Montenegro

Dubrovnik-Neretva photos on city tour

A Relaxing Vacation

Well it is the 3rd day and we figured out that this cruise is not relaxing and looking ahead to the rest of our days it isn’t going to get any better.  We set the alarm for 5:30 am yet again. Our tour starts at 8:15 am we are back by 1:15 then the walking tour at 1:45.  After that I wanted to walk some of the wall surrounding Dubrovnik-Neretva and the go up in the cable car for a birds eye view of the city.  A full day but the ship is in port until 11pm.  We have to be up at 5:30 am for our next days activities

Well all the reading and planning is great except for a few small issues.  The first being the access to walk the walls around the city closes at 3:00pm and our walking tour of the city doesn’t get over until 4:30 pm.  The cable car closes at 5pm but it has started to get a little foggy and visibility has dropped majorly. The last and probably most important reason is that Dan has hit the wall today and it is all I can do to convince him he wants to do a walking tour that will include several churches, a discussion of Croatian history and a little time for shopping.

Our organized tour went to the Trsteno arboretum   This garden was a mix of plants and not really only trees as in the name arboretum. It is a relatively small garden only about 50 acres although some of it was closed due to fire recently

We were given a “snack” of honey fresh donuts, cheese and prosciutto as well as locally produced wine and brandy. Of course there was even some grappa.

Back to the boat and off to the walking tour.  Dubrovnik-Neretva has both the old town dedicated to the tourism and the new town full of hotels and apartments as well as services for residents.  After completing the walking tour back to the ship. There is a major planning part of the trip that I need to do that I wasn’t able to do before we left

Back on board early and I head to the on board computers.  I needed to make ferry tickets so we could leave Athens next week and spend a day on Hydra the make a second reservation to get to the peninsula where we will finish up the trip and hopefully get down the coast some and over to Sparta before heading back to Athens and home.  I was unable to do online reservations and found only 1 ferry a day.  This didn’t make much sense but as we continue on this trip everyone keeps saying the tourists season has not started. If this is the case then the lack of ferries makes sense.

So the good news is after 45 minutes I was successful. It took texts to my phone and the ferry I wanted to take was sold out.  This will mean we have 3 full days to explore Athens.   I then emailed the hotel and alerted them we will not get to Hydra until late.  

Good news is Dan has recharged and is ready to get up again at 5:30 am for tomorrow’s full day

More photos

View from the bus on our way to Botanical Garden 

Botanical garden garden views

Croatia

We arrived in the northern part of Croatia along the Dalmatia coast or the Dalmatian coast. According to the guide yes it might share similarities with a dog with black spots. Today we spent time traveling to the waterfalls in the Krka National Park. The waterfalls are natural wonder since they along the dinaric karst. The travertine limestone in the river over years settled out of the water then begins collecting and building organisms so the river and waterfalls actually grow and new bio cultures form.

It is a fairly short walk but we are able to view the falls from both higher and lower.  We are then taken to a local restaurant for group lunch.   Food on our day tours is plentiful and so far we have felt there was enough time to see everything we wanted to see.

We were allowed to walk back to the ship along the waterfront. It is a beautiful stroll past the Roman ruins that were originally covered by buildings and then uncovered when rebuilding the town after the war in 1990’s.

Along side the waterfront an architect created an organ that produces music or tones as the tide changes. There are holes in the concrete where sound is emitted.  Next to the organ is a giagantic solar panel the provides a light show at night which we won’t see since the ship leaves at 3pm  

We have our specialty dinner at the Italian restaurant tonight and we arrive in Dubrovnik-Neretva in the morning.

Photo of Krka Falls and Zadar

Since I am 2 days behind in blogging and really tired tonight I will post the photos and write more in the AM

Photos of Ljubljanica and Dan relaxing in our stateroom!

The Dragon Bridge with statutes on each pillar

The triple bridge with 2 pedestrian and one vehicle

Pedromo Castle

From the desk of our stateroom

Before dinner

Day 1 on the Adriatic

Well staying up late probably wasn’t such a good idea.   We have a scheduled shore excursion at 8:20am.  Today we leave the port of Koper and take a bus for Ljubljana which is about an hour away. This is the capital of Slovenia.

The city is definitely a river runs through it with the old historic arts connected to the new by bridges most famous is the “dragon” bridge and the “triple”  bridge where you have 2 pedestrian bridges on either side of the vehicle bridge.  The central part of old town is automobile free and only walking.

The weather could have been better but we had a river cruise and the heated boat was great.  Spoke with some great shopkeepers in the chocolate shop   The town symbol is a dragon, a happy little fellow. Adorning pillars and posts around town. Able to walk through a street market with not many crafts but clothes and shoes.  I was able to find a cap since I was freezing.  No rain but a wind with no sun and last week in the same city it was 75 degrees. The locals keep saying it is unusually cold for this time of year. Almost everyone speaks English so language isn’t an issue

A little nap on the bus going back to the ship after a “typical “ Slovenian lunch of mushroom soup stuffed chicken breast and potatoes.   It is a pretty town that could use more exploring, but this is the curse of going on a cruise you only get a taste of the area not a lot of time to explore.  Lots of other tourists in this town and it would be wall to wall people in summer I am sure.

Back to the ship and heard a great lecture on Venice and the 4th crusade. Actually entertaining and I can’t wait to hear his next lecture. Off to bed as we have another 8:10 am tour tomorrow as we head into Zadar

Last day in Venice

Well up this morning, packed and ready to go by 10:30.  Another early start day!!  Still having night time hours awake but seems to be better.   We are off to shop no bargains but an Italian leather belt is a necessity right?  Then we continue to the vaporetto stop, buy tickets to Burano. This is the lace isle. I get a full day ticket when probably should have just gotten a one way since they don’t seem to be checking.  The students and tour groups have arrived in Venice. St. Mark’s Square is packed.  We are advised to just walk to the next stop and take the correct boat since the one we want doesn’t stop at this stop.  We are getting really good with Venice as long as my google maps continues to work and my phone doesn’t run out of battery

Finally, we get to Burano. Of all the isles we have seen I think it is the prettiest.  All of the buildings are painted a different color.  Lots of street vendors since it is a tourist area. The lace is truly beautiful.  I wonder if we have tossed our pieces of lace that could have been saved?   But can’t worry about that now.  We escaped without buying anything.  That in itself is truly amazing.

Another thing we have mastered in Venice is to find the bathroom. Usually it means having to sit down and have a glass of wine but desperate times call for desperate measures

Today is the day we embark on the cruise ship.  We were able to get our stateroom as early as 1pm. The ship does not leave port until 11pm. After our vaporetto ride back to the hotel it is now almost 6pm. So much for checking in early. Although when you are late there is no line and  no waiting. The only problem is we have a dinner reservation for 6:30 and they haven’t delivered our luggage. We decided to go anyway.  Forget about changing clothes. There is no formal night but most passengers change into something a little less casual than how we were dressed.  It was so quiet at the specialty restaurant there was no problem getting a table.

After dinner we went to the little nightclub type venue we hung out at on our first ocean cruise 18 months ago and the same duo was there, most amazing part was they recognized us. Couldn’t quite remember names but the faces and cruise details came back. So it was a fun night. Hopefully staying up late will help my poor sleeping the past 3 nights.

I don’t see a sign

Can you look closely at this picture. Do you see a sign on Dan’s forehead that says “easy mark”?  I don’t see it but obviously the huckster selling water taxi trips to Murano does.  This morning we are off to the glass isle and if time the lace Isle then this great pizza place for lunch.  But on our way to buy tickets or a day pass this guy approaches us saying he can arrange a private taxi ride to the glass isle and it will cost just $5.00 euros more than the one way trip and be faster.

I am saying no and Dan says “sure”    I am sure the sign on his forehead is blinking.  “Sucker” and the huckster can read it. Well we get on the water taxi. When we arrive at Murano we find out the “tour” will begin shortly. Several more boats arrive carrying  several people, we are escorted into the furnace room for a short demonstration the entire time with the same sales person, then into the showrooms with our shadow. No pressure to buy...sure.  It was like a time share presentation.  Yes, I did buy some earrings then were were out of there and on our own.

We were in Murano 2 years ago, simple steps got off the vaporetto turned right and found several shops selling all different things.   So off we head and this is where the fun begins. We did not realize that Murano was like Venice, several isles linked by bridges, so I guess no matter what they say you can get lost on an island.   The weather held today and we are back in time for an early dinner and just before the rain thunder and lightning began. Tomorrow back to St Marks square and then onto the isle of Burano the lace isle we didn’t make today before we board the ship.

St Marks Square