the next day ‘early’ for a high speed train trip to Lecce. As it goes, we had been warned of potential delays due to construction and/or strikes. And our planned trip of 5 hours was a bit longer.

Lea ing Roma Termini bound for Lecce, Italy

But the countryside of southern Italy in the fall made our choice to go by land well worthwhile. We were seated on a train car with a high school football club. As my ability to speak Italian is equivalent of an elementary school kid, I was able to pick up the not too complex topics….where they wanted to play soccer in the world, who are the cute girls, etc.

Keys in hand to our rented apartment in the historic center of Lecce.

It was quiet unexpectedly cold in Lecce. Only 50 degrees, a strong wind and blustery fall weather. Our first order of business was to get Dan a sweater and me another pair of pants. Dan was cold if you can believe it!