Cruise
Up at 5.00am ,final pack, hugs from room stewards, level 7 World Cafe for breakfast, down to deck one for final sign off and exit onto coach, drive to Venice Stationne Maritimma to be reunited with main luggage then taxi to Best Western hotel Tatiana by 10.00am to
Cruise
The ship schedule meant we could only access Venice about 4.00pm after a ferry ride from ship at Fusinia (cruises not allowed in Venice anymore-should never have allowed it in the first place). It was hot and we were 'unguided' and as I'd left
Cruise
A longish (1.25 hrs) coach ride out of Splits town to the (Dolomite?) hills. The limestone geology leads to a lot of underwater streams as it does in Provence and elsewhere and thence to waterfalls and pools of opalescent blue. The Krja national park is just such a valley
Cruise
To entertain departing passengers and honour the crew there was a Beatles concert in the theatre tonight. The pic is of senior catering and housekeeping staff plus captain. He has a sense of humour, for a Swede, when asked who was really controlling the ship, he said there was an
Cruise
There's also my previous post on Dubrovnic from 10 years ago. A bright orange ferry or 'tendered' brought us from the ship to the port in the morning and a guide led us on a tour of a monastery, museum and churches, some of which were
Cruise
A place I'd never heard of before, though I knew there was a Montenegro somewhere. It has a coat of arms. Like Dubrovnic, it's a small, totally walled, coastal town between the Ionian sea and mountains, of only 20,000 people in the centre area and
Cruise
It threatened 41 Deg C but stopped at 32. Quite warm enough especially for narrow streets, over-run with tourists everywhere. We were bus number 30 from two Viking vessels plus two other huge cruise ships, Holland America and something else. Many of the buildings in Corfu city look decayed
Cruise
The 38DegC heat didn't help! We toured the original Olympic games site, with guide Angela, which exists as it was and is very ordinary in appearance.The Temple of Zeus would have been spectacular but not as a few columns and a collection of big broken bits. The
Cruise
Today we finished the circumnavigation of the Acropolis via the ancient Plaka settlement under the rock. It was very satisfying to have completed it, though very slowly in 33DegC heat. It really does resemble Santorini except near the top where many homes are in a very dilapedated condition. How you
Cruise
The ship is a sort of mix of the connectivity and communications of the Starship Enterprise, the cleanliness and perfect finish of a pharmaceutical sterile production facility and the uniformed staff nearing the polish and dignity of the staff of the English Royal household . Quite an achievement. The goal of
Cruise
A short coach ride to the Archaealogical Museum. Spoiler alert. Nudity! (and beauty --they're Greek!) The guide again spoke very fast and a heavy accent meant that many of us 'tuned out' for relief now and again and read the notes by the items. Some amateur
Cruise
Like me, you may not know the name of Crete's capital city. It was a short bus ride there to the museum where we received a detailed account of the development of Crete from neanderthal times, to Minoan culture then Mycenian then finally Greek from 1913. The artefacts