Kotor, Montenegro – Sunday September 23

The city of Kotor has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its rich history. Our ship set anchor in the bay, and we took a short tender ride to the pier. After walking along the top of the old city walls, we strolled around the edges until we found the entrance to the St. John’s Fortress, high up on the hill. We paid our 3 euro entry fee to walk the path, and off we went.

It was a fairly arduous climb up the steps and the rocks. The views of the bay area were quite impressive along the way, and it was quite warm. We finally made it all the way to the top and we enjoyed the panorama. We noticed the remnants of a small village on the other side of the hill, but its access seemed almost impossible. After resting a bit, we headed back down. It took us 54 minutes to go back down, so I’m estimating a distance of 2+ miles each way on the climb.

 

Needless to say, we wanted to find a shaded are where we could sit and enjoy some refreshments. We ordered a Greek Salad and a Ham and Cheese plate. Both had olives and olive oil. We also tried the local beer and had bottle of sparkling water. The food and the drinks were great nourishments before heading back to the ship’s tender.

The view from the ship of our climb , and the top of the area, shows that it was, indeed, quite a trek.

  

Sailing out of the bay was very picturesque as we observed it during dinner. We were finally headed out to sea for our very first (and only) sea day!

Stuart

Dubrovnik, Croatia – Saturday September 22

We sailed down the coastline of Croatia from Split to Dubrovnik. We were told that the old city was only 3.5 km from our ship, but it didn’t really look all that easily walkable. We took the ship’s shuttle bus, which was a very smart move. The way wasn’t that well marked and there were lots of hills, narrow streets, cars, and buses that we would have had to deal with had we walked.

The old town was, well, another old city with big walls and lots of restaurants and souvenir shops inside the walls. We went to one end of the walled area where we found the Bell Tower. You can see that they were into Digital Time hundreds of years ago as they displayed the hour and 5-minute increments as well as the regular two-hand clock.

 

Lavender is a big commodity in Croatia, and since we already know of the benefits of lavender oil, we bought a small cache of lavender. We’ve patted on the pillows at night – nice!

We walked around the side streets, and found a little pizzeria – Darlene enjoyed her dark local beer, and I stuck with the light one. The scampi pizza was anything but exciting. The two whole shrimp on top weren’t inviting and the small ones were virtually tasteless. At least the beer was good.

As we worked our way back to the shuttle bus stop, we did stop to view the beautiful water and take more photos. Even with the items we bought in town, and with lunch, we still didn’t get any even-year dated coins – seems strange to me with all the transactions to have received only odd-year coins. I’m going to have to look into that!

Stuart

Split, Croatia – Friday September 21

We left the Italian coast again and went over to the Balkan coast of the Adriatic Sea – again. This time we’re in Croatia, with over 1,200 islands. We’re anchored off the town of Split, and so we tendered into the port for the first time (we’ll do it again in Montenegro). The view from the ship into the harbor was quite nice.

Our first stop was the ancient town of Salona, which had been buried. Archeologists have discovered remains of temples, amphitheaters (they estimate the population by amphitheater seats x 3), early churches, burial grounds, and baths. As was custom, the burial rounds were outside the “city limits.” The walkways down into private tombs was quite interesting; the carved marble sarcophagi were for the nobility, and they are in amazing condition for being so old – and they’re just sitting out in the environment with no covering!

 

We then drove along the Riviera of Seven Castles (only one remains) to the island city of Trogir. The city self is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s connected to the mainland by a bridge, and there’s the typical fortress at the up-river end of the city. The main stop inside the meandering city was the Cathedral of St. Lawrence.

Twelve noon arrived and we were treated with a symphony of bells and chimes to ring in the mid-day. We had little bit of free time, so we stopped at an outdoor café for a lunch – plates of Dalmatian ham and cheese. We had to try the local beers; they were good!

Croatia is the only country on this cruise that’s not using the Euro as its currency, so we exchanged euros for kuna, and pulled out some for our international money collection. One interesting thing to note about their coins is that they use Croatian words for even-numbered years, and Latin words for odd-numbered years. With all the transactions we did, we never received any even-numbered year coins (might have to do some online trading to get them!)

Stuart

Ravenna -- "Capital of Mosaics"

Ravenna, Italy – Thursday, September 20

After a day on the Balkan side of the Adriatic Sea, we returned to the Italian peninsula. The seas were a bit choppy, delaying our entry into the relatively shallow port of Ravenna. The Captain explained that the seas were over 2.5 meters high (about 8 feet), more than was safe for our passage into port. A few tours were delayed, but no content was cut from any of them.

We went on a mostly walking tour called “Ravenna and Mosaics.” Our bus took us into town, where went to the Basilica of San Vitale; its initial construction began in 527 and was completed in 548. You could spend a week inside marveling at all the mosaics, and it took just one stop to realize why Ravenna is called, “The Capital of Mosaics.” Because of the high water table, you also see some of the original mosaic floor that is under water.

Adjacent to the Basilica is a small chapel, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. Photography was not allowed inside, but this small building is a total immersion in mosaics. Our group of 44 practically filled the entire floor space. What used to be small window openings are now covered with rich alabaster. You really should look online for pictures of the mosaics that covered the ceilings and the walls.

After a short walk, we reached the tomb of Dante Alighieri, father of the Italian language of the author of The Divine Comedy. There is also a tomb for him at the Santa Croce church in Florence, his birthplace, but he died in Ravenna. The locals in Ravenna insist he is buried there, but, of course, the Florentines say he is buried in his town of birth – I honestly don’t know, and it isn’t something I’m going to fret over. The mausoleum is quite small, but is one of the most visited sites in Ravenna.

Our organized tour ended at ABC (another big church, as we’ve come to call some of these visits) – Basilica di Saint Apollinare Nuovo. The entire length of the upper walls is covered with mosaics, and you see where some of the original ones were replaced as different rulers came into power. There is the occasional hand on a column from an old mosaic, yet the new one doesn’t have a body for the hand. Or there’s a different gold color showing a shadow of what used to be there. The history is right there in front of you.

The tour was over, and we walked to Piazza del Popolo, found a little café (there are plenty), and stopped for a bit of lunch. We shared a plate of olives and thinly sliced ham, and plate of cheese with olives. Both plates had some nice olive oil drizzled on the items. Since Sangiovese is the popular local wine, we had that to help us enjoy our delicious lunch.

All in all, it was a delightful day in Ravenna, and it was a shame to have to leave. The good news is that the book we bought will remind us of all the we saw, and more!

Stuart

Koper, Slovenia

Koper, Slovenia – 19 September

See the Photos page for our pictures

Our first day out of Venice found us in port in Koper. Slovenia is an interesting country along the Adriatic because it has such a short coast line (29 miles). We were going to go on a ship’s excursion, but we wouldn’t have it back in time for my presentation. Instead, we just walked into the main part of the old town – the area called Capodistria (Italian for Head District, what we might call the capital, even though Koper is not the capital of Slovenia).

We took our town map and went on a walking tour. The map’s walking tour took us right past dozens and dozens of small shops – hmmm. So we went off on our own, including, however, some of the suggested sites. The highlights of our time were

• Tito Square, the main plaza in front of the town’s old palace
•  Preseren Square, at the edge of the old town by the Muda Gate (from 1516); the Da Ponte Fountain (1666) is modeled after the Rialto Bridge in Venice
• Koper Regional Museum and the Ethnological Collection. We first found the small house that had part of the collection. We came upon the main museum only after we stopped for a little refreshment.
• The Carpaccio Square where Venetian painter Vittore Carpaccio supposedly lived with his son Benedetto.  

 We did find a charming little café where we sat outside and had a local beer. Darlene had the draught beer Lasko and I had a bottled Union beer. Both were quite nice! On the way back to the ship, we walked along the coast and found a gelato stand (not hard to do!). Then it was back on board, and review my afternoon presentation.

Prior to dinner, we enjoyed a glass of red wine while listening to the beautiful classical music trio. There is music all over the ship! Because we’re not on fixed-time dining, we stroll to dinner when we want, and they give us a able for 2 even though we tell them we’ll sit anywhere. I had a pan-seared steak, which was done quite beautifully. Darlene had a roasted half chicken (no, I don’t know where the other half went!) Even though dinner didn’t take really long, we sat and chatted with folks at the neighboring tables; it’s always fun to find out why people select certain cruises!

Off to bed, as breakfast was coming early so we could take a tour in Ravenna, Italy. Until later, ciao!

Stuart