TUESDAY 19TH – AT SEA

Today is a sea day which means that we spend the day on the ship trying not to eat and drink too much while we cruise at 13 knots in perfect weather to get from Venice which we left yesterday afternoon to Sarende in Albania where we will arrive tomorrow morning. The map above shows that Albania is just across the Ionian Sea from Italy and is bounded by Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia and Greece. You would not be surprised to hear that it has a turbulent history.

We spent some of this morning at a digital workshop and the rest at presentations on where we will be going during the next few days. There is another digital workshop later this afternoon.

 

Because I had taken my camera to the digital workshop, I happened to have it with me during the presentations so took some photos.

When we were last in Venice, during our motor home tour of Italy, we stayed in a waterfront camping area a 20 minute ferry ride from Venice with an excellent view of the cruise ships. This photo is a photo of that camp ground taken from the ship.

After Albania we spend the next seven days at various Greek destinations. Should be fun.

MONDAY 18TH – STILL IN VENICE

 

 

 

A short day today. We had to be back on board by 3:00pm but we got to go to Burano, a place we had never been before.

We were surprised to find that it was a one and one quarter hour boat trip to get there so that limited the time that we could spend on the island. We did however

see a lot of the Venice lagoon and gain some understanding of its geography.

 

Burano is the place where the houses are all painted a very bright different colour. It is apparently part of the ownership covenant that the house remain painted in its allocated colour.

Venice seems to have a number of leaning church towers including this one at Burano.

Burano is to lace what Murano is to glass. Unfortunately Trish didn't have as much time as she would have liked to browse among the many lace products on display. We will have to go back.

There is no end to the variety of watercraft to be seen including this Tasmanian built wave piercer.

 

Tomorrow we are at sea for the day. No doubt there will be some interesting activities on the ship to participate in. We have already declined participation in the pub crawl and the wine tasting.

 

 

SUNDAY 17TH – VENICE AGAIN

Today was changeover day for those only doing either of the two 12 day cruises that make up the 24 day cruise that we are doing so we have 1600 new people on board (400 are continuing) who now have to go through the process we have gone through working out where everything is and, most importantly, working out which way is forward and which way is aft.

As you would expect, we spent the day exploring Venice, but this time further afield. We purchased a two day hop on hop off boat ticket and headed for Lido and Morano.

Lido is the “beach” for venetians but they are welcome to it. It doesn't even have the lovely clear water characteristic of most Mediterranean ports and the beach is more mud than sand but desperate people will do desperate things and the beach was packed.

This afternoon, we visited Morano, the island famous for its glass factories. A much quieter version of Venice. Trish purchased some nice jewellery and six little gifts for six very special people.

 

The highlight of the day was of course ringing home to join in the Sunday night dinner happening in our absence. It was wonderful to hear that all is well at home.

After we returned to the ship this afternoon, a two handed gondola race went by, accompanied by numerous boats including police and ambulance boats – obviously part of the festival taking place this weekend.

Tomorrow we are in Venice again before heading south tomorrow night. The itinerary has been changed again. While Istanbul was abandoned, we were still to be going to Kusadasi in Turkey to visit Ephesus but the hierarchy has now decided that, because it is in Turkey, we won't be going there either - very disappointing.  We are going to Sarande in Albania instead (wherever that may be).

SATURDAY 16TH – VENICE

 

We arrived here at 7:00am this morning with a spectacular cruise up the Grand Canal to the cruise ship mooring area. Given that we are near enough to the tallest structure in the city, we had a bird's eye view of the city.

After we got on board ship yesterday, the weather turned really foul and we lost the beautiful smooth Mediterranean we have enjoyed thus far even to the extent of causing some movement in the ship overnight but we woke to a beautiful fine calm day today.

The ship is docked at the western end of Venice near a convenient people mover which takes you to the edge of town. You can of course take a vaporetto (water bus) to the centre of town but we were happy to start at the edge and work our way by walking through the narrow streets, crossing many canals, to get from one end to the other.

 

We are told that Venice is three kilometres by 2.5 kilometres by 3 kilometres in area so theoretically, it is not far from one side to the other but there is of course, no direct route from anywhere to anywhere else.

 

Today was a walking day. Tomorrow we plan to get a day ticket for the vaporettos and explore further afield. We are here until Monday evening.

 

This weekend is a large festival in Venice and, if we can stay up late enough, there is apparently a very large fireworks display tonight. We were warned that the city would be very crowded but, when we stopped walking at three o'clock, everywhere except St. Mark's Square was comfortably unpopulated.

 

We have been advised that we won't be going to Istanbul during the second half of the cruise as planned, no doubt because of the terrorism. The alternate extra Greek island ports look pretty good.

SATURDAY 16TH – VENICE

 

We arrived here at 7:00am this morning with a spectacular cruise up the Grand Canal to the cruise ship mooring area. Given that we are near enough to the tallest structure in the city, we had a bird's eye view of the city.

After we got on board ship yesterday, the weather turned really foul and we lost the beautiful smooth Mediterranean we have enjoyed thus far even to the extent of causing some movement in the ship overnight but we woke to a beautiful fine calm day today.

The ship is docked at the western end of Venice near a convenient people mover which takes you to the edge of town. You can of course take a vaporetto (water bus) to the centre of town but we were happy to start at the edge and work our way by walking through the narrow streets, crossing many canals, to get from one end to the other.

 

We are told that Venice is three kilometres by 2.5 kilometres by 3 kilometres in area so theoretically, it is not far from one side to the other but there is of course, no direct route from anywhere to anywhere else.

 

Today was a walking day. Tomorrow we plan to get a day ticket for the vaporettos and explore further afield. We are here until Monday evening.

This weekend is a large festival in Venice and, if we can stay up late enough, there is apparently a very large fireworks display tonight. We were warned that the city would be very crowded but, when we stopped walking at three o'clock, everywhere except St. Mark's Square was comfortably unpopulated.

 

We have been advised that we won't be going to Istanbul during the second half of the cruise as planned, no doubt because of the terrorism. The alternate extra Greek island ports look pretty good.

FRIDAY 15TH – KOTOR – MONTEGRO

 

Today was a short stop in that we arrived at 7:00an this morning and departed at 11:30. Part of the appeal of the port was the very picturesque five bays we had to navigate to get into and out of Kotor.

 

The old town was probably one of the best we have seen, very narrow pedestrian only streets with the backdrop of a steeply rising mountain behind it.

A particular attraction is the wall around the town which not only encloses the town but goes well up the mountain behind the town. We paid our three euros to go a little way up. We went as far as the church you can see in the picture. There was no chance we were going all the way even we had time.

As we left Kotor, we passed a navy base which had several cave like structures apparently used for hiding submarines in times gone by.

 

We are now heading for Venice where we spend the next few days. We are on a 24 day cruise but it is actually two 12 day cruises, Venice being the changeover point. Apparently there is a major festival in Venice tomorrow so we might lie low. Hopefully they don't have a Nice event in Venice.

 

There is nothing like a Mediterranean cruise to teach one some geography about Eastern Europe.

THURSDAY 14TH – DUBROVNIK- CROATIA

Today was a little unusual in that it started off as quite a windy day, the first we have had since getting on board. So windy in fact that they couldn't anchor the ship at the intended place just off the old town. We had to anchor in the next bay and be bussed to the old town. It didn't really affect us because we were booked on an excursion which started out as a bus trip in any event.

We thought that we had booked a guided walk of the city wall being the iconic activity here but were pleasantly surprised to find that it included a scenic drive up a very steep hill behind the city from where the photo above was taken.

 

Our guide was very keen to tell us how difficult walking the wall would be and how many steps there were, both up and down, as if to discourage people from going but it was not that difficult. There were a lot of steps but a lot of time was spent along the way listening to his history and admiring the view so there were plenty of rest stops.

There were four cruise ships in port and all activity is centred on the old town so it was very crowded.

Cafes are perched in quite precarious places outside the town wall.

After completing the wall, we explored the old town, found a shaded seat beside the harbour on which we enjoyed the fruit we took ashore for lunch and went for a 45 minute “glass boat” ride. The boat had a glass viewing panel but, unfortunately, the Mediterranean sea floor is not particularly interesting.

 

Beaches are in short supply and therefore very crowded. A lot of swimming is done directly off rock ledges along the shore. Ladders are used to get back out of the water.

 

Our neighbour obviously fitted under the bridge although it doesn't look like he could.

Dubrovnik looks to be in great shape. If it is any indication, the Croatian economy is in great shape.

Tomorrow we wake up in Kotor, Montenegro where we spend the morning before heading to Venice. After Venice, part two of the adventure begins, Greece and Turkey.