January sails
Maria Harding sets sail in search of ports the big cruise ships can’t reach
NO doubt about it, the Style Fairy definitely sprinkles the Italians with extra helpings of her magic dust – so much so that they can make even fish and chips in a seaside caff feel special.
But then, I’m tucking into that dish on the Italian island of Ponza, largest of Italy’s Pontine islands which, as I’m discovering, is the very epitome of glamour.
The local version of our British classic is cernia al forno con patate – or grouper with roast potatoes, to you and me. And in this particular `seaside caff ’ it comes with a delicious white wine sauce, lashings of pinot grigio on the side, and a heavenly view thrown in for free.
For our white-pillared restaurant overlooks the midnight blue waters of the Tyrrenhian Sea and a long wooden jetty, at the end of which are moored the kind of motorboats James Bond would go out to play in. Stylish indeed.
The joy of Ponza – one of Italy’s best kept secrets, one-time hangout of the Emperor Nero and still a popular haunt for Romans in search of seaside breaks – is that it has all the rocky beauty (and Imperial Roman ruins) of Capri, but without the bustle, traffic and hordes of tourists.
Best of all, this fascinating island – said by locals to have been named after Pontius Pilate – is a rarity on most cruise ship schedules, so to visit here on a ship is a treat indeed.
But then, the cruise ship we’re on – the glorious tall-masted sailing vessel Royal Clipper – is something of a rarity itself, an authentic replica of the clipper ships which, in the 19th century, plied the world’s trade routes in spectacular style.
In their heyday, clippers carried gold diggers from the Old World to California, brought the British tea and exquisite silks from China, and took the Chinese opium from India.
Their modern counterpart bears nothing but travellers, and yet the sense of adventure when you climb aboard Royal Clipper is still palpable.
A sense of history lives on strongly, too; you feel it in the ship’s portholed, woodlined and marble-bathroomed cabins; in the richly polished brass and teak which embellish her public rooms, and in the murals which adorn the balustraded gallery above her dining room, depicting the voyages of a bygone era, and the exotic creatures encountered on them.
It’s a very different experience from your average cruise, as – at 5,000 tons and with capacity for only 227 passengers – Royal Clipper reaches the ports other ships can’t and offers several late stays into the bargain, so you get plenty of time to explore.
In three decades of writing about cruises, I’ve visited more ports of call than your average merchant seaman, and yet my 11-night Western Mediterranean introduced me to three I’d never seen before.
The first was Ponza, after which we toured a few classic Med destinations: Sorrento, Taormina, Corfu, Kotor in Montenegro – memorably approached through a spectacular bay carved through by forested hills – and the Croatian coastal gems of Dubrovnik and Hvar.
But for me, our itinerary kept the best until last, introducing me to the lesser-known delights of Rovinj on Croatia’s Istrian Peninsula and Piran in Slovenia, before we disembarked in Venice.
Rovinj, a picturesque fishing village with a beautiful harbour, has been a magnet for tourists since the 19th century and today, its restaurant-lined harbour is like an unspoiled and far less commercialised version of the French Riviera, while the winding cobbled streets of its Old Town are lined with stylish boutiques and enjoyably offbeat craft shops.
Piran, set on a narrow peninsula which juts out from the Slovenian coast, is even prettier, endowed with splendid Venetian Gothic buildings, a delightful old town, and a seafront where the locals sunbathe on gigantic rocks, and sturdily handrailed steps allow swimmers easy access to the glittering waters below.
Although rare on conventional cruise ship schedules, such ports as these are well known to some of the `yachties’ who made up a fair number of Royal Clipper’s passengers.
We met several of them sharing tables in the ship’s elegant main restaurant, where conviviality is encouraged by affordable wines and top-rate food (the delicious orange and ginger soup, butter-soft lamb shanks and fish-shaped chocolate and ginger pudding were particularly memorable).
It was easy to see why Royal Clipper holds such appeal for sailing fanatics, for on this ship you do feel really close to the sea, especially when swimming and water-sporting off the vessel’s well-used rear marina.
But the true romance of life on a clipper ship is to be found up on deck, when you feel the soft wind in your face and watch the vast sails fluttering above you – particularly at sunset when, at the end of a fine day at sea, they really do turn red, just like the old song says.