Mazara del Vello

It was the morning of our planned departure from Malta. We set our course to travel 132nm in a northwesterly direction. The weather forecast was for light winds and flat seas, and we would hope to arrive the following day. However, there was possibly some stormy weather at our destination, we briefly debated the merit of leaving the settled weather of Malta, but keen to be on our way, we started the engine, lifted the anchor and motored out of Mellieha bay.

The wind initially was coming from directly in front so we continued motoring for the first couple of hours along the coast of Malta and Gozo, avoiding the many fishing pots along the way. Eventually, as we left the shelter of the islands, the wind picked up and shifted more to the west so the sails were hoisted, engine off and we were comfortably sailing, although slightly off course.

We continued like this for most of the day until the sun went down and the wind dropped off. Clouds had started to come in giving a colourful sky and we motored through the night.

We could see lightening in the distance and there were lots of ships travelling across our path between the west and east Mediterranean, we are the blue triangle at the bottom trying to pick our way North through this lot. We give our heartfelt thanks to whoever invented the AIS system that at least gives us this clear view of our challenge. In years gone by we would have been trying to decipher which ship was heading where just from looking through our binoculars at a couple of faint lights on its bow and bridge!

The sun rose up through stormy clouds, over the island of Sicily, setting the sky on fire.

We arrived at Mazara Del Vello, on the west coast of Sicily, at lunchtime. Stormy weather was on its way so we were keen to get the anchor down quickly before it arrived. It took us several attempts to get the anchor to hold as the bottom was weed with some sandy patches, many of these sandy areas were not viable as it left us too close to other boats. After a couple of attempts, the sky clouded over, the wind was blowing 20+ knots and we had small breaking waves making it impossible to identify the sand. Luckily we eventually managed to hit a good spot and the anchor was holding as the storm passed behind us. Ten minutes after turning the engine off, it all calmed down and the wind dropped.

The journey had taken 27 hours and we had passed through 2° of both latitude and longitude, going from 35° to 37° North and 14° to 12° East. The water temperature was 21.7°C which was much cooler than in Malta where it had been 27.1°C.

Mazara del Vallo is a city which lies at the mouth of the Mazaro river. It is considered to be one of the most important fishing ports of Italy and has been the base for a fleet of around 300 large deep-sea fishing boats and over 3,000 crew members. Unfortunately, as we have seen in many places on our travels, this industry has been in dramatic decline in recent years.

Having never visited before, we took Ed and Fred ashore, we had read that we could tie up inside the port but as we arrived, the marinaro was quick to tell us that we couldn’t stop there and sent us off up the river.

It looked quite scruffy as we went along the river, with old boats which looked like they hadn’t moved in a while and dirty shipyards. We managed to find a spot to tie up to and walked into the town.

We first arrived in the ‘The Casbah’, an ancient Arab quarter. For centuries, the neighbourhood has been inhabited by a large Tunisian community, drawn here by work in the fishing fleet. It is characterised by narrow lanes and passageways leading to numerous small courtyards surrounded by low buildings, reminding us of our time in Monastir.

With the decline of the fishing industry, the area was becoming very run down, so the newly elected mayor took the brave decision to invite artists from across Sicily, to practice their skills in street art and created what is now an open air gallery. Colourful artwork and painted tiles now decorate the walls, floors and façades of the houses and shopfronts, which are now a growing tourist attraction.

The old historical centre, once enclosed inside the Norman walls, includes numerous monumental churches, some dating from the 11th century.

We arrived in the Piazza Plebiscito where the Museo del Satiro Danzante is situated, a dedicated museum housing the precious bronze statue called the Dancing Satyr. Mazara made international news in 1998, when the statue was found off the port, at a depth of 500 metres, in the Strait of Sicily by a local fishing boat. The leg had been fished out of the same area the previous year.

The bronze statue, with alabaster eyes, is believed to have been sculpted by Greek artist Praxiteles dating back to the late 4th century B.C. After lengthy restoration work in Rome, the statue has been on display in the museum since 2003, after having been on show at Rome, and in Japan.

The museum, inside a deconsecrated 16th century church, also houses other underwater finds from the Strait of Sicily, including pottery and minor bronzes, including a bronze life size elephants leg.

Also in the square is the monumental structure of the Jesuit College, with its imposing Baroque façade. Inside, there is a courtyard surrounded by a portico with round arches and Tuscan columns.

Today the College houses the Library, Historical Archive and Civic Museum. There was also a section dedicated to a Miniature Museum, where one man had built miniature versions of all the main monumental buildings in the town.

All of them were lovingly created over the past 35 years by the artist, Ignazio Auguanno, using only waste materials. It was quiet when we visited, Ignazio was very passionate about his work and had plenty of time to personally show us and explain each piece (although our Italian is very poor!) He then gave us a map and highlighted where all the main buildings were situated in the town for us to go and see.

The town also has an attractive waterfront with rows of palm trees along the promenade and park areas. We could see Ziggy anchored in the bay.

As we walked along, we came to another church where a wedding had been held and guests were just leaving, everyone was very well dressed. We noticed the interesting choice of transport at the end of the white carpet.

We waited for the bride and groom to come out wondering whether the bride knew about this arrangement. However, she seemed quite happy to gather up her dress, jump on the back and off they went.

We stopped for a quiet drink in the corner of another large piazza and soon found ourselves in the middle of the wedding party again.

After a gelato, a trip to the laundrette and some provisioning, we headed back to the river where Ed and Fred were waiting, and returned to Ziggy in the bay.