Italy, France, Spain med coast. Why bother?

[Prairie Chicken]

Ken, as I said, we were on a mission, not on vacation. We were putting in as many miles as possible, including an overnight to meet a deadline. Our choices of marina or anchorage were based on what was available when it was time to stop for the night.

The first marina we stopped in was Marbella. As soon as the boat was settled we went & explored the Old Town. It was delightful, very clean, and once off the front touristy street, was very nice indeed. We had a wonderful seafood dinner at La Lonja. The marina was older and not large but I liked it. Sadly, the Mosquitos that night were worse than I can ever remember experiencing in the Med. With the possible exception of the high arctic in summer, they were the worst I've seen in a very long time. (We didn't have a screen over the hatch.)

The second marina was Gib, which I addressed on another thread & doesn't pertain here. I did get some screen material there which helped dissuade the mosquitos on subsequent stops on the way back.

Coming back we stayed at Fuerngirola & Santa Palo. We explored those as much as we had time for, an hour or two, but didn't find them as pleasant as Marbella. As we were passing right by we popped into Almerimar and thought it looked like a very nice marina. I was amused by the motorhome parking area adjacent to the port.

Overall though, the four of us did not find the geography as interesting as other areas we've sailed. The Costa del Plastico, as Boatie aptly called it, coupled with many non-traditional and architecturally uninspired high-rises simply didn't inspire us to want to return if we have other alternatives.


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[Polux]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Along the coast perhaps not. But you missed everything that could be experienced ashore. Like say Nero di Avola. To name only one of their wonders.

Why go places? To sail them by?

???

b.

Nero di Avola is from Sicily and he is talking about the continent.

I partially agree with what he says for the simple reason that many coasts of the med on touristic areas are kind of touristic traps. If what you want is to explore a country and its culture you will be much better on a car or motorcycle, far away from the coasts.

Curiously some of the ports and marinas of continental med Spain are much less spoiled by mass tourism than the coasts of Italy or France, still are lots of marinas on predominantly fishing ports that offer a bit of the genuine thing, in what regards culture and food, specially on the Andalucia area.

I miss places like Cadiz, Puerto de Santa Maria, Chipiona, Almeria, places that have a live other than tourism.

[Kenpimentel]

We're preparing to start a 2-3 year journey of the med (mostly south of France) and were wondering if we should prepare the boat (13m monohull) with mosquito screens hanging down from the bimini? Or, do people make do with just the companionway and hatch screens?

We haven't cruised those waters, so not sure what to expect, but we have a daughter sensitive to mosquitoes and there are tiger mosquitoes reported in that region.

Just not sure what to expect if we're in a marina, say in the Nice region.

[Prairie Chicken]

I can't say what it's like in France, but in the Balearics the mosquitos are almost entirely nocturnal. We have screens for the companionway & hatches, but everything is open during the day. Even sitting in the cockpit in the evening is usually fine until full dark. The same is true both in & out of marinas, but you will find more mosquitos in wooded calas.

[Kenpimentel]

Thanks, we're starting our trip in Palma, so that's useful information.